Poetry + Prose by Hayden Winston
Two steps forward, one step back
paths divide like cells
all we sinners dressed in black
ringing mourning bells
stayed for a minute, in the
soft glow of the light
poised yet full of yearning
passion about you, hot and bright
desires disconcerting
We were two, then one, then two again,
as if we never even started
but that’s the flow of life
here one day, the next – departed.
can’t see straight,
too many li(n)es to make anything into solid shapes,
eyes wide, head no longer filled with ache,
heart dancing, mind awake,
every nerve unsettled, watching every wall break,
when sleep finally calls
take me and let it
all
fall
away.
Tea cooling next to love letters on the window sill,
dreams real yet surreal, almost tangible.
Sea and mountains in your lungs,
memories, monuments to beloved moments past.
Lessons sewn into your very marrow,
tangled up with the movements of your unconscious mind.
Breathing in every millisecond,
each precious opportunity for growth and death.
Growth and death, an endless cycle,
swirling in your teacup, like leaves
in the autumn breeze.
It all dissolves like ice cubes at the bottom of a scotch,
Moments, people, places wash from memory with enough time,
The sad and painful past you can’t quite understand –
What drives someone to lose their humanity,
Is it in us all, or is it some sick anomaly?
You’ll never really know, nor is it necessary that you do.
Through agony shines in a blaring light,
The past feeds the present,
And at present you are strong and whole.
Forgive where you can and go on,
Brave as you flow along, steady in the path you chose.
I see how you see me,
Waves of passion crashing into titan steel,
Yet dancing, laughing, spilling some quick witted remark –
Perilous, adventurous, hypocritical, mythical,
Saturated in naïveté.
I see how you see me,
And I am and have been all of those things,
But always changing, growing at the same time.
sealed in ink 