[Poetry Warp] January 1, 1997 - William Cries

William Cries

and in the beginning
i can't ease your pain -
love dies by its own hand.
you say i cannot
know
i don't.
but between the stripper,
a friend of mine who
walks home to the early
morning moon
and the ghost who
sits on the edge of your
bed when you're hurting,
maybe the smile of a girl
you once loved in the
fluorescent lights of a
parking lot --
i have a lot to offer
you,
once the novelty of coincidental love
wears down.
William cries.
and in the beginning, i can't ease your
pain
handing you responsibility
for a name that breathes
so softly ... harder now, louder

i was never there when
you answered silence to
thirteen messages from
the dying girl,
i changed my mind.

no one knows
but the shadow of a dying man.
William cries
don't die unless you must.

but if you must,
in the beginning
you forget to breathe
to the disgust of the
ghost who sits on the edge
of your bed
glowing from fluorescent
lights.

01-o1-97
reg

----
Haven't the faintest who 'reg' was. This was my freshman year of undergrad.