myself – Hearts Still Care

I’m the guy who sees the first star
In the night sky
and thinks of wishes to be made.
I’m the guy who collects each card
That he receives:
Cards carry thought in writing,
colours carry emotion.
I’m the guy who will love a book
As a gift,
But loves the inscription more;
Those few words are the reason
For all the rest of the words
Printed within.
I’m the guy who forgives easy,
Millennia of letting go
Is carried in my unconscious.
I’m the guy who cries
When watching a sad movie –
(Yep, i’m that guy,
So beware.)
I’m also the guy who doesn’t expect less,
Though there is more understanding derived from each facet of new experience.
I’m the guy who doesn’t regret
Much.
I’m the guy who loves easy but long.
Love tends to last
Over money, life and even time.
I’m the guy who recognises,
The inevitability of loss,
Yet chooses to return
To what appears fragile.

I’m the guy who has learnt a lot
But isn’t done with learning.
I’m the guy who wants to give up hope
But isn’t done with yearning.

The swing I sat on, when I was five,
Gave me the greatest pleasure.
I knew happiness as I swung,
Thinking life was leisure.
The wind rushing against my face
Promised that it would last.
Now, I smile, ruefully,
When I remember that swing from my past.

Life is cruel, just as it is kind,
(To be kind it needs to be cruel);
Love, happiness, honour and beauty
Are trapped in its unceasing duel.
I used to love with gay abandon;
Now caution dictates my every move,
In matters of life,
In matters of love.

I still wear my heart on my sleeve,
Though I try harder to shield it,
I have sharpened my brain with experience,
And I have learnt to wield it.
Years have passed and are passing still,
I have lost those I loved and some have lost me,
I have been touched and have been bruised,
Each caress and weal is stored in memory.

You see a part of me now,
Perhaps I shall let you see the other sides of me:
Perhaps you’ll see the boy, with the wind on that swing,
Perhaps the present or some future destiny.
Through all of your judgement know this,
Disregarding every shred of vanity:
You never did, never will or hope to know,
Any other quite like me.