For the past I have ever raised the glass,
It's as close as I can get;
Reawakening each drop of lovers poison
Thrown down my neck;
In memories name again and again
I pour out that lament,
Reaffirming the love of such great regret.
For those years I fumble for the glass,
It's the soaking up that always lasts,
That warming spirit to my soul
But burns cold as ice this eternal toll.

Tom Lefort 2022

Whisper not, hold that word of truth,
They are watching us.
Think not to stand your ground,
They are imprisoning us.
Write not the words that burn within,
They are beating us.
Surrender not, evil won't prevail,
They are blaming us.

England 2024

Your life was a precious gift,
Thrown, owned, ******, blown.
Exquisite youth and sapphire eyes,
Faded, wasted, jaded, hated.
Your strife was preditors gain,
Used, abused, refused, excused.

#debbie1977

You rose upon our wings of youth
And shone as if a morning star,
You dared to tred those ****** paths,
A guiding light to darker times.

You fell through fingers long untwined,
Sank beneath those waves of pain;
Yet always, still that man we loved,
Beheld, upheld upon this evening star.

TS Lefort 2020

You can dredge your mire of memories,
Try and touch those years by way of empties;
Pretend to yourself again and again
That it was really truly better then.
But the dawning light of sobriety
Will run dry those lies we tell ourselves,
Dim the light of yesteryear;
Cast cold the shadow of our today
Upon the hangover our past still plays.

TS Lefort 2021

This old fool stumbles on toward
A final, futile curtain call.
The lights are out, the audience gone;
Takes his bow in silence.

This old fool recounts the words
He never cared to learn.
All played out, the script so wrong;
His show goes on and on.

TS Lefort 2020

All the lost souls, see them
Counting shallow blessings;
Forgotten causes, fallen idols,
Open wounds and seeping hopes.
So many broken dreams, hear them
Crying for their hollow faith;
Darkened hearts, bitter taste,
Shattered lives and loves laid waste.

Tom Lefort 2022

We were that few,
The troubled troupe of broken homes,
Raging youth and misspent hope;
We were those few,
Majestic, awful, lovers too.

And still with you,
The restless bond grows deeper still,
In scars that burn for those now gone;
We are the few,
Our lives, as one, always true.

1983-2020

That passion burned through skin and bone,
A fire we both still kindle;
Consuming us, dividing us, defining us,
A love no man should shoulder.

Our bond we tore and cruelly cast asunder,
Decades deep we know it smoulders;
Choking us, blinding us, ruining us,
A loss no hope to hold on for.

TS Lefort 1987

Within life's maelstrom I am lost;
And there I hide, just because
I can, I should, I always would
Be that man who never could.

TS Lefort 2020

I was born of troubled love,
Those who searched but never found,
My first steps were upon their broken ground.

There upon that sinking sand
I sank my feet and ran aground,
And to their score of lies my hands are bound.

I am he who pays their price,
A child who bore that wage of shame,
This man so lost within the shadow of that pain.

TS Lefort

Upon the shore of washed up men
Those floundering breaths draw deep,
Such guttural sobs of broken boys
Spill loves now but a weep.

Within the shallows man's tide casts
Fabled depths their lovers seek,
Those tragic cries of hopeless girls
The one thing that runs deep.

TS Lefort 2021

Nostalgia, what a beautiful *****,
That unquenchable thirst and unstoppable itch;
The tap on the shoulder from the people you miss,
That kick in the ***** from the girls that you kissed,
Whose names you forgot through years on the ****.
Oh Nostalgia, such a beautiful, *******;
The sum of my memories that make life so rich.  

TS Lefort. 2019

Each drink revives that cry for home,
Swallow now the heavy thirst for time.
Where oceans of much loved pasts
Come crashing down in wine.
Each night revokes my every day,
Drink deep the endless need for then.
That swell of longed for yesterday's
Each drop a love of mine.

Tom Lefort 2023

I opened my eyes and let the darkness in,
Every shard of evil cut me deep
Stole my hope, stole my sleep,
I opened my eyes and lost my light,
I lost my fight, I lost my life,
I close my eyes but you are already in.

TS Lefort 2017-2020

Hold those moments dear
Never let them go,
In the darkest of times
They will light your way.
Hold close those memories deep
Never let them drift,
Upon the sea of uncertainty
They will guide you home.
Hold near the song of yesteryear
Let that siren sing,
She beckons you toward the rock
Your life is anchored from.

T S Lefort 2021

What will become.
When the flames of all we were
Dwindle, dim and all but fail,
What will be done with those prevailing, precious days;
Our loves, our lives, our yesterdays?
And when the smoke is all that's left
Of passions burnt and loves' bereft,
What will we see, what shall we be?
But fading, aching, longings for that former majesty.
Lost, bereaved, broken of all our dreams;
When the embers of all we are
Blow cold the truth of these, our desperate sentimental, autumn hours.

TS Lefort. February 2020

I struggle, bloodied pride, hands still tied
To truths that seem to fail and fade.
Forsaken, mistaken, faith awry,
In my race toward no finish line.

I let you down, troubled life, feet still bound
To paths that twist and slip away.
Broken, unspoken, falling down,
My struggle, punctured hope, stolen crown.

TS Lefort June 2020

Sing loud the failings of my past,
Each a tune for which I long.
I don't regret those faults of mine,
The beat of which are still my song.

Tom Lefort 2024

Be ready should the moment take you there;
When that unexpected pull of yesteryear
Wraps firm it's fingers upon your soul.
Digs deep on heartbeat echoes old.

Be still within those shadows of your past;
Where such reflection heals our wounds
Calms now the storms aroused by youth.
Holds firm our every hidden truth.

Tom Lefort 2024

I tread those memories still,
Those well worn footprints never fail
To lead me, deceive me, free me
From these journies I can never end.

Walk, don't stop, homes long gone,
Torn from years once set in stone
That bind me, blind me, hide from me
A place to ever call my own.

I dread these memories still.
Yet return to tread their streets of gold
That take me, make me, forsake in me
The peace I seek to call me home.

TS Lefort

Darkness returns like a beloved friend,
Wrapping its arms around my life—
Throttling, comforting, confounding.
In its embrace, I find my peace,
A place to claim as mine alone,
Gentle, fervent, sublime.

It holds me like a long-lost love,
Casting its spell upon my days,
Hallowed, addled, entwined.

Tom Lefort 2024

You were the light of dawn, the hue of dusk,
The fingers gently curled within my hand.
A promise that all would be as we dreamed,
The breath of hope upon my lips.
You were the life in me, the reason I rose each day,
The yearning for which all hearts will sigh.
A depth of friendship few could ever understand.

That spell of summer has long since passed,
Such dreams it cast upon us.
A haze of last light's first love, so adored,
In which our brokenness was made whole.
And there, love-soaked madness carried us afar,
Such naïve tenderness we bore;
Yet lost hopes and passions abhor us now,
In this winter we sadly bear.

Tom Lefort - October 2024