Background Noise

I took the girls to dances,

Partied hard with the hometown boys…

Just wanting to be accepted,

Was the entire background noise.

I sacrificed few principles,

Though business was push and shove;

Adopting other's values,

The background noise was finding love.

A free spirit in workforce bondage,

I was set free by the Salish Sea…

Alive on the "Isle of Beauty",

The background noise was all about me.

Now these are the days of days…

Tides and sunsets pull out and down.

Gravity forces dictate change;

Time forgets, and a life’s unwound.

I miss my friends no longer here;

My dogs… how I miss those boys.

Though all of my memories are happy,

Grief is the background noise.

Last Survivor

Alone in the last original house,

Near the church without a steeple…

I am the last survivor,

On the cliff of the wind people.

The neighbors have been dying off;

We’re a ghost town on the Salish Sea…

The orchards are falling in the wind,

I‘m the last apple on the tree.

New neighbors won’t relive our lives,

They leave when the winds begin…

Returning from California,

To the cliff, when all’s calm again.

Relatinship Sacrifices

The day we chose to be roommates,

I had to stop wearing black.

You were often way too possessive,

But there was no looking back.

I lost my favorite side of the bed,

You took over my comfortable chair…

At times, it was hard to breathe freely,

Without inhaling your hair.

I was your slave in the kitchen.

You impatiently counted to ten…

Waiting for me to shop for you,

And yet, I’d do it all over again.

Almost Rubber Chickens

As youth, we were flamboyant,

Emitting auras of sexy colors…

Slaves to nature, we were peacocks,

Living only to attract others.

Years later we crossed paths again,

Shocked at how we’ve weathered…

Not only were our memories false,

We’re both molted, and so un-feathered.

Tumbling Towards Terminal

Diving in irrigation ditches,

Our sport’s vehicle?  Gravity…

Falling in rivers, warm pools and lakes,

Graceful cliff dives into the sea…

We seem to enjoy the pull of nature

Drawing us ever closer to earth…

Until we discover when older,

We’ve tumbled farther away since birth.