I am obsessed with my own mortality
or maybe the fact that I believe I am immortal
how could I die?
how could any thought of mine be final?
it can't just end
I wake up everyday
eyes peeled wide
and comfortably rise from where I lay

sure others pass
but they are not me
they don't walk in my shoes
they don't see what I see
they aren't special
and I am because well...
because I believe I am
I just know I can tell

but maybe there's truth to what they say
the groundwork which they lay
treasure life every second
because it could end any day
it's sobering
to think you're nothing but a ticking timer
that someday it will eventually end
that whatever you have won't last forever

Two men sat knee to knee in a bar
One troubled one not
the second turned to the first and said
hit me man what do you got
the first was slow to speak
he pushed around his drink
and finally recounted the memory
that pushed him to his mental brink

the first recalled
he was driving down a road
and a woman began walking at his car
slow as a toad
she pranced in the middle of the lane
like she owned it or something
like a 40 mile an hour speed limit
was all she needed for protection

the first explained
why he couldn’t shake it
no matter how loud he honked to end her trance
he simply couldn’t break it
did she mean to die?
is that why she greeted oncoming traffic with a smile?
does she know how quickly it could end
that life is not a trial

the second calmed the first
maybe she was lost
maybe she was simply crossing
maybe she’s a daredevil
the second poured out two shots
and the two took them together
the night would progress
they’d forget the incident for forever

as the second drove home
he noticed something flickering in his headlight
stopping short he rammed his horn
as a woman skipped away in fright
he had almost killed her
she had almost died
the second man got home and collapsed
dialed the first then cried

A man walked into a bar
"Ouch" he chuckled as he passed through the door

I killed a butterfly today  
then tried to write a poem  
I don’t know why I did it  
It died without a home  
It struck me as compelling  
as I recalled what my parents used to say  
be mindful of your surroundings  
a flap of butterfly wings can change a day  


I thought little of it then  
yet now I obsess as I reminisce  
if a butterfly flap can change so much  
what of the absence of it?  
Have I sealed my fate to infamy  
or paved my way to riches  
but maybe if I **** another?  
my unforeseeable fate switches  


But what’s a butterfly to me?  
it wasn’t much before  
now you expect me to believe  
it holds the key to what’s in store?  
Free will must exist  
at least as long as I believe it to  
foolish of me to think my dead butterfly  
could have some affect on you  


Yet I sit here thinking  
of thoughts I’ve never had  
a liar I would be to tell you  
that I haven’t changed a tad  
It did not have a name  
and I did not have a reason  
yet as I blankly stared down  
I felt as if I had committed treason  


So I sweep away the body  
and leave the room to clear my head  
if my hand’s never clapped  
this butterfly would not be dead  
so be wary of the change you bring  
the waves you choose to make  
that butterfly could have changed a day  
and not believing that was my mistake

A mom said wait until your dad comes home
to the army kid silently waiting in calculated anticipation

A mom said wait until your dad comes home
to the bad kid waiting nervously on the couch

A mom said wait until your dad comes home
to the outgoing kid that had never met his father

A mom said wait until your dad comes home
to the baseball enthusiast who couldn't wait for tonight's catch

A mom said wait until your dad comes home
to the kid who only saw him when the law allowed

A mom said wait until your dad comes home
to a 21 year old man who was about to meet him for the first time

A mom said wait until your dad comes home
to the kid wondering if he'd get at least a comment tonight

A mom said wait until your dad comes home
and someone cared