In every scene

The music, whether real or imagined
Sustains our fears and joys
Suspending the resolution in the final act
The baton held high over the finale'
For the happiest ending ever.

Brightly robed seniors scatter
Freshly earned smiles in bunches
For the procession of post-matriculation
Crowned by grandious pomp
With too much circumstance.

The audience stands and applauds.
The curtain is drawn...
Wet-cheeked fans linger in the after-doubt
As parents try to decide what's for dinner
For the rest of their lives.

Returning to their dressing rooms,
The oily-faced stars of 13 seasons
****** backpacks from bedroom floors
While leaving ***** socks and intentions
Believing they will come home again -

But they never really do.

"Bye! I love you!"
Her perfect hair waves goodbye.
A tail of chiffon disappears
Into the halo of brilliant sunlight
Framing her departure.

Shuffling to the window
A voice whispers
"They are gone so fast."
Not the babies.
The years.

Leaves on the maple
Bow their heads in stillness
Wind closes his mouth in respect.
A moment of silence
For the absence of youth.

From the foring branch
The sparrow's eyes reflect my soul
Knowing there is no song for
Such a time as this.
Grieve, sparrow, grieve.

This seizing world surrenders
Reflecting on the change.
Our neighborhood street
Forbids its traffic.
The postcard goes quiet....

      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A chattering skateboard
Awakens the air
With a mother's touch
Urging the breeze to rise again.
Blow, Wind, blow.

We had some swans,
such lovely ones,
gliding 'oer the water,
I'm sad to say,
they didn't stay.
white feathers on dark water.

I had a father,
he was a kind man.
I'm not the kind of man
he was.

I try hard,
sometimes I fail.
I still look for him
in the mirror.

He fought two wars;
didn't make him strong.
He did that on his own;
he fought his own wars.

Looking back
now that he's gone,
I have to stop and wonder
what was in the water.

My old man
was the kind of man
that someday I hope to see
in the mirror.

r ~ 6/14/14

By: Sverre G. Holter & Digital Asylum*

I|

I am a man. I was put on
Earth to bleed from my hands.
Work is my virtue. I only sleep well
If I'm exhausted.
Your food and shelter is my gain.
My sweat is the salt on our table.

II|

I *am a man, but also child
with a paper-mache heart and
sandcastle dreams, a child wishing
for later tides while we play
splashing in and out of the waves
but the tide always comes,
and castles crumble, and we
we tell ourselves that there's no need for fear
because we will build stronger walls
tomorrow

III|

Today is our day though
Let us work at love.
Let us play with love.
Let us dance until our feet
Blister and we collapse
Laughing into each other's arms in equal fatigue.
All I want is you.
All I have is you.
All I've never lost is love.
It is our costliest toy;
Unbroken

IV|

Unbroken it may be for now
yet the time will come, as with all good things
where life and love will come to its bitter end
our lives will have ran their course
and in that moment, we will know and be known
we will laugh our last laugh
we will drink and be merry
knowing we loved and were loved
and as the water comes washing in
we still stand behind walls of sand
and we will face the tide together

*unafraid