When

Guest Post By My Daughter:

I look at the flowers-
so beautiful;
and I look at the clouds
in the sky,
and I say to you,
when will my life begin
when will my life begin

- Kate Hurley, Age 5

To

I wish I had some way to
roll back the clock, to
take a few steps back, to
find some way to beg to
do over what has been done to
you. Because I want to
take away the hurt and to
wipe away the tears too
long held upon your face to
kiss your tender lips and to
rewind life’s choices back to
the day when we were … one

I Will Be

I will be your help
I will be your hands
I will be your heart
I will be your hope
I will be your joy
I will be your strength
I will be your smile
I will be your laugh
I will be your nights
I will be your days
I will be your yesterday
I will be your tomorrow
I will be your everything -
if you will let me

Sounds of Sadness

Sometimes I wonder what sound
a breaking heart makes.
Is it sharp like a terrible clap
             of thunder? Or perhaps more
discordant like screeching
tires; of course no one knows
       for sure if a broken heart 
is loud like shattering glass
           or delivered in mind-numbing
surround sound volume, but I,
I would imagine, a truly
broken heart to be more similar
  to the softest random raindrops
        as they hit wet leaves and roll
            slowly to the earth in a million
           pieces, almost imperceptible
     unless you hold your breath
  and listen oh so carefully.
Very much, in fact, like what I hear
                         right now.

Instead

the blue glow of 
the screen illuminates
your face, and reflected
in your glasses I see
the world you 
immerse yourself in 
small and constricted
within a black bezel
and living only as long
as the weak battery
allows, and yet you
choose it, you choose
a world shown within
a 10 inch window instead
of the beauty of this 
world surrounding you 
in living color, 
instead of the world
I’m sitting in, 
   living in,
                  waiting in.

Bridged

His hands are outstretched
as he pleads for the one
he needs. The distance
between grows greater
as the chasm widens
such a minute crack
when it first began
now a gap spread
too wide to bridge
and he can only
hope that this
distance too
great for his
arms is not
too great
for her
love

Highways

 Ribbons of black concrete
   lie strewn out and sprawling
       farther than my eye can see
            farther than my feet can go
                  seemingly endless threads
                       tangled and knotted and
                           my thwarted heart aches
                                     for I know as I stand
                                     upon this twisted path,
                                                 on the other end,
                                                             somewhere,  
                                                                     you wait. 

Unseen

You cannot see the wind
but merely its effects
you feel its soft embrace
and know that it exists
you do not know just when
or where it once began
but only where it is
when in the present felt-
much like the wind that blows
my love you cannot see
but feel its soft embrace
and know that it exists
you cannot see its past
nor can you see ahead
but here within my arms
you’ll feel my love’s effects

Stand Up

You want to go? 
Let’s go.
I won’t back down 
I won’t backup
I did not slip 
nor did I stutter
there are times 
when fault lies 
solely upon 
my shoulders
and I will take 
that blame
and I will own 
my faults…
but not today,
no, today was
all on you,
all on you.
So -
you want to go? 
 
Let’s go.