Himalaya

for Hilary Bettis

 

I look around sometimes and only see

   The mountain range of what I haven’t done—

Discovered, named, and unexplored by me—

   Begun: each one of them; completed: none.

And then I look and see the future dwindling

   Down to what I must do during what’s left:

Choose what to write and what to use for kindling;

   And then be focused, disciplined, and deft.

Panic’s the enemy—it always scatters

   My energy to every tempting notion.

I must be calm, committed to what matters,

   And always aim for movement, not just motion—

      And watch the pages slowly grow beside me

      To make the mountain that was once inside me.

 

 

Copyright 2014 Matthew J Wells

 

Great Women

 

 

For Jenna, Alyssa, Kelly, Tara, Brooke and Kendall 

Great women are all eloquent grenades—

   The ones you study are an education.

The ones who know their minds make lousy maids.

   The ones who speak their minds take bad dictation.

Women whose wings are clipped still fly like jets;

   Those who spend all their strength are never broke.

Women who dare will never have regrets;

   Women who laugh at men all get the joke.

And when those who have pride are an affront,

   And those with self-respect are all called shrew,

Bitch, dyke, whore, man-hater and rhymes-with-punt,

   The problem is not them—the problem’s you.

      All doors men lock open with this one key:

      Well-behaved women don’t make history.

 

Copyright 2014 Matthew J Wells

 

Ne Dis Rien

I would have run if I had seen you coming.

   I would have fled if you gave me the chance.

Now you’re the French pop tune I can’t stop humming,

   The song that magics me into a trance.

Don’t say a thing; just lead me and I’ll follow.

   Don’t be afraid; just put your hand in mine.

We’ll waltz to where there’s nothing false or hollow;

   I’m with you to the dark end of the line.

Today’s for life—forget about tomorrow.

   No more sad solos—now it’s all duets.

Tonight our love will dig a grave for sorrow

   And when the night ends, we’ll have no regrets.

      When Life sings out, it's folly not to dance;

      When Love says “Now!” we have to take the chance.

 

 

Copyright 2014 Matthew J Wells

Ne Dis Rien

 

Coming Of Age Stories

 

For boys, it’s who they are when they’re alone,

   And what their lives will make them masters of

After they’ve journeyed, battled, learned and grown.

   For girls, it’s all about the boys they love.

For boys, it’s how they handle loss and fear,

   Whether they try to help or break each other,

And the importance of a good career.

   For girls, it’s whether they’re a wife and mother.

Boys are all future winners; girls all womb.

   Boys are congratulated; girls get blamed.

Boys get the road; girls only get the room

   To choose the man by whom they will be tamed.

      There are exceptions, but the law is firm:

      A boy’s a person and a girl’s a worm.

 

 

Copyright 2014 Matthew J Wells

 

What Remains

You see in me the remains of what Life

   Has yet to melt: my hardest, coldest part.

It will be shattered, or pared with the knife,

   Till there’s a chilly puddle where my heart

Used to be. Can you see that drifting mist?

   Those were my dreams, all vanished into air,

Into thin air.  Words unsaid, lips unkissed—

   Part of me once, and now the world’s nowhere.

So while those dreams are mine, before Life shrinks

   My glacier to a cube, before I see

My days become the nightcap that Death drinks,

   I give you what remains of love in me.

      I give it all to you today—with sorrow

      That there’ll be always less to give tomorrow. 

 

Copyright 2014 Matthew J Wells

 

Time

Those who waste time are those Time loves the most—

   It gives them slowly creeping years to squander

On busy work, which then becomes a host

   Of life’s missed opportunities to ponder.

Those who spend time are Time’s arch-enemies—

   To them, it doles out minutes like a miser.

It makes a day feel briefer than a sneeze

   And months get spent as quickly as a geyser.

Time knows that every single second counts

   And wins the day each second I forget it.

Time loses when I see my chance and pounce,

   Think of the past and never once regret it,

      And leave behind distractions I’ve resisted

      To die after I’ve lived, not just existed.

 

Copyright 2014 Matthew J Wells

Gratitude

Thanks for a family that puts up with all

   My quirks and faults and treats me like a friend.

Thanks for the great souls in my life I call

   My non-blood family, faithful to the end.

Thanks for the years I’ve had to write and speak.

   Thanks for the heart that’s kept me young so long.

Thanks for the love I’ve felt that left me weak.

   Thanks for the pain and loss that made me strong.

Thanks for the lies that make me seek the true,

   The wrongs that clearly show me what is right,

The doubt that fact checks everything I do,

   The faith to battle darkness with the light—

      But most of all, thanks for the chance to be,

      Under the sun, the only one who’s me. 

 

Copyright 2014 Matthew J Wells

 

Love Goes Like This

Love goes like this—an itch becomes a heat,

   A step becomes a trip becomes a fall—

A hunger that expands the more you eat

   Like mud becomes a brick becomes a wall.

Love lives like this: with after-dinner treats

   To make up for the suppers of barbed wire;

With gifts attached to credit card receipts

   And cuddling that dodges sniper fire.

Love dies like this: a chill becomes a freeze,

   A dig becomes attacks becomes a war

Both sides will lose—so keep in mind that these

   Two things alone make love worth fighting for:

      Not toughness, but the courage to be tender;

      Not total victory—total surrender.

  

Copyright 2014 Matthew J Wells

You Have To Learn To See Beyond

You have to learn to see beyond what meets

   Your mortal eyes to recognize the truth

Behind appearances.  The world that greets

   Us with a smile is sharp of claw and tooth.

It suffers us to trespass on its turf

   As if we own the place; so, in our pride,

We come and go like whitecaps on the surf

   And think we rule the ocean that we ride.

And when one of us drowns, we raise a cry

   For answers we can cling to or create.

But there is no Because to Life’s cruel Why.

   There is no tragedy.  It is not fate.

      It’s just the Real, appearing suddenly

      In what we like to call Reality.

 

Copyright 2014 Matthew J Wells

Like Stones at Sunrise Beach

 

Look at these stones.  Weren’t here yesterday.

   And the odds are they won’t be here tomorrow.

The tide that brought them will take them away.

   No one will miss them, never mind feel sorrow.

That daily tide sets free all that it owns;

   The same thing happens up and down the shore.

Tomorrow’s beach will have tomorrow’s stones—

   Maybe fewer in number, maybe more.

Who knows?  I won’t.  I’m just here for the day.

   I’ll ride a wave or two, soak up some sun,

Salute my footprints as they’re washed away,

   And all too soon my time here will be done

      And I’ll be nothing but a memory

      By the great tide that rules this mortal sea.

 

Copyright 2014 Matthew J Wells