I have within me
a thousand year's worth of want —
and an empty bed

What mistakes,
on broken rafts
in the river
shredding
of wooden boards,
couldn't
be
less than
a drowning
vessel...
I hate the
introspection.
I never
dare to see
as cards fold,
and a fantasy,
takes me
into raw-ness.
Of one such here
of love and
princesses,
hold her dear.
The night terrors
green goblins
and dusk is near.....
The warm bake,
of your skin
and as the sun's
so tender.

I emerge when you're not there,
I hid from the worse of the abuse,
skinny into the sheets near pockets,
I hid my breath and the trembling
My mother knew I was always there,
but gave me points for the evasion.....
My own blood and their siblings,
but I hid like a strange and magically
once here and freezing like a
fridge.
I can't stand heat but the cooling
and rain affects fragility of wool...

Before lights out
a small pleasure
milk and a cookies
childhood revisited
yet
wracked with guilt
for the child
cowering from bombs
on an empty stomach
Bethlehem forgotten

If you don't have a reason not to smile... Try smiling.