we do not watch
the sunrise because
we wonder if that beautiful, burning star
will ever reach its pinnacle
we watch the sunrise
for the ever-shifting hues
we dare not watch the sun itself
a futile pursuit, as our eyes
could not follow it
and our minds are familiar
with its well-traveled path
and fate has lifted the sun
up to its peak
every day, since the dawn of time
and destiny will bring it back down
below the horizon
every day
until the dusk of eternity

i thought of you
as i sat on the floor of the ocean
i could hear you
"open your eyes"
oh, the serendipitous sights i would see!
if only i would listen to you
"just breathe in"
i had yet not dared
to inhale
my lungs had started to burn —
a breath would surely suffice.
i felt you in every inch
of my body
in places that i did not want you
that i had never invited you
the pressure was great
there, on the floor of the ocean
i console myself now:
perhaps
he never knew of what he spoke
perhaps
you still do not know
or worse
perhaps
you knew all along

fear was all we knew
before we had the displeasure
of making ourselves known
to this perpetually unfamiliar world

(and it to us)
but here we are
always chasing satisfaction -

satisfaction
always two steps ahead of
fear,
satisfaction
teasing us with
greed

now fear is not
all we know
but we cannot say
that it is any less present
for fear is the unknown –
and each day we know more and more
that we know nothing at all

i fell in love
with words
long before
i ever thought
i loved you
so maybe it should have been a sign
when you never
cared about my words
did you ever really care about me?

at night i mourn
for the shooting stars
that we saw
all those wishes
wasted
wishing for each other
and i wonder
if i had never told you
all the things i wished for
would they have
just maybe
come true?
but i think the constellations
agreed, as they
watched us fall
we were always destined to crash and burn

what for the shallow waters
that we called love?
the kiddie pools that
kept our tears salty?
we should have looked on
to bigger whirlpools and stormy seas
with welling gratitude
for our wading pools
instead, there we splashed
like children,
making believe
that our ships were sinking
that we were drowning
that we had to save each other
it was long overdue
when i stood up
stepped out
and dried myself off
a lifetime ago

How indignantly
human hearts have hammered
pounding our fists
in the air
against the wall
across the years
raising our voices
until we rasp,
struggling valiantly,
to carry out our each and every end.
Alas, we shift a balance
that will never weigh entirely in our favor.
We castigate the society
that we comprise:
waiting, demanding, crying
for our fellow citizens
to liberate themselves from their terrible ignorance.
How dare they look on with such apathy!
Yet latent affections lie dormant
under our doormats
where we sweep them
to be trampled underfoot, day after day.
For we have found that choice issues
are better handled by the foot
than by the mouth.
Still our mouths continue to shout
over the protests of their counterparts
their fuel, our hasty hearts.
We exist in a state of hypocrisy, as it is
none of us above the other –
we ride our flighty opinions
into clouds of superiority, perhaps some of us
above reason.
Here we cannot be touched
by opposition or criticism
and from our lofty elevation
we aim to shape the earth.