Sparkle's Strange Stanzas

Strange sighs in the night.
Shadows creep like silent wolves
As the darkness grins.

You were mercurial
Elusive
Volatile
Ephemeral
And beautifully destructive
Like an exploding star
Or the waving silken strands
Of a torn spider web.
“We’re so pointless,
All of us.”
You would say,
Flicking you cigarette butt at me,
Laughing when I wrinkled my nose at it.
“We study hard
To get good jobs
To send our kids to school
So they can study hard
And get good jobs
And send their kids to school
All for the continuation
Of our great species.
The human race.”
You laughed again,
Your rings clinking on your fingers
As you pushed bleached hair out of your eyes.
You would talk
And I would listen
As I sorted pebbles into piles
By color
Or shape
Or size;
I liked things organized, in their place.
Making sense.
I told you once
That you didn’t make much sense.
You laughed,
You always laughed,
And said
“Sweetie, when I close my eyes
I see the universe.”
I looked at you
With your eyes closed
Seeing the universe
And went back to sorting pebbles.

We run barefoot through the grass
Avoiding the sparks from the fire that glows
Yellow and orange in the night sky
Tagging and tackling
Beating tattoos on dead branches
And howling at the night
Barbaric and savage
And exuberantly happy
Chasing each other in breathless circles
Tripping over worn, discarded Converse
And mocking the stars with our brilliance.

What do you see when you look at the sky?
I see stars being born and dying
And worlds being created out of
Ashes of old ones,
Ancient things that have seen
All the ages of this universe
A magical cacophony of chance
And wonder that never ceases
To amaze me,
As again and again I look up
As I change
As my world changes around me
And the stars continue their endless dance
That echoes into eternity.

I went out for a morning run
Trying to stay in shape
To enjoy myself
Searching for a little bliss
On a cool daybreak (the grey clouds
should have warned me)
When anything seemed possible
But I tripped
Over a rock in my path
Just a small rock (the size
of rats and broken promises
and unexpected disappointments)
But I tripped anyway (my feet
Stumbling, my knees hitting concrete)
I got back up
And kept going (my feet beating an
uneven rhythm on the ground)
But I fell again (and again and
again and again, so it seemed)
And my blood was ink on the
White parchment sidewalk
And finally I just couldn't get up
Again (and the sun came out
Bright and cheerful
To mock my bloody failure)

I couldn’t finish
But at least I can say that
I really did try.