You, with words of beauty,
speak in softer tones
where volume is not required
because vibrations
bring to light the meaning

Even if remaining quiet
calms the fears
drifting along your heart

Feelings still shout
in actions shown,
leaving only words unsaid
to speak the true meaning
of the silence

I suggested leaning but they chose to jump. Never once looking to see what waited for them at the bottom. Still I called in a voice of heroic fashion, though slightly chapped from the lack of judgment shown. I stood listening for an echo or anything resembling a voice from the depths, but heard only waves, crashing against the rocks lining this coast of last chances. Gulls swooped and sang midnight songs while the moon snickered in its own lunar way. I found the darkness to be threatening as I peered over the edge, seeking but a plaid shirt, a pair of jeans or a chrome button dangling from an exposed root to no avail.  It had happened and poetry was the thief. Stolen in our prime, wading in shallow waters, watching ripples of time count minutes as our thoughts began to swim. It was no use, it beckoned and only one remained to answer the never ending call. So I dove head first into the phrases and verses that would spell my doom, sentenced for life, writing graphic details of those things my heart had held and my eyes had witnessed, knowing this was it, the end of my life as I knew it, lost forever in the abyss, the drowning point of creativity, poetic imprisonment and me without a swimsuit.

I tasted the piece that
smoothed the way,
submerged, as a single leaf
floated unknowing

Salted sweetness
on folded fables,
turned pages rapidly
between parted indexes

As eyes pierced,
interlaced of cotton fibers
Laying fears aside,
wrapped in yesterdays worries

While lounging on the side of caution
in plastic sheaves
protecting the existence
of unwanted realizations

Still the moments that fell
atop motions fed my soul,
inserted into the warmth
of streams flowing deeper

And up to my knees wading
brought sighs of satisfaction
when dreams came and went,
but still remain everlasting

Now in the shade
A lonely figure
Of interlaced thoughts
Draws a shape
In the soft earth
Because the bark
Has since overgrown
The one he carved above
In a previous life

Playlists of broken thoughts
Cobwebs and keys
Slanted in uniformed dissatisfaction
Notes smeared on fingertips
Melancholy mu-sick
Vibrato virtuoso

Bending strings and pushing pedals
Smashing baby grands
Into bite sized pieces

Feedback flashbacks
And the band played on
While the pianist was shot
Between the eyes
In an off key massacre
To a standing ovation

When silence forms
in morning simplicity,
tracing tracks
beyond traffic jam coffee
and softer tones
to a new address
where afternoons are easier
and smiles come
from blurred windows
and online dreams,
remember to reach out,
someone misses you