The sky was filled
With the most
Beautiful shades of gray

We don't often
Think of gray
As being beautiful

There is a depth
To this color
And much nuance

There are many
Shades of gray
There is gray

With a pink tinge
Gray like charcoal
And icy gray

Dusty-rose is but
Rose with gray
What gray is should be

Black and white, after all

One day is very much like the other
But you know what if I have my druthers

I'd choose just one perfect day and make it stay.
I'd analyze and dissect it every day.

I'm sure I'd find new facets along the way.
With gratitude and humble heart, I'd pray

While giving thanks for that very day and you,
Thus, you can see in this way it will always be new.

She sits at the top of the tree calling.
Searching and calling for babies grown.
She wants them back, those who have flown.
She has decided she no longer wants to be alone
So, she is calling, "Come home!  Come home!"
But they are gone since they are grown,
Just as it should be.  Yes, they have flown on bold wings,
While she is left behind and day by day is growing old.
So, she will build a new nest.  And she will sit and try to sing.

Alternate version:
She sits at the top of the tree calling.
Searching and calling for babies grown.
She wants them back, those who have flown.
She has decided she no longer wants to be alone
So, she is calling, "Come home!  Come home!"
But they are gone since they are grown,
Just as it should be.  Yes, they have flown on bold wings,
While she is left behind and day by day is growing old.
So, she will build a new nest where she will rest.
And she will sit and try to sing, alone.  But not for long.

Comfort comes
Like a faint and distant drum;
Like a song sung in the night,
Like a song sung on a long dark night.

Soft and low, a song you strain to hear;
Still, it soothes your every fear
Because you know, at least,
That someone is near.

We could hack this beast to death
But then the carcass would rot and stink;
Better it would be to tame it
And teach it to be a sheep.

Alabama “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Alaska “Feel It Still” by Portugal. The Man
American Samoa “Edge of Glory” by Lady Gaga
Arizona “Edge of Seventeen” by Stevie Nicks
Arkansas “Don’t Stop” by Fleetwood Mac
California “California Love” by Tupac and “They Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar
Colorado “September” by Earth, Wind Fire
Connecticut “Signed Sealed, Delivered” by Stevie Wonder
Delaware “Higher Love” by Whitney Houston and Kygo
Democrats Abroad “Love Train” by The O’Jays
District of Columbia “Let Me Clear My Throat” by DJ Kool
Florida “Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty
Georgia “Turn Down for What” by Lil’ Jon
Guam “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter
Hawaii “24K Magic” by Bruno Mars
Idaho “Private Idaho” by The B-52s
Illinois “Sirius” by The Alan Parsons Project
Indiana “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” by Michael Jackson
Iowa “Celebrate” by Kool & the Gang
Kansas “Carry on Wayward Son” by Kansas
Kentucky “First Class” by Jack Harlow
Louisiana “All I Do Is Win” by DJ Khaled
Maine “Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon
Maryland “Respect” by Aretha Franklin
Massachusetts “I’m Shipping up to Boston” by Dropkick Murphys
Michigan “Lose Yourself” by Eminem
Minnesota “Kiss” and “1999” by Prince
Mississippi “Twisting the Night Away” by Sam Cooke
Missouri “Good Luck, Babe” by Chappell Roan
Montana “American Woman” by Lenny Kravitz
Nebraska “Firework” by Katy Perry
Nevada “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers
New Hampshire “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey
New Jersey “Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen
New Mexico “Confident” by Demi Lovato
New York “Empire State of Mind” by Jay Z and Alicia Keys
North Carolina “Raise Up” by Petey Pablo
North Dakota “******* Fire” by Alicia Keys
Ohio “Green Light” by John Legend
Oklahoma “Ain’t Goin Down” by Garth Brooks
Oregon “Float On” by Modest Mouse
Pennsylvania “Black and Yellow” by Wiz Khalifa and “Motownphilly” by Boyz II Men
Puerto Rico “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee
Rhode Island “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift
South Carolina “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) *** Machine” by James Brown
South Dakota “What I Like About You” by The Romantics
Tennessee “9 To 5” by Dolly Parton
Texas “Texas Hold ‘Em” by Beyonce
Utah “Animal” by Neon Trees
Vermont “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan
Virginia “The Way I Are” by Timbaland
Washington “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore
West Virginia “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver
Wisconsin “Jump Around” by House of Pain
Wyoming “I Gotta Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas
****** Islands “VI to the Bone” by Mic Love

I should have been listening to the news
Instead, I am reading poetry on the internet
Forever looking to eke out the essence of you

The thought of you is always with me
Like a BB just beneath the skin
That scar one reaches out to touch
Time and time again

Sic vita est, thus is life, it is what it is.

Meet me under the apricot-sky
And linger

Until the ember-coal-moon shines
In the Dutch-oven-dark heavens

Then sigh when I sigh.

My oh my
Look at those pretty birds fly

But here am I
Stuck on the ground

Sigh

Lost within
A moment's breath
Darkness ripples
With sharp claws
Released energy paused
And I feel the percussion
Of your silent echo

-In the style of "pitch black", by silent echo

-In the style of Solange Loe-Sack-Sioe, aka Shell

The purest love is often silent.
It speaks volumes without words.
In silent words throughout the day,
It prays.

I happened upon a sad little birdie sitting in a tree.
"What's the matter little birdie?  You cry.  Why?"
"The notes in my throat are all caught." was the reply.

But said I, "Music is in your bones with every melody.
There's no song more important than the one you sing.  
And I can look through you and see.  Sing your songs for me."

And with love, patience, and encouragement, it began to sing.
Will you?

He had been a philosopher
A bard of sorts
Debonair in his quietude

And the sweetest rogue

When maidens aplenty were near
As they were wont to do
They swooned

When pressed he was chivalric

Yet, not a dragon-slaughter
O he kept them in his dungeon
To limit their harm

Along with his other guests

Can we just skip ahead
To the crying
To the heartbreak
To the part where
You say you're leaving
Then I can begin
To live again

And, I did

The night has fled
The sun is up, but
I watch a hole in the clouds
And wonder as it slowly slips by,

"When it reaches where
I know the sun to be,
Will it allow a shaft of light?"
And make my day bright?

I marvel at just how
And just why I
Get so sky-high
From watching clouds
Go by.

Skyward skylark,
Fly.  Skyward go!  

Freedom's reality can be stark
As only you should know.

I wish that I could fly
Like a bird from this cage

To get that true feeling
That so very few have known.

Skyward skylark fly from night
Onward into the daylight;

Fly, hit the sky to break the seal
And let the day leak away.

SkyWlkR88, I only asked a question about your use of "red."  I didn't feel that you should have deleted it so completely.  Never let anyone intimidate you.  Poetry can bend the rules.  You can use any word in any way you wish.  I was just curious and not being critical.

Mastering the ****
Is a major part of skill
For things with wings.

You angle your face
To pin-point the sound
Of the beating heart.

Slow and silent is your flight.

As drops of blood color water
That certain shade.  Pink?  Rose?
Lovely in themselves.  Coral?  

While the starfish slowly crawl
Across the mighty ocean floors,
The stars in heaven swirl overhead.

And we all continue to die each day.

I've left footsteps
And breadcrumb for you
Should you find me
Please return me to myself
For the path and the terrain
Becomes more unfamiliar
And difficult to walk

Grape kisses
On eyelids
Purple shimmers
Across the cheeks
Button nose aglow
Eyes that sparkle
Mine and yours
We walkthrough
An exquisite tunnel  
Cascading with flowers
Of wisteria tunnels
I lead you out
You want to stay
Forever, you say

I have so many snapshots of life in my old brain.
Some truly amazing things reside there. I wish
I could hook up to a printer and press "print."
Sadly, when I die, they die.  So, it goes with all of us.

Dear pussycat, you clever little beast
To hide the paws that hid the claws
That shred my pretty face.

Feline, fooled as I was to forget
Within your blood wildness simmered
Just beneath the folds and crease;

Of eyes that looked asleep!

As the sun colors flowers with an
Outward gold on leaves and petals
Bright and pastel like hand-painted blooms
With inward greening, they stand on delicate legs.
Time holds us in their exquisiteness.  As they
Gather us into the security of their beauty
We are warm and safe within this moment.

Birds come and go
In earnest flows
A rhythm, a cycle.

Just as

Flow the flowers
Blown in drying fields
Fly on ephemeral wings.

So, flow all things.

With the changing of sunlight into moonlight
Supple dappling of changing shades dance on every surface
And rays quiver in and out of existence.
Another day is dying an exquisite death.

3rd Ward, Houston, Texas; where the ancient layers
Exude the art of living.  Living cheek to jowl,

Hand to mouth, foot to road, bullet to head, head to heart.

Under these paved streets beats a heart of history
Mortared with ground bones, and sweat, and blood.

I call to you Soil teeming with our mothers and our fathers.
There is no rejoicing when I meet you, face-down,

And I am pushed and shoved down by hands of any color.

How many times did the one requesting your secrecy
Fail to keep the "secrecy" you bound them to?

How many times have you been betrayed
By the one whom you would never have betrayed?

How many times was your innocence torn apart
By the one who should have protected it?

Should your loyalty not be measured by loyalty?
Be careful what you promise and then owe or vow.

Some promises are made to be broken.
Some promises need to be broken.

You're in and out of my life.
I don't know what to do
When I'm falling in love,
In and out, of love with you.

I don't know what is wrong.
What is wrong with me?
And, I don't know what
To do about it.

What do I do about you?

I came to believe thoughts that you poured into my head
Grain upon grain like so much falling sand.

You tied a cord around me then pulled me to your bed.
Yet, I thought that I could fly as long as you held tight
The string that you had tied around my hands.

I fluttered just above the ground
Never truly understanding that I was bound.

Each time that I sought out some new height
You would tug hard upon the string;
Each time I gained some altitude you screamed.

And I would be awakened from my freedom dream.
I must not fly too high was the lesson taught me.

But, you eventually tired of holding to the string;
That string which continually you held so tautly.
And so you took a stake, I heard the sound

As you began to pound and pound.
I failed to get the concept.  

This time, when I left my perch
As I leapt skyward, I felt a ****
Then tumbled to the ground.

I had thought that I had 'freedom'
While flying just above your head.

Yes, I was wrong, so very wrong.
When I looked down you were gone.
But, you would not set me free,

Yet, the tether had remained
And you came back to feed me grain by grain.

I begged, "Let me spread my wings." "Free me!  "Free me!"
You could not trust nor cherish, jealousy had made you deranged.
If only you had let me fly, forever at your side I 'd have remained.

Written in 2014
(Dedicated to the memory of my Daddy, Dan A. Hacker, Jr.)
The heartbeat grows before we ever arrive;
Finally, the tires crunch on the briny soil as we pull in.
Daddy walks around and opens the door for me;
He is wearing his sliver aluminum hardhat;
I slide down the seat and clumsily out of the truck.
The heartbeat is overwhelming now,
Too loud for a human voice,
Provided anyone was inclined to speak;
Daddy is already checking gauges.
The smell of shell and oil and salt and gas
Blend into the cologne, it is the scent of my daddy.

So...

Now we are old.
Our girths are a bit wider.
Skin, in places, a little tighter,
In others it hangs too loose.

And yet, you say I am just as beautiful
As when you first knew.
Yes, I think you are still handsome, too.

Oh!  Are we not a pair?
Your hair is gone,
There's grey in my hair.
So, now we are old...

What of that, Love?

Where would I be without your touch?
Your memory is stunning.  How you respond to me.

And I love tapping your screen!

You come to my bed with prose written on your skin
And because of your love stories I let you in.

I would rather have honey than candied treats
And the nature of you makes it twice as sweet.

Your art and your song complete my thoughts
By your candlelight’s glow my heart is taught

To open wide to the possibility of you.

I watch

You sleeping;
The movement of your body,

Your breathing,

It’s like a soul ballet.
And quietly, softly,

I watch

From a corner across the room

The dance.

With delicate needles made from animal bone
They sow warm winter clothing for the family.
Each sit, these tribal sisters, by the light of a fire pit.
The walls of the cave, a natural shelter, are sooted
And lapping tongues of flames flicker across the scene;
Children play at the mouth of the cave, running, giggling.
They are bundled up in skins along with fur-shod feet,
Their mothers keep an eye on these precious offshoots.
The men are gathered toward the back of the cave
Sharing stories of the hunt, one sketches on the wall.
They will go and track game before the morning dawns.
Then men and women will prepare the bounty together
And the tribal sisters will sit to sew with delicate needles.

Forget all those stars.  You are the stars!
And you are the light of eons traveling,
Unraveling trails across time to light my sky.

Evil is a light sleeper
Hate is a light sleeper
Prejudice is a light sleeper

Bedfellows who keep one eye open
Rouse at the slightest vibration
Of their wicked spiderweb

Glorious dots swirl above our heads like millions of
glowing bees as we spin arms outstretched.

The air is warm while the earth is cool beneath bare feet
And a light mist rises among the pecan orchard trees.

I want to keep this place living in our minds.  We can
Never grow old in this childish embrace of memory.

I borrowed a fabulous line used by Meira Love and changed the tone a bit.

Between a season
Warmer than autumn
Softer than summer
More temperate than winter
You lie ahead

Diminutive flowers burst onto the scene.
I am grateful to at last see that it really is Spring.
I was beginning to wonder-

The Winter birds will wing their way on;
Flying long distance to their Summer home.
They are a wonder-

Winter brought heartbreak, but some fun and joy.
A happy farewell to that harshest of seasons, boy!
Little wonder-

You always know
When the birds feel
Spring is near

They fly in loopty-loops
In a sky filled with swirls
Of wispy clouds

They play tag with mates
Look for the best nest spots
Fights for territory break out

As I watch with glee
Joy is plain to see
In their every hopeful motion.

Splayed and 'splooting'
With the cool pavement colluding
A massive heat sync necessary
On such a hot day.

Stand
On the shoulders of the giants
So that you might see
The places we are going,
The places we have been.
Stand to be seen.

Stand,
So that you can see
The future you,
The future me
Looking into the past
Standing in the future.

Standing
You realize that giants stood
Upon the shoulders of giants
And all walked with purpose
So that we all could climb up.

Don't let that be for nothing.

Seeing you once again,
So very much makes me long
For that sweetness of your sting

And the heat, which throbs bright red
Pumping out an intoxicating cocktail
To rush throughout my skin.

Who knew such poison could be 'friend'?
Desires now past are to become craved.
I **** my throbbing wound going to the grave.

Yet, I do not mourn, I do not rage nor rave.
It is done and I am too satisfied to die
With you upon my lips.

The stitches pull apart at the seams
Unless the words are undone
And you un-speak them;
Something that can never be.
We eat whole heartedly, parted,
On the barrier resentment has erected.

Night came,
stole her away.
It slipped in through a slit in the light,

The stranger, pale and grey,
with unfamiliar rudeness wrapped
tight boney fingers around her neck.

Then she was gone.
Now we both are captives
of the night.

We are
As ancient forests
Petrified through time
Flesh traded for minerals
Minerals turned into stone
We stand firm with no life
Isolated in our inability
To reach one another
We stand together
Yet alone hardhearted

Just as "we make our beds and have to lie in them",
So do we choose our bedfellows.  The locale of the bed
We end up in should be presently considered.