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eons before
puberty
set in

closer to
purity

light
years away
from sin

her name
was flame,
in the local
tongue

we were
eight, and
all she asked
me to do

was knot
up the left
shoulder
threads
of her
dress

it was
a quiet
childhood
moment

yet what
I felt then
was an
inkling
of love
probably

that hours
spent together
watching Tom
& Jerry on VHS

had culminated
to this sweet
little gesture
of innocence
 May 2016 Paul Hansford
River
Cover my eyes
Blindness
Stars and
Unidentified fuzzy objects
In the recesses of my mind
Coming towards me
With closed eyes

The pitter-patter
Of the rain
On my window pane
And Lana is singing melancholy
And my time is spent in sweet folly
Is it all pointless?
Or, what are the signs pointing to?
Is there no truth?

Dilapidated Brooklyn apartment
Me, just a toddler
Pressing down on my eyes with my palms
So I could see stars
Or, like I used to say,
To "watch movies in my brain"

Now, me, twenty two
No longer ignorant and
so much less blissful
Remembering
Where pressing palms on eyes
Can take me.
 May 2016 Paul Hansford
River
I'm the most negative person
I'm the most positive person
I'm the nicest, kindest, loveliest person
you'll ever meet
I'm the meanest, nastiest, cruelest of souls

I'm so skeptical
I'm so open hearted
I live my life with bounded feet
I dance to the beat of my own dream.

I am a conglomeration of contradictions
How the **** am I supposed to know who I am,
What my purpose is,
In which direction to follow
When my soul is both north and south
Light and dark
Love and evil
 May 2016 Paul Hansford
River
Sometimes
I still
Think of you

Only hundreds of miles away
A train took me away
So far, far away
To a new day

I regret to say
That even though mostly
I've forgotten
Let go of the past
Finally
Some days I think about you and
Us
The happy and the sad
The times we snuggled up together
In the morning before you had brushed your teeth
So you refused to kiss me
But I still stole kisses from you anyway

And then sometimes
I remember the breakup
And how ugly it got
And how cruel we became
Slandering each other to our friends
And calling each other names
So I wonder if it was true love
Like we said it was
And even if the onlookers disagree
I think I know
That we loved each other, maybe, once

I fear intermittently,
I get terrified
Of the thought
That I will never fall in love again
With someone else
The way I fell in love with you

And some alien longing
That I try so eagerly to repress
Is still beating in my chest
Some wish born 6 years ago
When I was so young
And we held each other in our arms
And I told you I loved you
And you got so excited, you almost cried
And you kept telling me again and again and again
"I love you. I love you. I love you!"

And then eventually,
Months later
those words evaporated
As we separated
And even though we claimed to still love each other
I could no longer find a genuine love in you
And I think it had left me too
Only to be replaced by selfishness and hate

I have
This weird dream
Two people sitting at a screen
One expressing her soul
The other receiving,
Reading
But where does this knowledge go?
My intention is to move your soul
But does it fail?

Sometimes I still think of you
And I find it unwarranted
But I can't help myself from sinking back into the
Warmth of these memories
The nostalgia brings me ease
It takes me back to a time
When I still held hope in my youthful heart
Before the trauma reshaped me
Before the disease
Of my identity
Re-made me
Into this cynical, skeptical being
Who can't receive relief

Sometimes I experience
A vestigial grief
For everything I once had
That I took for granted.
 May 2016 Paul Hansford
River
Persevere, my dear
For everything you lack
And all the voids unfilled
One day, soon
I promise
You're happiness will overflow

Maybe it will be
The day you die
When you realize
All the ego's lies
Were making you unsatisfied

But I hope today
Is a different day for you
I hope today
You don't make yet another excuse
To self-sabotage and continue on in your abuse
Of your beautiful body and
Your magnificent mind
I truly hope that you decide
To be kind to yourself

Trust me,
I would know
It's not always easy
To feel like you are pleasing
You get addicted to appeasing
Other's egos
But my dear
Wrap yourself within the warmth of your own arms
Because today,
You don't have to feel this way,
You are safe
You don't have to be addicted to your vices
That only bring temporary relief...
No darling,
You can make a change today in your life
And persevere through the trials of transformation
Until one day,
You awaken
To eyes crystal clear
And a heart that can feel again.
We are blessed with radiant love
Open your arms and release the
Challenges that you've held tightly
Gripped in your arms and hands
Open your heart to the radiant love

Release tension and surrender the
Need to control and things will
Start to get better ensuring our
Happiness within our daily lives
Allowing our spirit to soar higher

Make the time to reward yourself
Keep your energy and motivation
At a consistently high level and
Make time for self care today and
Always open your heart to love

Turn on the universal light of love
Elevate your vision to a more loving
Vantage point seeing only the beauty
Affirm what you desire ,release fear
And open your heart to radiant love
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