No matter how brightly I may one day shine among the stars,
                     I will never feel the warmth coming back to me
                     Through the distance
Never as much as I am feeling now
                    Cradling your fragile soul in my unyielding palms
Even if you are never burning for me
                    I will keep your flames alive
I will keep you safe
I will keep you warm

Empty inbox filled with spam
      Desperate posts with no replies
            Old friend that's just a contact
                    
Streets that are just park lots
     Playgrounds built for geese and ghosts
             Delicate souls hidden in the drive thru

Forgotten songs set as ringtones
      Refreshing the page for hours
            But nothing ever changes when you need it to

And here I am writing love poems and letters
      Never to be read by you as intended
           But keyboards, screens, and those feeling just as alone

This book is full
of my father's eye lashes
He treated the pages
rough like his sons
pinching the daylights
out of them, I remember
mud and grease
on calloused thumbs
and you can still smell
Four Roses bourbon
in the morning
through the onionskin
He would not weep
he knew most folks
never kept their word
Anyway, his death
came through
like a hitchhiker
You could see it coming
like the slow light
of a faraway dead star.