Expectations
Like wet snow
Beautiful afar
White cold
Slippery muck
Up close

They war inside me
Tempting
Shaping
Relentless
Opposing forces
Desires
Cravings
All-consuming
Selfish
Wants and needs
Tearing me
Apart

Feel the universe
Reach out
Watch the stars
Each chance you get
Find your place
Amidst creation
Reconnect

You may stop lingering
Your self-serving
Display of compassion
Has been noticed
Please move along

Wild thoughts spill through
Wide open
Gates of awareness
Forever tainting
What was
With torment over
What could have been
Fates unreachable
I wish I could
Unsee

Lost browsing boxes,
Long stashed away.
An attic full of
Bittersweet
Childhood memories
Draws me back
To a time
Spent unaware —
Life was bliss.

Brave the darkness,
Meet the challenge.
Venture forth,
Go slay your dragon.

Leave me be,
Darkness.
Go away.
The morning sun
Upon my face
Thawed something
Long unfelt.
Please,
Let me have
This day.

Labeled —
Tag,
You're it.

How did we
As a species
Ever come to the conclusion
It is best to live
Productive lives?
I’d like
To revisit
That decision.

Devotion makes hungry.
Be it
Attention,
Means,
Or nourishment,
Do not fool yourself —
There is a cost.
No love
Is unconditional.

Just like that,
The conversation shifts.
Tread lightly
If she suddenly,
Innocently
Asks "Why?"
Do not trust the smile —
Read the eyes.
It's probably a trap.

What they fail to mention
When they say
"If one door closes,
Another one opens,"
Is that it's usually
Not to let you in,
But to watch the neighbors
Fight.

Shake your head,
Clear out the cobwebs.
Take a look at
Where you stand
And think.
Tell me —
Is this truly
Where you
Meant
To be?

Infect me
With positivity —
But do it
From over there.

Nothing draws the young
Like the discouraged
Or forbidden.

Without compassion
We are all
Alone

Unhesitant
Yet reluctant,
Fully aware of
What must be done,
A moment's pause
Hinted
The instant
Compassion faded
And survival began.

We invent
Places for everything,
Obsessively putting
Everything in its place.

Lessons unrequested —
Undesired,
Irrelevant don'ts & do's,
Pushed through
By the obsessively
Obtuse.