By: Pat Doran

Growing Old

I can tell by your hands
that you are older
than what you say,
but it’s the lines under
your eyes that give
the game away.
Here you are trying to
recapture your younger days,
by putting your hand
through his hair,
hoping that he stays.
You laugh at every
mundane thing that he spouts,
to make him feel important
so he won’t run out
like all the ones before him
that have left you alone,
now at this stage of your life,
you can’t face
growing old on your own.

###

Demands of Life

The practicalities of life
grab you by the throat
demanding you explain
all those words that you wrote,

The realities of life
have landed at your feet
demanding you apologise to
the people you tried to cheat.

The meaning of life
has finally arrived in your head
demanding answers to why
you thought you may be better off dead.

The love of your life
is standing at your door
demanding to know why
it was her you chose to ignore.

###

Resistance

Tell me a story
I have never heard,
one that leaves
my heart stirred.

Tell me about things
that I have only dreamed,
show me that life
doesn’t have to be extreme.

Fill me with hope
for tomorrow,
show me some love
that I can borrow.

Help free my heart
from this joyless existence
by breaking down
the walls of my resistance.

###

Back in Time

I have wasted so much time
dwelling on the past
that the future arrive way too fast.

Thinking about what might have been
made me ignore
the warning signs I should have seen.

Now I am no longer sure what
it is I am feeling,
whether or not I should disclose
these secrets I have been concealing.

Maybe it would be best
to keep them to myself
so they don’t end up
hurting anybody else.

I have lived with them for this long,
why risk what time
I have left by saying something wrong.

I pour myself another glass
to ease my mind
then I will drift back in time
to see what else I can find.