Enough

If I look back,
I know I was loved.

I was given,
When desire was known.

I was held,
When tears were grown.

I was helped,
When the going was rough.

I know he loved,
If I look back;

But it was not enough.

Collar

After a journey that led me back home,
I washed my hands of viruses
And chanced to see the mirror.
I noticed my shirt askew:
The fold of the collar was bent inward…
I thought about you.
If you were there,
You’d have turned it upright,
In the middle of the road.
I would have smiled;
You would have, too.
And neither would have to say
I love you.

Tsunami

The darkness of memory
Isn’t always around.
It’s like being at a beach,
On sandy, yet steady, ground.

Then some thing makes me think of
What I forgot for a while.
I see the tides roll back far.
I taste familiar bile.

Fear and guilt shake down my spine
And I know I can’t take it;
I know, to higher ground,
I cannot hope to make it.

The tides pull back like a whip;
The birds have all flown past;
I blame me for being stupid;
I hate I couldn’t make love last.

The tsunami of memory builds;
I see the wall of water;
Flow in steady, like this ground,
All ready for a slaughter.

It’s blue and terrible:
Cascading like napalm screams;
All my thoughts, kisses and vows,
Wrapped in fear and betrayed dreams.

As it comes sweeping in,
I suck in air, my heart takes it.
The water bursts against me.
(While in real life, my smile fakes it.)