one more chance

I don't know where your mind was

maybe you came to your senses

see what the fuss is all about

deciding you should take a risk 

the boat is pushing back from shore 

you're running down the pier

the gang plank is pulled back now

one more chance missed here

I can see you standing there 

my hair blowing in the breeze 

shading my eyes from the sun

one tear slips down my cheek 

the things we thought we wanted

like waves hitting on the shore 

and I can barely see you now

but I wave to you once more

 

while we both were searching 

wading that river of doubt 

it was so easy to fall into 

so much harder to get out

 

I left without a compass 

using the sun is the best guide 

and I can barely see you 

but I wave for the last time

Poetry by M.J.B. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

given, taken

given, taken
love forsaken
wanted, needed
hearts are bleedin'
given, taken
risk worth taking

Poetry by M.J.B. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

release

with kindness comes clarity
with loving comes loss
with investment comes risk
to be put where it belongs

with anger comes tension
with frustration comes fear
with longing comes hunger
for what you want near

with heart comes emotion
with His grace comes peace
it will get much easier
when at last I release

Poetry by M.J.B. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

neon lights

shadows rise and shadows fall and I see the reality 

clattering deep in the silence of my serenity 

tonight we lay together under the flash of neon lights 

tomorrow I am miles away, living a different lie 

I felt it in my spirit and I felt it in my soul 

what you didn't feel at all just left this gaping hole

thunder rolls and lightning flashes bright in all my dreams 

while miles away you lay there, pulling my heart strings 

like the mighty Phoenix from the ashes resurrected 

but none of the fences mended, just how you directed

that little piece of my soul, the one that you left whole 

sometimes friends, sometimes lovers the only role I know

I can be here with you, or as long as you can stay 

yesterday was just a day...long since faded away 

all of the photos taken, show us smiling in black and white 

you pick and choose, make all the rules, while I drift with the tide 

tonight we lay together under the flash of neon lights

tomorrow I am miles away, living a different lie

Poetry by M.J.B. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

between wonder and love

they meet in the middle
between east and west
between sunrise and sunset
somewhere between dependence and indifference

they meet in the middle
between unsure and surreal
between unopened and unsealed
somewhere between give and take

they meet in the middle
between rain and sun
between ended and just begun
somewhere between fact and fiction

they meet in the middle
between forgiveness and grace
between bittersweet and a honey taste
somewhere between wonder and love

somewhere between blue sky and monsoon
once again, they meet in the middle

Poetry by M.J.B. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

stand

don't run and hide

when things aren't right

stand your groumd

put up a fight

the more you take

the more they'll shovel

don't swollow more

and be on their level

take it all in

when things get rough

as bad as it seems

it can get much tougher

sort it all out

and make your plan

let it all go

when you make your stand

Poetry by M.J.B. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

Heartbreak Cafe

sitting here at the Heartbreak Cafe
outside the sky is dark and grey
hot, black coffee on a rainy day
acrid taste disguised by the bouquet

looking at this lonely crowd
early morning while it pours down
on every face a deep lined frown
clinking spoons the only sound

not the first time I've been here
the Heartbreak Cafe dark, austere
a dismal place I don't hold dear
doesn't help my thoughts to clear

pay the bill left at this table
left thoughts of you and this sad fable
moving on to something more stable
just as quickly as I'm able

Poetry by M.J.B. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

thoughts of you

temperature cold
inside this room
no moon tonight
darkness looms
shadows creep
across my dream
fitful rest
for me it seems

shadows from
a recent time
fantasy plagues
memories remind
how much time
before it fades
thoughts of you
and yesterday

Poetry by M.J.B. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

sparkling crowns

the match lit a spark
the spark took to flame
kindling was soggy
from months of rain
all I could see
all I could feel
months of wonder
if this was real

just one more time
last when we met
not like you feared
but the opposite effect
beep of a message
not from me
hidden thoughts voiced
that made me bleed

all those others
in sparkling crowns
many a princess
that let you down
terms of endearment
perfected on those
rest now on me
here on the throne

Poetry by M.J.B. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

head in their apps

with their heads stuck in their apps

freedom slips from millennial grasps

no History taught in any class

to teach them what would come to pass

oblivious to all that does surround

how their forefathers held their ground 

freedom from the British crown

a new government once held sound

cyclical, again it rears its head

socialism gaining thread by thread

wringing hands in constant dread

like little sheep they're being lead

get you head out of your apps

it's time to break from the blind mass

time for you to kick and lash

it always falls to the working class

 

Poetry by M.J.B. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

paradise lost

you piece together
the broken shards
cutting yourself
on a secured heart

quickly it slips
as you grasp at straws
not enough time for
forgotten fatal flaws

sleight of hand failed
your magician bag of tricks
illusion forsakes
mortality too quick

the thick smoke clears
a circus mirror refracts
the image disappears
when you look back

your destiny fools
thought it was tied down
paradise lost
free falling to the ground

Poetry by M.J.B. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

time

too little said too soon

or maybe, too much too late 

either way, 

the crescent moon just won't align 

reflections in a mirror, cracked 

icy winds sting my face

it ebbs and flows 

when I look back 

ticking zulu time 

Poetry by M.J.B. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License