People and Feelings
I stand amid the frozen rows,
And think of long-lost friends;
Where stones line up just like these trees
And sorrow never ends
I stand amid the winter gloom,
A hush is on the clearing,
I guess that I could join them all,
But I’m not volunteering
the lightest hand across your back,
or held within a deep embrace;
if i could join you in this grief,
i’d cross the coldest depths of any space
i know the light and dark are mixed,
our longest times are still so brief;
and though my love is poor, at best,
i’ll give you all i have to help this grief
the light and dark are mixed and we
must hide our eyes as at our birth;
but let me be a shield for you
if only for a moment on this earth —
if only for a moment on
this earth
How I always hear (and see) her in my mind.
Summer goes, and summer evenings
Sometimes wander aimlessly;
Takes us back to years and places,
Timeless, easy, young, and free –
So much that we lose for loving,
All the obstacles time sends —
But there is nothing, nothing
That beats friends.
Growing up and on together,
Still in moments motion made,
Necks that know all kinds of weather,
Favorite shirts that tear and fade –
So much that we gain for giving,
Sorrow shared, its own amends —
For there is nothing, nothing
That beats friends.
Call upon the years to blossom,
Playing date and playing ‘possum,
Hopeful scholars, bashful truants,
Brides-to-be and honor students
Eyes that shine with tears of gladness,
In the moments in-between;
Shoulders used in shades of sadness,
Love that breaks the quarantine
Losing, gaining, laughing, grieving,
Here, through all the fads and trends —
Yes, there is nothing, nothing
That beats friends —
No, there is nothing, nothing
That beats friends.
His girlfriend had a sister,
She’d join us at the pool;
That might have been pool water,
Or might have been his drool
I watched them every weekend,
And saw the slide begin;
It’s bad to mix up summertime,
Hot sisters, and
Sloe gin
With every step another stone I
Breathed you into being –
The dream from too much rectitude I
Long had yearned for fleeing
It wasn’t for amazing nights or
Breathless flights of passion –
But just the hope to see you well a
Wish long out of fashion
And woken from this sight again I
Sit down on the floor –
To place my hands behind my head a
Sleepless troubadour
I dream of you I think because
I’ve watched you struggle bravely –
Your journey strange and frightening and
I would see you safely
Onto the other side of all that
Might be left for scaling –
For quiet streams persistence can
At last be our unveiling
I never see you get there though I
Am too soon awaking –
It is my spirit and not dawn that
Far too soon is breaking
So I am not to know this thing this
Brook that you must ford –
But just to watch as in a dream and
Then to sit here floored
her regrets, like the ocean
in their immensity and constant turmoil
surrounded both of us –
far too real to be ignored
because i loved her,
i left her ocean undisturbed;
because i love her,
i offer only my
acceptance
we who live
live with imperfect knowledge;
we cannot know outcomes
there we sat,
surrounded by the ocean;
here i sit now,
surrounded by my own thoughts
my friend:
i do love you.
and love,
like stars that hover
high above any ocean,
does not change the water,
but give us –
if only for a time –
something else
to look at
