Little Bird

The little bird outside
Mimicked the little bird in me
That wanted desperately
To break free.

I told the little bird inside
‘Just wait, just wait.
For its written in your fate
‘Just wait, just wait.’

And so it waited.
Until its song was no more of sorrow.
But of hope.
Of Winter long gone,
Of Spring and of tomorrow.

You & I

There was a time when you and I
Spent hours beneath the moonlit sky.

We talked, and gazed, and talked some more.
To fathom what life had in store.

I remember that day.
When we forgot the everyday.

Forgot the ground beneath our feet.
And soared into life’s front row seat:

Laughed, without restrain.
Spoke, without refrain.
Loved, without pain.

There now is a time when you and I
Spend hours beneath the moonlit sky.

Forgetting the everyday.
Remembering that day.

∞

 

Balsam

When you brush your fingers with a tender stroke
Across my cheek when we’re altogether broke.

That’s balsam.

When you’re on your way home from a humdrum 9-5 day
And you find a gal admiring your work on the subway.

That’s balsam.

When your heart’s in the right place
Even though you’re feeling a little out of place.

That’s balsam.

And what do you do with this balm?
You let it heal you as it sinks into your heart’s palm.

And you give thanks
For that, too, is balsam.

 

Parched

My lips, parched.
Eyes, downward arched.

Thirsting
Yearning.

Tired are these bloody lips
That hold blood-stained strips
From all the bloody skin they’ve ripped
And all the bloody wounds they’ve licked.

Tired are these soppy eyes
That hold raindrops in disguise
From all the fantasies they’ve pondered
And all the realities they’ve squandered.

Give me some chapstick.
Won’t that do the trick?

‘is that for here or to go?’

She went through all the motions at the coffee shop: Crack a smile, froth the milk, rinse and repeat. And with each order she’d press on the cash register, she pressed her own buttons inside. Behind the question she’d ask each customer – “is that for here or to go?” – there was the unresolved question:

Am I to stay here or am I to go?

After work, she went to seek counsel near the ocean. And with each ocean wave, she’d press her toes into the evening’s cold sand. Behind each boat that passed her by, there was the unresolved question:

Am I to set sail or remain at dock?