We never think it is us
Who will struggle to rise
Overestimation
Our shared sin
Those of us who know
Extend our hands
To the fallen
As if
They were
Us
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
We never think it is us
Who will struggle to rise
Overestimation
Our shared sin
Those of us who know
Extend our hands
To the fallen
As if
They were
Us
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
Some know what it is like
To let go and fade away
Sometimes for months
Sometimes for years
It is quiet in the dark
Beyond all expectations
Beyond any criticisms
Where hope is absent
And has been surrendered
On occasion
There is an emergence
An awakening
A shudder
A thought
Where did that time go?
Is it too late?
It doesn’t matter at that moment
Where you find yourself
The clock has started again
The sky is clear above
All you can do is move
With purpose without expectation
There was no shattering
No pieces to put together
It was just a slow fade
Now
Engage and exist
It will sometimes be hard
It will sometimes not be worthwhile
It will hurt
It will be better
Than alone in the dark
The world was not made greater
By your absence
It might be
By your return
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
It happened
And haunts
Put it to paper
One word
Then another
The raw churn
Ever moving
Becomes abstract
And still
On the page
When it is released
It is shared
Among us
And what was
Once yours alone
To carry
Is divided
Between many
We shall lock arms
And walk from the place
Together
That you could not leave
Alone
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
Sometimes the words come easy
The thoughts run free
But the rain is falling cold
The sky is mean and dark
There are sad times to the north
And I got nothing to say
Sometimes the glass is shattered
The precious is no more
But the air will grow dry with comfort
The sky will be clear and bright
The healing will be slow
And I’ll have something to say
Gene G. McLaughlin 2012