end too soon

i’ll be honest with you
i’m only capable of lies
i know my place and play the role
of a prince in a frog disguise

see this story ends too soon
everything fades to black
before the magic, before the kiss
before i win her back

shoulder rose

she stumbled out in front of your car
arms up wiping blood from her nose
you wouldn’t have recognized her
if it wasn’t for her shoulder rose

a little faded on older skin
you held her hand as she winced
two months later she slapped your face
and you haven’t seen her since

for a while she was a ghost
in the night, you’d think you see
you hoped for her everytime
there was a message on your machine

and through your windshield you can hear
her shouting, “watch where you’re going!”
oh the questions you could ask
you’re mostly afraid of knowing

pull the key out and open the door
you used to pray you’d find her
touch the rose that she once swore
would serve as a reminder

when it dies

there is a sound love makes when it dies
most people mistake it for a sigh
and by the time they realize
it’s all over but goodbye

and she doesn’t want to hurt him
because he looks for her to heal
she’s terrified about forever
but more afraid of how he’ll feel

when kindness could not stand for love
she confessed one night what he had known
to ease her guilt he said “go or stay,”
“either way i am alone”

history

here are more words i’m donating to
the waste of time i spend on you
i lower a bucket into a dust dry well
searching for some new story to tell

but all i draw is this pebble truth
i long for rumor in place of proof
some mystery to flow through my hands
at least something i can’t understand

i hope someday you’ll think of me
but you were never one for history

you are that one note sung so soft
i can’t reach, i’m always off
so i try to catch you in my song
but every time it sounds so wrong

and like a sport that children enjoy
the men who play it are destroyed
when the game is over, everyone goes home
but i am not willing to leave alone

used to believe

i used to believe
you’d hear this someday
as sure as the radio plays

i used to believe
you’d hear me someday
when i figured out what to say

i only wanted you to be happy
but i hate that you’re happy now
less than noble, so afraid
of what you’ve finally found

i used to believe
in signs i would see
that you were the one for me

i used to believe
in someday
sure as the radio plays

never for me

the touch of her fingers
her hair in the wind
the smell of her showers
the feel of her skin
the sound of her laughter
the sight of her tears
her face in the moonlight
the curve of each ear
the look when she’s angry
that wrinkling brow
the look when she’s bored
like the world let’s her down
her voice when she whispers
her love (when she cares)
the warmth of her closeness
her legs long and bare
her eyes when she’s blinking
her chest when she breathes
her arms when she’s reaching
but never for me

in time

a white dress wrapped around someone else’s bride
right words that never escaped from inside
deep feelings that are too wrong to confess
in time you’ll grow to love her less
hold the invitation like your other choice
what might have been if love had a voice
too good of a friend not to be there
for the wrong reasons though you care
so she never knows of the castle you built
to house her, now it’s filled with guilt
every memory you secretly made
becomes a debt forever paid
but you spoke so sure of destiny
what ever happened to meant to be
could you shout DONT from the back of the room
could you win in a fight with the groom
no, somehow he is the better man
she picked him to hold her hand
so you’ll go and smile and say i do
when she asks if you think their love is true
you’ll swallow your secret, she’ll never guess
in time you’ll grow to love her less

bounty

a few more wishes roll in with the tide
like lava the earth can’t keep inside
i gather it up and dig holes to hide
these memories of a darker pride

i was walking a cluttered ocean floor
weighted with treasure but looking for more
i kicked my feet finally rising for air
stopped short the surface, while everyone stared

thrashing and screaming, breath was so near
someone was shouting, i couldn’t hear
i cried, “pull me up, i am heavy with gold”
someone was shouting, “just let it go”

ocean’s bounty pulled me down
never meant to see dry ground
it glittered all around me
but it was trying to drown me

i made my peace, with opened fists
it fell to be forever missed
i swore i’d never speak of that day
when i let it all slip away

second story

in the spring another fall
for the stubborn leaves that cling
to the now new budding branches
life pushes death out of the way
fluttering, twisting, fighting
bearing it’s own memory
these lonely strangers fall
once blessed with such a view
they gather in corners and whisper
tall tales from the elusive past
they wander dusty pavement
now slaves to old enemy breeze
settling on some cracked sidewalk
where Jeff loved Jane in 88
imitation immortality
fingers traced in wet cement
love now abandoned to excuses
once blessed with such a view