Easier with You (First version, written in my twenties)

Shades drawn, closing out a hazy dawn
while a jazzman playing low from a scratchy stereo
sounds of last night's song.

And lazy on my pillow, I stray into a glowy mellow.
There I wander into the beauty of living and filled with
a newness sown by you.

And it’s easier with you breathing beside me, ‘cause
you've taken away all the hollow nights and days when
time was just too free.  My reasons in loving you are in
the things you prove.  It's so much easier with you.

Daylight hustles into the city's glare, and to face another
day with thoughts of running away to roads that call me there.
Although I want to follow and drown into a stony sorrow,
but since you've entered into my sinking future and filled it with
the power of love, I find that all that is, is so much Easier
With You.

Easier With You (second version, written in my senior years)

With shades drawn, closing out a hazy dawn
I still embrace the rhythm of last night's song.
Waves of a jazzman's horn is playing low
while a singer's voice wanders off into a whisper.
I have become entangled within a dream.  There
I find myself moving so very slow, as the music
plays softly from a scratchy stereo.

And lazy on my pillow, I stray into a glowy mellow.
Where my heart is racing to catch each beat.
There I wander into the beauty of a new beginning
overshadowed by the fear of yesterday's memories.
Those words of thunder and betrayal of trust.  Now
forgotten, now so faraway, now, my heart is filled
with a newness sown by you.

And it's easier with you breathing here beside me.
You've never doubted me.  You've allowed me to talk
forever about who or what I plan to be.  Even though
I sound so outrageous, so silly about staying free -
like a purple, green and yellow winged butterfly.
I mean, you care about me.  You're a first!

Daylight hustles into the city's glare, and to face
another day with thoughts of running away to roads
that call me there.  Although I want to follow and
drown into a stony sorrow.  I remember your touch
and your sighs.  Now that you've entered my life and filled
it with a powerful love.  I need to be here.  All that is
good in life and all that is really real is so much easier
with you.

The Mirror

The mirror, the mirror hanging there
So small, so plain, so unaware,
Of looks, and blinks and teeth so white,
Fore fills its duty to give delight.
To those who pass by without a care,
Who gawk and giggle and hope to dare,
To believe whatever tales it shows
The secret desires that no one knows.
Kept hidden and quiet by a blank cold stare
From half closed eyes full of hurt and despair.
 
Oh the outward masks we show
To others who believe they think they know:
     The beauty queen, the soccer pro,
              A dancer's dream,
     The boatmen's row, an idol's song,
              A love story so very wrong.
 
A mirror only knows why a reflection glows,
A mirror only shows what the mind already knows,
No matter how much primping and smiling I see
I relish that old mirror who reflects back at me.

The Shell

My inner being has long been emptied into rivers of time long forgotten by me. 

As I lay deep within the riverbed, the hardness of my shell still draws visitors of endless seaweeds that cling for a moment before moving on.   I yearn for them to stay awhile and keep me amused. 

Why should I beg for comfort, let all things pass through to where they must go?  My shell cannot weep for itself, nor can it laugh or ask for forgiveness for being empty.  I am broken by the turbulence of the quaking floor.   It has left me with swirls of ingenious lines of pale yellow, blue, orange, pink and a heavy moss of green.

I have become a beacon when the morning sun shines on all my parts, transforming me into a fascination picked up by new hands.

Although a part of me is lost forever, the spirit of my soul still lays buried deep within.  I will always be protected against the changing times of nature.

If you see me and care to listen, my tales of the sea are true.