I'm tired of beauty
incessantly meddling in my affairs

luring me to venture outside myself
revealing hidden radiance within

disguising life's dismal undercurrent
reducing it to a superficial veneer

randomly appearing by surprise
stubbornly eliciting a smile

performing alchemy on the mundane
dousing my awareness in the elixir of life

beauty...
the pulchritude of spirit...that's all it is...

Blowing smoke
Rolling up
Let it burn
Take a puff

Little escape
From the day
Open minds
Stolen time

Filled to the rim
Sips with friends
Tilt up the end
Pouring again

Little break
From a life
Open bottles
Stolen dances

Party with them
Party with us
Party for fun
Party for love

Walk away without a sound
Leave no footprints on the ground
Leave no trace of where you've been
Leave for reasons unforeseen

Walk away with head turned down
Grab the first ride out of town
Blame it all on someone who
Didn’t do what you wanted to

Leave no sorrow in your heart
Leave no room for it to start
Pretend that our love never lived
Pretend there’s nothing to forgive

Walk away and don’t look back
Don’t dare tremble; don‘t attack
Don’t wonder where the love has gone
Or where we both could have gone wrong

Take a plane so far away
That your memories fade to grey
Do your best to  run and hide
Don't ever stop to wonder why

Just pretend I don’t exist
Time’s erased me from your lips
Just pretend we never kissed
I never rested on your hips

Walk away without a sound
Leave no footprints on the ground
Leave no trace of where you've been
Leave for reasons unforeseen

James H. Webb

Were a glass
Of white wine
May yours always be


Half full


Minimal
Soul Survivor