Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com
Dispatches for the Colonial Office

                    The Destruct Sequence Has Been Activated


                   Upon the occasion of suddenly feeling old  
                   while sitting comfortably in a lawn chair
                   on a rare warm afternoon in February


The destruct sequence has been activated:
The photon torpedoes have all been fired
The memory software is badly outdated
The phaser comm panel cannot be re-wired

The main drive has stopped; the batteries are failing
The passageways are blocked with fallen debris
The controls on the bridge are uselessly flailing
The ship is listing slowly, degree by degree

Everything aboard ship is antiquated –
The destruct sequence has been activated

i can feel you
distancing yourself from me
i can feel continental drift
i wonder, do the shoes
you wear to run from me
have holes in them?
or do you go barefoot
careful not to make a sound
in your retreat. "cover your tracks & don't look back" i imagine
your demons whisper daily
as you are growing fond of me
i wonder if your heart puts up a fight when you want to see me
or if it's a massacre
& the demons dance
on dreams you have
of us holding hands
do you wander to your car
only to find yourself back in bed?
do you put your makeup on
just to take if off again?  
is your imagination of me
a graveyard, or a pair of open arms
that are inches away
but just out of reach?
you see, what i've been so afraid
to tell you for so long,
why i feign sometimes
before speaking
careful not to tell you
all my unspoken promises,
it has to do with the night you had your head on my chest and confessed you never thought my heart
could beat like hummingbird wings:
i apologize for my silence
what i've been trying to say
is that my heart hasn't slowed down
since the day we drank coffee together
continents apart

Marry the person who loves you,
Than the one you love
That way you wil remainl the captain of your team.
26/2/2025

I hesitated,
That's my sin.
I should have gone forward
Not back to where we begin.

I hesitated, 
And that's annoying.
As I could be bombastic
Yeah, that'd be more gratifying.

fingers serve a purpose
in case you didn't know
the one you tend to point with
also picks your nose

the pinky at times digs deeply
removing wax so you can hear
is dainty at tea parties
holding itself aloof up in the air

with its next-door neighbor
who says...put a ring on it
men in this could care less
but women live, breath, and want it

and let's not leave out the middle
who lashes out in anger
when of course you add the voice
the faster the finger gets there

as an added feature
there's the thumb that tags along
helping you to get there
be it somewhere else or back home

so, use your fingers wisely
and they'll reciprocate
keeping them close to you for ready use
to easily display from your pocket safe

...because you never really know these days
when you might perchance need a good wave