Say it with a heavy heart;
a petal fell to the ground.

Her smile was broad,
her eyes stared wide,
her heart was quick and clean.

I could not wait.
I turned to flee,
and left a rose to die.

The wise ones wait,
but fools make haste
and follow the unlucky
to ruin.

I went out with
the wrong overcoat
and came back in
half-naked. Alone.

A cold wind blew
and I recovered
my sanity and
a wick of flame.

The strangest thing had happened when
I drove home last night from work,

I'd stopped for drinks, at a place called "Pink's";
the barkeep was kind of a jerk.

I was having a slightly "off" night
but possessed enough of my charms,

heart on my sleeve, but when I did leave;
I had a woman on both of my arms.

When I woke up in the morning
and the room just reeked of sex;

I now realize, and saw with both my eyes
I had remarried my obese "ex"!

After many years of roamin'
coast to coast and deepest south
this is the land I make my home in
at the Twelve Mile river's mouth

In sight of eastern great divide
where highest ridges look near blue
here in the foothills I reside
and shall until my days are through

Why do we have to kill,
Why do we have to fight,
Why do we have to climb that hill,
And yet never see the light,
For power land or oil,
We fight for a selfish need,
We subjugate ourselves to toil,
And we do so without heed,
Without heed of the past,
Or what future our battles might bring,
We kill our brothers with a blast,
We men are wretched things.

Zachary J. Eakin