Ephemeral

I awake with thoughts of you in my head
From the detritus of dreams upon an unmade bed
You rise
Your fingers linger
Languorously leafing
Through the tangled mess
Of my hair
And with the coming of the sun
You leave
Melting into the sudden light
Vanishing like a sprite
With just the ghost of a smile
Left behind
Playing upon my mind

Of what use is time?

Of what use is time
Except to drive divisions
Between your mind and mine

Of what use is time
Except to say
That this belonged to yesterday
That the world has changed
That tomorrow belongs not to today

Of what use is time
When what was said during the day
Is no longer valid at night
When we turn to wrong
What once was right

Of what use is time
When we use it to define
Why we must no longer meet
Why the years must make walls
Between what must now be sour or sweet

Of what use is time
When the years no longer allow
Declarations of fondness or love

Of what use is time
When I must no longer play
The games I used to on another day
When I must no longer run as hard or fight as fine
Oh, then, what use is time

Of what use is time
When you cannot be mine

Of what use is time
But as shackles for your mind

When your words are gone

When your words are gone
When your words dry up
And nothing rhymes any more

When the day awakens
Without a song in your head
And you lie blinking
Soundless, in bed
And no more poems emerge

What then is there to remember
But death

then you smiled...

The day was bad
The day was long
I was left feeling
Like I didn't belong
I felt like a beetle
By a shoe defiled
All crushed to a pulp
But then you smiled...

I was dropping bombs
I was oozing hate
I was burning people
With acrid distaste
I was losing my mind
I was getting all riled
Snapping at shadows
But then you smiled...

The world was harsh
The world was tough
I wanted to give up
I had had quite enough
I was about to lash out
I was about to go wild
And smash it all to pieces
But, just then, you smiled...

There was no end in sight
I was fresh out of hope
I was jerking on the end
Of a really long rope
At the end of my tether
I would not be beguiled
When you were walking by me
But then, you stopped, and smiled...

What love...

What eyes shall hold your eyes
What mind shall touch your mind
What wistful dreams arise
What vows shall we rescind

What hand shall link in yours
What heart quicken to your beat
What kind of hooks and lures
Shall make the sour turn sweet

What time shall bring, who knows
What fires shall light your stove
What arm shall wind in yours
What love shall find your love