One million grains of Sand
Hitched a ride home from the beach

Hidden in the folds of my clothes
And from my locks, down to my feet



These one million grains of You
Just aren't enough memories

I heard your laugh in a dream last night
And was carried back out to sea

How Duth thou
Go forth
Wence from ere
Thou did came
Thence thy sallied by
Twixst the lullaby
''Twas to blame.

The relative temperature of light
Is apparent to those that
Got arseholed in Spain
Fell asleep doubled over naked on the balcony
And thus exposed their fruit baskets
To the blistering morning
Takes awhile
But
The burn it keeps coming.

I love,

the desperation
as if wandering lost on a mountain.

I love the solitude
and the loneliness of being
compelled to love.

i love the desperation.

the wolf hidden in my wild heart
howling at a streetlight

and the sorrow of distant echoes in my head
and the laughter coming from an empty bed.
the mountain ledge whistling in the mist.
the pierce of thorn from the rose
clutched tightly in my fist.


some never feel more alive
as love fades into the silence
of sweet lies and blue skies.

just never show the fear that's in your eyes.
never shed a tear for the rose refused.

Darkness, darkness, lonely as the grave
Darkness, darkness, teach me to be brave
As shadows fall across the trees
and inky shade stills stormy seas
Darkness, darkness, teach me to be brave.

Darkness, darkness, lonely as the night
Darkness, darkness, take me from the light
Clothe me in the velvet soft black
and weave me a cloak to take me back
Darkness, darkness take me from the light.

Darkness, darkness, lonely as the moon
Darkness, darkness, sing me a soft tune
Hold my hand and lead me away
hide me from the sun of the day
Darkness, darkness, sing me a soft tune.

Chorus:
Gently, hold me, unto the end.
Darkness, darkness. Approach my friend.
Gently, hold me, unto the end.
Darkness, darkness. Approach my friend.

Always Here

for you my love.  I said
that last humid afternoon.  The
melt of love dripped,

refused to release
into rivers, steamy and
loud. The birðs

squacked
inside the black
cage,

as if they were prepared.

Love never lasts
in my yellow
world.

It is always  in Shakespeare

that tomorrow
accompanies
the winding down of
a love affair.

True north
is

Rarely ever

True


Caroline Shank
April 30, 2025

I waited so patiently for years
Could drown in all the sorrows and tears
Used to flush out my poor heart
But still I waited...
Like a wife that sends her husband off to war
because I knew you were fighting off demons
Things that I could not see
It's not like the darkness ever evaded me
You never returned from that war
I was left to fend off my darkness alone
Shouldering life tragedies on my own
But even then I waited...
Even though some days
There wasn't even any hope
And yet I still waited...
I waited though totally exhausted
I began to chafe at all the waiting;
Patiently,
I sent out my light once again
Like only a lighthouse does
To help you find your way back
Amongst all the turmoil and shadow
All these things I then came to know
Your love could be reawakened to grow
and where I had waited so patiently
You and that love did return to me
and my patience was finally set free