You and I

We’re of the same kind

      Both seeing more than meets the eye

And it’s this insight

  that ties us tight

     Me and You, You and I



Both of us

  Daring

  Caring

  Giving

  Living

       for others,

    (and for our own goals)

        rejecting ourselves

     (and indulging in ourselves.)

  Living, breathing contradictions

  That refuse to change

   (But do so anyway.)



So the question we end up asking ourselves

Day after day

Is “what do I do,

knowing what I know

feeling as I feel,

how do I create the me

that I see

fit to be?”

The answer is:

We don’t.

We go with the wind

and our emotions.

We do our best to make the world better,

Poor souls living in a destitute world.

These letters to friends

Could write novels

Of the relationships

Of the past

Of old enemies

and old flames

Speaking volumes

To the present

To where I am now

To who I am now

Of the irony

Of my life

Even at this very hour.

These letters to friends

Could write novels.

I am the dust

The dust, it is myself

I am drawn to it

Bound to it

Its power

Its infinity

I am the dust

To the dust

I shall return

Like the dust

I too, shall fade

Yet ever-present

Like the dust

I sit & wait

Against my better judgement

I try to communicate

These emotions that I'm feeling

Right now

But I know that you don't care

Not a word from you I'll hear

Until the silence, so maddening

Drives me inward

Only to return

To sit & wait.

I began my humble journey

    At the peak of a mighty *****

        Dropped by a humble poet

             Making his long walk home



As I started my wis'ning voyage

      I spied the miserly rich man

         Counting his weekly excess

                Money, gold, silver, land



His heart, consumed with greed for his gains

      Was too focused on his returns

          To care for a common penny

                 So on I went, for a home, my heart, it yearned.



As I passed through the place

   Where daily, business was done

        Buildings, structures that scraped the sky

               Blocked the sun, where once it shone.



My passage continued through the city

     To the crowded shopkeepers' stores

           A wonderful place of smells and sights

              Cooked goose, cattle, and boars!



But the keepers' minds were distracted

    With the day's stresses and concerns

      To notice what was around them

        So on I went, for a home, my heart, it yearned.



Then I came to the ghetto,

    That horrible, wretched place

        With hovels and shanties and shacks

             Loan sharks and gangsters and snakes



The people there were fearful

    Of what, I could not tell

          For it was more than thugs

               It was their hate; love was encased in shells



Then something that I saw made me stop,

    A family of five, happy and alive

      Their love for another was stronger than fear

          So on I went, toward home, I would strive



Until I was taken by the lowly thief

     Looking to pay for his next meal

        He dropped me when he was arrested

            For as you know, thieves, they steal.



I stopped at the bottom of the *****

    Where hill turned into rolling plains

         I thought there I would rust forever.

            Until I saw the humble poet, flesh & veins.



               He picked me up and told me of his day

          And  how he had followed me, a mere penny

       For I was important to him, special.

He put me in his pocket, with my family to join!



So there I stayed, returning home,

Recounting my tale to the rest.

How he had found me when all hope had been lost

And my excitement for new journeys, and what would come next.