Haiku

Your words don't leave marks

visible to most. Bruises

hide beneath my skin.

Nightmare

Sweat sheens across your brow,
Bet you wake any second.
Ravenous nightmares eating
Luminous holes through your sleep.
Fight me all the way down until
Light, pure and intense, bores through
Closed eyelids. You can’t keep me away;
Posed questions only make me more real.
Alight, escape while you can.
Might of men, my child’s play.
Pray I don’t change my mind.
Stay at your own peril.

Companion to "Will Never Hurt Me"

Untitled


We no longer care
To watch what we say,
To censor our words
And meekly obey.

We vent our frustrations,
Breaking all locks;
Our problems won't fit
In your neat gilded box.

Our words are profane?
Your actions speak louder.
Suffering continues,
You grow only prouder.

Who is to blame
For the pain that we see?
Those preying upon
The helpless and weak...

You want us to change,
We ask you how?
Take a look in the mirror.
Who's the monster now?

Haiku

Alone

There you stand, apart

With no one to understand.

I know the feeling.

What I Need From You

Tell me that you're sorry 

     it had to be this way,

some things don't last forever,

     my tears will sometime fade,

though this break now feels so jagged, 

     I don't have to feel alone,

I'm stronger than this crisis; 

     this is what I need to know.

Tell me I'm making the right choices, 

     that someday I'll want again

this thing that hurts so badly, 

     that hope won't end with him.

you

I smile,

your awkward shrug

is mine, as well.

I'm nervous

but your eyes grin,

make me brave

my breath a giggle.

Yesterday and tomorrow

blur, I am

now and here.

philosofia

Let my  yes be yes, let my no remain

this ever present waver, ever present pain.

Is anything knowable, true, absolute

or are shades of gray my only refuge?

Where is that line I must never cross?

Is it hidden or real or utterly lost,

designed by a mind or unlucky chance?

I am yet undecided, my mind will not set

on invisible hope nor millennial death.

My choice is all fog, indecision each breath.

So I say yes I will seek, will knock, and will ask,

will carry this burden, impossible task

of never to know 'til time has left me

in the oblivion or bliss this world cannot see.

Today

Quantify the disappointments.
Shut them in a box.
Shove it to some corner,
Forget it. What's been lost,
Let it dust and cobweb over.
Time will smother the sore.
Gangrene black hole scarring
Marks pain that came before.
Sunlight piercing midnight,
Volcanic thundercloud,
Foundations, plans are broken.
All strength's subjective now.
Memorize this moment.
One day again I'll see
For soon the quake will settle.
Won't let it level me.

©T.Lynn Smith 2010

My Father's Hands

My father’s hands, so rough and worn,

How gentle they’ve become.

They sooth the wailing grandchild

Whose peace has come undone.

Those same hands have helped to guide me

And taught me many things.

Like how to take pride in what I do;

The reward that hard work brings.

I didn’t always understand

What lay beneath the skin,

Misunderstood so many things

When I was just a kid.

In the constant struggle to provide,

Some words were left unsaid,

But always were they written there

In the lines upon his hands.

Years passed before I learned to read

All that they had to say

About the love they always held

Despite mistakes along the way.

Sometimes love is shown more by

What is done, and why, and how.

Truth is seldom found in words alone.

I understand that now.

In my father’s hands is love,

And in his face is pride

for who I am and who I’ll be

with my family at my side.

©T.Lynn Smith 2010

Written by request for Father's Day 2010