He & Them

He told how his name

expressed himself in seven letters

but how eventually

the cycle of life always wins

in one form or another

He told them

how warmth and cold

are alike

but how they just hurt

a little differently -

how we chase Goldilocks realms

and hearts that won’t let us in

He taught them the great divide

of human life:

the difference between

what we think we should be,

what we want to be,

and how their boundaries are blurry

to our fading eyes

He taught them what crooked smiles

said with numb lips and chapped skin

But also what he meant

when he said he wanted to die

That nobody chooses death -

just a peaceful existence

that doesn’t involve having to exist at all

He said that good men only have rest

in the results of their actions,

then wrote about his sleepless nights

Ones he believed were well-deserved

but that he knew they weren’t

He told them how he really felt

with tear-stained ink scribbles

and the last signature he ever wrote

One slightly tilted with the first letter

neater

than the last