It Wasn't Enough

You danced around the barbed wire fences
that cornered your life, like a harlequin,
laughing, colorful,  boasting, loving.

Your life was like crystal energy,
it brought out  the best
and the worst in yourself.

You were radiant, lit by a fire that could not
be extinguished. You suffered the anguish
of one who was never loved from first breath,
yet you somehow found your way to love
but it wasn't enough.
and then there came a pause,
and everything went dark.

When the birds flock to the fire escape
outside the apartment where you lived
they sense something is wrong
and they fly away, chattering in birdspeak.


The Stories You Told

The stories you told
were they wired into your head
some great novel never written
and so you told spoke your days in chapters
like the life you wanted to have
or the life you had
that was never clear
but you sure liked to talk about it.

was it the telling of the story
that you were so passionate about
or was it more simple than that
and the stories passed through your eyes
like strangers and when your eyes briefly met 
there was a surge of electricity
and you recounted your tales
and they quietly they passed on
swallowed up by the crowd
in the streets.