Running Away (No One Knows)

Running away
Running hard
Getting away is not in the cards
FAILURE looms
Failure grows
My loss is mine
In verse or prose
Hunger for release
Hunger for the answer
The way out
Any way to get away
Not enough burgundy
Not enough merlot
Can’t find the reason
Can’t find the door
What’s to become
Of the knowing heart now so old
In a recumbent species no longer bold
The problem’s all sewed up by ten o’clock
And the problem tarries not for sand or rock
Where to go
When the tears end
where to hug when no one turns a face
Who am I and why am I here
Dying in the cold and the dark is just one thing I fear
The scars from the bars with their jars of disdain
Who gives a damn about the yarn rotting in the falling rain
So small the plans I plan to ply
Given half a chance ten times I’ll try
Make proud the child who still grows
Despite the warning No One Knows

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Smiles Deliver

Words often fail
Smiles deliver
A touch brushes by
We all shiver
Hoping against hope
The chord lingers
She turns to face
And traces with her fingers
Open your mind
Open your grasp
Close upon my heart
And feel me gasp
Before the bottle opens
And we tumble in the sand
I want to have earned you
Making you smile and safely grand
To dance beyond tomorrow
And chase horizons together
You had me at the pool game
So knock me over with your feather
Because you’re my firebird
Your flame burns so well
I’m not going anywhere
Can you tell?

My Princess No Longer

We conquered mighty castles
Together, in blanquette or in the sand
Flew great heights on swings
Soared up Austin hills hand-in-hand

We shared in many battles:
Mastery in the great tragedy of Trigonometry,
Consumed Texas History and First Violin,
And developed a healthy skepticism of Allah and Deuteronomy

Some wars were personal:
The treachery of childhood friends;
While learning great truths—
That the means don’t always justify some ends

But today my princess walks ahead
Out of my guidance and out of my reach
No more to cavort on trampoline
Or harry stubborn castles on a beach

Her fresh adventure awaits—
Arm-in arm with her new young prince,
A meeting of Love and Good Sense;
She hasn’t been my princess since

But our regard hasn’t been stronger
Even if she is my princess no longer

Lip Touch

Grains of sand from the road to water’s edge,
Clumps of grass grace the seaward’s fall,
Tender toes brave dawn’s early light,
To stroll into the waves so cold and all.
Squeals of joy and peals of laughter let fly—
Summer is here and time to resalt the soul.
Billowing clouds hint at storms a-coming in,
But now bodysurfing‘s the only required toll.

Find a towel, find your sunscreen,
Lip touch a smile with no daylight between.

Salt and sand peppering red tender arms,
Coke and burger calls skink across Biloxi beach;
Run ask Momma for some dollars quick.
Lunchtime’s over: let’s walk beyond parental reach.
Hand-in-hand they’re yet too young to know,
How now will ever be so very special,
But when you’re in your teens,
All that later stuff is so very subsequential.

Find a blanket, no need for the obscene:
Just lip touch a smile with no daylight in between.