i use the rain to sleep at night,
with sounds of thunder
and wind knocking me into dreamland
the air is full of insecurities and past indiscretions i’m trying to forget

it’s always raining,
lasting for an hour,
two hours
or sometimes just a few minutes

it slows down, speeds up
and floods the streets as soon as it begins

sadness looms through the trees knocking against my window
it always comes at the right time
like a story dying to be told

for a second time i leave georgia
leave behind friends made
and experiences i couldn’t have gotten elsewhere
we say we’ll keep in touch, right?
but i’d be lying if i said i still talk to the people from the first time i left georgia

i’ve been beaten into myself here
i’ve been the proverbial son
i’ve been lying just to get one chance
and i’ve earned the right to regret now

i don’t struggle to write this,
i don’t pretend to not be mesmerized by the sounds of this city
i spend most of my time looking out my windows,
watching the world ebb and flow
i used to think it was incomprehensible, this notion of
wanting to be the city that surrounds you
but i get it now,
i’ve seen what a person can become with just a few wishes and four-leaf clovers

i am not this city,
i am not your backyard
nor your need to disbelieve everything i say
i am not this town
with its potholes and misinterpreted directions

i could be the distance between this trip and your last,
i could be on the way there right now

but it’s raining
and i just can’t love an undeserved thing while it rains.

08/23/2010

Posted on 08/23/2010
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