Respect

You wonder who I really am
asking questions that I cannot answer
I stare straight into your eyes
because your assumptions are baseless
If you took the time to touch the core of your doubt
you would hit a nerve that would electrify you
and expose the meaningless of your distrust
why should you expect respect
when you are unwilling to give it

Flight

I pretend to take a step away
and you pretend not to notice
so I step in time
to a love I have stolen
a theft you won't report

What can I do with the truth
when I am such a liar
what authority would you report me to
when I carry no brand
I've always escaped the fire

You know my secret thoughts
they distract you from your prayers
It's not my intention to set your mind adrift
I've always admired your ability to take flight
when reason fails
or when I ask for more than is fair

Only A Man

Sometimes stilled voices speak the loudest
and those who listen to the space between thoughts
hear the most

I like to watch you and imagine those thoughts
I'm not a fool who thinks I know you
I'm only a man who wants to

The cadence of adoration
can mesmerize or repel
or settle softly into your heart

So let me be the shade you seek
when your feelings erupt in disquiet
and your sense of self dissolves

I might not have an answer
but I don't fear the question
I'll always hear what you have to say

and I am not afraid to hold you tightly
while the world spins beyond your control

Wind

There are some things
moved only by the wind
and when they blow away
their place is taken
by something
moved only by the wind

A Letter

Here is another letter to everyone
for what else is a poem
my attempt to give meaning to life
casting my feelings to the four winds
awaiting the incontrovertible echo
the mirrored truth of my thoughts
because there is someone out there

My ear is poised to hear your heart
that I may interpret
your expressions and unspoken want
my letter is to everyone
but only matters if you read it
the others will realize in time
the part they played

Glory

The volunteer pine in the abandoned field
struggles through the briers and sedge
and through the years with no competition
spreads its limbs as though it were an oak.
Its trunk trades height for girth
until one day in amazement we recognize its glory.

I've watched you traverse the mine field of lost love
stepping gingerly past your last nerve
holding tightly to the dearness of children
and their perception of the future
you've sacrificed yours in a bath of recrimination
only a few recognize the depth of your roots

And so you spread your limbs
and pollinate a legitimacy that blooms
as the inherent truth of love
there is no tangle nor thatch
that would stop the growth
of your selflessness

You've struggled through the tears and the blackness
but look at you now
arms outspread
encompassing a glory that you did not imagine
the fruit of your loins
as beautiful as yourself

A Trick Or Two

I walk past her arrangements
mindful of my position
in the scheme of her amusement
Could it be that I am the only fixture out of place
the only brass sans polish
in her disperfection of perquisites

I've learned the trick
of hollow steps
how a nod can replace a confession

Who listens to the truth
if it isn't their own invention
The ebb and flow of life
is easily ignored by the static mind
Seasons don't matter
to the self contained

I don't ask you to save me
but your heart has touched mine
and the sun is still above the horizon

Some Don't Matter

Does it count that I've watched you
and learned my place
while you stalk the world
surrounded by the redolence
of easy prey

No

What counts is the moment of capture
the first bite into the flesh
of the meat within your talons
a quiver upon your tongue
that shakes away your fear

While

I remain in trust
to my own fallibility
able to see the beauty of death
without fear
watching your eyes sparkle
in the reflection of my demise