// you say you want to be alone //

via pinterest

you say you want to be alone.

but i watch you
and i've seen your sad eyes watching others

and i think you don't want to be alone at all

you've just convinced yourself you should be.

after all it is easiest
not quite so frightening

but then if a lifetime alone
all alone
isn't scary
i don't know what is

you're not so very old you know
and you should believe the mirror that tells you you're pretty still

i saw you the other day
when that gentleman walked by you on the street
he looked at you and smiled
and your cheeks flamed just like roses
and you smiled back

you really are pretty

we girls all think so.
you have no idea
we all look at you when you go by
in your pretty plain dress
and secretly wish we were faded and mysterious
and sad
just for a day, to try it out

folks say we young are fools
in love, in life
but the old are fools too
in love and in life

for they often let them drift by
to show us how much better it would be to be wise

but is it more foolish to make a mistake
or to prudently shake your head
or just to pick a nosegay because

flowers are young too
and they share our knowledge
that your beauty doesn't have to die when color does

open your window
open your door
take a step outside
look across the street to the park

did you play here too?
i wonder.
the roses are blooming in the city garden
walk a little farther
take a look.

the gentleman from the other day is here too.
he walks here often.
he does love roses.

they have a scent and warmth
he misses in the office sounds
and drab colors
of his paper world.

does he want to be alone?

or did he, maybe, come walking
looking for those roses again
like you came looking for
a paper poem.

we are all fools
in love, in life
old and young

but there are times when
the greatest wisdom is
 what some call folly,
and the truly wise know is
anything but.

xxx i think i write more to excavate my own psyche more than anything else. oh well. if you like the diggings well enough to read them maybe you can forge them into some sort of shovel to help dig you out too. or just enjoy them for face value since maybe that's all they really are. who knows. xxx