I'd rather
You curse me now
And thank me later
Than the other way around —
Even knowing
I will not be there.

We get to choose
Where we stand
But not which sides
There are.

Involuntary compliance,
Forcefully subdued —
Play the hand you're dealt,
For battered or worse.

Force company
And you will see
How loneliness
Goes deeper
Than being alone.

Word blind,
Scroll by —
Blissfully unaware.
I'll never share
It is you
Between these lines.

A heart cannot
Break gently —
And yet,
We try.

All of us laughed at her
Ominous foreshadowing.
Little did we know.

Why keep
What we can't carry,
Collect
What we can't use,
Record
What we won't ever
Relive.

There is
No happiness
In death, either.

Tiresome mock indignation.
My words —
In stride,
Yet taken.

Drain the tank,
Scrape the barrel,
Lick the plate clean —
Squeeze the day
For every last
Drop of life.

Teach children
How the world works —
Not who to be.
Raise individuals,
Not recycled variations,
Images of preselected
Uniformity.

Enduring endless drizzle,
Chilling to the core —
The fear
To step outside our thoughts,
And find warmth.

Inspiration finds
The quiet mind.

Hunger blinds —
Trampling the caution line
Between instinct and desire.

Dip into your soul,
Illuminate the ashen sky
With specks of hope —
Brighten your horizons.

Stop agonizing over
Glasses half empty,
While the barrel's still
Mostly full.

Streets change —
Walk on,
Or change along.

Such irony —
This need to
Convince ourselves
That we are are not
Always right.