I Remember (for deverse; http://www.nickgentry.com; Deja vu 2014)

I remember-
silent seas
the first stirrings of life

sprouting wings
fins and limbs
learning to breathe
invisible

I remember sinning
tasting forbidden
craving knowledge
bowing beneath
the blue

I remember how I loved
believing it was true

stripped of self
feeling one with
endless climbs
and being made anew

I remember
being born
over and over again
as time held me in its embrace

I died a little
from the stillness
of all I lost to a year.
 


 

Lost Innocence (for deverse; Fair)

I thought it

would be fair

way back when

before I learned

of atrocity

Sitting in a classroom

15, blinded by what

I thought it meant to

be human

Kind, compassionate,

loving

Then truth stabbed me

in that room filled with peers-

 

As we fixed our gaze

on a slideshow of genocide

mastered by a madman

supported by his followers

Men, women and children

all heaped in mass of

“ethnic cleansing”

I remember crying, unable

to sleep

asking my dad how such a thing

could happen, not once but

many times?

He shook his head

unable to find an answer. 

Always

I will be haunted

from the visions

of concentration camps.

 I felt my innocence

die that day.

and still I wonder
how life could be
so far from fair?

Ghost (for deverse; The Book of Dead Man)

Am I a ghost?

A lingering presence

caught between then

And now.

                        

It was not easy

shedding flesh

for spirit-

All the longing,

wishes I let die

I thought the mirrors lied-

Telling me I was dying

I wasn’t finished-

Prayers went unanswered

Glad I wasn’t a prophet

to my own demise

I was a fate

I never knew.

Sweet Love

Sweet love

I am the suddenness

in your sleep

Ghost of dreams

which slipped away

smoke through

stained glass-

Where your reflection

still lingers.

Daughter

And the world goes on

In her sped fast way

Leaving us here

A bit breathless

Longing for each other

Miles away

I reach for you

Remembering

How you pulled me back

From the darkness

Shedding light

With your innocence

Seeing joy

When I only saw shadows

Pulling me back

To a time

When I could breathe enough

For both of us

Shallow it feels now

Missing your face

Wishing you needed me

As much

Always I wonder

If the light still halos you

Always I wonder if the shadow

Of your absence will cradle me?

On Being Human (for deverse; Good News, Bad News, Your News)

From the beginning

falling

from a heavenly grace

which offered paradise

But paradise cannot feed the human

always hungry

always reaching the sweet fruit of truth

and the truth

can be so ugly

genocides of innocents

wiped away in a deluge

of hate and desire

for the perfect which

cannot be found.

Tribes of strength

bowing -

The faithful crying

for their God

and as the news of the day

wipes its mouth of constant crime

we try to wipe the tears away.

How The Voices Sing (for deverse; Under The Influence of Music)

Faith don't fail me now
I know how the voices sing.

I feel so alone
like a frightened child
when the winds howl
seeking solace in the dance
of words.


How their truth
rings so loud
in the silence
of all I have known.