HOME | DD

Description
It's all going to the dogs now
as I pass one on the streets
with seemingly more purpose than me.
    The bus rides' steadily
    become longer; am I
    home yet?

One impasse after another,
relevance in semblance flees
cognitive reasoning, looking for answers
in coffee who's taste fled long
ago, muddy cloudy water, bleak;
my compass spins wildly and answers
are located in all the unlikely places.

She's in Sydney and I'm in California
where it's raining so hard and steady,
like she likes it, as do I, and a stupid
smile is painted on my face, living
off the high of the day, fearing
the worse, of being alone, living
solitary for longer than a fortnight
could ever last; a definite scare.

I become startled then wary,
realizing our number attached
a hold of us forever keeps getting
higher, we’re not sixteen anymore,
though our minds tell us otherwise,
though our hearts refuse to acknowledge
Age's constant sludge forward.

On holiday to London, I tightly
squeeze my eyes and the neurosis
causes her to appear next to me,
charming smile and smart style as I put
on a fake English accent and talk
hours long on things mundane, or
stimulating, no matter, it delights
the two of us, laughing, cuddling,
drinking tea and eating biscuits before

a magnificent flash envelops the
two of us I take as my dream coming undone,
but keep hold of, stubbornly, of her spirit,
finding beauty and joy in the simplest
of things from the word, "cloudburst"
  (it tickles me when I see it, too)
to the elegance of Ms. Ladybird walking
across the back of my hand, resting
in the strands of hair, content, delightful,
seeing relevance in the ordinary
surrounding me again. It wasn't

hard to perceive, with her radiant
brilliance intensifying every
light bulb all around. The hums
in unison filled my ears with
a choral sound, astounding, but
taking caution, taking cover,
throwing my hands over my head as
the light bulbs, all of them simultaneously
burst and explode in a rain of
dangerous glass shards and thin
smoke mist, immediate darkness overtaking.

I feel her essence, detect her
smile, so alluring, so warm,
a haven, this darkness, her smile.
  Glorious purpose in life
  has returned, I swear.
And I fall into a slumber with our
transatlantic continental hug, the
tightest I’ve ever felt.