I went walking..

‘Where are you going?’
The questions of my mother
sank beneath my conscience
‘What is it that you seek
and where do you think
you will find it?’
In the voice of my youth
I answered
‘Adventure, mother
and a poet’s heart’
‘None such exist, my son
Those are the dreams of a child
But now is your time
to become a man’
I acquiesced
into the greyness of manhood

I went walking

looking
for a poet heart
a girl with golden hair
and wise eyes
beckoned me
into the city of love

‘Do you have a poet heart?’
I asked

‘No, silly’
she laughed
‘they don’t speak that language here

But I have intellect and disdain
My hatred will last
longer
than their silly poems’

Each night I built fire
to keep warm
from her cold complacency

I went walking

Along the turquoise waters
I met a girl of the sun

we danced to Time’s demise
and swam in the ponds
of immortality

‘Do you have a poet heart?’
I asked

‘How boring’
she scoffed
‘I have esteem and beauty

Much more dazzling
than clumsy words’

Each night I drank
from the bottle of introspection
which kept me grounded
as she floated off
into the stratosphere

I went walking

In a saintly city
I met a girl of darkness
‘Come closer’
she lured
with pain sharpened talons
‘I will not hurt you’
I knew she spoke lies
I resisted
not at all

We sold our humanity
from gloomy street corners
we pierced the skin
of apathy

‘Do you have a poet heart?’
I asked

‘No, fool
I have nothing
my nothingness
is more poignant and true
than their perfumed testimony’

Each night I dreamt
the dreams of poets

that kept the blackness
from covering up my name
I went walking

I heard a familiar singsong voice
the voice of a true lover
‘What is it that you seek, sir?’
‘I have been looking
for a poet heart
but I now know
no such thing
lies within my grasp’
‘You’re wrong, sir
It exists indeed
but it comes with a price
It was all that remained
in the backpack
of emotional vagrancy

‘Because ‘tis what I pay for mine’