“Child!” I yelled
and picked up the small girl I was looking after into my lap.
Maybe her parents did not pay me for worldly advice,
but I felt the need to leave my mark:

“There comes a time
when logic goes down the drain,
justice is barely visible (hidden behind closed bars)
and you can no longer romanticize your reality.
Chivalry is dead…
don’t cha know?

Oh, I’ve tried to move on,
tried to accept and repent.
Whatever emotion left over is usually regret.
It’s impossible for me to sink in mindless monotony
without losing part of my sanity.

Time won’t budge when you need it to,
people don’t help when you want them to care…
the places you hate hold you firm
when there’s freedom in the air.

When I can’t collect my baggage, I collect my thoughts
in the natural environment
where I’m not trapped…
by obligations, unnecessary pressure or angst.
Let me say,
you definitely need to rethink your existence
when all your conflicts are unnecessary!

Try it, please do,
meditate and allow for compromise.
Find a place:
a little cemetery from two hundred or two years ago,
or a barely lit church basement will suffice.

Do not allow yourself to be
stifled (especially by those you love).
I say this only because I know.
Lately, that’s all I know.
It’s a freakish frustration;
like being an artist
trying to draw grotesque images that personify your rage,
but all that flows are cheery colors,
hearts and stars
under a false pretense!
Or perhaps it’s similar to being a new priest
in a disillusioned and disappointed congregation.
While you’re reading a contemporary verse of a scripture,
their piercing, bitter voices
overpower you with the traditional one…
But remember what God said…
‘The first will be last.’

So gather ye senses while ye may
for time will surely flow
and the people you trusted to be friends
won’t hesitate to go.”

I looked down at the child
only to find that her little blue eyes, just like mine,
were veiled behind tired lids.
She had fallen asleep,
with her little head lying on my chest.
I guess my words hadn’t touched her
as much as my own heartbeat.

05/23/2007

Author's Note: Eh I wrote this one for a contest. It's all right. I wanted to put it on here after it was over. Turns out a guy I know won it.

Posted on 05/23/2007
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