goodbye, moon

i was watching Apollo 13
with my girlfriend yesterday,
when i realized something
that completely blew me away.

we were cuddling close together,
her head lying on my chest,
when a thought entered my head
i could never hope to digest.

and it was this:
"you are the moon,"
i thought quietly,
whilst we spoon.

that orb in the sky,
the men could never reach,
was like a forbidden heart
i was never meant to breach.

as i watched them float by it,
in a void of space and time,
i knew i was with another now,
and you were only in my rhymes.

the coolers

something about the coolers
is therapeutic, soothing,
so that when i enter one
i leave our world altogether
and enter a universe of cold
and humming and solitude,
a place where i can think,
stock milk and eggs,
and let the freeze
dissolve away my exterior,
exposing me to friendship,
and happiness and love.

the boy

this is a story of a boy
who tried to impress a girl,
but ultimately failed
and lived on to regret it.

the girl, they say,
was impressed by marbles
of all colors and sizes,
thus the boy sought them.

he searched high and low,
in the dark and the light,
indeed - even in himself -
but he could not find them.

thus he had to let go of her,
like a kite in the wind
that was reluctant to fly away,
all because he had no balls.

all the time i fear
for the world we live in today,
where black and white exist
but nowhere is a gray.

popping pills for the blues
when life just seems too hard,
surgery gives us beauty
and also leaves us scarred.

what of the times before,
when a remedy was a friend?
instead of material waste,
on which we spend, spend...

to be a part of my generation
is beginning to feel like a shame,
and i keep on wondering
what force there is to blame.

perhaps that of creation,
or of our own temptation.
some believe in salvation
through a book called Revelation.

but me?
i'd rather not.
for a simple reason:
i know what i've got.

every place in this world
offers new sights, smells, sounds,
experiences and people to meet.
if you seclude yourself from it,
you'll be none the wiser,
just an isolated, ignorant fool.
but if you see a half-naked man
burn his hands in a tribal custom,
then you've seen one percent more
of the world in which you claim to be a part.
therefore, i'm off,
to new sights, smells, and sounds,
to see just one more percent,
of that which makes us human
on a planet called earth.
both are but one of many.

rest in peace,
person i've never met,
but knew all too well,
like a brother
or best friend.

love is what binds us
and death is what
cleaves us in two,
until the fateful day
we are united again.

a life much too young
to be taken away so soon,
ascend now to heaven,
or whatever spiritual ether
in which you believed.

running away won't get me far,
so i choose to fly.
but what i expect to find,
i know not.
indeed, not even what i seek.

yet i need to soar away,
away from the nest,
on my own power -
with my own wings,
far, far away.

the journey will bring me back,
this i am all too aware,
but for now,
in this moment,
i fly - away.