maple leaf ragtime
dancing around the maypole
tap the tree at dusk
when dancers are sugar sweet
syrup is very sticky

The flower of destiny
Has no an untimely ending
At the growth

Pillow

You have been the pillow
I lay my weary soul upon
A soft cradle for my woes  
Molding to my needs
While supporting my dreams      

Copyright 2017
Richard L Ratliff

And I told myself that I was fine. That I had moved on. I forced myself into believing that the waters were calm and they would remain shallow. But dams can only hold back so much water, and the flood gates seemed to have reached their limits. Now I'm drowning in tears and I can't quite remember how to swim.

I fall in love
With the love
You've given me .

I was designed, with the perfect fragments,
crisp ice in your lemonade.
the bright light shining through your window pane.
I'm the last sip, you're thirsty for more.
The undying gift, forever giving more.
The particles that reside inside, gold flakes.
Heavens sake, the earth quakes.  I am your biggest mistake.
I embody, your body with every breakable bone.
I am made of stone, you are made of dust,
collecting on me, with every slight touch.

i want to sew this date onto my
heart for ever,
because that's when you,
so careful and so nervous,
told me how you feel about me.

That's what the voices in my head told me every time I set out to make some kind of statement in an antiquated form that would most likely be overlooked by every one of my friends.

But with beer and vanity and pigheaded persistence,
I managed to ignore them.