missing you

I try each night to dream of you,
I wish I could control
The images that haunt my sleep,
But absence takes its toll.

I forget your hand in mine
And how it makes me feel
I wonder what your smile looks like,
I wonder if you're real.

I'm counting down the days, sweetheart,
Until I'm by your side
Until my heart swells once again
With tenderness and pride.

We have to be apart for now,
I wish that I knew why.
Until we meet again, my love,
My darling, please don't cry.

Old

Do you like my face, sweetie?
Do you like my shape?
Or do you miss the days when
I was young and lovely.

I was slim and pretty once,
Fair of form and face
Graceful, and your lover once,
You shivered when you touched me.

Old and haggard am I now.
Time has claimed its own.
Still you hold my hand, sweetie.
Why, I've never known.

Just two

I'm a stranger in a strange land
All I want to do
Is take you by the hand,
Lead you through
This world of high demand.
Even you,
A blessing so unplanned,
Can be so true
So meant to be. And,
You're changing me too -
I write your name in sand.
I'm something new.
My heart that bears your brand
Finally flew.

Grief

When she asked how my father was,
She was suddenly very apologetic,
Horrified at what she'd done.

I brushed it aside.
For a second I'd forgotten too,
But there it was again,
Hot in my head
Swollen in my throat
The strange and unpleasant thought-
Unspeakable, and so often unspoken.

I thought it would get easier,
But grief becomes silent, and thus forgotten.
Until you hear their name
Hear a joke they'd love
See a dog fall over, something silly.
And you can't tell them.
Something's broken and now you can't tell them.

Haiku

hail falls from nowhere
I'm glad for my umbrella
braced against the wind.

daffodils drooping
over-eager hints of spring
look disappointed.

the path is half-white
pavements crunching underfoot
the hail melts to slush.

moments later, sun.
the roads sparkle with puddles
I look up, and smile.

Hearts in my shoes

He left hearts in my shoes at Christmas,
Little scraps of paper.
A secret and sweet "I love you"
under my pillow.
He loves me.
And I, willing yet unable to give myself wholly over,
To kiss and stroke him as I would,
I love him in every little way I can reach.

Graffiti

In a grey and lonely city where every street's the same
The only way to speak out is to tell the walls your name