His footsteps lead to lost places
only he knew the journey;
for all else it was treacherous
they had no light like his burning.

When he drew near,
the horizons were lit as quiet embers that
rise, singing majesty to the heavens
as he rounds the Earth.

His laughter set babes to slumber and
their mothers would shake with desire,
yet none of this would stir him,
no warmth for lord of fire.

'Pon still surface of captivating sea,
a ripple racked the endless reaches
from it rose an alluring beauty,
such that sun seemed weary.

Lord of fire felt his power dim
from somewhere on Earth's rim
and sought out this source
of unyielding force.

There she was,
and how she tamed even
the dance of fickle flames
the lord she did astound.

"What have I found?"

Quick as a blink
the beauty did sink
and silence her visage
leaving lord disparaged.

He searched the sea,
unable to find beauty
no sea could sate this thirst
and erase what was seen.

There wasn't a sign
a glimmer sublime
of beauty to delight
our lord from fright.

His father chastised him
his brothers derided him
yet not fact nor fancy,
could quench him.

His fires grew fierce
they scorched friend and foe
"Where'd you last see her?"
I don't know... I don't know!

A quaking delirium
no sanctum or serum
could quench lord
and fight the flames.

The fires began to
do something tricky
they began to burn him
like a candle's wick.

His shouts pierce the aether
The heavens did respond
they put lord to sleep
mighty flames abscond.

In his dreams,
she was there,
he touched her hand,
he smelt her hair.

She was real,
how could he know
that he was asleep
an endless show,
but his thirst
was quenched
no fray, no throes
he knew what it was
to be drenched.

One brother crept by
and siphoned lord's fire
to become the object
of the living's hungry desire.

But an ember remained
in lord entombed
He's somewhere in sky
we call him Moon.

There’s a fire in his eyes
Burning so very bright.
A fire unlike any other.
A fire that keeps you warm but give you a breath of cold air
A fire that holds you close but lets you run freely, as you are his ember
A fire that speaks peculiar words but are a melody when whispered in your ear
His body is a fire.
Burning bright and beautiful, bold flames.
But engulfed in himself.

You knocked
and I opened so quickly
it was almost as if I were expecting you

You smiled
and it was the only time
I could control my mind whilst losing it

You kissed
and blank was the world
of past and future (it was only you and now)

You left
and what could I do but write
this poem about so little happiness in

man’s life

I'm tired.
And I'm sad.
My eyes have dried.
But I can feel the tears coming again.

Let me breathe for once.


© 2016 B.L.
All Rights Reserved.

Poverty is not mutually exclusive to one place. Want and despair are not specific to one race. Ignorance is not limited to one group. Many of these things we share as people. When one group prospers, another lacks. When one person commits senseless violence, many people are hurt beyond the intended victim. We are blinded by ideology and are limited by our own selfishness. On a world so full of diverse life, we are all of one kind, that is human kind.

I keep thinking one day
I will be able to muster up the words
I love you
and say them
directly, to your real face


but until then
this photograph
will have to do
cause
in your presence
I stammer and stumble
over the simplest of phrases
leaving my feelings looking like
a drunken cad
walking down the street
with my words
staggering at my feet
unable to be put
one in front of the other
& finally me
ending with my heart
passed out at your doorstep
cause my sense of sobriety
always fails me
around you.

As begins the  summer's morn
Dewdrops drip from a rose's thorn.
cricket's chirp in silent glow
A linnets fluttering wings below.

A cedar cabin poor and bare
In simple presence standing there.
A lapping lake upon the shore
Calls for nature's  lilt once more

Tranquil peace falls like the rain
Easing my mind and soul again
The purple mantle of the dawn
Awakens another perfect morn.

it's cold in this motel
all the paisley carpet in the world
won't make the halls warm  

a faux fire is burning in the lobby
the clerk is long numb to it, and to the rest of the world
it appears--no guest has disturbed him for hours

I don't want to go upstairs, to a room
where my only daughter waits, curled in the covers
like chrysalis in cocoon

eyes dried from crying all the tears
eyes can make--still she dry sobs--still she aches
for a mother she believes abandoned her, in a motel,
like this one, a lifetime ago

we will attend the service early today--too late
for a reconciliation between mother and daughter
the tether torn a decade past

I will hold my daughter close;
her eyes will dart around the room,
wondering who the mourners are, how they knew
the mother she did not

until then, I will sit a while longer
by this timid flicker of light, before I don the black suit,
before I knot my tie in the mirror and see the face of the man
who could not forgive a transgression, a human misstep

and robbed a girl of her mother, until today,
when words will spill from strangers' mouths,
the only biography my daughter will ever have of her
and I will wish for short epitaphs, a quick return to the earth
while those words and truths haunt my soul

I keep waiting to feel something,
Sadness, grief, destruction?
Anger rises up and ebbs like the tide
Did this Queen lose her King?
Or just get off of a roller coaster ride?

It was hot and it was bright.
But it ran fast and then died.
And I know I was right.
Maybe that's why I haven't cried...

Because my small still voice whispered in the nights.
When his breathing settled low.
That it would be hard to keep this one and my rights.
And when the other shoe dropped I thought gloom would grow.

But all I felt was sadness...
sadness for him and all the losses he would feel
Because his anger is remorseless.
Because his tenderness is masking righteousness.
Discovering more darkness the further back you peel.

I almost loved him
That much I know is true.
But when you are punished for wrongs not committed the future grows dim.
So our fiery love hisses out and the embers go blue.
All because you could only think about you.