Bailey's Branch

Bailey's Branch  12/24/2014

There is only one past 

But there remains two futures

As we live

In a world of bad choices

Long exploited and lost. 

Foolish and suicidal

We run headlong

Off every ledge

Hijacked by evil men 

Hell bent on destruction. 

In a perfect world

There is no pain

And no deception

But that world branched off

The day we knew.   

The past falls away

Ever more distant

And misunderstood

A place filled with longing

Unfinished and dumb.

It’s getting  harder and harder

To remember her voice

As the distance grows greater

Each and every day. 

The soft voice

Breathless and sleepy

Whispered between her teeth

And tickling my ear.

As I lay on my pillow

And drift in my dreams

I think of then

And I think of her.  

Life goes on

No matter what we do

But a part of me remains

Bleeding forever.   

My world is colorless

And my appetite suppressed

As I no longer desire

All that is left. 

We do our best

And we smile on cue

No matter what we think

Or what others do. 

We bury the symptoms

As long as we can

Hoping against hope

That all will heal. 

I am damaged

And I am marked

Never again to be as whimsical

Or as safe. 

I live guarded

And walk carefully

Tip toeing through a minefield

Of risk and revulsion. 

Nothing is safe

And nothing guaranteed

In a world of boundaries

And limits.

I am quiet

And I no longer weep

Because all the tears in the world

Cannot change a thing. 

The sun rises

And the rain pounds

Against my  window

Beating us down

One wrinkle at a time. 

I will always love you

Even if, I do not try

Because that river was crossed

And I cannot go back. 

Even if, this all unravels

I still have that

A quiet and whispered promise

Across a great white space. 

On the other side

All of this,

Will disappear

Leaving only the good

And the true. 

But the best thing 

May not be, what is there

But rather, what is absent.

And disappeared.