A Dead Language

Tiresome
A day that never ends
It will not be unfinished
Captive in its pretense of vitality
It’s sense of virtue
Perfumed with selfishness

Yet hope remains
Faith sustains
I can only look forward

And I know I can do this
I know I can do this
I know I can do this

Maybe better and plenty
Above any dream inspired
You give me strength
You hold me up
To some part of me that was
Brilliant and Unyielding
No fear
Emblazoned
Vitalized
Even Burning

I’m still burning
The fire is not yet out
In this pile of ash
There is light though
Dimly lit
If I could only fit
This body of mine
As it ages-it betrays
It wages war
On a sunny disposition
Blinded by
Its own humanity
Consumed by its own mistrust
But a good deed
Can go a long way
And if I have any say
It can rise and it
May surprise even
The bitterness
As it dies

Wounded by a restless nature
And the beauty that lies within it
Only time can burn at both ends
Days that don’t ever keep
Like secrets that permeate
They melt, they begin to sleep
Shame on those kind ways of learning
And the loneliness
That brings me to my knees
Everything looks better in half light
Until it disappears
Until it is hidden
Enveloped by the night

By Jennifer Barajas

She’s nothing beneath that dress
Withered away
She’s lost
Broken to all that use her
She’s dead beneath the sheets
Hidden from all who know her
Apart from all she loves
Not knowing what lies ahead
Still using her voice to bellow
Letting go, letting it all shed
Still wanting more
Praying for more
And wishing nonetheless

I want just one day of unwept glory
Just one day of underserved relief
How time comes to steal like a thief in the night
How it creeps and crawls
When I could truly live a day unsung
It doesn’t need or want, it feeds
I am the main course it devours
I am the fertilizer for its flowers
The buds of life from which it grows
It becomes the blood through my very veins
It flows like a river without a beginning
Just short of an end
I am the life around the corner
Or the death just around the bend.

Dreaming lovely
Never cared for shadows
And unknown stars never explored
Un-sustained by passion
And overcome with grief.
Lovely drifts and lovely sits,
Upon a trembling leaf of glory
Once diminished upon a raging sea.
Less and less
Lovely waits to find yesterday,
And live now as if it is forever
Simply because lovely is not what love is not
Simple and graceful with soft warm hands.

JBW