what didn’t happen…

she loves the autumn colors,
and what’s more, they love her too;
they have since she was just
a little girl

and this one is a golden one,
and peace is on the lakeside,
and she finds time to get right
with her world

  what didn’t happen
  had to didn’t happen,
  what never was
  was never meant to be –
  what didn’t happen
  is a lot of nothing,
  so she’ll not add it
  to her misery

sometimes, the scent is hopelessness,
sometimes, the scent is hope;
the sky beneath her shows
the sky above

and life is less than fairy tales,
and more than her ideals,
and everything that’s real
is really love

  what didn’t happen
  had to didn’t happen,
  what never was
  was never meant to be –
  what didn’t happen
  is a lot of nothing,
  so she’ll not add it
  to her misery

across the hillside, down the way,
a single bird is flying,
it makes its lonely way
into the blue

her heart goes out to all of those
who’ve felt the things she’s feeling,
to try to do whatever
she can do —

  what didn’t happen
  had to didn’t happen,
  what never was
  was never meant to be –
  what didn’t happen
  is a lot of nothing,
  so she’ll not add it
  to her misery

  what didn’t happen
  simply didn’t happen,
  what never was
  is part of history –
  what didn’t happen
  didn’t change what happened,
  so she’ll not add
  insult to injury

  no, she’ll not add it
  to her misery

Out There

Out there, on the open fields,
The rolling hills, the endless sky,
You wait for something mystical,
As hours creep, and wind blows by —

And though I’ve told you many things
Among the hints I’ve given,
  My words are not enough to build
  A world for you to live in.

Out there, as the morning comes,
And worries start to congregate,
You listen for a missing voice,
Your sorrows to ameliorate —

I sense the way that feelings crowd,
Your swirling head is teeming,
  But my words aren’t enough to clear
  A pathway for your dreaming.

For “out there”‘s where you find yourself
In far too many ways,
You can’t shake off this lassitude,
This maddening malaise –
The things that made you smile once,
You look at without feeling,
And all the magic in the sky
Is just another ceiling —

Out there, where the Autumn cries,
And passions crumble in the grass,
You feel your body trembling,
From weight of what has come to pass,

But still, I send the love I have,
These words to show I care,
  So you can close your eyes, and know
  That someone else
  Is out there

A Date

We talked about the books she loved.
And TV shows we both had watched,
And as we walked the riverside
We laughed about the jokes I'd botched

She learned about my brother's life,
I learned about her sister's --
We walked so long, I worried that
We'd both end up with blisters.

And there she was, so beautiful,
Us just chatting with the setting sun,
Her laughter down the river bank,
Another autumn day was done --

I walked her to her place, and then
She asked me in the door:
And with the laughter of the day,
She showed me what the night
Was for

I Long For Evening

I long for evening’s soft surcease,

For silken hands upon my skin,

To stop and rest my weary head

Inside some wayside inn

 

And feel you there, within the night,

Your scent, your perfume on the air –

I long for evening, soft and sweet,

Instead of miles, loaded down

With care