Mar 2020
For a friend
Who got lost in a war
And never seemed
To find his way home
Again
For an innocence
That he wore as a cloak
Until it was ripped
From his shoulders
And left to burn
Who never talked much
Until I cracked him open
And peered inside
And saw his colors
Bursting, twirling,
Beautiful beautiful beautiful
A smile that was
Seldom given away
But seldom fake
And always
Beautiful beautiful beautiful
Who first introduced himself
Without flashing lights
Or a decent conversation
Just a name
Plain and simple
Just his name
Who was there
The next week
Same place, same time
And all he said was
It’s nice to see you again
Plain and simple
But with time
He grew
And so did I
Next thing you know
He’s my brother
Who was there for deep talks at coffee shops
And late night drives
And words of wisdom
Through telephone lines
Beautiful beautiful beautiful
Who everyone thought
Had a heart of gold
But no one could touch it
Except me
When I got close
And held his heart
Which wasn’t made of gold, but something warmer than that
And I held it to the sky
For the world to see
And maybe that scared him,
But his heart just kept
Beating beating beating
Until the day it stopped
Turned cold
And bit at the hands of whoever got near
And the world took their golden boy
The boy who stood taller than the clouds
And made the room around him
Melt into a puddle of glorious peace
They took their golden boy
And left him in the waves
To drown
Drowning
Drowned
Who never fought back
As they kept
Beating
Hitting
Beating
Who stayed silent as they spilled his blood
And broke his bones
And burned his
Beautiful beautiful beautiful
Cloak of innocence
All because he was a boy
And he liked a boy
Who
The next time I tried to cradle his heart
Flinched away
And pretended he couldn’t hear me
Pleading
Crying
Please come back
Who claims he left for college
But I can still see him
Running
Running
Running
Who got lost in a war
All guns turned on him
And kept his head high
With a smile that has become
Often fake
But always
Beautiful beautiful beautiful
Who will continue to be
The boy who could make music out of shadow puppets
Magic out of a thunderstorm
And fairies out of 4th of July sparklers
Beautiful beautiful beautiful
Until he finds his way home
Again
Who got lost in a war
And never seemed
To find his way home
Again
For an innocence
That he wore as a cloak
Until it was ripped
From his shoulders
And left to burn
Who never talked much
Until I cracked him open
And peered inside
And saw his colors
Bursting, twirling,
Beautiful beautiful beautiful
A smile that was
Seldom given away
But seldom fake
And always
Beautiful beautiful beautiful
Who first introduced himself
Without flashing lights
Or a decent conversation
Just a name
Plain and simple
Just his name
Who was there
The next week
Same place, same time
And all he said was
It’s nice to see you again
Plain and simple
But with time
He grew
And so did I
Next thing you know
He’s my brother
Who was there for deep talks at coffee shops
And late night drives
And words of wisdom
Through telephone lines
Beautiful beautiful beautiful
Who everyone thought
Had a heart of gold
But no one could touch it
Except me
When I got close
And held his heart
Which wasn’t made of gold, but something warmer than that
And I held it to the sky
For the world to see
And maybe that scared him,
But his heart just kept
Beating beating beating
Until the day it stopped
Turned cold
And bit at the hands of whoever got near
And the world took their golden boy
The boy who stood taller than the clouds
And made the room around him
Melt into a puddle of glorious peace
They took their golden boy
And left him in the waves
To drown
Drowning
Drowned
Who never fought back
As they kept
Beating
Hitting
Beating
Who stayed silent as they spilled his blood
And broke his bones
And burned his
Beautiful beautiful beautiful
Cloak of innocence
All because he was a boy
And he liked a boy
Who
The next time I tried to cradle his heart
Flinched away
And pretended he couldn’t hear me
Pleading
Crying
Please come back
Who claims he left for college
But I can still see him
Running
Running
Running
Who got lost in a war
All guns turned on him
And kept his head high
With a smile that has become
Often fake
But always
Beautiful beautiful beautiful
Who will continue to be
The boy who could make music out of shadow puppets
Magic out of a thunderstorm
And fairies out of 4th of July sparklers
Beautiful beautiful beautiful
Until he finds his way home
Again
