Head tucked in his chest
She’s rolled into a ball
Forgotten all her stress
Sheltered from it all

His arms draped down her side
Protectively contained
The stillness of the time
A stranger’s look exchanged

The trickling Sunday rain
A shy look to the floor
A pounding head of pain
Sorry, have we met before?

Excuse me sir
I’m searching for
A man who’s lost alone

He left to seek
A distant dream
And wandered far from home

His eyes belie
His wretched smile
A vacant glare of sorrow

His goal forgotten
He’ll know no peace
He’s pursuing a lost shadow

So excuse me sir
You’ll pardon me
If I come across too eager

This man I knew
From days long past
He had a certain demeanour

My memory fails
Why your grin’s so familiar
But I’m a little too proud to say

So I’ll give a fake smirk,
Continue my search
And bid you on your way

A vast swathe
of uncut grain
Thrashing in
The wind

A lone scythe
sitting, watching,
quivering
At the sight before

Though unkempt and
swaying wildly,
Perfect
in imperfection

Though sharp enough
To fulfil its duty,
Sharp enough to
recognise the beauty
Of the unblemished

I shouldn’t have to
tap my feet
to help me
keep in time

I shouldn’t have to
think so hard
to make up
every rhyme

I shouldn’t have to
take a pill
to help me
cope with pain

I shouldn’t have to
ask for hail
to get
a little rain

I shouldn’t have to
apologize
for everything
I do

I shouldn’t have
care for him
to prove
I care for you

I shouldn’t have to
write all this
to get my
message through

I shouldn’t have to
waste my time
when there’s nothing
I owe to you

Twisted and twirled
Weaved and entwined
Our lives hang together
precariously we find

Some crooked, some straight
Some short and some long
The top and the bottom
The weak and the strong

With some raised and lifted
Above and beyond
As others hold tight
Hanging desperately on

But remember how ever
Much you wriggle and bend
We’re all inevitably
Chewed up in the end

With proud ambition
His solitary mission
To conquer
Her mood of dismay

With her music blaring
Shes not one for sharing
He struggles as her
Mind tends to stray

He’s working alone
Her thoughts are her own
She succeeds in
Keeping him at bay

He makes one last attempt
To push through her contempt
And her refusal to give
Him time of day

As her mind starts to crack
She turns and looks back
But too late, he’s given up
Gone away

A page of
glaring white

A slither of
encroaching text

A silent pause
for thought

A verse that
lacks direction

A frustrated
sigh of defeat

An unsatisfying
end