There’s no rhyme nor
Reason why two people
Friends lovers or otherwise
That are essentially different
Yet attract one another
Some may say that
They see what’s missing
In the other but
I think not I think
That what brings
Two different people together
Friends lovers or otherwise
Are their shared strengths
For strength can be
That shoulder upon which
To lean that hand
In which to hold
That smile that invites
And that wink which
Causes a shadowy blush
Brilliance is like
A flash bulb
It happens occasionally
Yet it captures
Everything everyone eventually
This morning’s sky
Reminds me of
My uncle’s cigar
Many years ago
In Port Washington
Hanging there against
The backdrop of
His thin beard
The center glowed
Crimson almost winking
Surrounded by gray
Ash it hung
There then gone
Between his laughter
There then gone
Between the clouds
Soon to be
All but ash
As he stubbed
It out like
The sunrise does
To the dawn
Sometimes we can’t shake
The shambles that we
Left something in it’s
Impossible to clean house
Completely when you know
That there’s a bin
Filled with painful memories
Tucked in some corner
I have to steely
Myself to even approach
Much less open it
What I want to
Avoid is the tsunami
Of emotion I know
Is coming I want
To flee rather than
Confront I want to
Dismiss to hide things
Under the rug of
My life and pretend
That the little lump
At the far corner
Is not in fact
The beating heart of
Someone that I loved
So many years ago
If I don’t want
Then I don’t need
I don’t play games
With words placing importance
If I don’t want
Then I don’t think
If I’m not thinking
Of say maybe you
Then you no longer
Exist in the place
That I kept you
Making room for more
Likely someone that I
Will be thinking about
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 