I hiked to the peak of a mountain.
Where I saw the salty sea,
Glorious with clear water,
And you were its guardian.
Your eyes pierced into mine.
You saw into my heart and knew I meant no harm.
I was only thirsty from my hike.
So, you held my hand firmly, led me to your heart,
And I bathed.
The water consumed my sorrows.
It seeped into my skin,
Into every pore.
I was reborn,

Until the moment I died again.
Two heavy palms smashed into my shoulders,
And pushed me underwater.
Your poker face could not be broken.
Your grip was strong as steel.
I fought until my body gave up,
And my lungs screamed.

The sand burned my back as air filled my chest again,
And I saw your poker face, broken.
It reminded me of a child's
So full of pain,
After breaking his favorite doll,
And his father breaking him for playing with dolls.
Then I felt the water brush me once more,
And my lungs screamed again.
It escaped my mouth,
But you put your index finger on my lips and hushed me.
You used no words; you only hushed me.
Silence won over.
This time,
You cleansed my skin with the water that once tarnished me.
You healed my wounds, and kissed my forehead.
You were now my guardian,
As I floated with life again.

But will you keep me afloat next time I wanted a drink?

SURVIVAL
When I look in a mirror
I accept what I see.
But beyond the reflection
Begins another journey.

The wolf
And the bear-
Two creatures
With life I share

The wolf is pragmatic
But can be flawed.
The bear however,
Will always stand tall.

Wolf is a mother-
The best protector,
But if needs be
You had best flee.

Bear will come,
Rip the sky from the sun.
And turn raindrops into flames
While dancing as you run.

I was born a lone wolf,
But life beat me down.
So then I found Bear
And felt invincible again.

For Wolf the objective
Is not to find home.
But to prepare herself
For being alone.

And if things get too much,
Feelings, emotions and the such.
Bear will be there,
And you had better beware.

Wolf is not always happy
With the prey killed by Bear.
But she instinctively knows
Nothing in life is ever fair.

Bear killed a friend
Wolf should by nature not have had.
It brought chaos to the jungle
And was less happy than sad.

A thing so dear
It would only cause fear
In the kingdom it thrived,
So Bear decided it had to die.

Everything is relative-

Look at this cute, little wolf
And the big, bad bear.
Wolf could not make you listen,
But Bear made you stare.
(Gerry Aldridge ©2017)

They didn't listen when I said I was tired
I said that being different was hard
Because my jeans  don't fit right
My actual genes weren't right

And so I came out in comparison to everything
Already didn't have a father to teach me
The skies will cry if he ever tries to reach me
Not knowing who to trust was something girls my age don't worry about

They're far too happy living oblivious
And I question myself off of this-
How do they possibly not know
That they are all the same person?


Same gloss on smooth Pink lips
Smiling a shark smile that they do like kindness
And they name the rainbow by shades of eyeshadow- as if there wasn't enough color

   Girls like that are happy with the same person for a week
And yet I cannot be happy with myself for a day
Then they switch partners because "Don't  worry he's sooo cute!"
  
  I wonder if they are happier naive
And how hard it will be for them when they realize how the skies are actually smokey black
And they've been looking up through perfect eyelashes- but beauty doesn't last

   It must be nice always being average
With a cover girl to cover you sitting next to you
And manicured nails to scratch your way through life

Rage does nothing but wither
in the garden wall
still beating
as if it were actually alive
and not Lot's wife:
turned to salt.
My altar of anger is ash
and smoking embers,
reminders
of the heart I used to call mine
that breathed with desire
to change the tundra around it.
I was going to do so much good,
and now, look at me -
a walled garden
of dead things,
slain idols I worshiped
in my sleep,
dreams of revolution rotting
like rosy corpses
as the undertaker
wakes me up just enough
to suffocate from the dirt
of my own inaction.

I am weak-willed and nothing -
I die and live as a whisper
spoken between the grim reaper
tending my grave
and the grass growing from
my decaying soul.