Stranger to myself
I wander through the maze of my thoughts
Star gazing upon a distant labyrinthine spiral of past promises and torn trust
Dreams scattered and lost upon winter's wistful winds.
And do you realize you were the best part of my mind?
A light warming the inner crevices and cavities of old sorrows, sore and exhausted from chewing away the years.
A heart to hold onto when mine was crawling away in agony,
Bursting at its seams, it groaned
Too full of the world to be inside me.
You guided  me when my eyes turned inward to search for my wandering heart
It was in my stomach,
Pounding and wriggling, a mountain of worms eating my organs, swarming out my ears, too many to be contained.
Carried me when my legs complained that my heart was too heavy and went on strike,
They folded together quietly like the blanket at the end of my childhood bed.
Lended me your mouth when my body succumbed and refused to get up.
Kissed me until you blew my heart to smithereens,
Kissed me until the worms came out in admiration to watch our lips writhe and twist,
Kissed me till my heart jumped back together and clambered back into my chest,
Kissed me till my eyes returned, till I lifted my weary head and collapsed into your love for me.
Reminded me of the flowers last spring.
The wildflowers after our cold dark winter.
Stroked my hair gently and taught my legs to wrap around your hips again and again till we pounded away the past
And my heart rejoiced at being given a new perspective.
Reminded my hands how to caress your cheeks,  
My fingers were numb and frightened of hurting you
But they longed to catch hold of your smile and hold onto its warmth forever.
You knew me for what I was,
But I was a stranger to myself.
My body was searching for its parts, taking inventory of its functions.
And my mind was missing,
I lost it amidst a most busy crowd of no one.
I haven't found it since.
And do you know that you were the best part of my mind?

Don't cry, this kiss is a kiss goodbye.
Don't cling, it's time to part.
Don't look at me nor ask me why
I've taken back my heart.

No questioning, no pleading;
No door remains ajar.
No doubt your heart is bleeding
Now, and wounds of love will scar.

Don't hope to ever turn back time,
Nor resurrect the flame
Of what became a pantomime
Of love, in all but name.

let’s live suddenly without thinking

under honest trees,
                        a stream
does.the brain of cleverly-crinkling
-water pursues the angry dream
of the shore. By midnight,
                                a moon
scratches the skin of the organised hills

an edged nothing begins to prune

let’s live like the light that kills
and let’s as silence,
                            because Whirl’s after all:
(after me)love,and after you.
I occasionally feel vague how
vague idon’t know tenuous Now-
spears and The Then-arrows making do
our mouths something red,something tall

Saying goodbye
To someone you love
Is like reading the final page
Of an amazing book.

As the last chapter ends
You begin to notice
Just how beautiful
And perfect
The plot always was.  

You appreciate the joy
And even the pain
As you read and thumb
Through every page.

Finally understanding
The moral of the story,
You realize you've reached
The end of this journey.

Although the last sentence  
Is the most difficult to read
Another great book awaits
Once you turn the final page.

Eventually you may stumble
Upon yet another great find.
Or maybe you'll return
To the book you left behind.

You may just discover
Once all is said and done
That this particular book  
Was your favorite story
All along.

I've been a witness to your up's
And have held on through your down's
I have seen most of your come's and goes
And all your turn around's

Through all your hopes and all your dreams
And all your wanna be's
I've made the call that through it all
You're still the one for me

From the shadows of the breakdowns
To the hope a new day dawns
From the revolving sound of the in's and out's
To the silent going's on's

From the cost of doing business
To the give away that's free
Though the order's tall, I'll pay it all
You're still the one for me

I have heard you sing the high notes
And can applaud with confidence
Knowing that you are mine from day one in time
And I've been your's ever since

I dig you with golden shovel
And every ounce of you I'll keep
What you've thrown I've caught to take it all
You're still the one for me

Wounds heal like
hell frozen over--
abstracted blood
never blends in
with the territory
fast enough.
Your long, sharp,
superintelligent
fingernails stake
their claim.
Always repeating:
'oh you poor thing'...
while picking away.

words are just wonders
   one
          can release,
                 but only one's pen
could ever crease
                     into the safety
of a poem's lease.
     so this
        is
        a
    note
        to
       a
  pen.
      "
     Oh,
    draw
  Your line
And never
Look back
From those
inked words
that flow
   from
   your
   clack
   and
   let
   them
   flow
   into
   sharp
   flack.
  or maybe
  give words
  that proper,
  warm embrace  
  which can get
  lullabies fall
  into disgrace.
  or maybe just
  draw a perfect
  dark contour
  playing with
  edges that
  make sights
  demure...
  add dots
  and spots
  on plain
  white
  paper,
  like
  living
  knots
  in the
  hands
  of a
  draper.
  pour
  some
  more
  ink
  on
  me.
   "

In the night somewhere
A baby cries
And somewhere else
Lovers sigh
And as time passes
An old man dies

Somewhere out in space
A planet turns
And light years away
A star sun burns
Making us merely dust
And no-one learns

                                 By Phil Roberts