A Coat
By William Butler Yeats

I made my song a coat
Covered with embroideries
Out of old mythologies
From heel to throat;
But the fools caught it,
Wore it in the world’s eyes
As though they’d wrought it.
Song, let them take it
For there’s more enterprise
In walking naked.


TOBIAS

Madness as privatised
business - is booming.
Therapist's careers
are blooming.
Social media
bottom feeds
on mental angst.

Suffering suffuses
Agony Chat Rooms.
Sorrow streams into
the public domain.
Distress has become
valued currency.

Bruises  tattooed
over have become
an ironic needling
A kind of beauty
masking grief.
Depression is
now commercial.
Emotions as a canvas
have become  street Art.

Heartbreak is tuned to lyrics
of gut-wrenching songs.
Pain is distilled in poetry.
Never was Madness so marketable.

Tobias

You were never in
a foreign land to me,
but more like home:
a place where I am
meant to be.

I found that sacred path
the one that we were meant to
walk together forever - My Love.
Right up to your open door…
all distances diminished.

Now each day passes
where yesterday is
forever  gone while
tomorrow we will let
take care of itself.

For the only thing
that really matters
is this moment:
here so quickly
gone as quickly.

Still in a very
real and good
sense this is the
the one sure
place to live.

TOBIAS

Spending time alone  
keeping the moments
on your own…
…were once a notion
you thought was for sure.
only felling free
with a  sweet free will.
Never having to
make comparisons.

I left terra firma with
no flight plan,
never thinking
who to meet
never caring they
may have someone
to lovingly greet
on their return.

What you knew was:
"I am happy being Me,
not being with you,
dating, making merry, free."

For years, I have
grown,  matured.
So has my age,
my hair, my faith
and my goals.
I still didn't mind,
still didn't care.
I wasn't scared,
nor was I afraid
as I flew in hope
towards you.

But faith was fair:
I found its shade
though I did fear
Your feelings fade.
Yet you were there
and made your way.
You lit the  flares,
along the runway.

I was just honestly
unaware and didn't
fear a crash at all.
But like leaves that fall,
never knowing where to go,
which way to settle on,

Its best that nobody knows.
What matters is:
You were there
where I landed.

TOBIAS

There was no Goodbye
from you to me,
nor closing of eyes,  
for they had never
opened for a first time.

Fatal foetal sleep took you
into an eternal dream
a state far more sublime.

No thanks for me
giving you a home,
providing food,
warmth and water,
sharing what I owned.

No matter:
I carried you
walked with you
talked to you
imagined a wee
fair hairy head.

You lived in me,
stayed with me.
I will remember
always the nice
things we did
together while
you lived.

You had to go
You won't return
But You left me
with a gift…
...The  Memories

And even though
it's not a lot
I'd like to
let you know
what sweet joy -
however brief -
it was having  
You inside awhile.

I hope I was a good friend.

TOBIAS

I  sense it on this sunny morn’ in May
I knew that I could not wait another day
There is something I must tell you
A voice is calling to me….

“Until we find the bridge across forever
Until this grand illusion brings us home,
You and I will always be together
From this day on, you'll never walk alone".

….You are a part of me, I'm a part of you:
Wherever we may travel
Whatever we may go through
Whatever time and space may take away,
It cannot change the way I feel today.

So hold me close - say you feel it too:
You are part of me and I am part of you.

TOBIAS

Tell me, who else can...
     Bring me sunshine on a cloudy day
     and in dormant Winter -  flowers...
     Hug me safe and warm when I'm not near
     Play me songs to make me dream for hours?

Tell me, who else can...
     Lend a shoulder when I’m feeling blue
     Let me rely on down the years
     Hold me in her life so safe and true
     Kiss away the sadness of my tears
    
Tell me, who else can...
     Listen to your words when you put me in my place
     Reveal to me the truths of her dear heart
     Simply be the kind of person I was looking for
     Show me I can be the best good man she’ll ever find.
    
Tell me, Who else can?     Only You.

TOBIAS