Lines

Lines - thin or thick
Shapes and their shades
Subtle or bold
Shatter our inheritance
The past and its truths
A hand-me-down, received
Understood but not simply
Passed on, just because

We make what we take
Our own, truly our own
When and only when
We own what we receive

And we give what we make
To another set of hands
Shapes, lines and shades
That will strum these strings

To a tune they like
That we have one day love
Or at least understand
That we are all just lines

Untitled

Look at all this space
Look at all these wishes
Look with more than just your eyes
You could almost feel the kisses

Kisses I blew out, waiting
Drifting with hope held lifted
A fool and his youthful heart song
Never complete, never wasted

Look at all this space
Look at all this yearning
Look at these jobless hands
Busy with the life and a living

Busy collecting scars and stories
For a day when the old soul hungers
As the clocks slow their counting
As wedding bands lose their lustre

The Little Heart

I held a little heart
In my hand today
I held it in my palm
My fingers a cage

I felt the little heart
Pulse with much  to say
Though only a whisper
A sincere message

"Is it in my nature
Or by your care
That I should bleed
Just as I will beat

Could I be your guide
In both truth and lies
Yet I am oftten blind
At least as you believe

Do I hold all keys
To what is unseen
Yet not unnoticed
Once it is in my light

Is it I who complicate
Or too simple for you
Your justice too quick
Too swift, too right

Am I your enemy
When love becomes hard
Am I your friend
When a heart becomes love

I am just a little heart
Placed in your hand
Behold all I am
It is you that I serve"

I held you heart
In my hand today
I felt it, it trembled
A language I am learning

I held your hand
In my heart today
I felt it, I was thankful
A choice, a shared meaning

Spot

I am here

I am standing

Watching, a half-smile

You too are here

Here for now

A painting

Hanging patient

Like my heart waiting

For your presence

Home again

And in here

It remains quiet

Still, vacant, wanting

Heartbeats ringing

Ode to you

A Long Kiss Goodbye (For Now)

I've never had trouble saying goodbye
Never, at least until today

I've usually been the one to go

But now I wish you could stay

I didn't think I'd give a long kiss goodbye

But our days past have been just that

Ever since the deadlines have surfaced

Ever since I've started trying to forget

I've never needed to try so hard

To let go, or to hold on

I've never thought I'd be the one

To be teary-eyed, forlorn

I've never know a quiet so loud

That I try to fill every moment

I can with the necessary and the odd

Just so I wouldn't be frozen

I've said goodbye as much as I should

But today, tonight

I've finally had to mean it

As you take off on your flight

Paradise

This looks just like paradise
Not a worry, day or night
Smiles, an endless supply
Never a dull moment in sight

This is however not my paradise
Too bright, too much ease
Any appetite, any size
To be satisfied, fed or teased

Stories, told to be heard
Come easy and freely all around
A smooth and open camaraderie
Formed and dissolved without a sound

Experiences, gift-wrapped and free
Designed to suit each mood and fancy
Forget adventure, it’s not easy
And it won’t have a guide called Nancy

The folks here seem to think it’s fine
To trade much money and some time
And gorge their bodies and their minds
To escape the realities of their lives

So that’s why this is not my paradise
Not a place where there is work and play
Where they match each other’s size
And both spell growth, at the end of the day

Because enough is too far too little
When there is no need for more
And our resolves will become brittle
If we feed an empty core

Measured

The world, our country
How big is one within the other
A house, a home
What a difference, one without the other

People and communities
Divided by their identities
Some given, others earned
Not the same, yet not so different

Locality and local
Together, united by space
Friends, friendly or unknown
It's all good until our covers are blown

Folks, family
Chosen or without a choice
Live and let live, learn patience
Or suffer our interdependence

You, me
Together, become only "we"
Bodys, minds
What size and what surprise

Hands, heart
They beat and they build
Action or intention
Alas, still a reaction

A cup, a drink
A vessel or a bridge
A message, a thirst
Growing deeper after the first

Chatter, a conversation
Sounds, words or ideas
Hard or soft, all imagined
Handicapped by imperfect listening

How big, how small
How wide, how tall
How much, how little
These truths, so fickle

How deep, how long
How weak, how strong
Measured, or just guessing
We are whole, and we are missing

New Year

So this is the New Year
Its numbers, bubbles and drinks
The past quickly forgotten
Undone as the glasses clink


Ticks and trickles
Along time's slippery tracks
Our daily digital scribbles
Scribe a widening, invisible crack

Same differences
Between what is and what should be
A drunken hazy clarity
Between the truth and our humanity

Do we breathe
To perceive and seek the truth
Or do we grief
Always, some wound to soothe

Do we stand
Aside and away, nonchalant
As the just suffer
Their own fairness and benevolence

Do we fight
As we listen to what our soul decides
The good fight
Or just the popular might

Do we forgive
All who have trespassed, we know
Even those fools
Who would not admit to doing so

Perhaps what's new in this year
Is only the face of hope
The distinct irresistible flavour
In the air that stirs and tugs our soul

Still mountains will not move
Nor this world ever change its shape
Until we sober up, pay attention
Come out from under the hero's cape

Not Ready

Feet barely on the ground
Shoes off, airport-bound
Skin bleached by modern lights
Soul starved without sunlight

Fingers crooked, bent double
Fists with gaps, calloused stubbles
Freshly unplugged; not ready, not yet
Already in paradise with a return ticket

Force it open before the close
A sudden quiet, sobering dose
Taken back to patient basics
Still not ready, still a city-sick

Fresh off the boat, sniff the muddy air
Sea fills open noses, and the hair
Precious first hours, catch a breath
Prepare to wake and gather what's left

Fueled by days of hunger and fight
Caught on both sides, trying to be right
The mantle of responsibility is heavy
When the heart is lonely, against the tests


For so little we often give too much
A starving soul is angry, out-of-touch
Not ready to make nice or to back down
Not ready for the hate and the frown



Feelings festering, a pensive stare
As I wash the holiday out from my hair
Already I feel smaller, back to city living
Already the weight dulls my tanned skin

Far away, it feels so far away still
A source of fresh hope, a renewed will
I unpack my sandy rucksacks, too slowly
One thought still echos: I'm not yet ready

Black to White

When comes a just cause
Yet becomes a "just because"
The trust that was slowly gained
Sat weathered, quickly lost

Be aware of the whys
Beware the whos
In these twisted times when
We gain by first having to lose

Perhaps
Our conscience needs a change
A far-reaching, conscious turn
From told to telling, rearranged

To pay an unknown price
For a known costly (de)vice
That is neither served nor serves
The very body in which it resides

Perhaps
Since interests seem no longer existent
Let our visions turn from black to white, for
Mere existence is no longer an interest

I Don't Know What I Want

I want a lot
No, I want it all 
To adventure and fly 
When I've barely crawled 

I want to do it all in a day
 End to end, full to fuller yet
Because time is a one way stream
A moving, constant, losing bet

 I want to make a life
Inheritance will not suffice
I want to fill and turn it up
Make alchemy of fate's device

I want to be more
Be greater than what I was
To be an inspiration
A life-changing force

I want to be a son
A loyal friend for life
I want to be a good companion
I want you to be my wife

I want to be the story
And move the writer's hands
To know the skies, the oceans
And to trawl the lands

I am told I cannot but choose
Though I refuse my mortality
I resist the crushing incomplete
Story they call reality

So they pushed me around
And told my dreams to stop
Piled on the growing up
Crowded me out with props

I got lost, I tried
The light blocked, blotted out
My mind acquired the habit
Of some permanent pensive pout

Still a hungry heart
Is not easy to play for a fool
A restless force of nature
A curious meandering tool

Now I still want a lot
Though I know not precisely what
 I lie awake at night, just knowing
The importance of making a start

I want to make you something
Though I know not what I want
You see, art is a strange language
That speaks to me, much like chance

I'll start with lines and strokes
Then fill the shades and tones
With paint and some imagination
Until it feels like home

I don't know what I want
But I know I want a lot
And a lot of it comes from you
Because you're all that I've got

Perfect

I don't believe in perfect Not since we've been let down But I don't waste time on regret Or solving problems wiht a frown I could never find a perfect day Though some have come real close Much more often and magical Are perfect moments in a little dose I know we can't be perfect Though everyone hopes to find That somewhere someone holds the key To free them from their confines I know that I'm not perfect And that I can only try my best With hope and maybe a little luck I'll play my part and passt the tests I don't believe in fairy tales Or all stories that I've been told They're only as good as their merchants If you can't tell glitter from gold But I'll believe your stories The scars and memories you bear They speak to me through your actions And the ways you show you care I have yet to believe in one God Though I respect all that is divine Accept what I cannot yet understand About hold rituals and signs While I wait for One who is perfect To touch and guide my heart I leep hope and love as my languages As I live out fully my own part I don't know what makes perfect I guess I can't make up my mind Each moment that seems just right Is a moment past, left behind But I have an idea, just a little Of what's felt perfect, nearly so It's all got something to do with you An how you've changed my world

Meditate

The transient space
Between a want and need

Where weary hearts can rest
Find joy, comfort and peace
Looking inward

Eyes but half-opened

Patiently wait for answers
A truth that is not golden

Come, sit and breathe

If just for a little while
Begin to be comfortable

And calm your inner child
Take breaths and listen

Take time to learn patience

See and know that a mind's key
Lies in the heart's brilliance
Perhaps speak little prayers

Or receive the gifts of sone
To tune our inner ears to
The voice there all along

It never once yelled out
Or felt silenced by hate
Only patiently repeating

What we needed to hear instead
"Be true, be honest
 To no one before yourself

Live fully, don't worry for love
A heart's riches will always come around
Be brave, but know fear

Be strong enough to run
While hope is not a method
Believe always that it shall be done."

Heart

Love
An ancient art
Is to eventually know
The ways of the heart

To give love
To play our part
Is to begin to speak
The language of the heart

To receive love
Is easy to start
But grows ever complex
With the shadows of our past
 
To deny love
Is the easiest start
To a cruel cold end
The breaking of another heart

To be without love
Is to be forced apart
Away from a soul's fountain
A dried hopeless crust

To truly love
Is to pay a price for art
To have failed, hurt and fallen
To brave a bleeding heart

To see beyond our odds
When the clouds are hard to part
Hold out, trust and slowly learn
The art of another heart

Break (Incomplete)

My heart is a flutter
My thoughts are a mess
I'm right now fighting
This urge to confess

This urge to lay bare
This need to break down
To fall apart slowly
To float back to the ground

Snap to what's happening
The blurred fantasies
Work like a nervous drugs
Piped in with reality

Dose upon dose
Can't stay the days
Cracked and bent whole
In a hundred ways

Shake and Shudder
There, it's all better
Just some memories
Of a passing thunder

Beware (Incomplete)

Beware the animals
They are not like we imagined
They do not feel for reason
And they seek to feed their needs

Beware the voices
They may come in the night
They may come against your will
On your fears they will feed

Beware the people
They may not be your friends
While they may not yet be enemies
What is not broken can still bend

Beware of yourself
You may soon surprise yourself
Blind to what we not know
Yet so trusting of what little we do

Beware of me
I am in your head
If you let me, I will
Be in your heart
And on your tongue instead

Proud (Incomplete)

Perhaps we once were angels
Born of gifted mind and wings
Perhaps somewhere along the line
We understood why mortals sinned

Perhaps we also understood love
As guardians at her kingdom doors
But once too many times we've let
Trespassers bend her laws

Perhaps we are heroes instead
At our courts and castles we reside
Waiting on our fairy tales
Our swords and words ready by our sides

Perhaps we are skilled ministers
Our words are promises that bind
But perhaps we have spent too much time
Between the necessary truth and lies

Little Big Things

Ever felt empty
Spaces beckoning
Little things

Little big things
Begin to appear
To fill the spaces

Slowly everywhere
You breathe
Is full of beautiful

Little things
Little big things
That have come with you

And I can't feel
Don't need to remember
Where we began

When I stopped
And you became
My little big thing

Granted

Unhappy
Unnecessarily
I have left
Myself hungry again

Put out
Put up
Yet still always
Falling short

Given
Taken
Assumed to always
Rise and shine again

Too much
Too little
I felt my heart
Bend but not break

For and against
Similarities
Are never the same
The next day

Alone now
Aware now
I play the music
And start over again

Nocturne

The sun may have set
And given way to your glow
But my hands they still see
Well between our distance

The pleasts of your skirt
Whispers of your scarf
Waging war upon my darkness
With your unintended beauty

The patch on your sleeve
Left stitches on my heart
Those subtle leather trimmings
Feel like adventure to my touch

The lines on and of your face
Soothe my dull aching hands
A river of chills thrill so quietly
Tracing, teasing quietly

The crook of your smile
Twist and tug my strings
Pulsing through our hands, closed
Their secrets and stories, too much