Three and Five
1
you’re everything the world has to offer
everything the stars dream of
the promise of the universe
a gentle love wielding the sword of Fate
and pointing it toward the future
i will be your shield, Rose
to protect you from the bad
just promise to keep me by your side
i cannot afford to lose you a third time
2
you can’t expect something
for nothing just like you
can’t rebuild an old bridge that
has burned down
surely a new bridge will be
constructed where the old one
stood and it will be sturdier and
stronger than the last
and no matter how hard you try
you’ll never be able to cross over
that old bridge as it returned back
into the nothing from where it came
still the scenery remains to remind us
the trees dancing on the horizon
the hum of cool water rushing below
the song of the sun setting on now
as we cross that new bridge to the other
side where we’ve grown so comfortable
in the certainty of not knowing anything
except that everything we love must
return back to nothing to give way
to a better, stronger love
3
this poetry
is temporary
and shall fade
like everything else
yet it’ll carry on
slightly longer than
your love
this is what
keeps me going
4
you taught me to want
then you taught me to grieve
as the things one seems to want
are the things one never seems to need
5
it’s usually easier
if you plan out the suicide
situate the stars over a summer
night and make sure the
table cloths are clean
or even crack the window blinds
so a sliver of moon can illuminate
the dust which has settled
over the scene
make sure the words are clear
void of any attachment and that
the wall has been painted and
primed for anyone else who may
come along with an easy tongue
you find it easier to lie
to share your drink from
a broken cup
to send tomorrow back to
today with a grin
you find a world of innocence
breaking over sexualheat
hot and lost in a summer haze
of purple smoke casting surreal
auras around sullen strangers
you thought you knew
what do we want
this is a dime store melody
of cliched caricatures of us
the ending is so predictable
yet the author says, “stay
still and don’t let the morning
bite.” but we won’t listen
the stars have etched their
feelings into our heads
so our minds have been made
up like filthy beds in the morning
after an evening of sex
the guilt hanging over the
bedpost of carved flowers
forever in bloom
this room is so full of
doubt and we ignore it
we ignore it
6
the daisy you wore in your hair
last Halloween is still beside my bed
perched on the windowsill like a lost bug
it’s in bad shape now
time has not treated its features kindly
yet it remains happy
as it once lingered so close to you
7
and it returns full circle
in patterns unknown
beneath a summer moon
we found home
in one another’s arms
temporary and fleeing
from the future
with nothing but love
for the past
this is real
for the moment and
we can’t expect it to
last
as love like this isn’t
meant to be contained
like daffodils against a
spring rain
washed away back into
the nothingness from
which they came
i listen to your voice
set against the cool wind
and feel the warmth of
your skin against mine
lovers for now
holding out against
time
8
over the remains
our summer fling
forms into a quick
sculpture of sure suicide
we took it all
in way too fast
all of those kisses
and cuddlings added up
against us
the paintings from our
outings to art galleries
watch us fail
they laugh that dreaded
laugh laced with acrylic
poison pushing up and out
of our sickened hearts
it ends here
for now
my love
i will remember you
in these poems
for some time
to come
