whatever it is that makes you you
this is what you need to pursue
this is ultimately what is true
it is joy, happiness, you must look to
with a desire to grow, to renew
avoid all that you feel may be untrue
it is the least you can do
for you to be
you.

what do you do
when you can smell sadness
like rain heavy upon the wind

you close the shutters
shut off the lights
and hide in the cellar
waiting for the storm to pass
and the light to come sneaking back
sparking the growth
that is sure to come

the shade of the tree
to the left of me
looked somehow better
in the heat of the blazing day
it beckoned in loneliness
for a person to sleep beneath
and show the value of its canopy

and so i wandered over
and sat under and upon the clover
only to find no difference
save for the impression of my body
in the grass upon the roots
of the one i had moved away from
now somehow less for my absence
while the current, no greater than before.

wretched vampire
comes empty in the dark
to drain love and bright hope
from the caring and unwary
until they are left as husks
wondering where it all went

wretched vampire
comes again and again
breathing guilt like poison gas
until the body is drained dry
dead in its self-loathing
a pitiful sight to behold

wretched vampire
moves along in a moment
stalking victim after victim
leaving pain and lost dreams
like discarded trash in its wake
the perfect, psychopath predator

“take my pain and emptiness
consume it and make it your own
and i will drink my fill of your joy
until i am asleep like a glutton after the feast
and you lie as bones upon the platter –
forgotten.”

and i know that i’m fortunate to have a you
that i can drive happy or forlorn homeward to
that i can stand naked and injured before
unafraid and wholly accepted by your safe shore
it makes the journey through time and space
an easier one to face
because you are my place
toward which my broken feet will race
whether robed in success or disgrace
i am folded welcome into your embrace

cold breeze kisses the cheeks
while the sun warms the skin
in combined contradiction
demonstrating our capacity
to be all things at once
forever laughing out our cries
while fearing lonliness
in the pressing of the crowd

there is no peak
no bright clear
mountaintop
climbed slow
with determination
that does not come
without the descent;
that crazy,
that insane
tumbling plummet
to the darkness
below

sometimes
i like to deceive myself
to hide from what i know
in favour of what i want
and given time
i will believe anything
that i repeat enough
inside

My friend Dr. @elbakriidris translated this #poem for me, and I’m thrilled to have included it in my latest collection Songs In Blue Minor. #poet #poetry #poetsofig Idris Elbakri Songs in Blue Minor https://a.co/d/j70aJJ3