You look but do not see
You laugh yet are never truly free
Your tears are surreptitious yet speak loudly
You are shy and wear this introvertism proudly
You say “I’m fine” while collapsing into a pile
You experience ceaseless agony with ever a smile

You look but do not see
**The complexity that is me

Do not mind my presence, I will not be here for long. My footprint will not impose on your world. Just as quickly as dust blows away in the wind, so will my life be in the end. I was born a poor mans son and I have been forced to work all of my life. I have not attained fame and fortune, but I have gained enough. Soon I will fade from existence, my part in the greater play will be at an end. For the most part I will be forgotten from the minds of men. For good or ill, I will have lived my life, then exit stage left I am gone. So if you happen to take notice of me, it will be a fleeting one. I will be on to bigger and better things as I leave this mortal journey and my real voyage into eternity begins.

Stand me still in swaying grass
on the crest of a smooth esker.
Numb my ears to synthetic noise
so I can embrace the earthly chorus;
Green blades clashing swordlike.
The creak of trees, rooted in the battle.
The flip and twist of a passing bluebottle;
Awkward and disorientated.
Let me breathe deep the same wind
that lends herself to these instruments.
Let me hear the crackle of sun on skin;
The sound of hair electrified,
The thud of chemicals leaping across synapses.

Let me feel truly alive.