parallel lines

a distant place
a different time
no intersecting
of parallel lines

too much in common
drifting hearts
analogous souls
unclear starts

love that is lost
without a look
an unread chapter
in a closed book

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

paint

in my mind, I paint
I am an artist
the picture is beautiful

the strokes true and bold
the colors vibrant
and of many hues

it is a vision
that no one sees
but me

the vision that is painted
changes with the lights
and the darks of my soul

but I am not an artist
the picture I paint
remains in my mind only

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

Tranquility

There is a light that is shining
Offering all I want, need
A light I thought expended

It obliterates all of the darkness
This shroud that has encased me
Both spirit and soul

A glow born with a dream
That stayed when the sun rose
And warms me with it’s strength

As I shed this old mantle
And step into your illumination
Tranquility and love surround me

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

would you have loved me?

would you have loved me
if I had less fire?
if my touch
held less desire?
if my heart
was less than true?
if my eyes were less green
or maybe blue?
my wit less sharp?
if I didn't love you?
would you have loved me?

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

the trail home

a cowboy on the mountain ridge
outlined in moonlight
your face in evening shadows
hat low
protecting from the night
cool air
the breeze curling
the lapel on your vest
the dust rising from your chaps
as you spur your horse
heading down the trail
that leads you home

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

frayed

everything changed by the light of day
all of the monsters, held at bay
one more night of sordid dreams
one more day not as it seems

broken thoughts and reverent prayers
wishing for things that were not there
pictures left in broken frames
always losing at your games

never one to pull out stops
just so once, I'd be on top
a pile of hopes now resting frayed
from all of you that slipped away

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

beggars whispered plea

I need to find the place
where understanding doesn't ache
where memories no longer burn
and my soul no longer quakes

no evidence that's left
from my beggars whispered pleas
I dreamed it way too late
no escape from the debris

I still can see his face
his words still burn in me
my heart won't cease from breaking
these barbed wire encased schemes

as I turned the other cheek
I just wasn't quick enough
you'd already turned your back
you'd already called my bluff

as I drink the acrid coffee
and the evening bleeds to light
another day dawns empty
after another sleepless night

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

No Doubts

It’s been quite a while
Since we started down this path
Then I had no doubts
That we could make it last

Seeking without fear
The things that I would need
The things I thought you had
To make this love succeed

The sun hides behind clouds
That’s when the shadows fall
Truth in what was here
Hidden behind your wall

The love that I once glimpsed
A virtual paradise
But dreams will come to end
With the rising of the tide

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

blogger's lament

I wrote about love
I wrote about pain
poured it out
for all to read

I wrote about passion
I wrote about warmth
on moonless nights
when I was cold

I wrote about mountains
I wrote about the sea
the monsoon rain
and lightning storms

I write it all
I write what I feel
in haiku and prose
a blogger's lament

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

tarnished promises

when I left you were sleeping
miles from me in dreams
not knowing I was leaving
how perfect it all seemed

I could feel it getting smaller
this shrinking love affair
pensive in the moments
weighing what was there

tarnished promises
that never were fulfilled
my heart thats needing more
you don't get it still

indecisive minutes
between the bed and door
all the promise slips away
as I walk across the floor

my bags were always packed
I knew this day would come
how many times I tried
you never let me run

how long before you notice
that I'm no longer there
I packed it to take with me
the love that we once shared

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

minutes

when instant gratification
just isn't fast enough
the sun still heats your morning
the full moon calls your bluff
the saguaro has no answers
the nightingale has been snuffed
you call upon me for wisdom
you don't have the right stuff

momma raised you better
but you go off half cocked
leaving all around you
pretty much shell-shocked
you've been running for miles
just not outside of your block
and you are always racing...
racing against the clock

in the end you loved
exactly what you picked
fate is a lonely hunter
consequence makes you sick
you're in way too deep
fog grows white and thick
the second hand keeps running
as the minutes slowly click

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

blink

a touch that was familiar
a virtual paradise
how many ways you've known me
before beginning to think twice

your voice once sang a love song
the music sweet and low
the whispers of suggestion
from not that long ago

looking back and wondering
when did it all go wrong
one minute you were with me
I blinked and you were gone

now you sing a new song
the lyrics much the same
the chords you're playing different
but you sing the same refrain

in the ebony recesses
the shadows of your night
do your thoughts divagate toward me
while she lays by your side

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

earnest

you give it softly
it shines from your eyes
and from your heart
earnest feeling
earnest touch
earnest love

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

color fades

as the color fades
on dreams of yesterday
a painting bleached by sun
realization not begun

no beginnings at the end
dreams you can't transcend
the color starts to run
on what is left undone

slowly slipping from grace
bitter, scorched aftertaste
redemption never comes
from the forgotten one

thought there was more time
'fore clouds blocked the sun's light
canvass smeared, the likeness none
untouched dreams and one left shunned

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

pieces

your fingers cramped
and you ease your grip
just for a second
but it all starts to slip
dripping from your hand
so many grains of sand

as it falls around your boots
pieces of what was true
retrospect spread on the floor
fantasy, out the door
nothing like you planned
too many grains of sand

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

latte

strong espresso starts the mix
diluted with steaming, creamy milk
caramel flavor to sweeten
fluffy foam on top
me, in drink form

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

calling your name

looking at a moonless sky
darkness settling by and by
shivering in the mountain breeze
as I wish on vacant stars

reaching out but you aren't there
sensing your touch in cool night air
searching for you, but you won't be found
calling your name, calling your name

celestial stars now way up high
hollow moon in its disguise
hiding all the love I gave
dying in a cloudy grave

reaching out but you aren't there
sensing your touch in cool night air
searching for you, but you won't be found
calling your name
calling your name

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

heart

we carved a heart
in an old oak tree
just the initials
for you and me
the tree still stands
the heart still there
with love that has grown
through all these
years

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

empty hollow

you reach for the grace
of the shadow you found
a mirage that swallows
the empty hollow
inside your heart

fantasy slips your grasp
as my smile fades away
and the memories left
that hold no regret
inside my heart

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

melancholy wishes

my mind sifts through
these memories of you
the bad and the good
short times that we knew
sometimes happy
most times blue
melancholy wishes
that won't come true
so I pack them away
the lid still askew
finally, turning my back
on my love for you

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

lost

clouds hang low over darkened skies
weather fickle, and full of lies
just when I thought the cold would go
with thunder and lightning, down comes snow

I pull my collar up to my chin
my jacket now is much too thin
gloves are lost, my hands cold
mother nature is much too bold

where is spring, with grass so green
nothing is ever how it seems
frozen now, my heart sinks
others tell me how to think

decisions rest on icy roads
I'm not driving, this I know
where will summer find my heart?
in the light or in this dark

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

broken wings

all thoughts that I could have said
words that now don't mean a thing
under a full moon, cloudless night
with passion it no longer brings

in the cold of winter's sky
that will soon turn into spring
as you move, your back to me 
to a future you think green

all the feelings I once felt
just a bleak one-sided thing
a bird that sits and cannot fly
helpless with her broken  wings

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

tickle me

we lay down to take a nap
you tickle me, make me laugh
tickling leads to other things
pretty soon my spirit sings
we didn't ever go to sleep
but baby, I'm relaxed

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

moonless beach

holding what the twilight brings
sleepless nights, empty dreams
close my eyes, visions creep
passion ebbed on moonless beach

wander, footsteps in smooth sand
head down on deserted strand
listen to the ocean speak
what I hear that leaves me weak

turn around go back to start
left alone with this full heart
no one feels this love I seek
wandering on a moonless beach

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

a long-ago night

I should have confessed it all
the way you made me feel
when you were close

I thought you could read it
I thought you could see it
I thought you felt it too

now that time is gone
I waited much too long
a fantasy in time
the memories that remind
a dream from a long-ago night

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