brown -eyed man

He wants to know why
I always go for blue-eyed men
It's noon, coffee shop too noisy
for such confessions.

Perhaps another time, I will tell him
over a glass of wine
not when waiters drop saucers
and swear under their breath.

He lights a cigarette, this brown-eyed man
smiling through swirls of smoke.
It's their hypnotic movement I address,
as though I am reading tea leaves.

I expect abrupt endings, I explain
licking my cappuccino spoon
the adrenaline rush of goodbyes
cruel jabs, the sinking feeling of loss

'You are a drama queen', he says
'You are a drama queen'
'and I love that in you'.

I'll give him a chance
this brown-eyed man
time to hold a memorial for the past
its once fat bones now ready to be laid to rest.

On being bullied

The scoffs and jeers jar her being

as she shifts uneasily in her leather chair

sinking lower to become invisible

yet not invincible

Her strength dissolves

 at the sound of their scorn

a trumpet that blows prophetically

making the walls of her resolve crumble

As she braces herself to salvage what remains

she hears the distant drummer's loud beat

grow fainter

he had passed by years before

urging her to follow her bliss

yet she feared, balked and flouted

till he turned away revealing

her  future in the dust of his trail

Ambushed in this cement prison

she  surrenders  to a

cacophony of shrills

orchestrating her demise.

not even the swallow's buoyant song

outside her window can help

its melody too frail a thread

to bind her sorrows.



                                                  

Memory

                                        The music plays songs you chose
                                         As I shift places but cannot close
                                         the curtain on your laughter
                                         The smoothness of your voice thereafter

Dance

                          'Come dance with me' he said
                          I had my back on him
                          determined to let the moment pass
                 
                         'I will teach you' he called
                          and suddenly I turned.
                          Mistake, I thought, this turning

                         He had his arms outstretched
                         his eyes shone like a thousand
                         shimmering seas
                       
                         Dazzled
                         I closed my eyes
                         And took my very first steps
                       
                       
                       

                     
                       

When we first meet

The first time we meet
will be on a desolate shore
 on the bleakest night
with tears stinging my eyes
I will gaze at the horizon
of our doomed future

The deepest sorrow
brought back
by the endless tide
of a reckless moon
will repeat the hollow promise
of what can never be.

shutters

Windows shut

so what?

Even when open

your heart has forgotten

sometimes absence 

is full of emotion

but with us only sadness

is set into motion

It's best for the shutters

to remain closed

Mistake your silence

for tears and remorse

so stay away

my fears sway

cause with your return

my illusions you turn

into growing despairs 

and realities whereas

by staying away

my life you save

Hard Season

It leads nowhere
this savage jungle
leads nowhere
this treacherous path

long leaves bowing
to the dark earth
heavy with thirst
sighing with  sorrow

It leads nowhere
this misty forest
haunted by the tiger's hunger
the serpent's hiss, the ravine's end.