We hiked mountains and dove into ocean temples
We tasted apple candy, fried onions and sushi platters
Without you to nourish my soil, my earth shatters
In my mouth lingers the dry taste of our kindred kiss

Longing for a touch that is now long gone
I trudge when I walk back to where we walked
In dreams I call (your name), in dreams I fall
Back into your arms…emptiness… alone!

October 2017, Lyon
Dedicated to my former Californian lover, Aaron S.

People look at me and grin
Wonder at the shape I'm in
Exactly what it is that makes me tick

I myself don't rightly know
How it comes or where it goes
I just hope to spend what little's left

Happy is as happy does
Guess I'm happy mostly because
I haven't let life get to me yet

I find it hard to sing the blues
When that song's so out of tune
And can't get that melody inside my head

So I'll continue the way I do
Living life set on cruise
Grinning through it all as I tick

He wasn't much
to look at
all raging
against mediocrity
trying to make sense
of the hurts in the world
by seeing how much
pain he could tolerate
and how many others
could bear
that pain with him

They're all a bit
fuzzy around the
edges,
what with the constant
flux in personalities
and tastes
and it's strange to
watch them try to freeze
the liquid in their souls
so as to have something solid
to hold onto in the rocking
of the seas
and maybe I notice that because
it's a reflection of me
or maybe the secret is
that when I look at people

I don't see them at all.

Here I stand toes in sand
waiting on the shore
The sky is dim the clouds roll in
I know what is in store
There! I see, it comes for me
A wave ten stories tall
If I flee, it will catch me
But if I stay, I fall
Impending doom will be here soon
so what now do I do?
I'll not retreat nor stay my feet
I'll instead...try something new
Oh, threatening wave, oh promising grave
so powerful, fright'ning and large
although I'm scared and unprepared
I'll meet you, with a charge
and if this be death, my final breath
at least you must agree
you master of fears, purveyor of tears
You could not frighten me.

You who goes by "Lonely"
Yes you, who reads these rhymes
Please pause here for a moment
I won't take much of your time

You see my friend, I'm lonely too
In the dark with paper and pen
So I'm writing you this poem
and signing it "Your Friend"

Though I'll prob'ly never see you
nor ever know your name
I do not need to see your face
nor know your cash and fame

I do not care what color you are
how short or tall or fat
I'm weary of all these parties and creeds
So, for a moment, forget all of that

Yes you, dear friend, forget with me
Inhale this moment serene
where we are not opinions or castes
Just two humans with two glowing screens

Be human with me, simple and pure
For a moment breathe deep and feel free
then should you have the time, and a halfway good rhyme
Perhaps write a poem for me.

Signed,
Your Friend