Ladybug, part time
Daylight's all thawed
The night’s out there
Muffled and rumbling
Thunder shaking my windows
Raindrops tip-toe-tapping
Topsy-turning, these sheets of mine
Are colder than they seem
A few years past
My soft, sponge mind
Was bruised and brimmed with you
On thick, numb nights
Again I find
Myself adrift and dwelling
In the simplest thought of you
In the days I wrote you songs
Through the night and all day long
The words were blazing on the breeze
And I could capture them with ease
To plant them in the paper
Not a moment amiss in those depths
Wild-eyed and hounded by maybes
Welcome, adoring disease
I followed you to the edge of myself
And deserted the ranks of reason
And if the lyrics of my heart
Perchance wash up on your lap
Whether they be cold or warm
They’ll be too feeble to spark
And I won’t be there to sing them
A car nearby
Pokes at my recollecting
Ruffled branches in the wind
Darkness blinks
Lightning
I turn again, rocking my thin
And stubborn dreams
I don’t know where to look
To take my eyes off you
Now it’s different places, different people
Different choices, different trouble
Stale routines and stalling work
But still I can make out your mark
Of unyielding grace in the haze
How’d I get here, on these dead shoes
Where has it gone, my brief refuge
How could it be so long ago
And still so close to tomorrow
Have I not once left this maze
And if the lyrics of my heart
Perchance on my voice embark
For a crowd of one or nine
They will kindle for a while
But you won’t be there to hear them
Stranded souls outside
In drunken disrepair
Dark alley birds chatter and chime
In the cool cotton air
I mind the moon for an instant
She retreats with a yawn
To her mane of shadows
All gleaming charcoal
And grim indigo
The sky is one thing
I still share with you
Often I steer myself away
And tremble for distant reefs
But I retain a little trace
And I long and I linger
And mistake you for relief
But one day perhaps I hope
I will vacate this cocoon
To mend the meaning of home
And weave my love with a loom
In the shape of another
And if meantime we meet again
Assuming my mug rings your bell
Should I struggle to explain
The clumsy love I sowed in vain
I doubt you’ll even remember
The dew descends
On sleeping things
And tinsel dreams, lighter than air
Tangle in the muses’ wings
Echoes of my hollow light
Send silent sparks gathering
To your blanket of bright
I dive under your words
And I fall down your stares
I see you walking by
On the paths of my past
You got something of mine
But it’s only part-time
So don’t pay it any mind
2025