I brush your spine with my fingertips
I kiss the lines that lead to your treasure chest
I rest in the enigma, I rest in your charisma
Waiting to explore your oceans
Can't resist you, your gaze has me frozen
frozen in the moment, velvet kisses on your mind like a poet
lean into it, lean into the moment

there was a time when i could wrap my arms
around your neck
and put all of my weight on you
i think to myself
as i hold you
and make sure you don’t fall

did i feel as light as you do now?

on the lean of life

I gave my hand, leaving it hanging
                   there like a bare branch
of unfulfilled swaying.


You just looked down at
it as if  I were dead wood.
                I was felled by your
ignorance, they say trees
make no noise when they fall.

I'd taken out the hillside of respect
for you when mine fell to my side.

          Offered a branch
and you
       felled it for your ignorance.

Never again shall I offer you an
    extension, you'll fall alone
            in the woods of regret
no branches to lean upon...

Escape
a roundel by Geoffrey Chaucer
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Since I’m escaped from Love and yet still fat,
I never plan to be in his prison lean;
Since I am free, I count it not a bean.

He may question me and counter this and that;
I care not: I will answer just as I mean.
   Since I’m escaped from Love and yet still fat,
   I never plan to be in his prison lean.

Love strikes me from his roster, short and flat,
And he is struck from my books, just as clean,
Forevermore; there is no other mean.
   Since I’m escaped from Love and yet still fat,
   I never plan to be in his prison lean;
   Since I am free, I count it not a bean.

**

Original text:

Sin I fro love escaped am so fat,
I never thenk to ben in his prison lene;
Sin I am fre, I counte him not a bene.

He may answere, and seye this or that;
I do no fors, I speke right as I mene.
    Sin I fro love escaped am so fat,
    I never thenk to ben in his prison lene.

Love hath my name y-strike out of his sclat,
And he is strike out of my bokes clene
For ever-mo; [ther] is non other mene.
    Sin I fro love escaped am so fat,
    I never thenk to ben in his prison lene;
    Sin I am fre, I counte him not a bene.
              Explicit.

I looked for you
Amongst the pale and grey
As I saw you fading away
Melting
Into the concrete
Falling to defeat

So I bent a knee
Inaudible prayers for you
Then unlaced my walking shoes
Time
I placed into your cup
Hoping it would be enough

No plan to stop the tears
Inelegant, no grace
Shirt wet where you buried your face
Grief
I lost you in your pale and grey
But I know I’ll find you again in a smile

We’ll speak and measure
Only the amount you need
Contemplating long walks and sore feet
Rising
Don your shoes, pick you up
As you did for me miles before

I hover over fractured water
the porcelain compels me to lean closer

"I am not lovable"