BALLERINA GIRL

Ballerina girl, you are so graceful

Twirling around and around

How could anyone not love you?

Ballerina girl, you are so perfect

Don't listen to the haters

Turn your tiny ears away from them

Ballerina girl, look in the mirror

Your imperfections are

The most beautiful of all

LAST BREATH

Swift current pulls me under
Water baby, didn't have a chance
Rocks dance beneath my feet as I sink
I thought I knew it all.
Knew. It. All.
As I take my last breath
I remember the last time I made you laugh
And I wonder if after all these years
Swift current will make you smile again

YOU ARE INVITED TO MY BOOK LAUNCH!

HAIR

Yes, I changed my hair
Sometimes I can't cope
With the reflection I see
In the mirror
So I change it
Maybe this girl
Knows how to survive

DREAM

I had a dream I lived in a jail
My crime was not explained to me
Turns out my lawyer was
Judge, jury, and DA
BANG! went the gavel
Back to my cell I go
If only I could see someone
Even standing close

I awaken and look around
At my four walls, the isolation
I don't know when I am getting out
It was not a dream after all

LITTLE HEART

She cries
All alone
Her little heart
Too small for stone
She says, "Bring on the ghosts that haunt me"
For they are all alone
They know every word
Of every lie she's heard
They will glue her broken pieces
Back together, make it better
Until she falls apart
Until she gets much older and a little bolder
To protect her little heart

MISTAKES

You underestimated me -
That was the first mistake you made

I believed in you -
That was the final mistake I made

EASTER

You already left
On the Easter afternoon
Our love was now gone
You know we waited three days
No miracle was to come

DARK GRIEF

My head is bent and I am crying
You left and painted my soul black
Waves of grief crash against
The shores of my bruised heart
And yet as I sob into a crumpled tissue
I wonder how I can win you back

THE OLD LOGGERS WALTZ

Every time the violin begins to play
I have a lump in my throat, beginning to sway
Moving onto the dance floor and into the fray
Into The Old Loggers Waltz

I let you keep time
Somewhere between rhythm and rhyme
Together we climb
Into The Old Loggers Waltz

Years have passed since you've been gone
Nothing's the same, not even the sun
I am heartbroken but waiting for the dawn
Into The Old Loggers Waltz

CUT OFF

You, you are my friend right now
"Right now" is all that I can promise
Until your heart is like a plow
Plowing through my emotional mess

You, you scare me to my core
With hugs I fail to understand
Trying to stop myself from wanting more
Feeling comfort with the touch of your hand

You, you don't understand why I must go
With paranoia and a heavy heart
Going before you quit this show
Looking to make a brand new start

So while I stop with you at "like"
I am making a pre-emptive strike

2020

2020 was not what I expected
I wanted to roam and be free outside
Instead, I look around at these four walls
And know I am in some kind of jail
DON'T GO NEAR ANYONE
And all I can do is miss my son

Coping much better than me is my son
Doing much better than I expected
For a social butterfly to be left without anyone
To not breathe the air outside
I would expect more freedom in a jail
Than any, I could find inside these walls

There is no freedom inside the grocery store walls
Hoping only to run into my son
Hoping I don't go to jail
The masked faces were not what I expected
Nor standing 6 feet apart outside
No smiles from anyone

Craving small talk from anyone
Before I return to my apartment walls
Knowing I will be staring outside
Wondering about the welfare of my son
For him, this was not what I expected
To be a young man in this jail

Might as well return to my jail
Walking alone without anyone
This springtime I would not have expected
Becoming one with these walls
Missing my beloved son
Living his life, drawn to the outside

I dream of the day I can go outside
Free from this government jail
I dream I can finally hug my son
I can say hello and smile at anyone
In or outside these grey walls
2020 was not what I expected

BUTTERFLY

Maybe time heals wounds
But I don't believe in time
I believe in you
And the way you hold my heart
Gently like a butterfly

AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER

Just when I began to trust you again
After all the late-night fights we had
You turn the screws and increase the pain
Under the kitchen overhead lights, so sad

I chased you out of the house and past the gate
Yelling obscenities after you: "don't come back"
I am finally past believing in fate
Sadness has caused my body to go all slack

I am tired of being mad at you and myself
For wanting in this life a little romance
I guess my heart will go back on its shelf
Probably never getting another chance

And I wonder to myself does it make a man bolder
When having affairs at 65 and older?

THIS LIFE

When I awaken in this darkened room
Lonely, it is your name I want to call
Until it is with great sadness I recall
You have all but left me in this tomb

It is spring yet flowers no longer bloom
I would rather be enchanted by the fall
Familiar leaves die at nature's call
Yet I would still feel full of gloom

Nature, how you share your loss with mine
Starving for the freshness outdoors can bring
Instead, I am trapped in this prison of life

My loneliness is much like thine
Wanting to hear the sparrows sing
Pretending there is no such thing as strife

BETTER THAN ME

I don't know
Don't know how
Know how to
How to live
To live this
Live this life
This life without
Life without instruction
Without instruction telling
Instruction telling me
Telling me how
Me how to
How to love
To love you
Love you better
You better than
Better than me

DARK DAYS

Dark days
Some say there's no way out
Dark ways
Prolonging the pain and chaos
Dark stays
Can't stay in this void much longer
Dark preys
There's always that one dark way