Futurelawyer

#PoetryFriday - The Gift

THE GIFT

He tried to choose his gifts carefully.
He went to all the right stores.
He saved up his money.
He travelled in person
to expensive retailers
and spent time in meaningless conversation
with counter people
who would rather be somewhere else.

He read the fashion magazines
and scoured the Internet
with a business style focus
and spent more money than he should
trying to impress her.

When the day came
and he presented his gift to her
he was happily pleased
that she was pleased.
He felt the satisfaction
of the giver
and the joy in her happiness
belied the empty feeling in his soul.

As he grew older
he realized that the greatest gift of all
required no effort
and no money
and no skill.

He would give her the gift of his time
and that much limited resource
would be the best gift of all.

Time flashes by in an instant.
He would try to give it away before it was gone.

#PoetryFriday - Theme Park

THEME PARK

He walked in make believe land
and heard the hawkers
selling balloons and dreams.
He watched the princesses
and princes
running in the street
looking for salvation.
Everyone was looking for the dream
and everyone had a fantasy in mind.
The little boy
with bubble gum dreams
stared wide eyed
at a costumed character
with a smiling face
made of plastic.
The dreams of dreamers
belied the reality
of heat and humidity
hanging heavily over the fun seekers
and tired travelers.
He tried to decide
whether to take photographs
for posterity.
Would freezing the moments in time
recall the fantasy?
The photographs were flat.
They had no emotion.
They only recalled a moment
with a few million data bits
hidden in a digital dream.
He tried to recall
old moments
and old fantasies
and old dreams,
but only found fading memories.

Then, she took his hand
and her touch reminded him
that reality was in the present,
and that no photograph
could reproduce that happy moment.

Reality was for the living.

#PoetryFriday - BullFighter

BULLFIGHTER

He waved a red flag
but she kept on coming
Her intentions known
his defenses down
he was dead meat on the hoof.

As he lay dying on the ground
he looked up into sparkling eyes
deep as an ocean
and wondered where his heart might be

His lips sank into her melting mouth
lost in a moment’s passion
wanting to spend the rest of his life
learning the curves of her slender form
like blind people read

He wanted to lose himself
in the completeness
of her smile

He thanked God
for reminding him
that love mattered again.

#PoetryFriday - Monster In The Closet

MONSTER IN THE CLOSET

Time passes
and things change.
I lie in bed next to your vacant space,
Just feet away from your closet
Which was our closet
Which was my closet.
I have filled it with your shoes
and your dresses 
and your other clothing.
Floor to ceiling
They hide from me
Like a monster in the closet
Waiting for me to open it.

The irony of my fear
is not lost on me.
It was my place for a while
and then I met you
and it became ours.

When the shoes and the clothes
Began to invade my space
I gave it up to you
As a sacrifice
As an offering to a lover
Hoping for mercy.

Now
I don’t know
if there is a monster in there
Or a flood of painful memories
Or a torrential downpour of loving 
remembrance.

Someday
I will have to find out.

#PoetryFriday - When I Die

WHEN I DIE

When I die,
Don’t come looking for me.
Don’t look for me in the bushes
or in the grass.
I won’t be there.
Don’t look for me on a cruise ship
going nowhere.
I won’t be there.
Don’t look for me at my place of work
My working days are done.
I won’t be there.
Don’t look for me in your photographs
Two dimensional copies of the image of me.
I am not there.
Don’t look for me in your house.
I am not there.
Don’t look for me in the streets of the city
Blaring chaos all around.
I am not there.
Don’t look for me in Heaven or Hell
If I am there
You can’t find me yet.
Don’t look for me while you are living
You can’t find me yet.

If you really want to find me
Look into your heart and mind
Because I live there
forever.

#PoetryFriday - Less Is More - Are You Listening?

Less Is More.

The priests told him how to speak.
The priests told him what to say and not say.
The priests told him who to love.
The priests told him they knew what comes after.
The priests told him how to get to heaven.
The priests told him there was a heaven.
The priests told him there was a hell.

The priests didn’t tell him why God allows death.
The priests didn’t explain how they knew
what happens after Midnight.
The priests didn’t tell him that they were just humans also.

When he exited the church
The pundits told him what to believe.
The pundits told him who to elect.
The pundits told him what to say and not say.
The pundits told him they knew best.

The pundits didn’t tell him how they knew
what the truth was.
The pundits didn’t tell him that they were just humans also.

When he left the house
The billboards told him what to believe.
The billboards told him who to elect.
The billboards told him what to say and not say.
The billboards didn’t tell him
who paid for them
or that other human beings wrote them.

When he got out of the car
He saw the birds in the trees
and the animals on the ground
and the flowers and the bushes.
They didn’t speak words to him.
They spoke volumes.

#PoetryFriday - Musings In The Shower

It isn't Friday, I know. But, this one seemed appropriate for today. Go hug your Valentine.

Musings In The Shower

He always did his best thinking in the shower.
He remembered standing in the hot water
thinking about the coming day
and the things he had to do.
He remembered the momentary pleasure
of being in the embrace of a tower of water
and the freedom he felt.
He wanted to work without distractions.
He made a mental list of the tasks to be performed that day.
He checked off the list
as he went through the day
meandering through the car wash,
the hearings, the conferences,
the phone calls, the emails,
the necessary evils of an active business life.
He thought about the weather
and wondered whether he needed a coat today.
He listened to the news,
found it painful,
and turned it off.
His thoughts turned to the laundry,
and the clothes he would wear
to show himself to the world
as a man to be reckoned with.

He wished he had stared through the shower stall
and watched her put on her makeup
dressed in a towel
hair dripping wet.
He wished he had approached her
with a hug and a kiss
and a whisper of love and caring
for her ears only.
He wished he had spent the day with her
holding her hand
and walking with her
through that day.
He wished he had lived with her
really
that day.

#PoetryFriday - Spring

Spring

He had spent his forty days in the desert
He wanted a drink of water
and wine.

She warned him that spring brought new growth
and change
and counseled caution.
She spoke the words of winter
and moved with the body of spring.

He knew only that he wanted her
with the sizzle of a summer sun.

As their voices
quietly
danced the dance of lovers
he
impatiently
expectantly
awaited the coming of the rosebud

Its bloom was as inevitable
as the passage of time.

#PoetryFriday - New Love

New Love.

He wondered whether ecstasy was a lie
A whisper lost in the routine of daily lives
filled with responsibility and debt.

Was love an illusion,
shimmering over blue water
created by sunlight
filtered through the trees?
Was it unrecognizable
like the truth told to strangers
on a first date?

Would absolute truth
salve the wounds of the past?
Would it bind the broken limbs
and the broken hearts?
Would it bring back to life
the simmering desires
that fate had taken?

He resolved to move slowly
turtle like
conserving his energy
until the right moment.

But, his resolve melted
in her milky white skin
and the beauty and purity
of her soul.

He knew that he would pursue her
with the intensity of a flame
burning with desire
longing to be secure
in the knowledge of her love.

He would light the way
to her future.

For Diane - January 2019

#ThrowbackThursday #PoetryFriday - Cowboys And Indians

Cowboys and Indians.

He played cowboys and indians
in the dirt
smiling a peanut butter smile
and fearing nothing.

He was indestructible
and young
and thought that pain
was for other people.

Death and dying
had no meaning for him
as he navigated a world
filled with little green plastic soldiers
marching to a beat
only he knew.

The old man
remembered the little boy.
He knew that the wisdom of youth
was lost in the knowledge of pain
and the forest filled with dying leaves
that deteriorated on the ground
like ancient animals
littering a landscape that became
more desolate over time.

Would the new growth of the forest
find a place in the world?
Would his bones become a part of it?
Old men think of things
that young boys never do.
Old men wonder whether their young souls
will come back as old souls.
Old men die
and no one knows if they return.