John Doe

I often heard him crying out,
As if someone would answer:
The color of his grief,
Came across in familiar terms.

He was always there,
Slumped beside his basket full of missing things:
Lacking more than a man should be,
Too far gone for human contact.

For 15 years he sat,
Staring across the asphalt fields:
Even in the Texas heat,
He stayed buttoned down with winter booze.

But as our city changed,
He was constant:
A slowly growing myth,
Pinned outside the grip of time.

He lived so long,
In my mind he was immortal:
The eccentric watchman,
Holding fast at the southern gate.

And then he was gone,
Missing from his normal perch:
His basket left alone,
Its contents scattered by the summer wind.

Ham-Bone

To you I am a dancing fool,
Without a care in the world:
In our own sweet way,
We drifed into each other's arms.

Like playmates in the summer sun,
We seem to find the magic shade:
And even in the night we are young,
Savoring all the stars like lovers do.

You said that I came to you,
In a dream to calm your waiting heart:
But I was looking for you all along,
Floating through an unkind world,
Looking for a place to land.

Or maybe,
By some strange twist of fate:
Nature found a way,
To help us laugh again.

And now I'm beginning to see,
That scars upon the heart can heal:
That my once solemn soul can mend,
By letting go in your embrace.

This is why I hold you close,
And why I kiss you so softly:
Because we are in many ways,
A gentle mystery to unfold.

So travel if you will,
With me to see the northern lights:
Or any other place would do,
As long as I can hold your hand,
And share this world with you.