Three Short Poems

On Youth

There was a time when I was immortal
When I knew everything
And anything was possible
You were there
You stood with me on the verge of reality
We dipped out toes into the pool of lost innocence
And watched the sun set over the valley of time
Secure, we were
That tomorrow would never come
And that the faces we saw in the mirror
Would be there to greet us for eternity


On Love

There once was a girl
Whom I loved with all my heart
She made me want to write poems
And read them to her by candlelight
I wanted to know her every thought
I wanted to investigate all her secret places
I wanted to grow old with her and die with her
Then the light turned green and we both drove off Into our separate words
To this day I wonder what her name was


On Death

One day I needed to kill some time
Before I had to be where I had to be
It happened to be
That the place I had to be
Was next to an old cemetery
So I wandered among the graves
Enjoying the peace of the spring afternoon among the dead
When I came across a large grave bearing a Japanese name
And a samurai crest
A strange find in rural New Jersey
I took a sheet of origami paper out of my bag
Fashioned a crane
And left it perched atop the stone
Knowing that I was adding a final note to a story I would never know