Near Miss

Years ago
I knew this girl
With a beautiful face and
A beautiful heart

And I didn’t fall in love with her
Nor did I date her

Just in case readers of this blog
Might have started to think
That never happened to me

As a matter of fact, she is now around 50
Like I am
And she’s still beautiful
And we’re still friends

Truthfully, I am still friends with
Virtually all of my
Ex-girlfriends
Mis-dates
Even my ex-wife

Possibly because
None of them know about this blog

I would hope, however, they would approve
Of the models I choose to represent them
In the stock photos I use on these pieces

Anyway, this girl
Looked like the model in the picture above
And she was always cold
Even during Florida summers

And last year, online
As we exchanged pleasantries
She told me that
She had a cat years ago
That she named after me

Because he was so bizarre

And I kind of liked that

regrets, like the ocean

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

Perfectly Immense

It was a perfect winter day,
When you and I went out to play;
For you were eight, and I was ten,
And everything made sense.

But ten years later, there we stood,
Upon the edge of something good,
A something somewhere out of reach,
A past and present tense —

It is a perfect autumn day,
With little more that I can say:
I heard you’d gone away, and thought
This world is too
Immense

I Wish That You Were Happy

You’re talented and beautiful
In every way I know —
It hurts my heart down to my bones
To see you suffer so.

I know that you’re not happy, and
I see you, daily, lost:
And if I could remove the pain,
I’d gladly bear the cost,

Whatever cost that it might take.
I’d fly to any star —
I wish that you were happy, but
Things are just
What they are