More Poetry

Here's a bunch more poems I wrote, I actually posted them on my Facebook page a while ago but I thought I'd share them here as well.

The Taste of Winters Past

Always on your lips, the taste of winters past
And a girl who threw a snowball, tossed her hair, and laughed.
Where a cruel wind's fingers were stabbing at your skin
And the cracks were slowly spreading where the ice was getting thin
It was cold and white, but you were warm and flushed.
The time grew short, the day seemed rushed.
She left with a smile, without leaving her name,
And you were content to do the same.

And now that taste you can't define,
But you let it linger like expensive wine.
But what's a name worth anyway?
You'll always remember how you felt that day.
And all things considered, it stands to reason
That winter is your favorite season.

A Conversation With an Elderly Gentleman

Listening to him speak
Is like dredging a river
Filled with silt and debris
For a single nugget of gold.
I pick it up, polish it off,
To reveal a single point
Or some meaning
That would have otherwise escaped me.
As he talks,
The river meanders
On a lazy course
Off into the distance.
The river knows not where it flows,
Only that it has a long way to go.
If you're careful, you can wade across to safety.

Not a Hero

Well I hope that I
Don't get sent away to die
In some distant land
Whose name I can't
Pronounce.

I won't be part of the crusade.
Don't need no homecoming parade.
I won't lead the charge.
I won't leap into the fray.
I'm a coward,
I'm a bastard,
But I'll live another day.

I'll drink to those young men who've died.
I won't swallow lies, but I'll swallow pride.
I'll be home and safe and sound,
Not buried six feet underground.

I'd rather hide my eyes in shame
From patriots who curse my name
Then bear the scars of another's fight
And dream of slaughter every night.

Don't pin that medal to my chest.
Don't drape my coffin with that flag.
Don't salute me, don't pollute me,
Don't carve my name on a metal tag.

If I won't die for my own country,
How can you expect me to die for someone else's?