You weren’t 
supposed to 
ever supposed
to really
walk through 
that door 
after you’d
walked out 
a different 
door before 
but here
you are 
just as
you were 
before a
bit older 
and wiser
but still 
with those
eyes and 
beautiful smile 

The hardest thing 
to do is
watch be it
snow melt or
river dry or
day end or 
painful lesson learned 
but know this 
I have been 
all and through 
and gotten over 
and across those 
very same things 
and I can 
assure you that 
there is always 
another side of 
things and that 
when you arrive 
those very same 
things which seemed 
impossible are not 
they just are
like other things 
in the way 

You’ve gone silent 
like some submarine
diving beneath surface 
engine screws off
swimming about stealthily 
planning its attack 
or perhaps escape 
why not say
rather than peep
so many men 
play these silly 
games of love 
and of war
one move here 
one move there 
check check check
mate and the 
king is dead 

I am blind
no not of
eye but I 
of kidding myself 
giving too much 
attention while looking 
the other way 
a corrupt blindness 
one of need
that cloaks everything 
even common sense 
how could I
not see the
very thing in
front of me 
because darling eyes 
have no ears 
in which to 
hear the lies

And yet sometimes 
I lumber my
limber wit lame 
and limping and 
not even coffee 
can jumpstart it 
like desires itch
as I pull 
you closer hoping 
that the heat
of you will 
ignite the flame 
deep in me 
setting things ablaze 
more often not 
both words and 
intimacy stall causing 
a soft landing 
of quiet absent
and distant affection