Holding On
You were my longest journey ... and I never left home
The terminus changed, ever - roads twisting to fit your desires
And in those passages, the courses and quests that measured ... us
I, the ONLY I, was lost ... forever
In the stead of all those wishes spent on me - YOUR wishes
Expectations fit those same molds - of others, close ... the new compass
No soul-searching or introspection, no sincere original motive
(The dark ghosts danced ... wore my skin like a suit)
Impossible father, impossible presumptions, (I knew not)
Maternal bookend of perfection and grandeur, enabled ... adoration, odd
Women and more women, feast-to-famine, for experience's sake
Never deliberate or bound by more than curiosity or craves
There were other "You's" ... pseudos, quasi's, phantoms, hopefuls
Oh, how I and God pitied them for the standards I wrapped around them
Nailed to a tree of brown-eyed-blonde sublimity and creative cost
Mediocre passions gifted to the thief with a promise of heaven
Perhaps they should have known you ... perhaps they would understand
A moment's id of your smile, a breath of your essence or charm
A plunge in those eyes, frozen or molten ... a touch, just so
It matters not the sense or the mode, you captivate ... completely
Do you think they'd forgive me then? Do you think they'd take pity??
Oh, I KNOW it, and they would as soon slice my throat for my place in it
Peel me like a grape and wear it themselves, just to taste your tongue
Suck the marrow from my bones for a minute of the moments given me
I held it all for you ... the hope AND the years
I've lived it all, been 'round the world, known a thousand hearts and bodies
Been a hundred people for the desires of everyone ELSE
Just to find myself back here, the same foolish boy, wanting more ... you.
~ 1st Place ~ in the "Musical Inspiration" Poetry Contest, Joseph May, Judge & Sponsor.
(Song chosen was "Holding Back the Years" by Simply Red)
Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden | Year Posted 2019
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