Unknown's avatar

Burning Dreams

today I burned our dreams

all the visions
all the goals
all those plans we’d made together

I placed them on a funeral pyre
lit them up
watched them melt in flames
felt them float away in smoke

let them go

and I smiled

remembering

we lived those dreams

we walked hand in hand
in the heart of God

tio stib

Unknown's avatar

All the Lovely People


the grocery clerk who
bags my things
the coffee man
who sometimes sings
postman, gardener, neighbors too
greeting me with

how are you?

all the lovely people
who lift me on my way
their nods, their smiles, their greetings
that brighten up each day

and as I lay my head to rest
my heart full, I must confess

my simple life

is richly blessed


tio stib



Unknown's avatar

Insomnia

there are moments when
I dream in peace
a mind released to roam
then others when
the clock grinds on
and night becomes a tomb

I lay now in eternal night
awaiting mindless deep
a craving need to somehow get
a decent hour’s sleep

tio stib
2015, 2018, 2025

Unknown's avatar

Flavors of Friends

Some are vanilla,
predictably plain
Dependably true
always the same

Some are exotic
quixotic
sherbets with fireworks lives
occasionally glancing
to check others’ eyes

then the specials
like bubblegum treat
wildly different
sumptuous sweets

Yes, chocolate, strawberry,
and rocky road too
friends of all flavors
some licked and
some chewed

like ice cream
I taste them
each one of a kind
then off on their way
they melt in my mind

Yet over the years
a few friends remain
these flavors I savor

again
and again

tio stib,
2014, 2016, 2018, 2025

Unknown's avatar

Hotel Hypothermia

it was a trip mistaken
for a family vacation
a time so cold
my bones grew old
bundled up in layers of clothes
all that showed, my bright red nose
even when I went to bed
I never shed a single thread
I wonder how eskimos have sex
queried my now recent ex

pounds of fat fell off of me
as I shivered constantly
take a shower?
I think not
in water that was icy hot

and when at night I had to pee
a new resolve came over me
as toes touched the icy floor
I hurtled towards the bathroom door
and in a fit of urgency
dropped my shorts
but woe to me
the thing that used to flow so free
had shrunk down to
a tiny pea

and so it went from day to night
with not a hint of warmth in sight
until we had to say goodbye
a moment when I nearly cried
afflicted now with freezer phobia
I bid adieu,

God Bless

Hotel Hypothermia

tio stib

Unknown's avatar

Come Out, Come Play

Come Out, Come Play

cold
naked
hard
it shrieks
piercing down the empty streets
the wind [thrashes every door

you can hide from death no more

the restless souls stir in their beds
haunted by an ancient dread
the walls cannot keep out the fear
the truth that fate is always near

far beyond where wrong knows right
the sun peeks past the edge of night
and streaking ‘cross the stage of day
light calls to life

come out
come play

tio stib
2015, 2025

Unknown's avatar

Sometimes They Smile

Why
I ask my soul
why Push on today
why climb through clouds of loneliness
why come out to play

why toil for summits never reached
why love when death will win
why hope when failure blocks the road
when dreams are crushed again

Why stand tall
With vibrant voice
to live all I can be

Because

Sometimes the gods look down

Sometimes they smile on me

tio stib

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Unknown's avatar

Be Still and Know

Be Still and Know

a day veiled in mystery
a mind that can’t see sky
empty
lost

just loneliness
just me
just I

but as I hear my trembling heart
craving love’s sweet warmth
a whispered thought from long ago

be still

be still and know

tio stib