Pity the poor loser¹

Pity the poor loser
He tries so hard
    to lose
so that we'll pity him

Do you think of me?²

Do you think of me
anymore
    or any less
than I think of you?

Summer²

"What are you doing today?"
    "Nothing. What are you doing?"
"Nothing."
And we cruise away,
the car slicing through thick air
rising from exhausted asphalt
as we roam in search of nothing

Regret²

I'll not go this way again.
The path is steep
and choked with the brambles
of damned eternal memory

Shadows³

Creeping across the dust,
silently marking the hours
we spend
apart

Passion³

Sweating and straining
beneath sheets twisted and tortured
    oblivious
as snow blasts against windowpanes
with harmless fury

Rearview⁴

Who is that
with eyes at once familiar
    and strange?
I don't recall seeing them
searching and
searching still

Beloved

Hair of fire
eyes of embers
what price love
but a burning embrace

Cruelty

That I could stop
    time's arrow
when all it does
is take you further away

Until

The corner of your mouth
tucked into an arrow
pointing to eyes
that double a promise

...and oh, that curve
lurking beneath a sheathe of satin,
the slightest move
a nearly silent breath of anticipation

I am forever there
there with you
always with you
    until

You left!
You left this world
by your own hand
without a word

Nothing

There is nothing
no sum of gold
no stolen beauty
no soothing balm
no boundless land
nothing you can offer
will bring her back

Aged

A year, a month, a week,
an hour, a minute, a second,
they're all as one
to the aged

So allow them their anguish
for experiencing in a single day
    far more
than youth could possibly bear

Thief

I didn't want this
hideous, decrepit shell.
Who stole from me all of this time?
Who shall answer for this crime?

Fireflies

Earthbound stars
rising to reach their home
in tribute to the goddess Nature,
that sacred being we've forsaken

I miss my trees

I miss my trees so much I ache...
to walk among them each and every day
to listen to them, to acknowledge them
to live in silent contemplation of their wisdom

Lesson learned

The lesson learned
    regrettably
is that lessons are always learned
after the fact

Rock bottom

Hurling into the abyss,
to land here.
Surely this is the end
I would hope,
but there is yet a long way to go

They are blind

No arrows, no bullets
have I endured.
Friends assure me
my body is whole.

Alas, they are blind;
the shattered remains
they cannot see
that was once my soul.

We shall never meet

I know him well
a kindred spirit
a hand offered
a soul bared
a cherished friend
    I shall never meet
why be fate so cruel

Trip

How much does it cost
to travel out beyond the stars?
Can I afford to see
my beloved one last time?

Relief

That sheathed dagger
that unfired bullet
that blessed relief
please take me
    take me
    take me