We talk about better
Better is a reference
A comparison to something
That is usually unsettling
But what if unsettling
Was the better thing
Things that make us
Pop things that make
Us change are better
Oh we love summer
But fall is when
Life really finally starts
We all enjoy frolicking
We only ever learn
From our skinned knees
I can’t seem to
Pull my wits together
Perhaps this is what
Dying may be like
Preparing for the end
A deluge of memories
Rushing down the canyons
Of my previous life
Lifting and pulling yanking
And clearing and cauterizing
Laying waste to wasted
Years
I do love love
But not the baggage
I prefer friendship love
Over the lovership variety
Friendship love is constant
Like a heart beat
It’s thoughtful like unexpected
Greeting cards wishing well
Lovership love is spicy
And hot and explosive
Like jalapeño peppers initially
Sweet and innocently unalarming
Until the sweating starts
And you find yourself
Reaching for anything but
Friendship love is scotch
Warm friendly and fuzzy
Lovership love is tequila
With lime and salt
Followed by a hangover
That lasts for months
Let us not talk
About loneliness about absence
And abstinence let us
Talk about something new
Someone new let us
Forget the long winter
Of shortened days and
What seemed perpetual night
Of listening to songs
Those same old songs
That staved off hunger
And thirst let us
Now think of Rome
Of warm sunny days
Of wine and crunchy
Bruschetta and of antipasti
Of unyielding laughter and
The whispering Vespa whines
Of what is surely
To come to the
Future of the Mediterranean
Of our life together
I’ve lived several lives
This life time around
Each one an adventure
Full of awed inspiration
Of amazing beauty and
Hours of quiet contemplation
I chased my dreams
And made them reality
Realizing that the true
Strength in life is
Not just having dreams
But recognizing when you
Capture them giving room
To dream yet again
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 