lamentations of the heart 

if you were someone

other than you

i might tell you everything

then again i've 

locked myself so tightly inside myself

not quite sure how to unlock

me,

and maybe if i were anyone

but me you would love me as i love

you;

it's all so confusing

never felt this way for anyone i've never

met before

there's a first for everything

can't really say i like it but it's there

all these emotions i can't control—

how did i get caught up in this mess i usually

avoid such strangeness?

i knew i was damned the moment i looked into

those beautiful dark eyes,

but i couldn't stop gazing into those infinite

depths and wonder if you knew

all the secrets of me;

if perhaps i understood you without knowing—

the heart doesn't make sense to me

sometimes i just want to cut it out and restart but 

i think every heart i had would fall for

you.

- linda m. crate 

 

locked myself away 

i don't recommend leaving it all

behind for a boy

who claims to be a man

you'll come home to find your bedroom door

wide open and the windows full of rain

your father will resent you when you return home,

and your mother will watch you critically

the only person that seems happy to see you is your

younger sister who has missed you,

and the family dog;

not the mention the state of your heart

you are scorched, burned, and aching and still they

will not relent in their expectations of you

as if they do not wish for you to be happy again—

you'll deplete your bank account trying

to buy him gifts so he won't forget you but he'll forget

you anyway after telling you that you

were unforgettable,

and so i said adios to my heart;

locked myself so deep down inside i don't think anyone

could possibly know or find me but me

the moon spent so much time sewing me together that it

seems rude to make all her efforts for naught so

i stand in the shadows waiting for my chance

to shine like a star,

but maybe the universe is telling me

to take the stage;

but i don't know how i am meant to dance through life

no one ever taught me and there's no right path

or way for everyone

just a bunch of opinions and nagging ideals from others

who are either trying to lift you up or drag you down.

- linda m. crate 

 

i'll take nature over people, any day 

wish i could 

lose myself in the heartbeat of a river

forget humanity for a while

all so clawing and needy as if they'd die

without your attention,

and i'm so sick of all the noise that signifies

nothing like an angry, wailing wind;

i've always been quiet

would rather be mistaken for a fool than open

my mouth and remove all doubt—

i don't know half as much as i should,

but i do know more than them;

and it terrifies me for the future generations because

if this is how idiotic and psychotic

people will become,

i'll gladly be a hermit because compassion is far

too rare for my tastes and true empathy

seems null and void—

i always fit awkwardly into parties

like the forgotten arm chair and i want nothing more to

melt into the walls or drip into the floors

until nothing is left behind 

but a whisper of my name, but i think sometimes

the intrigue of my mysterious nature only prompts them to

chase after me all the more;

sometimes you just can't win—

i just want to lay on river stones once more

lulled by the comfort of rushing waters devoid of humanity

clawing at me for something insipid i did not wish 

to do, anyway, all for the sake of trying to

be kind to people who don't appreciate me for my true worth.

- linda m. crate  

 

open our hearts 

if we'd open our hearts

instead of our mouths then maybe

we would be more tactful

flow elegantly like

a river instead of a rampaging bull,

maybe if we remembered

kindness to the earth we'd remember to

be kind to one another;

i am mercurial as the moon as i watch people

sometimes in awe sometimes in such an

agitated i could wage my own war—

maybe if we cared

the world would be such a different place

because apathy, indifference, and cynicism 

confused with criticism seems to

shockingly enough not help us into anything

other than rifts and darkness;

i just want to open my eyes one morning,

and be proud of the world i live in

instead of opening them and wondering who the

news is telling me to hate today or what

horrid thing has happened to another human being—

if we could forget money just for a moment

recognize that it doesn't have worth without people

maybe we'd realize we should treat people with

respect and love instead of the things we buy.

- linda m. crate 

 

the lonely moon 

i stare enviously at the moon

wish all i had to do was borrow my

lover's light

so i could shine bright enough

to stain the world

in my silver light,

and have no other care in the world other

than to govern the ocean waves;

oh, what i wouldn't give

to always be able to hang limitless in the sky

an image for people to stare at and love—

then i realize she's probably 

lonely by herself

there is no other moon to comfort her and the

stars cannot compare to her sun star lover,

and so i stopped envying the moon;

i stopped to appreciate all the beauty of humanity

there are flaws and scars and limitations,

certainly, but if were timeless and limitless if we could

all defy gravity i think the world be wrecked

for more ruin than she could permit—

yet as flawed and scarred as we all are dealing with our

own demons and personal hells there's still a

feeling of empathy and compassion

even if we're told to ignore it,

but i never could turn the other eye when i saw another

suffering and i never will;

unlike the moon i can move as i will do not have to 

sit suspended in the sky alone.