Poem: The Child and I

You and I are standing here
on the brink of all this emptiness.
You reach for my hand,
staring blank eyed, and expressionless into space
you ask me how I love so much
I tell you it is for the sinners
it is for those who just don’t know
the love can cure all the guilt they’ve created
I tell you I love because they don’t
because they wont
you look at me now and with those eyes
so big and wanting and itching for
the kind of knowledge a book cant give
you ask me how I give so much
I tell you its for the selfish
its for those who don’t know anything but taking
so I have to give for them
to keep a sort of proper balance amongst things
and because there’s just so much I can offer
and with that you smile
and I can tell you are amused by this
as much by my answers as by your questions
and you will continue to try to stump me
you tell me when I hate its with such passion
I tell you when I love it is the same
because without passion there is no conviction
and if Im going to test the waters
I might as well just dive right in
-but why are you so grounded
-because the birds have flight
because there are all those people
with heads so light they just don’t know
I keep mine too heavy to hold
because then I can compensate failure with thought
-and why are you so free?
-because its my only right
because I can only enjoy the sunlight
and the rain if I am free enough to love them
for the simplicity of their splendor
and not be prone to thinking it is too hot or too wet
-and how are you always so right?
-im not, we just think along the same lines
and Im just a little better at voicing the things you think
and compared to the all the wrong in the world
what I say just seems correct
but it has always been there to be spoken on
I just picked up the conversation where perception left off
-and how are you so beautiful?
I am only as beautiful as you want me to be
to some I am a threat
I’m the monster under their bed
I’m that nightmare you just cant wake up from
-but you are not
-not to you