Daddy Bear

i have seen darkness

and i have not seen love

but i will get through this

maybe not now - but not never

Believe in yourself, Jade, and you will find others who believe in you.

Thank you, Nixee. When one person experiences a spark of recognition at even just one line, I have succeeded.

tu

un oeuf de merle criqué en bleu

ici ensemble aujourd'hui, tristement allé demain

la cause était ma tête, et pas les mains

moi

j'ai restant une peu d'espoir

après-demain, quand nous aurons un panier de la foi

nous joindrons nos pouces, et nos seize doigts

Did you write that???? I think that it's so fun!! I love it!!!!1

That was me.

Sung to the twin tunes of "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" and "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow."

doesn't it make strangers of us all

they hardly recognize you now

your dropped defense

for recompense

in what your heart allows

to

enter

and might there be some truth in saying

ignorance is bliss

it takes a kind of fool to find

some magic in a kiss

but I have never known a feeling

even close to this I have with you

so call me fool

I went to a supermarket on my lunch break today. I think it was a Vons or something. Ten thousand different items for sale, all colorful and eye-catching in their ten thousand spotless and dust-free corporate-designed disposable containers. But I'm like, no. I just want one thing. I just want an apple. So I go to the produce section and I pick up an apple. But not just any apple. A perfect apple. I cupped it in my hand and it fit like we were made for each other. I took it up to the express lane. Fifteen items or less. One is less than fifteen. So I had my rights. But the lady who rang me up looked at me like I might be crazy. Clearly, nobody else had the same idea. Nobody else had come for just one thing. "I'm not crazy," my eyes shouted back. "I have the perfect apple. I spent forty-five cents and I'm the happiest man in the world. They're all crazy for buying nonfat, cholesterol free, high-fiber, low sugar antibacterial cereal. It's oats. Plain old oats. They're paying through the nose for it, and they bought it because it came in a spotless and dust-free corporate-designed container with red ink on it. And because they didn't want people to think they were crazy for wanting just one thing." I took my apple and we took our leave.

doesn't it make strangers of us all

they hardly recognize me now

a bridge of sighs

massed butterflies

and feeling I could drown

in

pleasure

and might there be some goof in seeing

cooler heads prevail

the warmer ones get all the sun

and thereby hangs the tale

oh, we were so impetuous

the night that I unveiled my love for you

two little fools

mmmmmh

two little fools

Thanks much, Allie, but it kills me to even look at it now. Barring an unlikely miracle of divine intervention, it's just going to have to remain the Unfinished Symphony of my literary spewings.

But they rely on me, and when I do nurture them, they are thick and juicy and medicinal. They are there for me when I am there for them.

My God, you're right. I'm a 24-karat bastard for not giving my 'aloe plant' the care it deserves.

Oh, the horrible, horrible shame I feel now...

things that hurt us most are never

those designed to kill

the mind, it knows when to shut down

but oh, no

not with this heartache

i know what comes next, i'm gonna

put on my cobain clothes

walk the streets for miles on feet

that always point away from me

i don't wanna eat

i don't wanna sleep

i don't wanna breathe

i don't wanna watch the tv

i don't want to get undressed

i don't want to see my chest

the scar that runs accross my heart

mom thinks it's from jumping over fences

i don't want to feed my cat

i don't want to wear my hat

i don't want to put on socks

will not eat them with a fox

don't you make me laugh now, dammit

the sound will hurt your ears and make you cry

i don't wanna live

i don't wanna live

i don't wanna live

i don't wanna live

so why

why

why is it

i don't wanna die

the words on the envelope cost her a breath

"please do not open 'til after my death"

inside was a note with a large and small X

over verses in daddy's coarse handwritten text

people leave us, it said

and they don't leave much with us

questions, they leave us

they leave us with many holes

we all must lose someone

unless we had no one

I lost my ever one

but still had you, little one

and didn't we have some kicks

houses of popsicle sticks

watching those kiddie flicks

how they made my eyes roll

mother's an angel bright

and though I must join the light

we'll sleep at your sides tonight

you'll be the middle one

baby, you must

understand what you meant to us

the product of hope and trust

born in love's purity

you were my everything

you eased my suffering

when you put our wedding rings

on that chain that you wore

and you must live on now

live and be strong now

we'll be there somehow

as you pass on that legacy

hand down our wedding bands

and make sure they understand

write something like this and

keep it safe in a drawer

and when daddy's poem had come to a close

she wiped a last tear from the tip of her nose

she felt a great joy when her babies were born

and they all lived forever in subsequent form

now, this is the meaning that everyone misses

in the unbroken pattern of childhood's kisses

regardless of who bore those children, my friends

if you give them your love, then your life never ends.

You flatter me, Vampers. I haven't been, and never will be, the world's most perfect man.

But there's much more yet to be writ for all of us. Keep that in mind whenever you feel like crying.

SB,

Very nice! Will read it again tomorrow, and weep.

Thanks for sharing it.

KG

Aw, KG... don't grieve for what once was; get ready for what will be. You have everything it takes to bring yourself a bright future. *brotherly hug*

For those who want to hope

hold on to me, darling

all through the restless night

a morning close awaits us

and a world caressed in light

reflecting all the love you have inside

so hold on through the night.

I'll hold you like I'd hold that little girl

who looked at her first rainbow

and thought it was a miracle

and you'll remember how you felt that day

the rain will fade away

and you'll know she wasn't wrong.

you are

the queen of people's hearts

you should be free to smile and fill their eyes

with all that 'queen' implies

majestic and benevolent and wise

how can I tell you?

you are

the gold of angels' hair

the soft red of a full-bloom fragrant rose

the pink of baby toes

the blue of seas and, I am one who knows,

brightest white of Arctic snows.

oh, wicked things can happen

people do forget to care

very precious things get damaged

they're discarded everywhere

but I'll take One and see that it's repaired

oh, I will always care.

I've told you like they told that little girl

in puppet shows and sweet songs

that love can be a miracle

and over time the nightmares will let go

to let your spirit show

and you'll know I wasn't wrong.

so hold on to me, darling

hold me through these trying times

I am yours from here to Heaven

and you likewise can be mine

believe the rainbow's promise when it shines

believe in love divine.

Very touching and well-written. I could easily see a song like that catching on with a wide audience.

Hey, that's a good idea! Why didn't I think of that?

Erm... what rhymes with 'apple'?

The third one's a song fragment, btw, though it probably will remain unfinished.

BY BREAD ALONE

It breathes, and not with panting gasps, but as our longing quiet sighs;

it leaves, and not by any door, but through the corners of our eyes.

Within, we reap more golden grain than all the farmers ever grow;

Without, our ovens damp and chill, no flour turns to warming dough.

We glut - we sleep; we starve - we weep; thus we, as Man, will be

The beast that cannot live by, nor live separate from, the seed.

FAREWELL, TENDER

She makes it clear with present tense:

her love outlives their many trials.

And he, stretched tight like cyclone fence,

can only mock his pain with smiles.

MEMO TO PAIGE TURNER

if you've ever read the ending of a book, you know what happens is

the lingering loose ends all get wrapped up like Christmas packages

there's always resolution, be it comedy or drama

so I wonder why our final words were followed by a comma

my character's evolving and the plot's accelerating

and this never had the feel of people casually dating

there's no end and there's no middle, just a beautiful beginning

we barely got it open and we closed it short of winning

now there's only one thing to do

how does this sound to you

meet me on page two

Maybe I'll just call it "Retch." I always appreciate a good double entendre.

bed at three and I'm up at four

'cause I can't have these dreams no more

I'm sure I'll nod off in the hours to follow

I take a spoon of bacon grease

to lube the coming round of heaves

look away, walk away

and I will swallow

lasted almost a day

without my

Cigarettes

but the house burned down and I

found in the fire an excuse to keep on

poisoning the well of every

dutiful intention

I dove to save my drowning friends

and came up only with the bends

seven gone; how many bodies follow?

you looked to be of a different kind

but broken was my state of mind

go away, blow away

for we are hollow

lonely I face the night

beside my

waning self and the PC's hum as I

watch in amazement hands that keep on

pushing buttons wrong on every

magical invention.

A few things that I wrote during my ENA hiatus, posted here so that I can find them:

HOLY WATER

Hope,

winnowed from a dissonant medley

as confusion is distilled to weightless vapor and resolve

in crystal droplets, finds her as with stalwart purpose;

kissing shoulders never meant to carry,

wetting hair long rumpled by despairing slender hands,

salving welts from self-inflicted lashings on her soul.

In what is close to an involuntary motion

her face turns upward, catching more.

NO NAME

Cruelest fish,

we took my hook.

We, schmuck and schnook.

I crave pursuit, I do;

to know your dusky gloom

in algal bloom to be baptised,

perhaps to rise -

arms wide, olive drab, facial corners strict unbending.

Thus, a true romantic ending!

This Jesus statue should I be,

though no-one good

would drop a knee.

Carnival, carnival, then. Again

the caramel coats the fruit of sin.

O gravity, you love a chin!

INCENDIA

Lay cool hands atop my steaming brow,

damp the forge's clangs within my breast.

Count with me the multitudes of sheep

a-milling in the cool green meadows west.

Armies cannot stop Rome's burning now;

close my eyelids, bring me perfect rest.

Goddess Mother, take me in my sleep;

fly with me against your bosom pressed.

Give me no wine, for I want to be vivid

the sweet sublimation of joining the skies,

even if fantasy born in expiring.

Few of us dream so well; who never dies?

EDIT: One more; "Doodle" (aka "On Direction and the Human Condition")

There is no metaphor in Zen -

I glance askance, askew,

but then

affix a face afore again.

I wrote the words above the line.

The sig was hers, the poem mine.

^ ^^ Two more favorite people I've missed. Thanks for the comments, friends.

Whoa, "powerful" and "profound." Score!

The thickly overcast mood that produced this dirge has fortunately passed, but I'll leave the thread up as a reminder of a sullen brooder that I want at all costs to avoid being.

Missed you guys!

Noun.

The natural physical law

by which

everything beautiful

disappears.

Medusa follows Midas

as midnight follows morning.

So little time

we are given.

So much poignancy

to ignore.

Shame on the rainbows

the diamonds and the birds

for being what

I'm almost sure

they are.

Shame on my eyes

for seeing color.

Shame on my soul

for having need.

No one leaves the heart

because

no one's ever there.