The dead lie down in folded sheets,
their mouths closed around the last word—
choking, that never found air.
We come after, the smallest of periods,
swallowing our questions like pills.
We say we understand loss,
but it’s only the sound of our own shoes
scraping against the floor of time.
The dead know nothing—
not how the wind feels when it forgives,
not how a daughter’s anger
turns to salt beneath her long tongue.
We, the breathing, know even less—
we name our grief and call it God,
we touch the body and call it love.
We dig through ashes for meaning
and come up with our own faces,
shining faintly in the smoke.
The dead know nothing of the moon’s cold grace,
Nor how it spills like milk upon the sea;
They do not ache for touch, nor dream of faces lost in each word.
Their hands are folded like unanswered prayers,
Their lips forget the shape of your name,
And time—soft tyrant—has no rule on them.
I envy them their silence, cruel, dark and deep,
Yet fear the peace that knows no pulse, no sound of the sweat we leave in the ground.
The roses on their graves still blush with heat,
While those hearts below lie colder than stone.
If love could raise them, I would tear the veil—
But what if they no longer cared to rise?
What if the dead have learned what was said —
That hope is only hunger within the tail end,
And memory, a serpent eating light?
I think they rest because they’ve ceased to dream,
And that, perhaps, is mercy’s final work of art.
And thus comes the flame.
I’ve done what they’ve told me,
And no matter how much they scold me,
Nothing helps anymore.
Life just feels like a chore
It’s exhausting
Just existing is costing
Me everything that I ever had.
And they just say, ‘It’s not that bad.’
They neglect it, as if it was never there,
And honestly, I can’t even bear
To deal with them anymore,
And the pain is seeping into my core.
Where I can’t do anything about it,
And I’m really starting to doubt that
They know anything about what I’m going through
But I’ll do what they tell me to.
There are things I know nothing about,
That you should be talking to me about,
Next time you see me out and about.
I have plenty of ideas about,
Things I know nothing about,
That you might like to think about.
When you are fresh out of ideas on subjects you know everything about,
It might be time to take a walk about,
To find someone who has subjects they know nothing about,
And you just might find out what life is all about.
When you know nothing the complain is probably had I known but if you try to push through then you will agree that not only knowing matters but to know and simply to be positively influenced by knowledge is the matter.
The dog's at the door
Leash, collar, mask, rubber paw pads
The cat's doing three to five for
Shredding the toilet paper
The FBI fingerprint lab
Has ceased operation
Arrests are down
Everyone's wearing rubber gloves
And a mask
The Care Bears......DON'T
Virtual kisses smudge the screen
Virtual bar rooms
Together....but drinking alone
I caught the children watching
The Great Escape
My grandson now sleeps
With his baseball glove
My granddaughter stole
A spoon at supper
So how's your sanity holding up??
3 May 2019 10:27 Am
I Know that I know nothing and nothing surely knows me
There for I and nothing are a commonality
I know that I'm a dreamer of life and what I see
So is life the dream or the dream the life I see
Questions oft bring answers and answers questions breed
So are answers what I'm seeking or is it questions that I need
Life is full of philosophy of every trade and creed
So do I philosophize in trade or trade my philosophy
There are many things that one wants and many things that need one
So does one need the things or do the things want one
I know that I know nothing and nothing surely knows me
There for I and nothing are a commonality
Lift up your head.
You can feel beaten down,
But you are not beaten.
The Dead feel nothing.
Nothing.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Bend the knee, feel the pain,
But, you 'feel' the pain.
The Dead feel nothing.
Nothing.
You have life. You have hope.
You write the script,
You are the Pen writing your story,
Your chapter enlarging, charging, changing;
Your life inking out pages in the Book of the Living.
The Dead write nothing.
Nothing.
Let it rain! Let it snow!
Come Hail fall! Come Wind blow!
Let the sea ebb and flow,
For I am here and these things are
Mere--oh yes!
Mere color in my day.
The Dead know nothing.
Nothing.
Come sorrows! Come grief!
Cheer will follow me,
And hope, too.
And before I dot my last 'I' or cross my last 'T',
And while this Pen scribes his final chapter,
My final sentence,
My final word,
My final syllable,
That final stroke in that Book of Life,
I will believe this:
I am living,
I am loving,
I am doing
What the Dead who know nothing,
And do nothing
Cannot.
Did you forget or still remember
Do you still care
A song, a smell, a place
A smile
How were you so sweet
How come you went sour
A taste I can't get rid of
Even when I want flavor
Do you feel it
You know nothing
The little ones run away
Off to hide in Socrates cave
Run run run oh little ones
As I expand the Infinite dot universe
I lay down my spear
I shake my martini
After battle I hug my exotic genie
I bask in the glory and praise of the Greek Gods
The beauty of creation surrounds me
The eternal universe
Caressing quantum theory
As dark matter dances in my head
The big bang
I am the orator with no wisdom
I shall drink from the cup of knowledge
The poison shall set me free
I am a man with nothing, but it seems everything is wrong,
Only words to sing, but nothing makes sense in my song,
Left only time to bring, should something be destined to haunt,
I am a man who thinks, nothing is easier then to be gone..
There is a silver lining behind every cloud,
There is a moment to disappoint then to be proud,
Desperate times will pass and no more be with doubt,
Left with only myself, time and a bottle of stout,
To be free, I have to face my fears,
Face which deaths, It may never disappear,
Long for closeness or a soothing sound to my ear,
For nothing is greater for a man to shed a tear,
While sleepless night be of only my nerve,
Should the load of the world be easier to serve?
Now i have direction to straighten my curve,
For Its better to have lost than never to be able to love.
What is the no nothing
can it be defined
is there something not there
in the back of my mind
you know what I mean
if you don't, you know nothing
and if you know nothing
then there is no nothing
but isn't that something
okay, I shall stop
it is all so confusing
let's take it from the top
what was into existance first
the chicken or the egg?
let's turn that question around
into your answer, instead
it was there all along
right in front of your eyes
wait, no nevermind
your too late, it has died.
(9/6/12)
I closed my eyes and said a prayer
In hopes that you would be there
You said Your heart was broken in two
And you didn’t know what to do.
There was something that I always knew
That : love is something you know nothing about
And love is something we can’t do without.
You don’t know the difference between love and infatuation
For they are two different situations
Infatuation will last for a short spell
While love will take you to heaven and hell.
You will want that person by your side
And when they’re not there you’ll feel empty inside.
You’ll feel as if a part of your heart
Had died -and you just want to cry.
You’ll smell their aroma, and recall their kiss
Their arms around you that you’ll miss.
The gentleness of their voice when they
Calm your fears- and wipe away that fallen tear.
It’s a desire to walk hand in hand and to share
Your thoughts , your expectations and dreams
And be understanding to each others needs.
To never put your dreams before theirs
And to show that you care.
Yes ! Love is something you know nothing about
AL DE LA MY LOVE
You and I had everything calculated and planned
We were just following fate and its every command
Two souls were going to find forever in an unexpected land
And neither of us would dare to defy destiny’s demand
We were supposed to last a lifetime together no matter what
That was a man and his lady’s predetermined plot
No one could rattle our teacups or shake up the place
Not as long as two lovers had the other’s embrace
I recall adding and subtracting and then reaching a perfect sum
We were sitting on a settee having biscuits and sharing one glass of rum
We shared everything including time, smiles and each other’s past
But simply because a person says “forever” doesn’t mean it will last
Because you hit a rocky road or a curve at too great a speed
At destiny’s demand I didn’t believe death could be so easily decreed
We were acting in haste while all the time we thought, devised and planned and sadly together
we would never find that forever’s clandestine land
© 2010.….free cee!
tracing lines on the syntax
grammar cascades down resonant folds
hand over hand
mishandled hands lost grip on the handholds
travelling through time diagonally and sideways
found by no one for infinity of days
lost for never
yet at the same time always
GONE
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