Ageing Player

A flat green box upon the runner comes,
where studded holes absorb the thinning air.
With every huff and puff his last breath is near,
just one more brush with yester-year.

A rolling ball for which his work is done,
his ailing soul contorts to flare.
With every push and shove his goal is clear,
just one more step to hear those cheers.

A wide-open net beckons his shots to come,
as broken dreams appease his distant stare.
With every grunt and grind the pitch is fully aware,
the premise for mending his ageing fears.

A whistle blows to stop the running ones,
where bodies rage against time as they dare.
With every dribble and every pass, so close and yet so far.
Like tomorrow’s noon, now the playing field is bare.

Content Alone

As I bed down this year, I can see the streaming air embrace my future. There is fog in the comprehension of my dreams, pause with my action. I look back…there are people…and there is me. To many it is hard to understand; some of us are content alone. We want to mold those among us…yet we do not want to be molded. Our Presence is sometimes just that…a smear in the cool air of winter…a breath waiting to be confirmed.

My resilience will bear the downfall of tomorrow’s hope. I will be waiting another day to relinquish my faculties. There will not be any discussions of my failures, nor celebrations of my successes. It is just another year, alone. I can make a deal with myself to find another, but it’s not always in the hand. I can spend another year making excuses and forgiving myself, or I can run through the day leaving my sorrows behind.

Sleep

Yet again he lays his head upon the definitive pillow before him…not for sleep…yet. He’s waiting until the dusk takes hold of yesterday and folds into the deep, glow within the sky. Again, he innocently presumes the night will end as the laughing moon disparages its own rise…coaxing him back into the darkness. His slumber immediately intensifies…inviting REM into the stark reality he has awakened from within. His eyes open as the sun returns without invitation. Notoriously, the shine gate-crashes his mind ending his dream and the dark for now. His consciousness has become alarmed to the beeping sounds until yet again, it is time to sleep.