Routine Departure

I heard your voice,
but it was in my head.
It wasn't my choice;
it was, instead,
an involuntary spasm
or temporary lapse.
Longing's in fashion,
so I'm hiding all the maps.

Nestled in the crook
of your neck,
I take a look
and check
that your heart still beats
with mine.
Warm sheets.
Entwine.

A routine departure,
an "adieu" for now,
a small dose of torture:
I'm just not sure how
you always return
or why you don't run
despite what you learn.
What 's this we've begun?

I'll let the senses blend
if you don't let go.
My reality, you bend.
You'll never even know.




*********************************************

"Why does my heart always beat before yours does?" Saves the Day Three Miles Down

"I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself to hold on to these moments as they pass." Counting Crows A Long December

"'Cause every star that I see is brighter than the last so stay with me." Finch Stay With Me

"You are the myth made real this evening." Kevin Devine Matter of Time

Success and Security

She stopped long enough to breathe and saw the skyline shine before her. The coffee's warm arms stretched up from her mug and wrapped her face up tightly while the snow tumbled toward the city street below and while James snored mightily in her bed. His over-sized white button-up - which she had earlier pulled over her shoulders - supplied little warmth, but it smelled like James. She was careful not to spill on it; his captain would not be pleased if he appeared on base disheveled. 

She put the mug back down on her coffee table and marveled at the quiet (despite the snoring) of the city and of her living room and of her own mind. The snow made everything look brighter and cleaner. The chaos of every day was masked and even her usually fluttering heart seemed to beat steadily. The newspapers that rested on her coffee table explained how sending more troops would ensure success and security, but she knew there was nothing else for journalists to write. The story was so familiar.

He fought the urge to wake until the scent off coffee and the chill of the empty sheets beside him forced his eyes open. He hated waking up alone almost more than he hated sleeping alone and he sat up.

"Good morning," she called. His eye had not yet adjusted, but he could see Emma in his mind sitting on the couch - hopefully naked - reading her book and sipping her coffee.

"Good morning," he smiled as he emerged, feeling only mildly disappointed that she was, in fact, not naked.

He poured a mug of coffee and sat down next to her on the couch, brushing her cold knee with his warm hands. He was always so warm. His hand found hers and squeezed it, knowing he with within his final hours of squeezing that hand for several months. 

"Emma -," he started, but she shook her head and quieted him.

She would not let him say goodbye.

*******************************************

"Did you know, my sweet - yeah - that I once took the liberty of watching you in your sleep? I rolled over and over trying to touch your knees - yeah - underneath the sheets Trying to touch your knees"  - Saves the Day Third Engine

"Is it true that you like to sleep alone? Or is it what you just tell everyone?"- New Found Glory The Store So Far

"You say 'support the troops.' I do. I want them all brought back." - Kevin Devine No Time Flat

Young Widow

A young widow sleeps
with her soldier's ghost.

With vows to keep,
she is engrossed

in her own sorrow

and morbid disbelief

No tomorrow.

No relief.

Bagpipes play

and rifles shoot:

in the ground he'll lay

and soon take root.

Folded flags,

solemn speeches,

old dog tags,

a preacher preaches

that with God

our solider rests.

"It's just a fraud,"

the widow attests.

"God and war:

it's all a lie.

The oaths, he swore

caused him to die.

For his nation,

he bled out.

Manipulation

is what you spout.

For your hypocrisy,

he lays cold.

Not democracy.

Black gold."

With a shudder,

she descends.

Her fallen lover

met his end.

Assured and defiant,

she will not hide

or stay quiet.

Too many died.

She has no fear.

She knows the coward.

Her path now clear.

Her voice empowered.

************************************************

"And if your God makes war then he's no God I know 'cause Christ would not send boys to die." AA Bondy American Hearts

"'Cause there are three wars going on and all the flags are still waving. Daniel's 20-year-old friends are now 30 and willing and serving. He's a Marine and he showed me." - Kevin Devine Ballgame

“I believe that this war, upon which I entered as a war of defense and liberation, has now become a war of aggression and conquest.” Siegfried Sasson (WWI soldier and poet) from his 'Statement' 

"What a senseless, absurd cycle of violence this was." Mazier Bahari Then They Came for Me

The Day the Sky Fell

The day the sky fell

we were all at the bar

and the air had a smell,

like a wet, stale cigar.

There were stories to tell

and someone played a guitar

and outside the sky fell

and we got drunk at the bar.

The day the sky fell

you were miles away

and I thought that was swell

in a mean kind of way.

To you, a farewell,

and in hell I hope you stay

since when the sky fell

you were so far away.

The day the sky fell

I held his hand tight.

I was under his spell,

and liked it quite right.

From my toes to my cells

his touch could excite,

so as the sky fell,

he held my hand tight.

The day the sky fell

there was calm and quiet

and all was well,

no cause to riot.

Humanity expelled,

expunged, and silenced.

The night the sky fell

there was nothing but quiet.

****************************************

 "Thank you for being with us on this Day Two of the federal government shut down and - surprise, surprise - we're all still here. The sky didn't fall and even if it had we wouldn't know because NASA is shut down too." - Stephen Colbert The Colbert Report (Wednesday, October 2, 2013)

"Oh, what a joy to be free." Kevin Devine All of Everything, Erased

Pawns

Death begets death

and bomb begets bomb,

with "peace" on your breath,

fingers crossed in your palm. 

Send out your airborne drones

and float democracy upriver.

Despite Countrymen's groans,

out the window, the last sliver

of your slogan: "hope and change." 

Those words your once touted.

It now feels so strange

that I barely doubted.

I lay my head down low

and find my heavy heart:

arteries to resew

after my flag ripped them apart.

How far we've gone

to wind up where we began.

In this game, we're your pawns,

but it's all in your plan.

From our city on the hill

to their desert village shacks,

you will conquer for the thrill

disregarding all the facts

and pawns be damned

whilst players play.

Blood on command:

someone must pay.

******************************

"She is mean. She can kill. She would do it just to have a simple thrill." Bad Books Baby Shoes

"But it ain’t him to blame. He’s only a pawn in their game."  Bob Dylan Only a Pawn in Their Game

Battle Cries

Even before the sun
devoured the whole sky,

the ending had begun

and we were left to die.

Over decades with a smoking gun,

the senators idly stood by,

and thinking that their jobs were done,

fell silent, no reply.

The marches of the uniformed men

and their wilted battle cries:

it all comes back around again

until humanity's demise.

The portly politicians' pens

wrote poetry to chastise.

They ended their prayers at night, "Amen,"

and dreamed about their lies.

Their banter and their bicker

and their precious, petty pork

made their wallets that much thicker,

so they popped another cork

and filled their bellies full of liquor:

a little democratic quirk.

It made a planet sicker,

left a people at the fork

of a bloody, barren road:

to rise up and revolt

and heed the warning crowed

or turn away and bolt

and watch the earth implode

as if no one's at fault.

A punishment for us bestowed:

a wake-up call, a crash, a jolt.

The warning fell upon deaf ears

so our blood rushed through the rivers.

It's everything the innocent feared

and we huddled close and quivered.

Then, closer in the sky appeared

our sun who would deliver

the final blow and with a sneer:

lights out for earth, our deathly shiver.

******************************************************

"Some 5 billion years from now, there will be a last perfect day on Earth... then the sun will begin to die, life will be extinguished, the oceans will boil and evaporate away." - Carl Sagan Cosmos

"Come you masters of war - you that build all the guns, you that build the death planes, you that build all the bombs, you that hide behind walls, you that hide behind desks - I just want you to know I can see through your masks." - Bob Dylan Masters of War (really, this entire song)

"The drunken politician leaps upon the street where mothers weep and the saviors who are fast asleep: they wait for you." - Bob Dylan I Want You

Little Lives

The moon's heart is heavy

as he considers the bevy

of bedrooms into which

his eyes become hitched.

His midnight glances

see all your romances,

all your quiet indiscretions,

and your lapses in depression.

Though he's aged with grace,

there are wrinkles on his face

and he envies the little lives he views.

Their elegant movements are his muse.

A voyeur satellite,

you only know at night,

but he cannot turn away,

not even for a day

and he isn't getting any younger.

So he hovers and he hungers

for a hand to caress,

or a love to profess

or for lips to kiss

or a sweetheart to miss.

The little lives below

do not even know

how lucky they are

when viewed from afar.

*******************************************************

"The moon hangs like the blade of an axe tonight, and it's poised to drop sometime soon enough on this dump truck where I lie mixed up with the morning's trash. There's a piece of glass sticking in my back and tar covering my mouth." Saves the Day All I'm Losing is Me

"This is the window where I watched the future start. My pupils dilated. The shock sped up my arms. I shut my ambushed eyes  and turned my face towards the heat." Kevin Devine All of Everything, Erased