WINDOWS

look...

look close, my gaze
the whine of what endures...
can you not see the toil of my father -
the glint of my mother's care?
do the joys of childhood and the
ache of young loves, lost
not shimmer in those depths?

look, yet, my eyes
beyond the white and absinthe
plunge those oily, breathless blacks...
a brand dances there, yet
flickering for the dreams not realized
the lone, weary heart unwanted
and the songs...
unsung.

© Gregory Richard Barden 2019

MY DARLING BOY

oh...

have you seen my darling boy
blond hair, like corn silk, falling?
lost, his sparkling absinthe eyes
but still, my heart keeps calling

I thought I saw him run away
with a young girl, hand-in-hand
swallowed by the ocean mist
their footprints in the sand

Oh, have you seen my darling boy
with a smile broad and bright?
seems he went a-wandering
in a full moon, late one night

while captured by his fancies
he's inclined to court a whim
so counting evening fireflies
would be grave concern for him

oh, have you seen my darling boy
with dreams and hopes anew?
he holds the mind to conquer
a kingdom, grand...or two

and yet he'd rather spin you
tall tales that make you smile
wise anecdotes, adventurous
to charm you and beguile

oh, have you seen my darling boy
replete with loves and life?
he's apt to wink or tease you
suffused with virtue, rife

he's endeared to melancholy
yet he masks it with a laugh
his child's heart aches for others
but breaks on their behalf

oh, have you seen my darling boy?
he sings an impassioned tune
of swirling maelstroms, seas and suns
and the faces of the moon

He's oft' to feign a scoundrel
though he's chivalrous and kind
and loves to search a sunken heart
for the treasure he may find

Oh, have you seen my darling boy?
no - I doubt you ever will
as I call to him across the years
but the air is hushed and still.

so, tho' I've chased him, wide and far
I'm quite sure I'll never see
his corn silk hair and absinthe eyes
for that darling boy...

was me. © Gregory Richard Barden 2018