Whether George loved Alice,
Benedict didn’t know,
but Alice loved George,
she let it show.

Benedict saw the way
she looked when George
came in the room
or if she spotted him
along the passage,
she’d flushed and gawk
at him like some spotty
schoolgirl (though she
must have been near 70
if a day) and pat down
her grey skirt or mauve
flowered dress and make
sure, without mirror, her
hair was not a mess.

Benedict watched George,
poor of sight and bent slight,
enter the dinning hall
and make straight
for his chair and table,
sit down and fiddle
with the cutlery,
gaze at his face
in the back of a spoon
(though God knows
what he saw with eyes
like his, except blur),
while across the way
Alice would stand,
and girl like, swoon.

Benedict saw Alice
once or twice, when
courage allowed,
stand behind George’s chair
and with fingers twiddle his hair.

George blushed at this,
looked straight ahead,
sensing Alice’s hands
about his neck
in soft embrace,
her lips near,
wanting to kiss,
touched his face.

Benedict guessed
she never ventured
to George’s room or bed,
least not for real,
but maybe in dreams
or in some loving corner
of her aging head.

Whether George
loved Alice,
Benedict couldn’t say,
but he hoped George did
in his own odd way.

I try to smile
I really do,
But it's hard if you've lost a best friend (or two)

I try to be happy,
But can't you see?
It's hard if you've lost a best friend (or three)

I try not to cry,
And I've said this before,
But it's hard if you've lost a best friend (or four)

I try not to hate myself
But as you can derive,
It's hard if you've lost a best friend (or five)

I try to trust you,
But you can predict,
It's hard if you've lost a best friend (or six)

As we lay beneath the stars,
Here I lay among the scars
The world is black and white to most,
But to me the world is just a ghost
My heart was solely yours to find,
And long after came my mind
The black and white became so clear,
I was yours and you were here
The heat of summer came around,
All our clothes fell to the ground
But I could not be yours to keep,
That idea seemed incomplete
For as the autumn leafes took fall,
I was no longer yours to call
I knew some day that it would end,
For now I needed just a friend
A friend in you was a friend in me,
We seemed to be so joyous and free
You came so quickly and dug so deep,
I wished I was only yours to keep
So here i lay beneath the stars,
With you the source of my scars