my tears have shaped me
they have cut the edges of my heart
that finds beauty rattling around
in the places deemed
too broken to know

my tears have cut the canyons
that echo
the songs and screams
of my knowing how deep this life
can cut

my tears have watered the gardens
where someone still plants hope
even though hope is something I avoid
but offering it drought
would be the shape of something cruel

tears the blood of soul
running from my eyes
across the landscape that is I
washing the wounds suffered
and the scars I have won

if we are alone
then live alone
what of you believes
what myth tethers you
to the hunt
is the kiss that deep
what do we betray
when we lay in beds
with lovers we do not know
or can ever know

the voices too thick
the heart too pure
for the war between
alone or not alone
and some cold winds
remind us
that we were all born alone

I spent my last hundred dollars
On a really nice leather wallet

………..

I rest in the memory
of things that I’ve loved
where time is not finite
below or above
These pockets of joy
hold the key to my fate
as the dreams of my father
in slumber gestate
To live past tomorrow
diving deep in the past
with time still a ******
the moment to last
And rise resurrected
each day with the sun
knowing fortune awaits me
—when sleep again comes

(Rosemont Pennsylvania: December, 2021)