What you chose to kill
I choose to bury
Our past shall haunt
No more

How sweetly it beckons
With a song so merry
But still I will seal
This door.

I am sole witness
To the rites today
So words I've no need
To tell

But since you asked
I guess I'd say
Good riddance
Or farewell.

Happy for You

And truly I can bear
To never take his place
Each time I see you wear
The smile that lights your face.

Final Fig

My candle is spent
Its flame at end
But sadder still
The sight
Of a wick
Still strong and thick
Yet never set
Alight.

 I am not my work
 Nor many things more;
 So words that seek to hurt
 Only serve to bore.

You couldn't give the first
And didn't save the last;
So now I only dance
When dreaming of the past.

With each day
Another brick
In your house
Of love and trust
But for me
Another floor
In my house
Of dream and dust.

At this depth
So far beyond
The reach of drug or drink
You either swim
Or learn to love
The freedom of the sink.

Unusually terrible, even for me, but I'm really beyond caring right now.

---

I'm done with writing
And saying my peace
And making flesh
From word
The shape I'm in
All poetry
Seems vulgar and
Absurd.

So instead
I bide my time
Not looking ahead
Or behind
Working instead
Towards some peace:
An empty heart and
Mind.

Just so you know, I'm likely to never stop churning these out.

---

If I could learn
How to forget
I might just live
A day;
But when memories
Are all that's left
They're hard to give
Away.

When at school
I wasn't taught
That life is not
The past;
Nor that there's
But one test
You mustn't finish
Last.

You said there'd be another
And so departed with a lie;
Some have use for goodwill
But I prefer goodbye.

And so I join those great men
Who learned to mute their heart;
Silence, if you do not listen,
Sounds sweeter than any lark.

But theirs was a love forbidden
By laws of God or man;
And what's tragic when by a villain
Seems trite when by your hand.

Your smiling face
Did not make
The sun shine
Any brighter
The moon seem
Any bigger
The clouds hang
Any lighter.

But any happiness
Since that goodbye
Has been from memory
Not the sky.

So when the day
Finally comes
From my times
To pick just one
That I could live
And breathe again
It is the hour
You were my friend.

Happiness is
An empty sky
To mirror not
Your eyes.
The very thought
And sleep no more
From moon to black
Sunrise.

It's a pity
These words must end
Because this is all I know is true;
Each day
Repeats the lie
That life keeps going without you.

Sunrise comes
But I don't know why;
When it's day
I'd like to try
A number game
I've played for years;
It's six to stay,
And zero is near.

I haven't done one of these in a while. Now I remember why I stopped. Another addition to the endless catalogue of things that remind me of a specific incident, even though expressed embarrassingly poorly.

---

The last time
I lowered my eyes,
Shrugged my shoulders,
Muttered my thanks.
"It is nothing,"
I cried,
But the pride in their eyes
Lingered.

Yesterday was a long time
But I can still remember.

Because this time
It was not me
Who made their eyes glow.
"It is nothing,"
I whispered;
Either way,
I knew I was wrong.

Why march on?
Let's find a quiet place
To set up camp
Call it a day
Forever.

Should I speak
Of better times ahead
Remind me if you please
Of all those times
I said those words before; yes,
The future is a disease.

If I looked into your eyes,
I might disappear,
But what better way to end;
Wrapped in your warm ray,
My mind scorched,
My heart beating once again.

My Life

Only a song, sung at night; only a dream that once shone bright. But those times have faded away; I see no light on the brightest day.

Between pages, on the right day,
Sometimes I find my mind stray
To your question
And a younger man's reply.
Oh, there's no plot without you,
Every word sounds untrue;
I close my book,
Curse my mouth and sigh.