Unknown

Wretched life had laid me down
    on grass not yet bent


only to pierce my skin
    and leave me spent
        of spirit and blood


for all of history and
    cunning to forgive


would not do for all
    the time not sent


into heaven or out of hell
    for those not seen but
        only heard of


love lost and 
    souls forgotten


r.p.leith
date not known

They Figured

They figured
      well...
we have until
      the candle burns out.


The cigar burned
    as it sat
for not being touched.


Twin engines 
    roared
on the lonely highway


Single hearts
     beat
faster than 
     they should.


Kick me again
   maybe then
I'll feel as though
   I am really alive.


The cars floated into dismal space
    the hearts stopped beating
      the kicks landed, thump, thump.

r.p.leith

I Know You've Been

i know you've been
to places I've never
been
but I can safely
say
your heart of steel
will break some day
when the time came
for you and i
both
to move on
i"ll know in your
mind
your heart of steel
has been wrong.

r.p.leith

Even as I sit

even as I sit
I can feel
the clouds move
overhead
I can feel the
   wind blowing
them south
across the fields
the snow is coming
with the clouds
and the wind
even as I sit
I can feel
the whole world
moving
without me.

r.p.leith
10/88