Looking for one moment
I ran into my downfall
Oh what a way to fall asleep.
Will this last forever?

Can the mountains contain
Such a savage story? And a deep
Sorrow's weight befalls us all - and now
I ask
Does my sleep hurt me more or is this joy?

Looking out my bedroom window - a small window
For such a wide view
The sun spreads light through the trees with a palette knife, crafting
A false sense of security and warmth over the sudden serene
Brown landscape where the wilted flowers
Like a bent over elderly woman reaching for the sky
Sway from side to side.
Dried and cracked earthen waste slowly drift over the darkened
Creek bed. Even the the insects do not move.

And can you see the sky the way that I do?
The clouds bubble dark and roll like clotting blood
Cooling over a reopened wound.

Heaven only know how happy I will be
To see the way things fall into place.
Oh what a way to fall asleep.

Who are we?
The somber proud of today?
Can we lift up our heads to recall
We are waiting for a harbinger of tomorrow.
With life so crude, so fast and deep
It's a wonder why we live to sleep.

To fill our heads with so much dread
Will only make strife harder.
When phantoms sleep - so mystique
Why push an inch any further
With my feet so dead.

I know you well so please don't dwell
On foolish thoughts and what why not
For in your sleep a quick shade creeps
To finish dreams and conquer thoughts.
But in the light of day that memory seeps.

For in this world - the many and proud
Full of a stature of empty grace.
So many voices - all so loud
With prominence and empty promulgation -
All so quick to show such waste.

I watch you and try to understand.
What puzzle piece of memory are you focused on right now?
Your smile masks a heightened fear
Like standing on a table with a broken leg
Wobbling, you steady yourself - ready to tip.
And you try to make me understand
This time will pass.
And the wind picked up
And the leaves rustled outside
And you glance back to where I'm standing
You smile

Sitting in a worn camping chair
Silent like the grey mist in the air I cannot see
Moisture clinging to the trees
And roots in the darkness -
The pops and cracks of the fire in front of me.
My boots and face hot to the touch
And the starkness
Of a thousand cold whispers behind my back
Drawing my focus from burning embers, and
Smokey gasps of heated gases that calm and temper
The entirety of my whole.

Arrange me
Lord.
Take my
Pieces
And place
Them back together
Again.

Somehow I fell
Somewhere I lost you.

I can't hold my breath now -
Will the water
Rushing in
My lungs burn more?
Will my hope
Roll in the undertow.