Nightscape

Some people say that where they are
Is where they’re meant to be;
For years, I never understood –
Those comments puzzled me

Sometimes, you’re down and desperate,
As I was, long ago:
I saw no reason at the time
Why it needs must be so

For almost thirty years ago
I tried to end my life;
I never would have known my kids
My grandchildren, my wife –

I never would have typed these words
That you are reading now;
I would have been a nobody,
A nothing. A no how —

I couldn’t find a reason,
Couldn’t generate a spark
To see me through the nightscape;
Through the hopeless, whirling dark

But somehow, day led on to day;
And I regained my voice.
Then I decided living
Was my only living choice

I do not know where you might be,
How your life’s filled with pain;
I do not know the grief you’ve felt,
And that, I will not feign —

But this I tell you, reading friend:
There is, most times, a light:
So you can climb the hill ahead,
And fear
No more
The night


(“Nightscape” – 7-1-2015)

When All You Love

When all you love is still the same,
But somehow, not enough;
When every path’s abandoned, each
New friend, a new rebuff —

When days stretch on like oceans,
And the nights are heavy lade,
And all you ever dreamed about
Dissolves and starts to fade

Then hope becomes a beacon you
Must follow to its source;
To call out in the night for friends
Until you’re more than hoarse

But though your throat be bleeding,
You can still find voice to sing —
When all you love is still the same,
You still have
Everything


 

(“When All You Love” – 2-9-2017)

a hundred-weight of dreams

a hundred-weight of dreams inside
a thousand-weight of fears;
some scattered days of hope within
and dozen months of tears —

a dread that’s born of emptiness,
a questioning of worth:
a plague of such anxiety
as rends the very earth.

the colors of accomplishment,
ineptitude, or both;
the tearing sound that signifies
both injury and growth —

the hotel with its silence, or
the spotlight with its cheers —
a hundred-weight of dreams inside
a thousand-weight
of fears


© Andriy Bezuglov | Dreamstime.com – Redhead girl with wet hair sits in the bath full of water with m

 as cares, like grass,
 grow everywhere and wild,
 and hills to climb
 stretch out and multiply,
 you stand and look
 at all the ones you conquered,
 and think about
 the doubts you've had, and why.

 for journeys all
 stem from dissatisfaction,
 when where you are's
 not where you want to be --
 so cares, like grass,
 may everywhere grow wild,
 but you'll find strength
 to climb again --

 you'll see