The Moment.

In that place where you would heal

I found my friend deep in the forest

Knowing it to be her home

Her dog loping around

Worrying a chew toy

The wind in the trees like a voice

Whispering annunciation

As if an angel were to appear

At any given moment

And then it did:

We two deep in conversation

On subjects of art and film

Suddenly a honeyeater

Hovering between us

Like a sentinel

Wings furiously flapping

To keep it stationary

As it considered its options

A moment seeming like an hour

Its beating wings a sweet

Counterpoint to time's slow creep

Us transfixed

By its primal indecision

There is nothing to eat here

Then it was gone

Darting back into the forest

It's visitation over

Leaving us to stare at one another

Jaws agape, lost for words,

Perhaps for the first time

In our lives

© shaun patrick green 2020

Elegiac.

Feeling nascent

Like the first rain

Garden unattended

Must make plans

Life having its way

Unabridged

Always liked that word

Dishes to be washed

Child to school

Spiders in alcoves

Some memories

Are like that

Scuttling

Into dark places

Where the dirt hides

How does it migrate

No matter

Corn to gather

Harvest of hope

Children dancing

They used to, once

Now so quiet

A church

In miniature

Dinner to cook

Sun dropping

Stone heavy

No solace

Only this dark

And thoughts

Of melodies

Played

By merry-go-rounds


© shaun patrick green 2020

Midnight At The Broadway Cafe.

She held his hand in the Broadway Cafe

Rain outside falling in sheets

Her heart beating in her chest

So hard her ribs hurt

"I have done things," she said

Looking into his infatuated eyes

"I have been bad to people

Who have loved me..."

He felt her palm in his

The warmth of it genuine, firm

"I have done bad things too," he said

"We all make mistakes."

He could hear the rain outside

Like constant applause

"But I believe in second chances."

He held her gaze, continued without pause

"And this is a chance for both of us..."

A waitress sidled over

To see if they would order

"Two coffees," he said, "Black."

"You don't understand," she said

Watching the waitress move away

"I am poison."

He looked into her eyes

And knew it was true

But believed his love for her

Would be an inoculation

Not an invitation for dissolution

"It's nothing I can't handle," he said

Gangster bravado

She was up to her neck in debt

With an ice habit that would

Break his bank in a week

"But I'm weak, I know it," she said.

He took her words as a challenge

Could he keep her safe?

Could he keep his head above water

Could he avoid impending doom

The wars, diseases, the slaughter?

Her perfume wafted over him

Like the most magical of potions

They were young and in love

Failure was not an option

© shaun patrick green 2020