I scanned two lines with some surmise
As over Keats I chanced to pore:
'And there I shut her wild, wild eyes
With kisses four.'

Says I: 'Why was it only four,
Not five or six or seven?
I think I would have made it more,--
Even eleven.

'Gee! If she'd lured a guy like me
Into her gelid grot
I'd make that Belle Dame sans Merci
Sure kiss a lot.

'Them poets have their little tricks;
I think John counted kisses for,
Not two or three or five or six
To rhyme with "sore."'

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art—
    Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
    Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
    Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
    Of snow upon the mountains and the moors—
No—yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,
    Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
    Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever—or else swoon to death.

In the past you were broken
I didn't understand how much pain you were in
I didn't want to believe it
That you were hurting all the time and trying not to show it
Taking pills and cutting just to erase each day
Finally telling someone what you did
You've changed so much since the years have past
It's like those depressing times were never here
I'm glad you've changed and are on the right track
You keep pushing forward and never look back

Beauty is whispered after silence
In emptiness.
I am beautiful
Tonight I don't remember why,
I will never remember why.
Haunted by memories of times I was tamed.
Beauty is wild and free.
Tender and grotesque.
Regrets when you stop holding my hand.
Whispered in a busy crowd.
baby
I'm sorry. Beauty is not this.
Out of breath, out of sleep, tender mangling of love letters
Unrehearsed tango of the lips in the dark.
I will love you forever.
Will never stop trying.
And your silence is beautiful.

I found you.
Among the dust and water that makes up each one of us, I found you in all of your uniquity.
For a lifetime I loved you without knowing it.
And then I met you,
knowing immediately it was you I had loved all along.
Eventually life, pride, ambition took me away from you
to worlds where people sit strangely, eat strangely,
even walk strangely and sleep strangely.
But strangely enough, we were all the same.
And we laughed at this realization.
I took you with me.
We walked along the Bosphorus drinking pomegranate juice,
listening to the drums and strings and rhythmic Ottoman voices that caused our souls to ache.
We tasted sand, brought in on the wind from that barren desert rich in so little but greed.
We visited cities in jungles, where local fare made us thankful for our many hours spent cooking, and perfecting the flavors that help define us.
I took you with me, my love.
You helped me don my suits and tie my ties and kissed me as I held you close before another day's harangue.
But in your mind, you were never there.
And you made me see:
A world separated us. And so I moved it.

Laying on the fallen snow
Quiet stillness around me
For I cannot move
Other than wondering glances

A flickering light off to one side
Coming from a crumbled car
Showing me what I can't believe
That there is blood beside me

I do not feel faint
Just very, very still
For I feel no blood leaving me
Though it must be doing so

It's so quiet that it makes me sleepy
I am suddenly so very tired
I am ready to slip away
But then the silence is broken

I open my weary eyes
To see red and blue lights approaching
And hear a siren growing louder
In congruence with the flashing colors

They draw my attention
And then my fear
As I realize why the police are needed
And remember my seeping blood

I try to bring myself fully awake
I know I need to focus
But the desire to sleep is overwhelming
I struggle mightily to remain conscious

My mind slowly gives in
But it's little to my dismay
For I again am failing to realize
The truth behind my situation

The lights stop moving
They are only meters away
Shoes quickly compress the snow
As help now approaches on foot

With every step is a crunch of snow
That's close enough for me to hear
But I don't, not anymore
For I've obeyed slumber's call