i believe in a gentle kind of love
all soft and soothing and
just right
when i am so terribly, irritatingly fragile
fingers running down my back while we lie
rib to rib, heart to heart
listening to the beat, and to the breath
and perhaps it is that, in this world of rough and tumble
of screaming and aching, to believe in a love kind and sweet is
a naivety but i find that
because of all this roaring outside our window, i much prefer
to think of that love sweet and kind
and us, tangled around each other, i think, yes

i find that i believe in a gentle sort of love

Thank you for saving this poor old soul
tired and trembling on my knees
dazed and puked from spinning around
trapped in a cycle was me

In an untimely manner in this unlikely world
you came and brought life and glee
now we spend each day with promises held
there's now hope in thine eyes I see

Thank you for saving this poor old soul
thank you for saving me

The years had brought me here.
It has been a far walk.
But it’s time I took a breather.
Just to muster a look back.

Many were shed along the way.
Perhaps met with many a forked path.
Or simply that the ticks of the hands
had decided different for them.

I’d dug deep,
and I’d seen you…
Amongst several others.

Making your mark
at every checkpoint.

I haven’t been alone.
And I’ll never be…

As long as you’re here,
making these marks with me.

Winter child,
Drink the drink your mothers made.
Eat the bread your fathers gave; and
Step, one foot already in,
To an early grave.

The under shell of
the tortoise looked
like a sunset.
Blasts of color:
orange, maroon, burnt sienna.
I caught them in
the garden at
sunrise, eating a
tomato or chewing into
a head of lettuce.
They always looked so
serious.

I was just a
sunburnt boy, with
cutoff jeans and a
straw hat.
I caught toads too.
But when they peed on me,
I let them go.
I loved that land.
Ponds and streams,
fishing and climbing trees.
oh,
sweet, green
youth.