I hope you stand tall
I hope no fear holds you at all
I want love to spread
Through your heart to your hands
To your feet
To your mouth and words
I hope you fight for me
I hope you fight to be free
Let your strength have the last say
May your grace be first to speak
I hope you have eternal integrity
I hope you live and love relentlessly
But mostly, I hope it’s not for me
Let it be for one that’s majesty
My dear
I do love you
I hope you love me too
Nights Like these when all you feel is free
Your cold, damp skin
In the warm, moist air
Dark enough to see nothing
Only to imagine what comes ahead
Arms spread wide, from house to house it seems
Telling yourself to breath in long drags of dazzling air
Every inch of every limb feeling every bit of wind and space
The intimacy of every pathway and thought
Thoughts like Hemingway and Paris and jazz
Hanging onto the open spaces of your mind
Feeling so real and true
The humble home next door could be Gatsby’s sad mansion
The music of barking dogs could be roaring jazz records
The black silhouettes ahead could be Hemingway and Hadley flirting their way to love
The dream goes on as you take each step towards home
Nights like these should be remembered
For nights of sorrow and nights of heartache
For nights like these set you free
I am stuck in a perpetual tiredness
That persists in my soul
And in every muscle and bone.
I walked upright and onward
Out of the building I then called home
Home should not be temporary
But we do the best we can
With where we are
The day felt old
And ever aging
The cold was alarming
The kind of cold that steals your breath
Water trickled from the sky
Onto the canvas of leaves that decorated the pavement
The sound it made, a pitter patter
Faint yet direct
The sound made me feel joy
For where I was
For that particular moment
For living right there and right then
To hear the water and leaves speak
I finally saw the glory in a small moment
I finally found the importance of seconds
And minutes
And moments
I found peace
In seconds and minutes and moments
And peace is always waiting there
Day by day
Night by night
It’s all the same
We feel the joy
And we know the pain
We’re stuck in this place
Dying and trying for a novelty
But it’s all worn and old and the same
Such a tragedy
Thanks out of our mouths
Curses under our breaths
We all kiss goodnight
Say a prayer
Thank God everywhere
Wondering what’s out there
Play some Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Draw some drawings, make some art
Fall asleep, without another thought
Boxes flooding this room
Memories floating all around
They’re holding me down
Packing up and moving out
I can hear all the sounds
Of my childhood and my innocence
Of past joys and no regrets
I can see my cousins and me
We were simple kids with simple dreams
Our imaginations doing all the work
Games were realities in our world
We were kings and queens
Moms and dads and rockstars
And all that was in between
Abigail with the world dancing in her eyes
Andrew with despair and all that was unfair
Camping on summer weekends
Just to feel free
The orchestra of crickets playing us to sleep
Waking up with laughter spilling from our throats
Because we didn’t know any better or any worse
We fell in love with that laughter and all our hopes
Seeing the unseen and the afternoons that were our mornings
Somewhere, maybe in our schools
Or churches or homes or swimming pools
We realized it was too easy to make it that easy
To feel alive and fearless and happy
We complicated our imaginations
Finally shut them down
Our Barbies and Kens buried in the ground
We got boyfriends and girlfriends and fake friends
A familiarity comes with “It’s the end”
“Something dies when you grow older,” I heard it in a song
Sometimes there comes a time when you just don’t belong
So, I’m packing these memories and finally seeing
It was easier when we woke up laughing
Some Stuff, I Guess. 