words that are never said
What happens to words
that are never said
and tears that never burst
a way through the cavernous ache
of a knotted esophagus
and kisses that never reach
their mark on the one pair of aching lips
that could ever truly receive them
and sighs that stay inside
rebounding through organs and
empty space like squash balls
heart beats that never find
their rhythm against the breast
of their equal and opposite….
What happens to full moon nights
when lovers stay inside with eyes
that never meet their soul’s reflection
and dark moon nights where galaxies
parade their splendor to the unseeing
haze of city lights and dirty fog
and autumns when the solo albatross
still waits on the known and familiar wings
of the only one that will never return…
What happens to letters
that are never received
and bottles that wash up
on shores where no one cares
to open them
genies that are rubbed into existence
by the remnants of childhood dreams
of adults who disown their own power
and magic carpets
that never find that innocent believer
to raise them from stone to heaven…
What happens to the lovers
we dream into existence
and abandon at the altar
cats that don’t remember
how to purr, and dogs that never pull
against the leash…
What happens to flowers
that are delivered to
the wrong address
and stones that are aimed
at innocent hearts whose only crime
is the courage to express their truth…
What happens to the bones
of prehistoric giants buried beneath
layers of time and compacted earth
and stories that are never told
and die with the unparted lips
of the dead…
What happens to the relentless longing
inside for all that another is
and all that can never exist
and the love that can never be
expressed, except through poetry
that never really hits the mark
and the ancient roots of
ancestry and knowing that are veiled
in the illusion of separation
and the oneness
that must wait
until we die?