Jersey City
The city is empty, except for the bars
that nurture the lost and burn up like stars
With rubble and ruin and Eden so near
it’s hard to believe that we once lived here
But I still see the soft dimming blue of her eyes
and the shape of her smile, once wistful and wise
And the form of her body, collapsed to its knees
on the field where we played, in the shadow of trees.
I dreamed I returned, bone-chilled in the rain
to the ground where she withered, grieving in pain
She still kissed my scar with a slow lover’s trace
while tears of compassion fell from her face
Such memories flicker as every heart beats
like neon lights dimming above city streets.
The Company of Spiders
I saw spiders on the wall
when I opened my eyes.
They crept in from the hall
where a hidden nest lies.
They tremored just slightly
to show they were alive.
I gripped my sheets tightly
as I watched more arrive.
I could swear that they grinned
while tapping around.
Then they hissed like the wind
as they swung to the ground.
Then I covered my ears
when they made me confess.
In my twenty-five years
I never felt so much stress.
Doctor said it’s just drugs
that burned out my head.
He said you’re bound to see bugs
when your circuits are dead.
So I took up the cure
then returned to my place.
I felt somewhat secure
with no pests in my face.
But the cold ceiling stared
like eyes without soul.
And time was ensnared
in a boundless black hole.
Then the walls cracked apart
as all sense drained away.
But for the beat of my heart
on my loneliest day.
The Enchantress
The lady’s eyes spilled fire
as dusk suffused the day
I felt my nerves perspire
each time she glanced my way.
She drew a tiny smile
that stirred her cryptic face
The air swirled for a while
enchanted by her grace.
He watched her cross a meadow
skirt swaying ‘round her knees
She cruised lithe as a shadow
aloft inside a breeze.
An eagerness burned brightly
like fever in his eyes
Her shadow brushed him lightly
as the moon began to rise.
One night as he lay sleeping
in some familiar land
He dreamed of lovers leaping
through darkness hand in hand.
Insomnia
The night will never pass, my friend
Your nerves can feel the strain
No sooner does a sad dream end
then ghosts drift through your brain.
I live those scenes by circumstance
no decent folk should know
To lie awake as in a trance
chilled by the moonlight’s glow.
Yet light flowed softly ‘round the bend
near where we mapped the skies
And maybe dawn was there, my friend
if only through your eyes.
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