Todays

I pasted love
on walls
that resemble
the cave
you once put me in

I acted out
dreams and thoughts
plots and schemes
of hope and change
much like the today
behind all this
dying of old age
before ever
being recognized
for what it is.

I will not take these things for granted

Another translation of a Dutch piece of mine. It's not quite what it was, but it still resembles it..


Remember tomorrow,
you said the day before, and today,
with every millisecond slightly enlarged
between the days
remember everything.

Recovered memories climb
between the new ones
I can only see shards
between the now
and what is yet to come -
balanced on the edge of night and dew
belonging in both times,
like you’ve always wanted to.

They don’t talk about words
the way they used to,
nor anything that came with it
‘different’ sounds the same still
or should at least resemble it
“Rather here,” you say day by day,
“instead of the old days
where every word was secretly hidden,
shattered and edgy.”
“Rather this”, you say week by week
and in thought I agree, both of us
touching the edge of night and dew
shaking specks of mist
and letters from our hair
and where the words will fall
we’ll meet again, my dear.

Living like never before,
once again where no one
lived thus far and rather this
with every millisecond slightly enlarged,
and in between these days
I remember moments
looming and priceless, yes
rather this, my love,
and rather here than some place else.

Feathers of love

Beneath your wings, love,
both of us seek shelter.
Our resistance no longer useful,
our screams no longer in rhythm.
I still see you,
day and night
and day.

I find comfort in our fall,
and hope in your beauty.
Together we will brave morning
hand in hand
heart in heart.

I rhyme softer in your words,
as we both dance through their echoes
‘till where it gets colder
and we seek warmth
where it has always been and
where we both came from.

As night falls to your wings, love,
only you and I will wait
for day to come.

One More Mile

The journey is about to end
slowing down to see
all this falls behind us
and in the end there's nothing left to be

nothing more to see
one more mile to go
ending all we ever were
and there'll be nothing
left to be

You say it doesn't matter
while the tears roll down your face
so we turn around and start again
one more mile behind us

heading towards the beginning
while your tears slowly dry
being what we were,
knowing that we are again

alone
and far from the end

Sketching

I draw within the frame I am given, best I know how,
The lines I remember as yours.
They may not resemble the ones you have now,
for how age changes these I can never be sure.

Your image I can now clearly see
though it might happen to fade, people say
and your eyes seem less vivid than I recall them to be
for all its colors are hidden behind this faint shade of gray.

I may not have gotten the hair quite right
seeing it could've been cut or darkened perhaps,
your smile looks to me a little less bright
yet of my memories of you remain only scraps.

I wonder again
if I can capture you whole
and try to remember exactly when
these lines started showing a different soul


I think it's clear now, love, that this is not you
so I sharpen my pencil
and start anew

Spotlights and Lipstick

The curtain falls and once more
today I am not me
though these words are mine, as before
just in a different way, a new degree.

These roles you play
he wants to know,
will in the end be thrown away
when you leave this human puppet show.

And I start to wonder
as my feet guide me swiftly off this stage,
whether these masks I am so used to hide under
are still no more than masks these days.

For my lines I know by heart
in every scene and situation
and my daily role seems yet another part,
a new invention, a life-like imitation.

This smile you see is seldom fake
these hands are still my own
these movements are the ones I always make
no person could be better known.

They are not the same though
I must say,
this person that you think you know
and these roles I often play.

And where the line is drawn
you ask me,
between what you are and what you let on
yet it's where it always was and will be
for there's only one I choose to build upon.

The Nearness of You

I am the hours stretched before you
I am the years you willingly wasted and every second in between
Now and then
I am your mirror when you least expect and want me to
I am your path untraveled and unseen.

I am the haze that clouds bad judgment
I am the abiding qualm inside your head
I am the wretch, the knave, the innocent
I am the aching thoughts you reluctantly neglect.

I am the tears you swallow and the insecurity you hide
I am the waking hours, the impending dusk, I am all I seemed
I am the fear that echoes from both sides
I am the naked utterance you wish you’d screamed

I am today what ‘morrow brings
I am the everlasting moments and the ones that flee
I am sky and ground but above all things
I am the me you’ve chosen not to be