The years and tasks have taken their toll
Now gray in my beard and shine on my skull
But the nicotine hits, and helps pass the time
Still feel something missing, like I'm out of a rhyme

The friends and music that once filled the air
Now silent, replaced by the burdens we bear
But I've come to accept what the years have unfurled
The past may be gone, but I've got my own world

For in their small hands, I see a love so true
Their future is bright and it makes mine too

A void vastly expanding.
Encapsulating every thought
That tumbles inward.
Is it wrong
Wanting, waiting for
Fractured, feigned conversations
Converging conspicuously?

So I can say, “I was right all along.”

Creeping and crawling
     like grub worms under bark —
Under the surface

Eating without cause
Wake up as an immovable object —
Inside looking out

Home, late after a hard day of work
Kitchen dimly lit with a night light
Eyes adjusting — out of the corner
Notice the dump truck left after a hard day of play
A beautiful reminder of my greatest achievement

Is it another year so soon?
My little man, my dear big boy
as time goes on it begins to wound
yet still there remains a lasting joy.
Surprise hugs and silly kisses
shrink my world to you and I
and time’s wounding power decreases
as you teach me to deny
all I have and all I desire
to give it up, to self forget.
This is a truth that reaches higher,
to become content as vignette

Always liked things a little bit sad
Too much joy can make you go mad
Seems things are more real when that way
Like grey clouds on a summer’s day

When we grow old
Yes when we grow old
Say you’ll be with me
And I know we’ll be ok

Sinking further down as the dregs of the day come to pass--
painful, palpable drudgery.

There will be no recognition from anyone--
endlessly hoping tomorrow will somehow prove to be different
           insanity they call it.

Nevertheless, I go -- down the road to start again.