A free bird leaps on the back
Of the wind and floats downstream
Till the current ends and dips his wing
In the orange suns rays
And dares to claim the sky.

But a BIRD that stalks down his narrow cage
Can seldom see through his bars of rage
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
Of things unknown but longed for still
And his tune is heard on the distant hill for
The caged bird sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
And the trade winds soft through
The sighing trees
And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright
Lawn and he names the sky his own.

But a caged BIRD stands on the grave of dreams
His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with
A fearful trill of things unknown
But longed for still and his
Tune is heard on the distant hill
For the caged bird sings of freedom.

It was the simplicity that struck me,
That stopped me.
That single simple tear,
Tearing its way through the facade
Forging through her make up,
Revealing the pale, naked truth beneath.
Before falling silently
Into oblivion.

Her eyes seemed to shine
With a heart wrenching tragedy.
Her hands trembled
Her voice shook,
And she bit her lip
With a sense of desperation
With a need to control
The screams that brewed beneath.

Is it so easy
To break a heart?
I watched as the light left her eyes,
As the hope left her,
And her body crumpled.
She became so small,
So broken,
In such a public place
Her world was torn apart.

The waitress kept working,
The patrons kept chatting,
But I could not hear
over her heart cracking.
Slowly her mask was melting
The bravado disappearing,
And the vulnerable reality started to show.

Now the tears are flowing fast,
Hot and heavy they are drowning her.
She is gulping for air,
She is stifling the sobs,
She is shaking from the pain.
She doesn't see me,
She doesn't see any of us.

But I see her,
I feel her.
I can hear her heart breaking,
I can hear the white noise
Of so many thoughts racing through her mind.
I can feel her tears
As they burn down my face.

Is it so easy,
To break a heart?

i remember sitting on the edge of a wishing well
looking down
seeing all the shiny coins
and i wondered
what the people wished for
and if anyone wondered
what i wished for

i remember starring at the clouds
they looked like feathers and pretty daisies
and i wondered
if anyone was looking
at the same cloud as i
and if they saw the daisies as well

My wife, a psychiatrist, sleeps
through my reading and writing in bed,
the half-whispered lines,
manuscripts piled between us,

but in the deep part of night
when her beeper sounds
she bolts awake to return the page
of a patient afraid he'll **** himself.

She sits in her robe in the kitchen,
listening to the anguished voice
on the phone. She becomes
the vessel that contains his fear,

someone he can trust to tell
things I would tell to a poem.

Never did I believe
In a soul so spotless that it glistens,
So pure that it lights up
the darkest sorrows within me –
sets them aflame, you see,
leaving behind naked joy
No different from a Phoenix;
Winged, innocent, radiant.

Never once did I believe
that my heart could bleed
itself dry for another –
at the pain I caused them
or at the pain life did,
as life has a way of doing
To the most beautiful of souls
In its quest for balance.

Never once did I believe, you see,
In all this and much more
Until the day I grew up
And saw you for who you were –
My guardian angels
Disguised under layers of skin
And love, and concern, and kindness
And the faces of my Mother and my Father.

Never did I feel so worthless,
As the day I looked long and hard
At you, and then at myself,
Wondering what I ever could have done
To deserve love in such abundance
Love with so much selfless abandon
Love, so unconditional;
What I ever did to deserve the both of you.

Never did I once believe in prayer
Or that all we had to do was ask,
But I find myself defying
Every last belief we share
In the hopes that someone up there listens
And puts you out of your pain
That you go back to being my healthy, happy Father,
The one no sorrow could ever have touched.

As for you, who’s reading this,
I implore you to pray,
Pray for a Father who makes me believe
In the beauty of a man’s heart
For his sickness may not be fatal,
But it bothers him nonetheless
And of all the things I cannot let pass by unattended,
Their discomfort is foremost.