sorrow – three good words

August 12, 2017August 12, 2017

friends like these

quietly listening to friends
talk about
the one who went away

wondering
. . .with friends like these
what life did you
friend
lead?

icy in their words and speech
all the apparent warmth
is steeped in derision
so detached
and deliberate in their cleverness

with friends like these
what on earth did you
friend
see
in all of them?

love, here
sounds like a four letter word
with no other substance
than to hurt, insult

though maybe all they are is
exhausted, because you
friend
were not easy to be
with

so maybe all this
is grief, speaking

about the sudden loss
of a human
being
shorn of all niceties
showing the knowing
of what it was to be a
friend
to the you that once was
a me.

June 9, 2015

there is light

the sword of a soothing look
cuts loose the meteor of affection

joy withers
in a moment of crisp
bright, brittle
understanding
frissoned with threads of doubt

of sight and senses
but the heart knows
what is meant
and will not concede to
willful self
deceit

three heartbeats worth of relief
hope restored
there is light
no comet flashing
stark against the void

but an ancient fire
kindled by the first of flames
alive, living
knowing, known.

December 16, 2014

on which we all

images of a likeness
that is proclaimed to be divine
commit and commit
and never quit to terrify

that which is sublime
in each of us all
that spark, that fire
that gives us love, hope, compassion,
that goodwill so desired,
and everything that makes us kind

stamped out with jacked boots of blindness
and hands writing, mouths speaking madness
watering the weeds of what lets
Darkness grow to Night.

And now, once more,
young dreams of joy and happiness
are turned to dust and ashes
lowered low into empty earth
on which we all stand on.

And the cry is loud
amongst us all and deep inside
everything that makes us love, hope
compassionate and kind,
for we know, we know
that this madness is not us
nor any other
this is not that image nor that likeness
of that which is divine.

This madness is not mankind.