The Shortest Hour or I Wished For You Again

That was the fastest hour
I’ve ever seen.
There should be more
minutes for you and I
because sixty is too short
We race the clock every night,
but it seems to run slower
when I have nothing to say.
I only smile at the sound of silence
when it takes us both into it’s arms.

I told you, I keep my word,
even if it makes me look cold.
I wish you weren’t sad.
I hope you know I am.

You told me, it was a secret.
I’ll tell you what I wished for
when the clock displayed 11:11,
and end to days like these.

I Wished For You

It was the beginning of our time.
The span from eleven eleven
to nearly three
when we used to talk.
You had gone to sleep
and I had not.
We spent our hour wisely
according to the rules
that we had made.
I found the task unsettling
because of how easy it was.
But ease does not mean effortless
so I wished that you would come back.

An Absence of Self or How I Happily Drowned My Eyes

Self-imposed separation
should be simpler
and make slipping into sleep
easier for tired eyes,
but there are still tears
welling because of the aquifer
behind my eyes.

I didn’t cry as much as I wished.
I hazard a guess your tears to mine
were two to one
but I don’t have time to weep in any case.

I must find her, that silver coin I lost,
And when I see her again I will say
I wrote a little song for you
With a melody I’d borrowed
put to words that didn’t rhyme
to repeat what you already knew*
because I’m predictable
and you know the words I say
before I say them.
I’m glad to see you again
for the last few months
the only me I’ve known
is the me without you
and I haven’t loved me as I should.
You are me more than I am myself
and if you’re scared of striking allusions
to Catherine and Heathcliff
you have no need to worry
because we only have the better part
of their character.

My God, I miss her and want her back,
but every separation that we weep our way through
makes me even more convinced that the end
will be more beautiful than the way that we began.



*From “In A Market Dimly Lit” by mewithoutYou

In A Six Billion Person Crowd

I think that I’m alone
in a crowded world
made smaller
by facebook
and myspace
and twitter.

I know Amy
is back from a day
spent in a garden.
I know Amanda
is spending the night alone.
I know Erik
went to the air show
and enjoyed it.

But I don’t know anyone
and I don’t think anyone
knows me
because I’m always listening
and rarely talking.

I have been very recalcitrant in posting poetry. I will try to remedy this in the following days.