In painted moonlight of neon
her dart
pierced his heart

you are my good friend
but can't love you in that sense

and as the ground parted in his pain
he fell to where

he couldn't rise again.

Judy was in the store
and I found her at the back
filling shelves
and I said

how's it going?
and she said
O so so
not like it was

at school
there
you could have a laugh
here everyone is

O got to keep
the customers happy
got to keep them
coming back

she placed the last
of the tins
on the shelf
and paused

you still get
to sit by our lake?
she said
now and then

I said
not as often
as we did
but I have to work

now too
and time gets eaten up
by the work time
you remember that time

we sneaked there
after school
and it was summer evening
and we sat there

watching the sun go down
through the trees
like a departing actor
after a big scene?

she said
sure I do
I said
and the shadows of birds

going off to sleep
and bats
she said
O how I hated

those things
beginning to flap
about over head
and that time

you kissed my neck
so unexpectedly
that I screamed
and it echoed right

through the woods
like I was being murdered
she smiled
and looked around the store

don’t have a laugh any more
it's all so serious here
the staff
the customers

just wish
it was as it was
maybe we
should meet up again

one evening
by the lake
and see the sunset
as we once did

I said
the store manager
came by
and said something to her

and she picked up
some other tins
and began filling
another self

what's he say?
I asked
the *** said
I wasn't

to waste company time
in idle chitchat
anyway
she said

I'd like to get
to the lake one evening
as we used to
maybe Thursday evening

I looked at her hands
holding the tins
how I once held them
and kissed the fingers

one by one
sure
I said
that will be good

we agreed a time and date
and I left her there
giving the manager
a cool eyed stare.

the wavelets,
nibble
at our toes.
as my boy
and i comb
the tideline,
for tiny treasures.
curls blowing,
ever which way
in the salt
tanged breeze.
little hand holds
red bucket,
the
clicksnickclack
of shells
already collected
is a comforting sound.
as we
meander along,
soon we
will turn
and
wander homeward
to warmth
leaving the sealife
to their own
care.....until,
the next time.

Do you remember last cascades of laughter
Till your breath couldn’t take it anymore
Your seams almost opened belly ruptured
From standing you came down to floor!

You laughed first once and then couldn’t hold
Their peals kept gushing like a flood
Mouth hole bared from eyes tears rolled
Laughter invaded your blood!

People wouldn’t know if you laughed or wept
As tears flowed down your cheeks
Such was the fun it did you suffocate
Seemed wouldn’t stop for weeks!

If you remember please pass onto me
I’ll preserve in a bottle that stuff
Only to uncork when it needs be
In the days that I find pretty tough!

I woke up this morning
With the feeling there was something missing
So with all that I have being the clothes on my back
I started out for who knows where

I felt the desire to search for trust
But it turns out it's just my luck
I had come upon the wrong address
Under the suns glare my sat nav blared 'make a U-turn' ahead

Trust up and moved on down the road
Who in this day and age would have ever known
Seems that trust felt the need to leave
And without trust who now can we believe

Perhaps it made friends with love
Or maybe made friends with deception
Something I would never know
And so I was back on my own

I am now on the road these days seldom taken
To find trust and help it prosper
I ask everyone I see if they could help tell me
But it seems trust is only a whisper

I will continue on in my travels
With that strong desire to fill trusts needs
As I am open to any direction
And all possibilities