Neither Wanting More
By May Swenson
To Lie with you
In a field of grass
To lie there forever
And let time pass
Touching lightly
Shoulder and thigh
Neither wanting more
Neither asking why
To have your whole
Cool body's length
Along my own
To know the strength
Of a secret tide
Of longing seep
Into our veins
Go deep…deep
Dissolving flesh
And melting bone
Oh, to lie with you
Alone
To feel your breast
Rise with my sigh
To hold you mirrored
In my eye
Neither wanting more
Neither asking why
Symmetrical Companion
By May Swenson
It must be
There walks somewhere in the world
Another
Another namely like me
Not twin
But opposite
As my two hands are opposite
Where are you
My symmetrical companion?
Do you inhabit
The featureless fog
Of the future?
Are you sprinting
From the shadows of the past
To overtake me?
Or are you camouflaged
In the colored present?
Do I graze you every day
As yet immune to your touch
Unaware of your scent
Inert under your glance?
Come to me
Whisper your name
I will know you instantly
By a passport
Decipherable to ourselves alone
We shall walk uniformed
In our secret
We shall be a single reversible cloak
Lined with light within
Furred with dark without
Nothing shall be forbidden us
All bars shall fall before us
Even the past shall be lit behind us
And seen to have led
Like two predestined corridors
To the vestibule of our meeting
We shall be two daring acrobats
Above the staring faces
Framed in wheels of light
Visible to millions
Yet revealed only to each other
In the tiny circular mirrors
Of our pupils
We shall climb together
Up the frail ladders
Balancing on slender
But steel-strong thongs of faith
When you leap
My hands will surely be there
At the arc's limit
We shall synchronize
Each step of the dance upon the wire
We shall not fall
As long as our gaze is not severed
Where are you
My symmetrical companion?
Until I find you
My mouth is locked
My heart is numb
My mind unlit
My limbs unjointed
I am a marionette
Doubled up in a dark trunk
A dancer frozen
In catatonic sleep
A statue locked
In the stone
A Lazarus wrapped
In the swaddling strips
Not of death
But of unborn life
A melody bound
In the strings of the viol
A torrent imprisoned
In ice
A flame buried
In the coal
A jewel hidden
In a block of lava
Come release me
Without you I do not yet exist.
The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Death of a Youngman
By Lindsey VanDyke
A fire burns within
Back again too soon.
The phrase "'tis the season" pierces like ice
Bringing Christmas and its mournful tunes.
Four years now has it been?
No! It feels like yesterday.
I do what I can to try
And look like I enjoy this holiday.
But as hard as I try you won't be returning
Only your memory does—I cry—
Alas it cannot quench this torturous burning
It leaves an insatiable Yearning.
Yearning for what?
Your voice
Your laughter
Your presence
For You
Then the tears come, and what can I do,
But let them.
21 years you'd be this year
If only life hadn't interfered!
You would put warmth in this season
Yes, I loved you, in part, for that reason
Now there remains only a space
Quiet
Empty
Cold
There's no one in it left to hold.
~1998
Look What I've Learned
~Unknown
I've learned-
that you cannot make someone love you.
All you can do is be someone who can be loved.
The rest is up to them.
I've learned-
that no matter how much I care,
some people just don't care back.
I've learned-
that it takes years to build up trust,
and only seconds to destroy it.
I've learned-
that it's not WHAT you have in your life
but WHO you have in your life that counts.
I've learned-
that you can get by on charm for about
fifteen minutes.
After that, you'd better know something.
I've learned-
that you shouldn't compare
yourself to the best others can do.
I've learned-
that you can do something in an instant
that will give you heartache for life.
I've learned-
that it's taking me a long time
to become the person I want to be.
I've learned-
that you should always leave loved ones
with loving words. It may be the last
time you see them.
I've learned-
that you can keep going
long after you can't.
I've learned-
that we are responsible for what we do,
no matter how we feel.
I've learned-
that either you control your attitude
or it controls you.
I've learned-
that regardless of how hot and steamy
a relationship is at first, the passion fades
and there had better be something else to
take
its place.
I've learned-
that heroes are the people
who do what has to be done
when it needs to be done,
regardless of the consequences.
I've learned-
that money is a lousy way of keeping score.
I've learned-
that my best friend and I can do anything
or nothing and have the best time.
I've learned-
that sometimes the people you expect
to kick you when you're down
will be the ones to help you get back up.
I've learned-
that sometimes when I'm angry
I have the right to be angry,
but that doesn't give me
the right to be cruel.
I've learned-
that true friendship continues to grow,
even over the longest distance.
Same goes for true love.
I've learned-
that just because someone doesn't love
you the way you want them to doesn't
mean they don't love you with all they have.
I've learned-
that maturity has more to do with
what types of experiences you've had
and what you've learned from them
and less to do with how many
birthdays you've celebrated.
I've learned-
that you should never tell a child
their dreams are unlikely or outlandish.
Few things are more humiliating, and what
a tragedy it would be if they believed it.
I've learned-
that your family won't always be there for you.
It may seem funny,
but people you aren't related to can take care of you and love you
and teach you to trust people again.
Families aren't biological.
I've learned-
that no matter how good a friend is,
they're going to hurt you every once in a
while
and you must forgive them for that.
I've learned-
that it isn't always enough to be forgiven by
others.
Sometimes you are to learn to
forgive
yourself.
I've learned-
that no matter how bad your heart is broken
the world doesn't stop for your grief.
I've learned-
that our background and circumstances
may have influenced who we are,
but we are responsible for who we
become.
I've learned-
that just because two people argue,
it doesn't mean they don't love each other
And just because they don't argue,
it doesn't mean they do.
I've learned-
that we don't have to change friends
if we understand that friends change.
I've learned-
that you shouldn't be so eager to find out a
secret.
It could change your life forever.
I've learned-
that two people can look at the exact same
thing
and see something totally different.
I've learned-
that no matter how you try to protect your
children,
they will eventually get hurt and
you will hurt in the process.
I've learned-
that your life can be changed in a matter of
hours
by people who don't even know you.
I've learned-
that even when you think you have no more
to give,
when a friend cries out to you,
you will find the strength to help.
I've learned-
that credentials on the wall
do not make you a decent human being.
I've learned-
that it's hard to determine where to draw
the line between being nice and not hurting
people's feelings and standing up
for what you believe.
I've learned-
that the people you care about most in life
are taken from you too soon.
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