I wanted to write a poem about flowers, so that's what I did.
It was short, expressed how I feel, and cut like glass.
I showed my father "Flowers" and he thought it was mediocre.
And I said, "No, "Mediocre" is the poem where I talk about dying,
and I'm trying to stay alive, so I wrote about flowers."

Flowers strangling soil plots with their roots, with their existence.
And to hurt something you love with your existence is a terrible feeling.

Sometimes forever lasts just
a second
a fraction of a second
An instant.

Sometimes forever lasts
Forever.

Forever is like
light that crumples into dust
at the slightest touch.

Forever is like
the echo that never quite reaches
the bottom of the pit.

Forever is like
rekindling fire from soggy wood,
what sparks that find their life
fly away the next instant.

Forever is just out of reach.
It'll come tomorrow


Forever is gone the moment
you reach it
*until the next time

you took
every bit of happiness
and stored it
in a fragile case

you took
all my love
and stored it there, too

so when
you dropped
my case

my happiness
and love
were shattered

and you
walked away
still whole

I wish to study every point on your surface area
Let me rationally master your geometry
You prove your own stated theorems
And I love you like the salt loves the sea.
Our equation has no solution
No particular angle of elevation
Lost in all those likely probabilities
Your place in my heart has no substitution.
Your graph work and figures make no sense
Before the volume of love in my heart
You are as confusing as Algebra can get
And I tried ever so hard.
Your imaginary roots and relations,
Beautifully intersecting truth and lies
Your complex imperfections I adore
Pain from within fills my eyes.
I must admit that I never understood why
We were never collinear or side by side
The distance between you and me is parallel
I know, but I don't know why.

things are
going
to change
soon
and i'm not
sure
i'll be able
to handle
the harsh
reality
of
all of us
apart

We are carelessly thrown together creations ;
Living on the brink of extinction .

We are the very sign of detachment ;
No affection only self destruction .

Stardust
Indeed, everything is stardust,
Yes, you and I both,
The chocolate wrapper blowing down the street,
The cat arching its back as I walk by,
The child skipping, and the rope,
The watching dog, licking its paw,
Nonchalant to the whole world.

The tree in the forest,
The axe ending its life,
The startled squirrel escaping
The grubs feeding on its leaves,
(Visible and invisible)
Land ocean and sky,
All are, and forever will be,
Stardust.

© Paul Chafer 2014