He Feels She Has

He feels,
               she has
a hand worth holding,

he’d call her beautiful,

but he fears
                  but he fears,

she would reject him,

so he says nothing,
            
            and walks away.

James E. Roethlein copyright 2021

This Quadriplegic Heart

This quadriplegic heart
gone the way of the dinosaur,
deprived, feelings deceasing,
mind and body carrying on
as one dead and existing.
Solitary isolation my prison shroud,
worn,  and no one comes near,
tender touches and tender words,
memories confined to a fading past,
as I embrace loneliness like a lover.

James E. Roethlein copyright 2021

With the Evening Over

They came together
after the sun went down,
he gave, she received
and she was satisfied.
With the evening over,
he was gone, having left her
what he called, a gift.

James E. Roethlein copyright 2021

Mad Man’s Emotion

A pain so deep,
so overwhelming,
his tears,
turn to laughing,
(in hyena fashion)
it’s the only
it’s the only
it’s the only,
lullaby he knows.

James E. Roethlein copyright 2021

I Am

I am
a whited sepulcher,
sun-bleached
under desert skies
and you,
an earthquake,
splitting me wide open,
exposing
the dead men’s bones
found within.
And who would love me,
if they saw me the way I do?

James E. Roethlein copyright 2021

He Wanted To

He wanted to
                       lose himself
                               lose himself
                                      lose himself
        in her eyes,
and she wanted
        and she wanted
                and she wanted the same;
with someone else.

James E. Roethlein copyright 2021

Has She Arrived as Spring

Has she arrived as Spring
after a long long Winter,
with meadow flowers
upon the wasteland?
Tears and kisses shared,
mingling on passion nights,
hands and hearts joined
on the ordinary days.
Will their Springtime  
turn into Summertime
with its many miles,
with its many years?

James E. Roethlein copyright 2021