The stage lights fade
Supporting cast
All dispersed
No applause to echo
No encore heard
From the empty stadium.

Two stars remain
Upon the empty stage
As the colors fade
To black and white.

"You's" flew
Like shurikens
With expert
Accuracy;

"I's" were daggers
Digging deep.

From the endless trill of
Stab words
That began in pleasantries,
Their hearts lay
Beating,
Bleeding

And

With each weakened throb
Love life,
Love lusts,
Loves lost
Oozed and coagulated
Till at the others' feet.

I was dreaming lucky
   But woke up cold in hand;
I dreamed I had a dollar
   But woke up cold in hand.

Woke up this morning
   Feel around for my shoes.
You know about that?
   They took yours too?

Sometimes I feel
   Like walkin'.
Sometimes I feel
   Like cryin'.
Sometimes I feel
   Like a motherless child.
Sometimes I feel
   Like I ain't no one at all.

Say brother,
   I can't make change
      For a nickle.

Say sister, oh sister,
   Can you spare me
      One thin dime?

"When a man gets the blues
He grabs a train and rides."

I know
   I ain't no man.

"When a woman gets the blues
She hangs her head and cries."

I know
   I don't feel
      Like no woman.

So when I get me back
   My walkin' shoes,
      Those worn out, old walkin' shoes,
I'm takin' this suitcase
   Full of blues I got
      And ride the boxcar blinds
Past Boogie Street
   All the way to
      Johnson's Crossroads.

Lines in Quotations are direct from Train Whistle Blues by Jimmie Rodgers, 1929

They will not return
To hug their Moms
Dads Wives Husbands
Children

They Stand to Greet
the single file
procession

She hugs,
shakes each hand
of those present for
the solemn
parade that streams
past.

the void made
by the impact
of this mortar
Round of War
has not yet been
realized.

In all the pomp
twenty one rounds
Sal-lute

         p
     a
T           s

This      
              Soldier is laid to rest.

War is hell
RiP
ty 4 ur
Sacrifice

I lay in the
Afterglow
Gloriously
Intoxicated in the little
Miracles

You touched
I didn't flinch
Your voice came and
Blessed my soul

My hazel eyes
Quickly beamed
Like emerald
Beacons
Lighting up
My heart
Setting it ablaze

Oh Yes!
Old Warrior
I longed for
The simpler pleasures
That your
Hands did offer

I won't forget the
Way your fingers felt
Touching my skin
Like warm water

That first flutter
Felt
As your arm wrapped
Around my waist

The shadows of two
Being one
As the sunset cast us over.

"Trim the wick" You said

After your finger
Passed through
Its tongue of orange
Dipped in the
Jasmine scent as your
Callused fingers pinched the
Dancing flame

I felt.  I felt!
I was the most
Beautiful woman in the world
Before you

Some men
Leave
Marks on the heart

Some leave marks
On the body

But YOU
Left
Your mark upon
My soul

As tears formed rivulets
That ebbed
From cheek to neck
And laid upon my heart,
The shapeless One
With magic on
Dried them in
Reverse.

He cupped His hands
Till each was spent.
We drank them
As the sweetest wine.
Grief
Turned to
Merriment.

He danced
With me
Wrapped in
Silent words
And open arms
In the shadows
Of the moon.

I measured the
Stolen moments
Shared, not
In the Moon's tide
Or Man-made time
But in my own
Natural ones.

Three have
Passed
And still
He comes
To call.