I

my poetry
            isn't as good as it once was

it's riddled with age
             the edges wrinkling in corners
the bone frail and weak

I long for the days where
it was once tall and beamed of emotion
                                (the day's I was once proud of it)

II

if two butterflies flap their wings
          does a tsunami happen on the other side of the world?
     or does the butterfly's actions' remain unnoticed

this feeling
           (this anxiety)
   is common throughout history
and yet we never wonder
              are we the butterflies
     or the stomach they reside in?

III
a young
          (well-off) boy
sits in his living room, waiting for his father to arrive home
he sits and he sits, but his mother
                                          (once young and beautiful)
              picks him up and reminds him
                                                       his father is out of town

"I hate this place and I hate you! I just want daddy!"

can you hear the mothers heartbreak?
                                   can you see the tears
                                                        that swell up in her eyes-
                                 that she wipes away in a seconds notice
                        to stop the boy from noticing?

IV

four candle sticks hang together
                       from a church's chandlier

drip
           drop

the candles are lit
                   one by one
      but seeminingly burn down
                                at the same time

the four candles
          live their life together
     watching each other melt down

drip
            drop

     watching the wax
             slowly drip to the floor
      to mix with the ash
               of the burning church

V

five men were given a path
                    to follow if they chose

one was the path of hardship and vigour
                             the life of a farmer
daylight to dusk he broke his back
               to feed his three children
                          and his wife
       (who in the end)
                           left him for another man
      the bank broker down the street

the second was given the path of fame and fortune-
an esteemed movie actor

he lived his life in loneliness
                    a feeling the alcohol
                               and the women could never cover up

the third and fourth were given similar paths

the older of the two joined the military at a young age
                    and spent his first eight years of adulthood across the world

        and came back to the States
                         to be despised and hated
                shamed for his part in the war
           no one saw the point of

the younger brother bore witness
             and sympathised with his brother
and when the time came
and the elder couldn't take it anymore
                  the younger brother took his life
                                      and held it in his hands
                   and crushed it upon request

the final brother was given the path of a Poet

his life was filled with sadness, emptiness, and despair
               (but instead of taking it from himself)
     he would write in his notebook
                 and describe each scene as if it were a movie
      and when the time came
                 he gave his notebook to his own children
        and greeted death as an old friend
                      whom he'd described many times
(almost accurately)