so in love, you're so in love with him
you think he must be some kind of saint,
and angel sent from heaven who tucks you in at night

you think "this is fairy tale love",
this is "there will be ballads written after us" love,
this is "there's fire in the attic and flood in the basement but i don't care because i'm with you" love

and i guess that's the problem
this is unconditional in the way
that he doesn't even need to love you back
in the same way

but you still love him, anyway,
this is still fairy tale love,
it's just the kind that ends with sleeping beauty sleeping forever
because eventually the prince does sneak out the window
eventually he stops coming back
eventually he stops trying

   -*watch out for warning signs before you run out of road

A tamer version of myself,
  I rise from day to day

Fit for consumption publicly,
  in camouflage I play

Memories deep, and memories stored,
  from oh so long ago

Now sleep inside my attic,
  ephemeral they glow

My current frame of reference…
  four always two plus two

The mundane I show deference,
  to do what others do

But late at night I hear those sounds,
  now coming down the hall

Remembrances to fill my dreams,
  my treasure out of pawn

With sleep unchained, the night on fire,
   I return to who I am

And pray that on tomorrow’s eve,
—my past will come again

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)

I hold you tight up against my body
I take you with me even to the party

I rub you back and forth
Up and down from south to north

I love the way you sing hard and soft
I just can't keep my hands off

I pull you close
From coast to coast

You are beautifully sound
I will never pass you around

Magnificently perfect
You have all of my respect

You are my best friend
Till the end

I left the dust and tumble weeds
to be incomplete and moved
back east to where I was born

The trees crowded together
There was a change in the weather
I asked mom ,
"Is that rain?"

The people were crowded
With one thought and mind
Everything was designated
to be black or white

We caught catfish from
the Alabama River
Swam in pristine streams
full of soapstone

Then we moved again
Crossed Texas on our way west
Crossed the continental devide
Came to rest in Spokane

I sang God Bless America
while sitting on a fire hydrant
Looking at the purple
mountain's majesty

Then off again back east
Crossed Texas the third time
To Panama City , Florida
where we came to reside

There I learned
to abide by the tide
And that some things
you can't hide

Two and a half years
of bliss
Then we moved
once again

And again and again
and again and again
and again , again
again , again , again . . . .

All my travels
All my travails
I have found home
in the moment within me .