I've thrown away my crutches
Though I'm still limping
And my tablets
Though I'm still in pain
And my books
Though there is so much to know
And my pictures
Though I can still the faces clearly
And her keepsakes
Though I can still feel her love.
So here I am God
Decks are cleared
I'm ready to live or die,
You tell me.

After all this time
You wouldn't love me now anyway
I've put on a few years
And a few pounds
And I've got a spot,
This time it would have to be
Our souls coming together
If you did
If you could.

Child: Mommy what was the pandemic like?
Mom: Not nice ... Not nice at all.
Child: But it went on so long.
Mom: Of course we didn't realize it was going to last
Fourteen years.
Child: How did you ...
Mom: Get through it? Well you know
What people say...
Child: A stitch in time saves nine?
Mom: Well ...
Child: If you can't say anything nice
Don't say anything at all.
Mom: That helps, but ...
Child: I know, live one day at a time?
Mom: That's it.
Child: So, the same as we live now.

I could sit here for ever
Watch it all pass by me
In the fantasy of time.
Other lives unfolding around me
Bring a sense of peace
A feeling of relief
That their happiness will never
Depend on mine.

I have returned to the Roman road
Where you chased after me
With your fantasy of love,
Hoping I might find you again
In that alternative dimension
Where reality skewed off
Into different tenses
And where we have prospered ever since
On a completely different course
Before the fantasy of life
Turned our love into mere senses.

This morning it matters slightly less
If we part unkissed
(In the end it was all remarkably unspectacular)
Or love's empty hand goes unmissed
(I needn't have worried)
For a siren soon reminds others
(There was no conscious decision)
That this is not heaven
(There was no great awakening)
As I turn the corner
(No dawning of truth)
And fail to dodge the ring road cars
(No sudden realization)
I simply ran out of time.

Beneath a dead
Red sky
I climb to the hilltop
To a place of still memories,
And there you are
Defiant and calm
Waiting to be rebuilt
For one last crusade.
Gone now the pageantry
Of armour gleaming
Of banners unfurled,
People laughing and cheering
And young girls screaming.
A merry dance
You led me then
So let me linger awhile
In the ruins.

On a summer evening such as this
It matters not if we win,
If our best shot misses,
For there is still life in old strings
And hope in grain so true,
Before the light has gone
Let us play on
And forget all we knew.

Forget those two sharing solitude,
Those who dreamt it all
Who know now less
Expect no more,
Remember instead brave shots
Conjured from nothing
Snatched from thin air
Leaps and bounds
And outstretched hands
To save us from despair.

So now I play on bended knee
Sending one last ball back to you,
In earnest hope, beyond desire
You send it back to me.