Pain's a thing I know not of
But I do know Love
I in suffering cannot share
But I sure can care

Burdens heavy I can't carry
But I can help a soul that is weary
I can't carry your pain for you
But I can carry you

A hug, kind word, lemon, or orange
Can change the world or only encourage
Each little action counters the strife
Each little action just might save a life

A person is known for more than reactions
One's soul comes across set deep in one's actions
Actions that are devoid of love
Truly are for nothing

Dear Enemy,

Dear Enemy,
I want to thank you for thinking about me the other day. Most, but for the best, of my friends wouldn't conceive to think of me, but you, it seems, devote much of your time with me on your mind. Your constant battery of insultation flatters me to no end. Please know that I am so grateful for your enemyship, and for an enemy, you're the friendliest I know.

With love and resentment,
-John Hancock


(This isn't directed at anyone at all. In fact, it really was just a random idea that came over me while I was in the shower a few nights ago, so I thought I'd capture it in words. Any thoughts?)

Words Unwritten

Lost are the words which remain unwritten
A hollow memory is all that is left
Feeble, fallible mind can't remember
Of all of their memory bereft

Why can it be such a beauty inspired
Can't in a man's memory transpire?
As if words unwritten become unthought
What should be forever forever is naught

Jet Trails

Streams of vapor follow me
Wherever I might go
Provision for the world to see;
Where I've been to know

My words and deeds don't fade away
Floating freely in the sky
A testament to that ama-
zing grace that saved a wretch as I

Blue Glow

I wrote this one years ago.  I had completely forgotten it and randomly found it in an old email I had sent.  It's beautiful, and yet disturbing to look at old e-mails.  There are some things that are admirable or genius...   And then you see yourself making the same mistake three years ago that you made just yesterday.   Just how powerless to change ourselves are we really?

In the cool blue glow of the computer screen
He weeps in a place where he can't be seen.
All he really needs is a friend, a guide
Looking for some comfort from the parts inside.
A very brilliant listener every slot and tray
It tells what you want to hear; what you make it say.
If comfort's what you really want you won't find it in a part
Comfort comes not in a thing but only from a Heart

On such a lonely night as this
The sun has bid adieu
Nameless shadows pass my way
Not one of them is you

Mannerisms slight reflect
A nose, a hair or two
But none can quite do justice
Not one's an image true

My mind makes pattern of what reminds
To find what means the most
It's hard to look straight at a friend
But only find a ghost

"you can call me 'Al..'."

How can it be a room is full
But one is still alone?
A hundred conversations fill
But not one is my own

Familiar faces I've never seen
Haunt my sanity
So very sure we've met before
But not that they've met me.

A name is nothing which no one knows
An echo of emptiness
A man without a soul is like
One who does not a name possess

You introduce and offer forth
Your soul captured in "name"
The meaning speaks right to the core
I offer back the same.

This bond we feel is soul to soul
In terms of you and me
Even though we've never met
We've shared identity

A rose is nothing without name
And certainly would lose all its fame
An image of the soul inspired
The meaning of a name transpires

Findin' It Harder

"I'm findin' it harder to be a gentleman every day..." -The White Stripes

When I see a girl cry (or anyone for that matter), my first instinct is to see if they're okay and see if they need anything.  For someone truly in peril or misfortune, I will go purt' near completely out of my way to help them.  It's how I was brought up and it's just how I'm wired.  What really irks me is when people see that and pull my heartstrings for their own pitiless ends.  I feel used.  It feels so wrong.   What really angers me is that I now I have to think twice and decide whether I ought to help someone or not.  Having touched the stove, something tells me that I shouldn't care so much.  This shouldn't be.  Trying to help someone in pain should not cause unnecessary pain to me in the process.  This isn't the first time my heart's been played with, and I know for a fact that it won't be the last.

Thing is, though, I'd rather have my heart played with than to not care. Caring is my greatest virtue and my worst folly and I know it full well and am not ashamed of it.   This is my greatest worry, though; that I get so burned out that I withhold compassion when someone truly needs it the most. 

About deciding to offer help
Or even should I care,
No poem even comes to mind
The words just aren't there...