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

Thursday Night

Body-blood
wafers-wine,
praises turned crucifixion,
a mother's milk gone sour
to boil its lamb son alive.
We lament, and remember
(upon this Thursday night)
the actual retail price paid,
the victory won from defeat.
James E. Roethlein ©2021

Untitled

He feasts on arsenic
to finish his famine
and cuts himself open,
to bleed upon
any daring to approach
him in the aftermath.

James E. Roethlein copyright 2021

Upon a Bed of Daisies

She lies upon a bed of daisies
her favorite flower,
a blued-eyed ginger, waiting
for her lover.
He comes to her
to shower her with flowers,
wooing her with poetry and kisses,
then in the morning,
they wake in each other’s arms.

James E. Roethlein copyright 2021

When I See Your Eyes

When I see your eyes,
I want to be there,
where your window soul
stares back at me.
Touch me,
I will touch you back,
hands holding hands
captive in your arms,
captive in your heart,
and the years together
spread out before us,
stretching from our now,
until our forever.

James E. Roethlein copyright 2021

When the Shadows Seem Like Home

Night is fallen, morning to never come.
There is no Spring, there is no Summer,
only Winter and never Christmas.
For the Wild Goose of Ancient Days
departed from a rebel world
favoring the Child of Perdition.

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

Your Silence Has Been

Your silence has been
a cancer on my heart,
removing you has been
an emotional mastectomy.

James E. Roethlein copyright 2020