Déjame en Paz

if open arms mean
choke holds

if silence means
closed for repairs

if speaking wants out loud mean
not for you

déjame en paz

this spirit is too fragile
i'd rather peel the scabs
than have them caressed
against shards of glass

this is the last time
i build stories for
emotional sailors

if i cannot love the ones i want
i will not love

si no me quieres
déjame en paz

Someone Else

Streaming through the sky
try to grab
take hold
flowing through fingers
into someone else's hand

Touch
without feeling
feel
without lingering
take a bite
then spit it out
someone else gets to swallow

Listening to words
meant for a moment
or life long
never knowing which
someone else giggles
do those words belong to them too

Holding out time like a apron
catching thoughts
in order to break them to make things
waiting by the void to hear the ding
of when someone else
is me

Worthy

I sort my tears
letting them fall in boxes
is it
is it not
wishing I could
break these feelings on the line
like graham crackers

walking up to the image in my mind
I can't help but measure
how far I am away from
folding my life into
what it was from what it is

missing lips never kissed
arms never reached for
a heartbeat never heard
I realize where I am
and it needs no clipping

it doesn't stop the tears
from falling in boxes
is it
is it not
worried about being worthy
knowing sun rays are sunshine

Need

I picked up a pattern
examined it
put it on
twirled around in it
realized it didn't fit
lucky I didn't take off the tag

When my conscious opened
I stood in line
waiting to return it
but people kept saying
it was so beautiful with me

I walked around with it
looking for a replacement
I didn't want to let it go
just in case

Someone saw it in my hands
and afraid to ask
stole it when I laid it down
I can't say I miss it

Now there's a void
where the pattern kept me safe
my need is standing naked
in the middle of the room

Don't Say

Don't let it take your whole life

make sure you say it

say it loud

make it robust with meaning 

Don't let another month go by

live it full out

savor it in your guts

roll it around in your being

Don't let another second go by

if there's someone you want 

someone you need

say it 

choose them

Don't leave to living 

to figure out the words 

Living will send the breeze

to tell them you don't need them

It will be what you don't say

that will put another in their path

who will say what it will take 

your whole life long to say

Reach

I had it in my hand
beautiful and shining
I could smell the crispness
could almost taste the freshness
as my thumb rolled over the taut skin
then I heard his voice

walking up behind me
like every meeting
he wrapped his arms around my waist
burrowing his face into my neck
inhaling deeply
when my eyes closed
I almost pulled it from it's place

I release my hold on it
turning toward him
placing my hands on his face
yielding to his kiss on my forehead
my eyes forget the shining
my hand the crispness the freshness
and I reach to the extended hand in front of me

he's taking me somewhere
I can see from the smile on his face
before I have a chance to ask
we stop before the tree
sitting in the midst of all the others

he reaches for it
while his hand is in mine
I feel everything through him
the light  the truth  the way
He releases it from it's place
takes a bite and gives it to me

I reach
and I bite
not knowing I'm forever changed
not knowing we are forever changed

Dedicated

You look like a friend

Intimacy running through this 

like veins in marble

Taking the time to listen

your words leave little room for confusion

your actions mimic your words

and echos back from 

a revealed spirit

I can take you seriously

you know what you want

So I dedicate myself to

peeling back and

sloughing off the past

allowing the future to unfold 

in ways the present can present 

Dear friend

you've loved on me like family

taken my hand when it dangled by my side

empty

when my soul was congested with 

broken promises and mistakes

you offered your patience and guidance

to clear the way

and you let my light shine in you

I dedicate the story of my life to you

In you the conclusion is the conclusion

and I am happy you look like a friend

The Gates

Responsibility wraps us up
tighter than a straight jacket
keeping love from flowing free
I don't want to think about it anymore
I simply want to be

Fill up on me loving you
if it gives you permission to open up
pour out love like waterfalls
flow free in the ways you need to
in the ways you want it
knowing all along
it's your love you're feeling

Don't commit anything to me
feel it flow through you
filling up the empty spaces in yourself
so when you find yourself full
and if there's still a thought
that I could be the one
choose me
it's that simple

Then when living the mechanics
of this artificial way of surviving
latches the buckles of our being free
we will slip back through the gates
and replenish each other
from the Tree of Life