There are secrets buried in the freckles on your elbow.
Stories, memories, dreams
All interwoven with epithelial cells and sunlight.

When I first realized I loved you
I found myself captivated by essence of star you carried in your skin
Like Sirius, embodied.
But now that my eyes have adjusted to your brilliance,
I instead ponder the depths of the tales each freckle could tell.
You are endless, intricate, effervescent man, you
Are your own night sky of constellations.

Tell me a story?

Ageless demons
Etched on the wrists of youth
Sorrow carved on thighs
Skirts growing longer
Depression erasing the sun in their smile
Time lost at the end of smoking barrels
Where did love end
That caused hatred to infect innocence
Insults added to injury
Injury no longer helping
Death seeming to solve temporary problems
Yet they still follow
Why do mouths scorned continue to move
While mourning tears cease to exist

Lace my waist
Until I can no longer breathe
My sweet darling
Your fevered skin burns
As sweet as the most sickly candy

And I hold my bones

And you softly, gently,
**** me a little more
Each time that your ***** blue lips
Graze my porcelain skin
And you stop breathing

Just for a while

And the snow drips in my throat
Even then,
I feel nothing.
Your narcotic dove, a hand on her neck
And her soul remains

Empty

Insomnia - not made for the weak of mind, body or soul
I believe that those of us who have been gifted with insomnia know many truths
The truth of ourselves
The truth of this infinite being of a universe
For it is in myself being an insomniac, I've discovered different dimensions
Not just out there, in the world
But in my head
For I have seen the galaxies dance with the cosmos
And the cosmos dance with us, with me
It is in being an insomniac that I have gotten to know who I am
And it is in being an insomniac that I will discover my life's path of genuity, my purpose.
There are no more rooms available for grey areas.

After all the pain and hardships I've seen
My heart remains warm and soft
I did not grow cold or harden in the wake of seeing the ugly parts of life
However I find my heart more vulnerable
The pain in others evokes pain in my own as I listen emphatically to their self loathing
I understand the hatred towards the self
And the broken heart from an old lover
I have not grown cold over the years
I have become a sponge and an open dam
I let it in with open arms
And let it all flood out, uncontrollably

My heart I give to you
swelled and patched
lighter in your familiar hands
I cradle yours close to where mine
had rested, so heavy

Love Needs Nurture.

Even a flower
Needs a drop
Of sentiment.
Without care
It shall
Eventually wilt.

The smallest flame
Is nothing
Without a breeze.
Gone is the flicker.
End of a life,
In one foul blow.

Pop my bubble,
Steal my air.
When I am gone
I shall not care.

Love needs nurture.

First; Can we be friends?
Second; Yes, of course.
As soon as my love is dead,
I will give you a call.
We can do coffee,
One day.

Talk vehemently.
About anything.
Probably, even smile,
As we lie to each other
About not feeling
Anything at all.

It takes time
To **** the truth.
There are no skipping stones,
Or shortcuts
From the pain.

Give love time, please,
To truly wither
And die.
Become nothing
Dry, bitter
A mutual shame.

Then the putrid ash
Of a love denied,
Falls wasted
Crushed, too sodden
To ever fly.

Some time later
We say hello.
I shed a tear
And force a smile-
The only way
Was to say goodbye.

(Gerry Aldridge ©2017)

Mind like a night sky
Far-off stars dying, make me want to die too
Forever gazing at the day sky
Sky blue like the denim above my shoe
The sky looks stained through my window
As I stare, self-contained in thy limbo