You can’t conflate two nothings
Into something of great worth
You cannot have true progeny
Unless you first give birth.

You cannot wear the laurel crown
Unless you win the race
You cannot be a beauty queen
Without a pretty face.

You cannot swell yourself with pride
And call yourself a hero
If all the actions that you laud
Have added up to zero.
      ljm

I wonder when the infection started

when did that darkness
in my heart begin to grow

like a vine, wrapping around
my arteries, until it became them

blood flow cut off,
until I couldn’t feel my fingers

was I always this cold to the touch?

freezing to the point that
I may as well have been a corpse

depression, they call it

darkness
despair
death

it pulls at my veins, like a tug of war

and it wins, every time

There in the tears of joy
Sings a round moon assuming
Calling to me come home
and be free
Never so astounding
the love flows unfounded
My dear one
won't you come home
Time is fleeting
for those that lingered
now hear they
are weeping
Oh , my dear one
be strong , have faith
let your soul come on home

The potion was in the lotion
that they put on the back
I heard the train's whistle
on down the side track
Harold flew in from Canada
with a Honda on his back
We called him Ole Weird Hendry
because he was way out of whack
Sharon was unsure that I finally figured out
Harold went on to become a doctor
Along the way I chose to dropout
Now the wheels have spun
and the future is past
My ways were never half empty or full
Cause I tipped over the glass
Now I'm dreaming of streaming memories
while I am looking past back
There's the rub in the lotion
the emotions on back
And I hear the train whistling
coming down track

Run with me Sammy
Hold onto the trails of
imagination. I love 
your touch.
You pour through
the branches of my life
like sunbeams through
cognac.

Caroline Shank