what now do we create

these paths of thought and toil so neat

were I a betting woman I'd say

that thinking and saying does not make it so

when we lie through omission or lie through good intention

or when we lie with our thoughts and our hearts go unmentioned

we cannot help but live smaller than 

live more craven than

if we flew stronger higher and longer

and when confronted chose the path that was harder

perhaps then we would know a greater plain

certainly a greater pain

but perhaps with it a new kind of sane

that was sweeter and cleaner and fuller

were we but colored birds singing and wending our many stroked and tenuous ways through fruit and overwrought branches

perhaps the way would be clear and the branches unthorny

but in the decisions that face us each day

we wend down a way that

can turn quite stormy

so save up, brave up, listen up

inside your chest you'll find a beat that may sound corny

or sweet or strange or brave

but listening you'll be better off

than muffling it in a silent cave

as rain sluices down the fruits and candies and fire may rain down from above

know what needs you have

bet on them, and you may even find love

a bright touch fades over time

a wrench in your chest that bled so beautifully once

listen to the song that reminds you and

almost gone, barely a whiff 

it still tickles, sweet ache

sweet, how we forget pain

lying nostalgia

where to for

and where no more

went silly i through tomorrow's grove

picking snacking and flicking at what could be's and might be's and should be's

until Now bees buzzed angrily all up my sleeves

no longer laughing arguing or baffling at tomorrow

i hiked up my skirts and fled today

wound up in yesterday, boots scuffed and brow furrowed

wondering how to get back to forward

then to now and from there to--

but how?

ever reach to turn the music on?

to realize it already is

reality tap-tapping against the glass of your perfectly set

distractedness

yawn your ears, blink the sleep away

tap-tap-tap and suddenly Now hits full blast

Mute turned off and you're back again

only to wonder whether another now will tap 

are there more? do nows keep coming?

or was Mute the reality all along?