they were young and their feelings were true
had their dreams of a life in the mountains
and they spoke of a child or two
in a house with a garden and fountains.

and the day of their marriage was sweet
though it rained in the valley that morning
soon it cleared, sunlight drying the street
and the yard with the wedding adorning.

There they prayed that their love would remain
to each other a vow of devotion
hung a sign in their yard with their name
and their love grew like fish in the ocean

and the best of the years were the days
that their love would bring children with laughter
and the songs of the God whom they praise
to His Kingdom right here and thereafter.

From their lives came a mountain of good
and the children like beanstalks they grew
and in time love released what it could
from their own came the story of you.

they were old and they knew what to say
had a lifetime of stories and told them
to the folks, many came by each day
to the farm, for the stuff that they sold them.

I'm gonna tell a secret
for all we know, a lie,
I'm sure you're gonna to keep it
cause no one else cares why.

We potted wild ivy
and left it sittin' out
the roots we hardly watered
and in spite of years of draught

it climbed upon my outer wall
and once over the sill
our ivy grew into my heart
it's growin' wild still.

And time has past us by my friend
like Ivy up a wall,
a vine of green on everything
which feeds it's will to crawl

Now don't be making promises
let's keep it on the low
We never said "forever"
and no one else will know

I'm just like wild Ivy
I wish it weren't true
my love don't need much love to feed
upon a heart that's through.

Clipping back the foliage
that's crowding out my brain
the roots embedded deeply
are really quite a pain.

The leaves obscure my sunshine
and cloud my vison too
to think our lives could pass us by
without a word from you.

Well you're not one to need a crutch
no swooning butterfly
you tend to life without my touch
or loving lullaby.

I let that wild ivy in
it's just a simple vine
low maintanance and oxygen
I thought we'd be just fine.

But truth be told
this green ain't gold
and bricks beneath are tired
the mortar's cracked from roots which hacked
and into crevice wired.

I never thought we'd live this long
without a word from you
It's time to cut the ivy back
and let the truth be true.

It had been told the boy was old and wise before his time
his locks they say were peppered gray though he was only nine
he grew to be a prodigy, read every book he could
but played as hard out in the yard, this was his childhood.

His skin is fair and freckled, with eyes of grayish green
sometimes they are bespeckled but the clearest ones i've seen
he stared me down the sidewalk and I thought that I would melt
but never told him anything about the thing I felt

I met him then, at seventeen and just a budding rose
much less the height and weight he is but that's just how it goes
I got to know this gentle dude who goes without a sock
the King of Conversation, he's the baddest on the block

He made the grade without the aid of study hall Morrone
Lo and behold God broke the mold, he had a funny bone
but rarely let it out, his quiet kind of fun
his friends will vouch he loves the couch, it's where his nappin's done

Well he's somewhat into music, saw the movie, read the book
periodicals take floorspace while his CDs line the nook,
Lisk ain't into artwork, window treatments, floors or walls,
it's Thanksgiving over Christmas, can't be bothered decking halls

The only one I've ever met who can make me laugh and cry
all in the same moment though I really can't say why
but when I was just seventeen, he turned the big "eight oh"
i wished that I could be around to watch that old man grow.

it's my first cold of the season and my last poem of the year
and though I sit here sneezin', there's nothing we should fear
and I know that he will love this, and he may just shed a tear,
so let's toast, a swig of Lisky and God Bless the coming year!

I asked for the color I had as a child
"I don't think so", he said, and that's putting it mild~

I went to get up from the chair but soon found
the weight of that bib thing was weighing me down~

the eyes of the stylist, so cold and unkind
were narrowing as he approached from behind~

and in his hand something we both recognized
'twas the braid from my worst childhood fears realized!

The one he'd cut off right here at the neck
and left me there wearing a '****'... what the heck!

"You don't want this color, it's way too outdated
and what could be duller, than the one God created~

What you need now is product I'LL mix
a light honey blond with some purple, to fix

the damage you did with your cheap color tricks,
and the thing I hate MOST about all of you chicks!"

"Barberian justice would snip off your locks,
but you've suffered far worse when you turned to the box~

and then to add 'insult', you pulled through the cap
and expecting great highlights, got dried out straw crap.

Next time we'll just give you a "shorty", it's called,
don't mess with my color or you may wind up bald!

the darkening sky, like a sad song
lending peace to my sorrow inside
and just like a lover, that storm cloud will hover
'til that which it bears cannot hide.

it comes without rain, uninvited
yet welcome for that which is brings
my smoldering heart is ignited, excited
blue-gray plays the drums with my strings

at first with the wind chimes, the thunder
like a lump in my throat to my ears
and clouding my vision, that gray-cloud's incision
soon opens and pours down it's tears.

*I gaze out at dancing rain faeries
bouncing off sidewalk and street
I watch with pure joy, like a child with a toy  
the release from my heartache so sweet!

and soon the excitement exhausted
no weatherman needs to announce
the sky's a bright mist, my face has been kissed,
there's no hurt left within, not an ounce!

quiet me, for I'm bleeding
from accidental meeting
of flesh and wiry thorn
inflicted in my dreams last night...
the rose, with reservation
stood by my indignation
and in my imagination  
invited true love's tender bite.

It's not a time for measures
just save the rhyme for pleasures
these words will tell my story here
and this, my friend, the truth.
I'm not a prince's pauper
not one for stripping copper
but longed for love's entitlements
and have so from my youth.

for flowers from a lover
his fragrance under cover
the things which would convince me
that I'm his and his alone
And so this is my story
it's not about the glory
of finding love which had to have
a piece of me to own...

I felt my own quiet pain in being kept at arms length
for a lifetime. never truly tasting
never owning or being owned gently
and so with this certain *****, I understood
i must not grasp this tightly  
Sill so beautiful.  I am loved

Took it to my heart, bled quietly
and occasional whine, or protest silenced by gratitude
for up until now, the smallest crumb was a meal
and so in my heart,
I gazed upon it with hope
cradled it close with open palm and breathed it's sweetness

Oh, tea rose I love you
no need to be anything more than what you are
actions speak louder than words
you have filled my life with hope
Silken petals softly sweep
his soul, my blushing cheek
this must be The One

when from underneath
or within my loneliness
painful doubts arose like smoky trails from silent valleys,
fragrance filled my room, his incense permeated soft sheet
reminders of affection without presence
a heavy bill filled without the physical
isn't that the RIGHT thing?
just enjoy the roses and sweet words

too long for me to mention
that bloom stood tall with tension
babe's words like water, replenished by the hearer
which gave my heart connection
there was no flower dearer
at least not a living one

grateful for my love
but anchored to his  armchair
never wanting more
no word on the future
delicate bloom unbending
we can guess the ending
yes it was unreal. for him it was quite real
in that it bought the attention and appreciation which
filled his own void.  

can this love creating never mating
issuing the tenderness
in words and store bought elegance
hold the lonely heart like wire?
and am I wrong to pine?
Did I not speak my desire?
why on Earth...I pull my hair
to desire
a woman without the pleasure
to keep her shelved like preserves
cased in glass or vase like flower?

and what of my own heart's failure to protest?
am I not fully to blame?
Have I not allowed this to happen?
funny how the fake
included thorny stem
to complicate things
or maybe to buy
this gullible girl's heart strings
and keep her around

tea rose with your thorns
actions speak louder than words
do me something real
heart helped hope to grow
sharp edges I could soften
satisfied love's longing

where within these walls
did I forget my reason
the main point pressing harder.
artificial love
convinced, my heart is taken
filled with evidence

something tore it open
it came from just out yonder
a love beyond mine.
opening my door
the fragrance blew in softly
I caught a whiff of real

outside, a garden
this beauty could not harden
but bloomed with others
and just beyond I saw them
true lovers and I held them
captive in my eyes.

walking past hands clasped
I closed my door discreetly
watched through window pane.
they stopped to smell rose
he very present to her
arm now on her lower back
he went to pick one for her
she held back his hand

kissed her lips and smiled
i could not hear them talking
but what I saw was real.
today I spoke truth
took the fake rose from it's vase
grabbed it from the stem

opened up my window
threw that stinking thing out
babe with bathwater
quiet me because
I am open and bleeding
fake thorns bite is cleansed

never a rose
bought to please an aching heart
could bring more pain.
never a phone call
pressure released eruption
could bring more comfort

no man grew colder
defending his right to stall
preferring himself.
no fool fell harder
cheated not by man, but heart
wanting something real.

No heart learned quicker
lacerated by her own
willingness to wait.  
romantic mediocre
with words and gifts, a joker
I will not fill your void.

and now I sit
a flower in bloom
quietly waiting
hopeful just
to be
us.

"I think we try too hard, he said
we need to laugh much more instead"-
"I think we cry too much, she laughed
we're starved for love until we're fed."

"I think we spend too much he reasoned
need to save for rainy days"-
"I think we leave too much unseasoned
spice it up with mayonnaise!"

"I think we eat too much, he stated
we've got all this fat to shed"
:and I think walking's overrated
lets just ride our bikes instead."

"I think I'm talking to a wall
you cannot hear a word I say"-
"but I've responded to them all
just maybe not in your own way."

I think he thinks too much she pondered
I can't read his mind at all
and every time his eyes have wandered
spikes are sharp before the stall...

"I think I'm needing something more"
and she knows what he's thinking of
"Be my guest, don't let that door
besmirch your tender side, my love."

"I think I'm made for bigger things
than being saddled here with you"-
"but oh be sure those bigger butts
are gonna buck your system too!

She thinks "he has it way too easy,
thinks I want to hear this stuff!"
tells him that she's feeling queasy
"heard it all, enough's enough!"

She thinks it hurts too much to talk
about the things he puts her through
her tendency to shout and balk
has raised the foam up from the brew

and seeing clearer, painful truth
his disregard grew from that day
mistook the *** for love in youth
and clung to that which came her way

Daddy never knew his daughter
never built her up to know
how she was loved above the water
that he drank or his big toe.

It's sad the man that she admired
never knew how she'd be burned.
because the love from Dad required
words and  lessons never learned.

and to the wounding add some salt
the failure of the best to choose her
now she sees it's not her fault
she cannot tell the best from loser.

Mum was quite the same you see
a distance there but never spoken
always mediocrity
discontent, lines blurred and broken.

"I think I'll wait another year
before I set my course to sail"-
"why wait, just throw me off right here
this roller coaster's off it's rail"

to this He says, " You're here beside me
for the long haul as they say"
" I think it's best we keep on riding
tell me later, in the hay."

Lots of pain in barbed sarcasm
each has blocked the other's heart  
words in action killed the passion
boundaries blurred and torn apart.

Respect, protect your precious boundary
that which makes you who we are
love yourself and then each other
shining love and sparkling star.

When the boundary violator
makes you feel less than dirt
tell each other now, not later
how that word or action hurt.

I think we try too hard, he said
we need to laugh much more instead-
I think we cry too much, she laughed
we're starved for love until we're fed.

XO
Relational dysfunction, We are all products of some kind of brokenness which leads to our developing our own dysfunctional patterns. Choosing that which fits into our dysfunctional comfort zones, that which accepts our personal coping mechanisms. This poem illustrates from my own experience brokenness and blurred boundaries. Most important thing to do is forgive others and love yourself . If you can't love yourself , you will never be able to choose the right people to share your life with. http://youtu.be/7a5nmO1P5lo

Your memory serves you
but mine is so lame
it bothers you still
so please tell me again

Who stole your lunchbox
who smashed your new toy
who failed to hug you
when you were a boy
who broke your heart and
who chipped your front tooth
who sapped your energy
who took your youth
who who who who

and who didn't choose you for kickball that day
who left you stranded to walk all that way
who took your Christmas and
who stole your pride
who locked the door and
who left you outside in the rain

What is was the
the reason you
you must take the shame
tell it to get off your back
just the same
let out the anger
and cut loose the pain
grab onto LOVE, baby
Run from this city of blame!

who wasn't there when you needed him so
who made you clean up and shovel the snow
Who was a meany and
who was a grinch
who took a mile when you gave him an inch
who who who who

and who said "I Do"
with their ******* crossed
who dumped you for someone
way better but sauced
who bought you a burger
but wanted much more
who took your hopes
and your dreams to the floor

What is was the
the reason you
you must take the shame
tell it to get off your back
just the same
let out the anger
and cut loose the pain
grab onto LOVE, baby
Run from this city of blame!

who robbed your innocence
who stole your crown
promised the moon
and took off at sundown
the memories haunt us
though we may forgive
forgetting is hard
'cuz it is what it is
we'll do this together
when they're all around
chalk it all up
to the past
and then get outta town!

What is was the
the reason we
you must take the shame
tell it to get off our backs
just the same
let out the anger
and cut loose the pain
grab onto LOVE
and then run from this city of
blame
hold onto each other and
RUN from the city of blame
leave all our baggage
and run from this city of blame.