I tried to write a poem
one that wasn't about you
it's more difficult than I thought
you're like a permanent tattoo

I didn't want to include love
and the way you make me feel
or how my heart is pulled
by the words you make so real

Each and every one of them
touches a place so very deep
piercing the depths of me
even while I'm asleep

A poem without mention
of the lust I feel for you
penetrating my body
just at the thought of 'us two'

I failed at writing a poem
one that wasn't about you
never to rid you from my mind
you have all of me *consumed

I wrote a poem about you
that I didn't want to keep
so I wrote it by the ocean
in the sand beneath my feet

I sat there by it silently
listening to the waves
just watching the tide come in
at the end of this pensive day

As the sea gently rolled in
and washed away the words
salty tears began to fall
as the ocean took away the hurt

I will never share with you
the words written in the sand
I'll never kiss those lips I long to
or feel the gentle caress of your hands

I remain seated here alone
the poem just a memory in my mind
a pain still lingers within my heart
a mixture of loss and longing combined

One day I'll retrace the words again
in the glorious golden sand
maybe you'll see them this time
and just maybe you'll understand

~

I have stood on aging avenues
watching walls crumble
while destiny’s debris
collects
at my feet

pieces of the past?

I have heard the laughter of babies
and the wail of the homeless,
opposites in a
straight line of
what is
and what might be

voices of the future?

I have stared into the portals of
left over meanings,
methodically
laid out to rest
on long tables
of bad intents

visions cast of shadows?

I have knelt before a dream,
clutching my chest
with indecision,
the pain
a reminder of my
fragile heart-
opened

memories of lost love?

I have cried
without a witness,
empty streams of
dense forgiveness,
requested of no one
and answered by the same

and nothing remains?