In My Own Words

It doesn’t really hurt that much

but bells and gongs and people dash,

to help a failing muscle pump,

that has been tortured by neglect.

I do not sit around and mope.

I do not laze upon the beach.

I do not overeat or drink.

I do not smoke or swallow pills.

Why then this weakness in my heart

which beats so slowly and so well.

I stand when others fade or drop,

never the fastest but I’m there.

Still it hurts a dull, dull ache.

Is this real pain or just the thought

that I am mortal and my time

while seeming endless is finite?

David Garlick, Victoria, May 1986

We were close, more than friends, for a while.

Not lovers, too young but I loved you.

So strong, so lithe, so beautiful to watch

cleaving water in dive or languid stroke.

Loved you with look and thought, never words.

Too frightened to speak, afraid to lose you

but we wove our hands and I felt the joy.

Our lips never met except in dreams.

Half a century has fled yet still you touch me.

Our lives, clay thrown on the world’s muddy wheel.

One potter, one clay, one chance to be one,

lost forever except in minds that reach.

Life has been kind, I have my own sweet love.

I have those who hug me and call me Dad.

I have many happy, proud, sad thoughts.

In my heart I keep a small place for you.

David Garlick, Victoria, January 1995

A pink petal fell.

The yielding earth received her.

We will not forget.

David Garlick, Denver, Colorado, April 2001

A Breaking Heart

It doesn’t really hurt that much

but bells and gongs and people dash,

to help a failing muscle pump,

that has been tortured by neglect.

I do not sit around and mope.

I do not laze upon the beach.

I do not overeat or drink.

I do not smoke or swallow pills.

Why then this weakness in my heart

which beats so slowly and so well.

I stand when others fade or drop,

never the fastest but I’m there.

Still it hurts a dull, dull ache.

Is this real pain or just the thought

that I am mortal and my time

while seeming endless is finite?

First love

We were close, more than friends, for a while.

Not lovers, too young but I loved you.

So strong, so lithe, so beautiful to watch

cleaving water in dive or languid stroke.

Loved you with look and thought, never words.

Too frightened to speak, afraid to lose you

but we wove our hands and I felt the joy.

Our lips never met except in dreams.

Half a century has fled yet still you touch me.

Our lives, clay thrown on the world’s muddy wheel.

One potter, one clay, one chance to be one,

lost forever except in minds that reach.

Life has been kind, I have my own sweet love.

I have those who hug me and call me Dad.

I have many happy, proud, sad thoughts.

In my heart I keep a small place for you.

A Blossom Fell

A pink petal fell.

The yielding earth received her.

We will not forget.