Ashes In Her Eyes

I have a friend 

who told me he finally found 

true love, 

but then he lost her. 

I have a friend 

who told me that she finally got her dream job, 

but she hates her boss 

and wants to quit. 

I have a friend 

who moved across the country, 

but when he got there, 

he missed the mountains. 

I have a friend 

who didn’t know how to keep living 

after running a 100 mile race. 

He constantly needs a dream to chase.

I have a friend 

who always tries to rush 

to the end,

never enjoying the present. 

And I have a friend 

who is never happy 

wherever she is

because she thinks there’s always a better place to be.

She lives in a self-inflected spiraling of anxiety.

I know a guy 

who spends all of his free time 

getting high

so he can elegantly avoid

the thoughts and feelings

that constantly runs through his mind.

And I know a lady 

who finally found true love, 

but then she pushed him away, 

and he moved back across the country. 

Now she is stuck 

in black and white relationship.

She uses a spoon to shovel 

the water out of their sinking ship,

all while missing the man she wouldn't fight for.

I know a kid 

who believed he could become anything, 

just for him to get older 

and see the strings attached to his shoulders. 

And I know of a myth

about a man pushing a boulder

up a mountain 

for eternity;

and I know a philosopher 

who suggested we must imagine that man as happy.

I know a man 

who heard that myth 

and thought it meant 

we had to find joy in our suffering.

So he suffered. 

And I have a friend

who tried to fly

with wax wings

He smiled 

as he fell 

down to hell.

And I know 

a canary who sings

only after everyone 

in the mines 

has died 

I know of a fighter 

who is learning 

how to love.

And I know of a writer

who is learning 

how to fight.

And I know a man 

who wants to believe 

everything will be alright

despite

everything crumbling around him. 

Ashes fall from the sky like snow.

CH 1/21/26