Paper

Her words come to me
And I fall in love with her longing, her hope
She dances like an angel on her paper
While her feet stand still before us
She hides in her hope
Hidden by the light inside
And shines like the secrets in her poetry’s lines
You lie and say you’ve never loved
As you walk through life like no other
The love of innocence, the blood of poets
That innocence those who surround you have lost
That same loss that falls and fades
And kills the innocence left, that of the longing
Love and long for love
Until if ever it’s lost
Then remember these lines
And surpass these souls
Truly unable to realize the cost

ⓒ 2004 Shawn Michael Quinn

This Moment Break

I let this moment break

Like the news of her passing

And I feel numb

I attempt to fix nothing

That is not the way of things

So they say

When spirit gestures, follow

Do not interfere

As they speak of freedom

But who am I to question

To never fade is to lie

This again is not the way of things

All things burn bright

But eventually fade and die

Every cycle, ever season

Every soul, every sun

Every dream, every love

Every sight of the heavens above

To know and to have loved

To burn and to have drowned

We sink into its black secrets

Of nothingness

Without memory of pasts or futures

Dreams or hopes

Fears or faiths

This all comes down to our choices

To love or to give up

To have faith or to fear

To be human or be dead

I choose life

I choose to love

ⓒ 2004 Shawn Michael Quinn

Born To Expire

In this child’s eyes

I see innocence, beauty

And know its course too

Will lead to casualty

We’re born to expire

Not to escape

We come here for a moment

Enveloped by fate

No way to remember

What came before

Or what will follow

Unsure, insecure, obscure

She smiles, laughs, plays and cries

Unknowing of the reasons why

She’ll disappear like me in time

Somehow I have to believe

It all makes some kind of sense

Even if I wasn’t meant

To understand

ⓒ 2004 Shawn Michael Quinn

Were It Not For

These first moments finally free

In more ways like the sea

While little haunts me these days

I sit embracing manifestations

Of a life I once saw that’s arrived today

Voices in our heads we’re unable to escape

Kissing the foreheads of would be mistakes

There is nothing to fear

This, the voice I hear

My angels, my demons, life’s contradictions

And of course… endless hope

Were it not for hope

Truly, I would be free

But I can embrace it

It’s me

ⓒ 2004 Shawn Michael Quinn