Dirty Shoes

Dirty shoes

With worn out souls

Old books

With torn pages

And bent spines 

Old songs

That sound more

Real

A goofy mug

A good friends hug

A blank canvas

A fat ass

An empty classroom in the middle of summer 

The teacher on a vacation in Europe with her daughter

As the kids spend their summer outside playing tag

It’s quiet now

But the chaos is coming into this room soon

A different country

A new language 

A whole new world

A whole new girl

Finding new words

To describe new things

Forming new conceptions 

Learning more of life's lessons

Receiving more of life’s blessings 

An empty car on the side of the street . . .

A stray dog wandering around in the heat . . .

A newborn baby with a cough . . .

A young man in his twenties feeling lost . . .

A first kiss

A first birthday 

A first verse

A new birth

A new road

Every day

A little more old

Stuck in the same patterns

Stuck in the same place

Seeing life as a race

And the ego wants you to win

The shadow wants you to sin

And the artist sheds light on the darkness within 

The fighter whispers at you

To keep living

While God whispers to you

Telling you to keep forgiving 

Dreams of being Spider-man

Keep him up at night

Another cigarette 

Another missed moment

Another regret 

Another chance

But he stays on the same path

We gave him freedom

And now he watches more shitty shows

And he spends more nights with random ladies without his clothes

And now he smokes more weed

But he desperately wanted to be free so he could pursue his dreams . . .

Free to take naps in the afternoon 

So he can continue to dream about being a hero 

Maybe a spider will bite him soon

Maybe he’ll leave his room

Maybe he’ll climb walls

And swing from buildings 

Maybe he’ll inspire hope

And push down his demons 

Maybe he’ll give his life meaning 

CH 8/17/24