Et tu, Brute

There are words that can cut like knives;
I have no use for the likes of such;
And when friends brandish them for woe,
That does seem to account for much.

They spin through the air and draw blood,
Much like some martial arts movie;
And they are sent with desires to wound
To decimate my self completely.

I see the glee in the eyes as they take aim;
The thoughtful precision of a taunt,
The cocking of the brow and curling lip
That releases the word designed to haunt.

I have never known the pleasure of this;
Perhaps it goes against my grain,
The way I was taught and reared and loved
Not to strike back in kind; but refrain.

In laughter, much is said that wouldn’t be,
In laughter, wounds are made as well as healed,
In laughter, words are made and broken,
In laughter, much malice is artfully concealed.

It depends on how we choose to use it;
May a smile, that softly reaches the eyes,
Overtake a barbed word, that spins forth,
Before a patchwork of marked lies.

May soft eyes, genuinely, care to safeguard
Tender feelings and genuine pleasure;
May everyone be happy and sane
And let what is leisure remain leisure.

OLD FRIEND

I have nothing else to say to you now.
I have nothing more to offer or give.
I have spent my heart, I have kept each vow.
You forget all and I cannot forgive.
The torture of the heart (and there is one)
Is akin to a murder by drowning;
And all that was felt and said and done
Is now a matter for blackened mourning.
Words, like gales, seem to rush past as you leave,
Feelings, however, will not leave with you;
I have lost my faith, I cannot believe,
I cannot discern just which past was true.
And so, old friend, you have prepared me well:
I doubt heaven, I’m undaunted by hell.

Friendship

Friendship

 

I’m crazy for even feeling anger:

You are too self-absorbed to gauge and know,

Too vain even to choose to remember

Friendship is more than a hi a hello.

 

It is more than passing time and learning,

So much more than love, because it has none

Of its bittersweet, poignant yearning

But has help and kindness, laughter and fun.

 

Friendship is clear or rather it should be,

With an openness of warmth and feeling,

Engaging in all sorts of charity,

Enabling a vital tender healing

 

Of wounded hearts torn by society,

Or ironically by love’s pain

And its different shades of cruelty

That tend to crop up again and again.

 

I wish I could understand your notion

Of no past or future just the present;

But all three make up for emotion,

Every moment gives birth to moment.

 

I wish you to know and soon realize

The difference between the false and true;

Most stuff that seems beautiful lies

And you need someone other than just you.