There was an army of ants in the plastic plants
So I poured light through a magnifying glass
And I created a fire on the artificial grass

They scurried and hurried
with flames on their backs
Like soldiers on a hopeless plain,
searching for invisible barracks

And I sighed as they died,
because we are all the same:
Scurrying and hurrying from invisible pain

We went and got lost in the woods,
Didn't we?

Laughing through it all, as we do.
You're beautiful picking blueberries

Like some Eve of Eden,
Not the least bit worried that

We'll lose daylight before finding
Our way,

And cute as Hell when asking if your
Tongue is blue; sticking it out

With your eyes closed.
I brush pieces of forest from your

Shoulder. Somewhere out there
A leaf still smells of you,

The way my hands do now.
I can't stop putting them over

My nose and mouth; agreeing
With the memory of you stating

That we're the most juvenile
35-year-olds we've ever seen.

Lost?
We never were.

Even my doctor says I seem
Ten years younger

Than I did only
Weeks ago.

I'm in love with someone's daughter
living in the shards of a broken home
Cutting herself on two year-old letters
These are moments she can't fake;
reasons to feel alone
So used to abuse, her tears start to shake
I hold her close as her head starts to ache
"I love you too much,
so I can't let your heart break."
She said, "I know you love me,
but you've made a mistake."

I never meant for anyone to be my pulse.
I promise not to step on your feet
if you teach me how to waltz.

the cicadas are singing
and the cats stare in quiet contemplation

a cool breeze passes through our window
and my heart perks at the sound of  your foot steps

love is knowing your steps
and greeting the rhythm of your breath
with wonder and gratitude

Collecting words collecting dust
Sitting on shelves sitting in her mind
No one ever sees them, these phrases
old and beautiful and kind.

Autumn leaves a-fluttering free,
To shroud the land around us; a
Day enshrined in history,
To hold us strong and bind us; a

Nation grieves tranquility
That used to help define us; a
World looks on so helplessly,
But hope and faith remind us, a

Roiling mass of turgid sea
May try so hard to break us; a
Foreign hand may raise in glee,
But it will never shake us; a

Place of magic sanctity
Against the foes that tried us; a
Land for heroes, brave and free,
Is where you'll always find us.

Amen.