“I saw her today at the reception”

My eyes filled with changing emotions
In satin gown and fire brand hair
A china doll beyond the display case
Happiness was breathing the air

“In her glass was a bleeding man”

A shadow of someone on the platform
I could see his face wracked in pain
Scars of here and prior altercations
Acid falling in the guise of rain

“She was practiced at the art of deception”

Behind that sequined mask she stood hiding
A smile painted in pastel red
Pretending a friendship is more than just golden
Wishing the other were endlessly dead

“Well I could tell by her blood-stained hands”

Pointing fingers dripping in excess waste
Smearing the drapes of lipstick tapestry
Planting the seed of doubt deep within
Smirking as she said these words to me

“You can’t always get what you want”

I am helpless, tied to my daily routine
Knowing that distance stands in my way
Concrete and asphalt paths may lead to you
but the detour called life keeps me from moving

        You lie in pain, it is endless it seems
        Draining of smiles and stamina, encroaching on freedoms
        Bringing your heart to the curb, wallowing in confusion
        Deep within the grip of fever’s melting shadows

Invoices pile up and calculator batteries run down
A swift arm across this desk reveals my frustration
As folders and tape dispensers collect in a pile on the floor
staring up, wondering, “What did we do?”

        You cry of dreams shattered and an eclipsing sun
        swaying in darkness on couch cushions
        deformed and buckling under the pressure
        as illness makes itself at home

If only I could be there, by your side
Doing what…I don’t know, something, anything
Holding your hand, brushing your hair
Silent whispers of affection, whether they do any good or not

        You sleep, short periods of painless still
        Beneath sweat drenched sheets, locked away in nightmare cages
        Seething and fuming on horrors door step
        Pleading for help that you know wont come

And here I am, shackled to a wooden structure with sticking drawers
Smirking employees and annoying customers
doing their best to distract me, as I write…poetry
Yeah, poetry…love verses because…well…because

it is the only way I can touch you
and
        still your skin eludes me

~


Soft flurries of affection
find my eyes lost in the prism
of the beauty that engulfs my world

For to inhale is to fall into
the scent of sweet essence riding
the breeze exhaling from your skin

As words pour on the page,
my fingers dance in rhythmic patterns
now wrapped warmly about my thoughts

I have wondered, quietly to myself
where is it they are born,
how do they flow so easily

from a mind that constantly spins
in whirls of dream-like visions
kaleidoscopic views and frantic desires,

where each vowel, noun, adjective or verb
in feathered shapes of ink, somehow
scribble silhouettes of my love for you

It is now that I notice,
sitting in the frail sunshine of the dawn
whispering on salmon clouds, you are awake

that my hands are empty, my fingers still
for it seems as I write of you, my endless everything,
it is my heart that holds my pen

~


Changing directions
In a forestalled motion,
balanced on the side of truth while practicing losing my step
in the rushing waters of life…
I slip

Clinging to a lone branch
I find it blocking the sky, pulling shadows from mist
and teetering on the edge of someone’s sacred sanity

My eyes,
stern and fashioned of blinded occurrences that swallow
the light of day and the masks of sympathetic stares,
focus

For in the distance,
tapestries woven of heartbeats glisten on the ripples of a naked moon beam,
motioning to me in pleasing movements a’ dance on its reflections

Passionately in syncopated volumes she whispers,
louder than the hope now swirling in the rising swells
and broken slivers of drastic wastelands which
sit vacant in my mind

“Float to me”,
I hear as the cool waters so elegantly gather about her perfect feet
Her toes grip the rocky floor in such beauty that I fall helplessly,
allowing nature’s crest to take me, singing me sweetly to this pristine dream

Disbelief churns in fountains of doubt fed wishes and desires
as I submerge in the beauty that is her
Engulfed by white capped rapids beating faster…only my heart

She, with silken fingers plucks me from the surf,
her fragrance, lilac and magnolia, intoxicate me

We stand, shades of the deep sky and starlight beacons illume her face
As fireflies play in the trees and
our lips meet, my pulse floods with fever

Her desperate thoughts invade my elated mind and I agree
Together we plunge to the depths of forever and I slowly drown in her love