Escape Velocity

How fast
Must I flee to
Escape the gravity
Of this rough, hard, damned lovely thing
Called life?

Hard place,
Rock, me between
Decisions must be made
In a strong place that won’t change with
The world.

Quiet,
A cold place where
I see but none see me.
Perfection: green rock, holey not
Holy.

Too cold
To stay out, but
Inside I feel like I’m
Dying; I feel like I’m dying
Inside.

So out
I stay, curled in
Cold, hard, shell-like green stone.
Touching nothing but smooth nothing,
I’m free.

For You I Will

For You I Will

You called me a bit past five yesterday
And asked if you could drop by, visit me
“I haven’t seen you in a while,” you said
I didn’t buy it, but said, “Come over.”
Baby girl, the truth I knew naught of, yet
In your eyes I saw what I could not see
A black cloud lurked shadow-like over you
Unhappiness: “I just don’t like it here.”
At first, I couldn’t see how you could say
Such things about such a wonderful place
Sensing this, you laid it all out for me
Darling, it hurts me to see you hurting
I just wanted to hold you in my arms,
Make you see—I wanted to make you me
For I am happy, or at least I was
Until you brought all of your pain to me
Don’t worry—you’re not a burden, my friend
Warrior-girl, someone must fight for you
I will do something I don’t do often
Something I hold in very high esteem
I’m going to make a promise to you
These are words you can be sure that I’ll keep:
I would give so much of me to see you
Smiling, laughing, playing for me again
I will give you parts of me, all of me
That I can spare—we will make you happy
With different arms, pursuing different means,
Together, we will find your missing piece
I’ve promised you, and my promise I’ll keep.