Sometimes I wonder

Sometimes I wonder
if I am the man in the elevator
going up and up
or the man in the corner
singing to the shadows.

Both men cloak themselves
in an air of chance
like contrasting feathers
against the muffled whispers
that surround them.

Maybe instead I’m just
another voice in the crowd
asking myself whether
I am the man in the elevator
or the man in the corner.

(dtn)

Never be enough

Even all the money in all the world
Could never be enough
To buy the moon in your eyes.

Even all the time in all of time
Could never be enough
To count the lines between you and me.

Even all the light in every dawn
Could never be enough
To cast a shadow on your smile.

(dtn)

What we see

How many of us
see so much of the world
through glass?
hear through walls?
walk roads built
for what purpose
we might never know?

How many of us
misread so many signs
to usher in a future
so different from
what we set out toward
just yesterday, yet
welcome just the same?

How many of us
ask the wrong questions?
expect the wrong answers?
and still cling to hope
like the scent of summer
lingering on an autumn breeze
weighing us down?

(dtn)

In this moment

In this moment I am a second-guessed decision,
a question left unasked and unsatisfied,
the wording nearly forgotten but the fear remaining.

Wasn’t it always like this, unbuttoned and cold?
When was the last time we were truly sure of tomorrow?
Any answer I come up with would be hollow.

So in this moment I am a man in the corner,
hands exploring the depths of my pockets
for some semblance of solitude or escape.

In this moment
I am a disturbance.

In this moment
I am a severed limb.

In this moment I am happier than you,
but only because I see you happy in this moment,
and that’s more than enough for now.

(dtn)

We walk a fine line

We walk a fine line
between unraveling and intertwining,
between the moon and accurate shadows,
between silence and deafened ears.

We draw a faint line
between hopeful fear and remorse,
between gradual curves and circles,
between our selves and our selflessness.

And yet we find the widest line
between today and tomorrow,
between right and failure,
between living and leaving.

(dtn)

Asking the right questions

Who are you?
Who do you want to be?
Who will you be?

How will you say it?
How will they see it?
How can you do it?

Why not now?
Why take that road?
Why wait so long?

Where will you go?
Where will you stay?
Where will home be?

What will you do?
What can you do about it?
What can’t you do?

When will you see it?
When will you say it?
When will it be too late?

(dtn)

I don’t need you

I don’t need you to shoot for the stars beyond.
But I’d like it if you did.

I don’t need you to climb every peak.
Just know which are worth the effort.

I don’t need you to take on giants.
But have an idea of how you could.

I don’t need you to think the world of me.
But know you are the world to me.

I don’t need your adoration.
I don’t need your admiration.
I don’t need you to think I am without fault.
But I need you to know your own.
Admire both the things I am and am not.
Learn to adore the unattainable.

I don’t need you. Not really.
But I could never be without you.

(dtn)

Sundays

Where do you want to go?

What’s wrong with here?

It’s more than just a reflection
++of yesterday’s yesterday.

Where can we go
++that we haven’t already been
++a hundred times?

What’s another day of just another day?

So long as I’m with you,
++today is a good day.

(dtn)

A spire to the moon

I could have walked a million miles
since I last saw your face
and still feel right at home
come morning’s first kiss.

I could have traced every shadow
between your tears and smiles
and never be more inspired
than when the storm passes.

Give me all your fear and anger and hope
to make a melody for another day;
between the chords and reverbs
I’ll hide this rugged, unforgiving world.

I could build a spire to touch the moon
to swim among the endless stars
and still feel just as hopelessly lost
as when you first said my name.

(dtn)

Am

I am a metronome

I am a skipped stone

I am a secret in the wind

I am a moment of silence

I am the first raindrop

I am nothing more than these

But I am all that you make me

And because of that

I am so much more indeed

(dtn)