SUNLIT HEART

© Gloria Smith 2010

I stumbled into the day

Into the bright sunlit world

The key to my heart

Was locked up tight

Against the blinding light

Of your love

Somehow it shone through

And poured into

The bitter blue

Broken pieces of my heart

Reminding me

That it was torn apart

The morning sky

Turned a weary gray 

As I thought about

You and I

How I cried

How you lied

And just when I think

That these memories

Can no more damage do

That these tears are through

They race once more

Down crimson cheeks

And speak louder

Than any words of grief

HAUNTINGS

©  Gloria Smith 2010

Our haunted minds seek ghosts to find

Until one day we realize

They're with us all the time

They do not live within our walls

Nor walk with silent footsteps down the hall

They dwell in memories born of sin

Or thoughts of a love we could not win

Disappointments, bitterness and pain

Roam tirelessly through timeless days

Do not look far your ghosts to find

They linger in your mind

And ever will they remain with us

'Til we return dust to dust

HUMPTY DUMPTY HEART

©  Gloria Smith 2010

My poor little Humpty Dumpty Heart

All broken, wounded, and torn apart

No one can put it back together again

What a sin... what an awful shame

I fear that I must accept the blame

I was careless and fell off the wall

Damn near killed me that fateful fall

ALL the King's men; even the horses

Chipped in and tried but it was in vain

Nothing could put it back together again

I swear I think I heard them cry

So here I lie... scattered pieces all

They never said if Humpty was dead

Just that he could never 

Be put back together again

So... here I am and here I'll stay

Shattered pieces of endless pain

I cannot explain how I fell or why

I only know that I remain

Upon the earth beneath the sky

Amongst the horses, amongst the men

And I cannot find a way

To become whole again

Nor words to say I love you still 

Or courage to say I always will

Anxiété

© Gloria Smith 2010

The evening drops her silent moments

One by one by one

Sunlight fades and shades of sadness

Bring the evening slowly, slowly down

I wait... words fade while dreams come alive.

I thrive on fantasies born of passion and pain

And what remains is only this 

Each beat of my longing heart tears me asunder

I wonder if you care

I cannot share my secrets with you

On this long and lonely night

I hold my pillow tight as crystal tears

Run past silken cheeks and into trembling lips

Lips that once kissed your face

You hold my soul and do not know that it is true

I am whole in your embrace

In this imaginary place of contrivance and illusion

God grant me the grace to face another night alone

The Fall I was Eighteen

The fall I was eighteen

The blue tint of the ocean called us, we went
and never looked back. At Navy bootcamp the
California sun baked us, blistering our ears.
We folded tee shirts perfectly, thin, thick, thick, thin.

We built our bodies the Marine Corps way,
we did push ups knowing that the number of push
ups that a man can do is directly proportional
to what he has under him, pushing back up at him.

We swam like fish, even with our uniforms on.
And rose out of those pools wet and cold knowing
that we could survive. We graduated and went to
ships and manned the rails and swabbed the decks.

We mess cooked, studied hard and played hard.
We left the smell of the ocean in the beds of strange
girls, with their sensual kisses. Boys on the playground,
and if I could, I'd go back to that very fall all over again.