Seven Billion

Seven billion people, and they all want the same thing. One thing.
Seven billion people with seven billion different hobbies, interests, dreams.
Seven billion.
Seven billion people with different lives. Some easy. Some hard. Some painful. Unbearable.
Seven billion people, most who've never met, all want one thing.
Seven billion.

Her eyes are waning

Her soft curls are thin 

Her wrinkled face, full of laughter

But away from conversation 

You see the tiredness

The life draining, slowly, out of her

It will not be long now

Not long at all

Until she leaves us

And we will cry and mourn for her

"One by one they were all becoming shades. Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade dismally with age." 

-James Joyce, "The Dead"

On the Water

I stepped out onto the water
The green leaves in the bay rustled to the tune carried on the wind
I looked out into the expanse of grey and dark blue
Tried to see below the surface there
But its face was too perplexed
Curious about this figure that peered into its depth
Nothing.
I saw nothing there.
This deep mysterious expanse of nothing.
I thought I would find redemption there
But I found instead that redemption is not something you can find
It is something to be received
It is grace poured out
I cannot find it within me
I cannot find it standing by the sea

You

After four years of loving you
And one night of telling you
I learned everything about you
And nothing was new
After one year without you
And a lifetime of tears for you
I think I can say to you
I'm stronger than you thought.

In The Yard

I was in the yard today
I thought I would stop by and make conversation
You are such a good listener
You lay there and do not say a word
The pleasant smile on your face is haunting
Only half of it is gone now


We, you and I, 
We are surrounded by so many others
And yet, there is not a soul around
I stare at the ground
Where I imagine your face would be
But I try not to linger my sight there
For when I do, I often think
Of all your decay
And then you, whom I love,
Scare me too much to stay.

Hearing Voices at Night

I heard three voices as I drove away
They were screaming for help from within their cave
Oppressed by the dark dampness around them
Climbing for air, but surrounded


Should I turn back? Should I help them?
Just children, it sounded like
Am I their hope? 
Am I the rope they need to be free?
And their voices grew fainter and fainter


But listen.
It was my voice.

Forgive Me

Sometimes the wind there in the yard
Carries a soft tone on the edge of the breeze
"Do not forget me"
I ask it why I must hold on
Why can I not let go
But then guilt sets in and brings back horrid memories
Images of red, deep and hollow
Then more guilt
"Why was I a burden?"
I am so terribly sorry!
But this is no propitiation
For the guilt of the burden
Of a deteriorating body
I am at fault to forget
No matter, I can never forget
And the saltwater seeps back onto my cheek
As I remember brushing you by
Why bother, I thought
And now that thought rips my soul into pieces
How was I so blind?!
Nothing can ease my mind
Forgive me, I cannot forget.
Forgive me, I did not know
You were a dying man.