January 21, 2002
Creative Writing
Sit down with me
At this corner table
With the tattered chairs
And torn tablecloth.
You can see her clearly from here.
Do you see that girl?
Yea, the one that can’t sit still,
That never shuts up.
The one that flitters and floats around
As if she’s never seen a bad day.
Well, she wasn’t always so silly, so blindly happy.
There was a short spell of time
When her pain was slapped across her face,
When everyone could tell, but no one could explain,
When no one really wanted to know why,
When no one would bother to ask.
That girl was once a stranger to me
And that stranger stood before me one day.
I fear I’ll never be able to erase those eyes
That stared steadily into mine.
Those dark, deadened eyes and that furrowed brow,
There was no small trace of a smile
at the corner of the lips, but
reddened eyes and a wetness on the cold cheeks.
But nothing from those empty eyes
They say you used to be exciting
With a tinkling laugh and twinkling eyes
Flushed cheeks from the fusion of your spirit and joy
That pulsed through your thick veins
A fire within, a light that shone from
The ends of your hair and the tips of your nails
Now you’re just a bore, with those empty eyes.
Those vast dark specs are so hollow now
You’re crying again, can’t you sob quietly?
Is the pain too deep to put into words?
Is that why we hear you wail?
The pale and gaunt sides to your face frighten me
And those blue cracked folds have been opening only to
Draw in haggard breaths of an absent life.
Hey stranger, come now
Isn’t it a comfort to see a smiling face?
I know you can’t hold those lips so tightly
as you hear me laugh.
Life hasn’t shut you out for good.
I understand
You’ll never be who you were,
But you’re so much more than this.
The stranger drew near.
Those dark marbles focused intently
Seeking a sign of hope in the pool of light
That glimmered in the clear glass.
Palm to palm we met
and dry blue lips mustered an uncertain smile
as if the muscles were taking an apprehensive first step.
Eye to eye, now, a glimmer of light passed
And my rosy cheeks pressed
against the cold, pallid flatness.
And as tiny specks of reds and
purples and pinks infused the flesh,
There was a steady, soft release of a sigh
the whisper of a life returned.
Hey stranger, I’ll bet everyone tells you
You have beautiful brown eyes.
And then I smiled
And I had to agree.