over the years
life leaves its traces
on our bodies, our souls,
in our memories

    the moment when a broken twig
    just barely missed the eye
    of a cavorting child

the first time promises
turned into cheats, betrayal, strife
adding injustice to the loss of trust

    the day when suddenly
    you could not read
    the writing on the blackboard any more
    and needed glasses

the time when playing the piano
got so painful that you had to stop dreaming of a pianist’s career

    love’s first elations
    followed by despair and disappointment

some lucky instances as well
have kept you kicking & alive until this day

    crashing through the old glass door
    mostly unharmed
    with your first scooter

during a summer job at the steel mill
seeing just your leather working glove
    and not your hand
disappear into the hydraulic power press

   getting away with just a crick in your neck
   when your idiot friend caused a car crash
   that left only small pieces of your glasses
   in the wreck

out of them all
the scars of loss
    or threat of loss
are such that never die

    your little son saved
    by last-minute surgery

sitting at your daughter’s bed
for several days
until high fever finally abated

   your mother’s unexpected death
   on the first day of spring

the slow and dreary suffering
your father bore with desperate pride
a few more years

all these engravings
   and many more
written by the flow of time and space
are waiting just around the corner
    from your daily living room
mixed in with fonder memories
of joyous time and wonderful events

together they have shaped
the person that you are
your life, your world

which you still try
to understand

When yer high on a streak
And no doubt its a freak
Aint nothin can beat yah
Not luck bad ner good
Dont doubt its a bet
A streakers regret
Tho yah aint beaten yet
The times surely set
Not by fate or yer odds
Ner the whim of the gods
But by an incredible drive
To keep going
Then die.

Back then I was once told,
"Go out and meticulously pick the right one, darling."
Search for inner motives that lie within,
Look at every sign conveyed by an innocent grin.

Before I once knew,
Preserving and restoring is what I should do.
All my youth and all that I have left to offer.
'Till the time comes when I have chosen one among all the other.

Honey, you should know, I've followed every order.
Chased a dream after a dream and got to know every soul.
I did what I was foretold.
And still found myself wondering, "What have I done wrong?"

I've been, as you say, nice to them all. Picked the nicest one among the four.
Treasured and held it dear for long
Thinking this is it. The real deal after all.
Yet as it appears, it's just a facade. They got me fooled, once more.

So when should I know whom to pick?
Will time be enough to uncover the masked persona we keep?
Or do chances really happen and fate has its own course?
Thinking twice of when do I get here and...

"How far should I go?"

and i rip off the chain you got me three years ago
and i chuck it at the mirror
and it shatters the glass
seven years of bad luck my ***
because if karma existed i wouldn't still be around
and you
you would be anything but what you are
because you are everything that ever meant anything to anyone who ever cared
and i was the anyone who cared
and i am the one who cares
and 'He' doesn't exist because if he did
why would 'He' let me feel like this
over you
someone who wouldn't look me in the eyes
someone who put on a show to leave me for someone new
and every little while I'll ask mutual friends how you've been
because i care too much not to check in
and it's always the same answer but i know better than to believe myself
because you're not better off without me, but then again
you weren't better off with me
so i will pick up the pieces of glass and put them somewhere where they are not a danger to me or my bare feet
and then i will go to bed
because the only way i can get away from you is to sleep
because my dreams are still blank.

Be a lady, young luck!
You're to me so dear.
Light be in the dark!
Don't let pain go near.

Set us all, pretty, free.
Help our honest fight.
Never ever  let us be.
Wield my sword tight.

I see a bird, red
and black his wings, fluttering
bright eye in glossy head

will he speak?