Three poems by Edward L. Canavan

[WMBURROUGHS@aol.com]

at peace for good


this time
the difference
is minimal,
the results
are the same

    i loved in my dreams last night
    and woke up dead again

the touch of love
from a close stranger
sent the day into
a tailspin
from minute one

    i held someone
    in my mind last night
    and woke up
    next to nothing again


the same stranger
i have not known
for years
crept beneath the covers
and set down beside me

    i caressed someone
    in my sleep last night
    who seemed to
    know me better
    than the love i've known

she knew
where i was going
and she met me there
with a sunshine smile

and i woke up

and walked away.

A Way of Dying


it all has a way of dying

the truest love
the finest hours

all slow
and right before
our very eyes

it all has a way
of keeping secrets
until the final breath

cloaked in shadow
but still
right before our
very eyes

it all has a way of denying
what we are and what our
presence means

and the easily fooled will follow
for lack of a better way
to no one's surprise

and the rest will go on
as they always have
unaffected, unforgiven,
and uncontrolled.

all together


from the corners of my eyes
to dead center,

it's all in plain sight
and painfully clear.

lovers and the lonely
side by side by side.

the welcome and the uninvited,

beauty and atrocity.

it is not enough
to want and need
and strive and suffer,

you need luck and timing
and patience and countless other
ghosts of chance,

as dreams wreak havoc
and the truth does its damage.

somehow stumbling on
deep into a new obsession
oblivious to the ruins of
the last.

still with wet wounds
and bleary eyes,

limping like
a whipped dog
cautious of strangers
and kindness.

reaching for the love
that drifts further
with every grasp.

trying and failing,

not trying
and still failing,

trying harder
and failing even worse,

but learning

that there is always
enough blood
to bleed a little
more.

Poems © 2000 Edward L. Canavan, all rights reserved
 appear here by permission

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