Noun.
The natural force of attraction
exerted by a body (You)
upon objects at or near its surface (Me)
tending to draw them toward
the center of the body. (Together)

Light blushing through trees,
     my journey ends, dawn to dusk.
          Evening always comes.

Two boys
and girls
unclothed each other
simply at a picnic
flush with wine
alongside
sun-flecked trees.

The girls,
easy as the
forest round,
burned,
delicious,
as the boys
eager and nervous
in unequal measure
partly gave up
concealing
their joys
at forgetting
or remembering
in flickers
their bare bodies.

It went on
over nettles
and half-hours
and clambered
trees and
photos taken
almost formally
(on film,
of course).

And boyish lust,
at first sinuous,
a darting tongue,
began to
soften against,
for instance,
the sheer,
unthinkable
texture
of the two
girls carved
now backward
over the bough
of a storm-felled elm.

And there
in the embers
of evening
they learned
to thrill originally
at the vast,
gorgeous
and astonishing
irrelevance
of what
might happen next.

I didn't think when I kissed you
it would make me miss you
quite like this.

I didn’t mean for it to get this way
I didn’t meant to hurt you
I wanted out
I can’t freak out
Please know I’ll always love you?
But only half, because, you see
I can’t fully commit
There’s someone else who’s here with me
I wish I could admit
That something is terribly wrong
She’s not saying much
She hates you though
She loves him, too
I can’t explain this now
I need to distract this
She’s getting mad
I’m getting scared
What the **** am I supposed to do?
Just go away
Please don’t come back
I can’t explain it
You’ll just get mad
I can’t tell you
‘Cause you never saw
How things changed
Could you tell at all?
Never paid attention
To the switching minds
You’re lucky now
You won’t have to see
Never need to deal
With the crazy inside me.

I don’t like school, Sir
most venerable teacher;
and though you are kind, Sir
and all my classmates too
and you all help me study and learn
like you make me know
the first five characters in the alphabet
but the moment I am out of school
all I  can remember
are the rice-cakes and sweets and the dumplings my mother makes

...and true, Sir
most venerable teacher
you teach me the numbers
and I can count from 1 to 5
when I am in class
but when I’m out
I love the toys my father brings
and  I play with the wooden toy soldiers
and I love the ducks and the clay horses;
and I really can’t remember the first five letters
or the first five characters
when I lie in bed

...and when I am back in class, Sir
dragged in by Old Madam Toothless ****
who always knows where I am wherever I try to run
I can’t remember anything anyone taught me, Sir
O most venerable teacher...

I know, Sir
all of you have spoken to me
and my dad and my mom
and Old Madam Toothless ****
and all my friends in class
I must study so I can go to the city and find work
but school only makes me cry -
and all I want to do, Sir
most venerable teacher
is to play and eat and sleep when it is time
...and one day, Sir
most venerable teacher
(I know you worry about me)
when I’m grown and big
I’ll make toys and I’ll sell them
and make money for me and my family;
and I’ll make all those sweets and dumplings
and feed my family...
so please, Sir
most venerable teacher
because I don’t like school
and I can’t remember anything
do not worry about me and let me go to the fields now
and I shall grow to be tall as the trees
and as rich as the rice fields...

Life,
so full of surprises

twisted emotions
theories of reason

paths of ideas
intertwined with mistakes

irrational thoughts
questions unanswered

Painful memories which
then make us smile

To hold onto the present
and grasp the dreams of tomorrow

The promises of yesterday
that always leave me hollow.

I lost myself
but your hand came
and pulled me home
I lost you
but then I reached out my hand
and drew you near
I lost us
and no hand came
and we were both lost