PAST TIMES

Memories of youth I might one day forget
But now they’re back, please, not quite yet
Their fading for good could make me upset
So just give me a little more time with these
Let me remember and perhaps smile, please

So many, yet most now appear quite bland
Losing touch is sadly, so easy to understand
They may be living nearby or in Samarkand
Friends, their names that I now can’t recall
It’s a shame, as I have lost track of them all

The cat commands, my favourite chair,
it preens and purrs a regal prayer,
with sleekened smile and tiger eyes,
the moggy yawns and owns my prize,
its whiskers poised, his cunning stare.

My tabby takes, with brazen flair,
his puma paw, his noble air.
A tyrant’s stare of stately guise
the cat commands.

Cat’s comfort claimed, I do not dare,
remove him from his restful lair.
The throne he claims, I should despise,
cat’s crafty ways, I lionise,
absurd. Yet still, he doesn’t care.
The cat commands.

At the light, a life-worn man
jostled his cardboard sign asking for a little help.
I handed him a five-dollar bill.

He smiled and said he liked my Star Wars t-shirt.
I thanked him for the compliment.
He thanked me for help with his next meal.

Before the light changed, he said,
“Maybe somewhere else we might be Jedi Knights.”
“Maybe.”, I replied, “Hopefully without Darth Vader around.”

A year ended, and started anew,
Here is its drawer I'm looking into.
Too bad memories I'm gonna forget,
Dreams and wishes, I'd rather reset.

Wars and troubles that stole my land,
Relationships I don't understand
Homeless kids, without identity,
Lost and found, with no integrity.
.
Thus, it's time to throw this junk,
And get me ready for a whopping chunk?

Nobody
Ever fathomed
The depth of my pain
My sorrow.
Even I didn't do that.
I just carried on.

It wasn't until
My two encounters with Bruce,
That I began to realize,
The depth of my sorrow,
My pain,
My suffering.

I let it fester,
Out of control,
And it was out there.

I didn't comprehend
The reach it had,
In my mind.
I just could not understand.

After the quartet:

As one long note, bowed to thinning silence,

We politely held applause, watched these magicians

Who flout all laws of natural science,

And float above our quiet adulation.

We got home, drawn of emotion, that such

Profound things as these could be given

To a silence that filled an empty hall before,

Then put the radio on, in the want of more.

We listened to Chopin and the rain as ever

Poured, in this neck of wood, strummed, lapping

Ceaseless - almost, then came perceived calm,

After the quartet:

As one long note, bowed to thinning silence,

We politely held applause, watched these magicians

Who flout all laws of natural science,

And float above our quiet adulation.

We got home, drawn of emotion, that such

Profound things as these could be given

To a silence that filled an empty hall before,

Then put the radio on, in the want of more.

We listened to Chopin and the rain as ever

Poured, in this neck of wood, strummed, lapping

Ceaseless - almost, then came perceived calm,

After the quartet:

As one long note, bowed to thinning silence,

We politely held applause, watched these magicians

Who flout all laws of natural science,

And float above our quiet adulation.

We got home, drawn of emotion, that such

Profound things as these could be given

To a silence that filled an empty hall before,

Then put the radio on, in the want of more.

We listened to Chopin and the rain as ever

Poured, in this neck of wood, strummed, lapping

Ceaseless - almost, then came perceived calm,

I was so scared
to give you a piece of myself

I didn't know what you would do with it.

would you use it?
steal it?
hurt it?

would I be left hollow
and unfulfilled?

you took me by surprise

you cherished
cared for it
housed it
watered it

in the end,
you still kept it for yourself

but you filled the empty space inside me
with a piece of you

Oh, let this sonnet fall on deafened ears
for rarely do I reap the words I sow
I've wandered, squandered, many youthful years
I've barely learned the simple things I know

That I have learned has been a thing of chance
Enigmas rule my sureties in life
A sailing man in winds of changing dance
A wonder I have settled with a wife

Oh, sorrow never seems to follow me
When she is happy, so becomes my own
But she will never share the rolling sea
These times, I do prefer to sail alone