I always feel too much, and
you never feel enough, like
two halves of the wrong circles
fighting to become whole.

So is this how it ends? Or we
could try and make a square.
I always care too much and
you care just the right amount,
so this one's on me.

You usually know what to say.
So we try sine and cosine.

They work. We're waves.
It's a throwaway sunset.
It's time.

The devil is dancing on
your shoulder. All the
angels are asleep on mine.

You wake up to a golden haze
Rays tearing through your light curtains
Reaching the layer of your half-asleep almonds

You stretch your body like a roaring Lion
Feeling the magic run through your spine and beyond
Relaxing on the loud sigh escaping your anatomy

You admire your ruffled hair in the empty mirror
Running your hands to clean the mess of last night’s terror
Struggling to remember the mystery of your 7 secs of nightmare

You crunch and munch on the sweetness filled river
******* on the last drop of heaven
Craving for more paradise to flow

You put on your pretty sundress with matching earrings
Looking like a princess you hear the door ring
Hurrying to open the door only so eager to meet the prince next door

You fix your hair now and then
Hoping he won’t lock his eyes with your distress sense of sight
Walking like a queen with butterflies inside

You sit across the view you longed for
Taking every chance to celebrate the most awaited day
Tearing your eyes away from the menu to only finding a beautiful pair of eyes

You struggle what to look at
Deciding between the plate or the soul of wholesome
Diving into the red wine calms the butterflies inside

You muster the courage
Putting your hand on top of his
Taking in the bliss and finally saying “thanks for lunch”

You walk hand in hand by his side
Enjoying the shores hit the rocks time by time
Stealing a glance of his deep dimples smile to smile

You see the sky changing hues
Yellow to orange to pink to purple to anything but blue
The sky is changing but we stay true to the view

You find peace
Calming your soul
Reliving happiness

You both are looking at everything except each other
Ending the night with no words
Slowly closing the gap between each other

You feel the butterflies returning home
The Sun is setting
The door is closing

After a bright day with a brave soul and a breathtaking view
I wait for the rays to welcome me into a new day
Sweet dreams

A half burnt smoke never tastes the same
As an un-lit cigarette.
It’s the same with love.

We can never tumble back in time to;
Happy nights nuzzling in bed,
Clandestine kisses on the dock at midnight,
Drinking in glorious sunsets and city lights.
As if we could ever pretend that the world was perfect.

We can never dance back into;
Long car rides to Victoria,
Drunk laughs in the rain,
Late night cuddles on the couch
Playing video games to our hearts content.

In all honesty, I don’t need to live in the past
I like smoking full cigarettes to make them last.

The Toast
by Michael R. Burch

For longings warmed by tepid suns
(brief lusts that animated clay),
for passions wilted at the bud
and skies grown desolate and grey,
for stars that fell from tinseled heights
and mountains bleak and scarred and lone,
for seas reflecting distant suns
and weeds that thrive where seeds were sown,
for waltzes ending in a hush,
for rhymes that fade as pages close,
for flames’ exhausted, drifting ash,
and petals falling from the rose, ...
I raise my cup before I drink,
saluting ghosts of loves long dead,
and silently propose a toast—
to joys set free, and those I fled.

Originally published by Contemporary Rhyme. Keywords/Tags: toast, death, time, passages, dreams, clay, flesh, ash, sun, sunset, age, grave, end

Sunset
by Michael R. Burch

This poem is dedicated to my grandfather, George Edwin Hurt, who died April 4, 1998.

Between the prophecies of morning
and twilight’s revelations of wonder,
the sky is ripped asunder.

The moon lurks in the clouds,
waiting, as if to plunder
the dusk of its lilac iridescence,

and in the bright-tentacled sunset
we imagine a presence
full of the fury of lost innocence.

What we find within strange whorls of drifting flame,
brief patterns mauling winds deform and maim,
we recognize at once, but cannot name.

Keywords/Tags: sunset, aging, death, grandfather, grandson, grandchild, family, grave, funeral, loss, twilight, night, transcendence, heaven