february first

indifference
that is how i would describe it;
a day that some are keen to remember.
and others are happy to celebrate.

i almost forgot about it as i sat in my room the night before, rummaging for army slacks and prepped myself for training the next day. and it was supposed to be my birthday. a little poem i wrote, describing what birthdays have become...the quiet recognition that time has passed...

a plain line of trees
at the end of city streets

heaven's edge
on a star's secret sky
the book of childhood
opened briefly, then shut for good

a swimmer who reaches the shore
his spirit, spent.

anguish
without the sting of sadness

a foreign sense of peace, pervading
as i stand older by a year. seeing
the spaces between me,
mark the place where i used to be.

i am grateful for the distance now,
as day closes and is washed in simple rain
while a certain blessing falls
as the cool sun burns to its end.