-no sign of life

                     
most of us never look up at the sky long enough
to see what we really are
and even those of us that do
unfortunately tend to forget more of the good stuff
than we remember...    
    
between questioning ourselves about things
our heart of hearts has always known were untrue    
yet still giving them more credit than necessary
every chance we could find a reason
any old reason...    
    
as if we couldn't remember how we felt alone    
and like fools for not saying hello, goodbye    
I'm sorry, or Iove you, despite the fact that
it was the same old story told every time
we wanted something more than a shady memory    
incapable of looking us in the eye long enough  
to make a real connection...    
    
perhaps a brother, a sister, parent, or lover    
someone who's easily identified by the warm
and safe feeling of familiar scars or tattoos
now used as a guide away from thoughts and words
last spoken while drowning in lessons they just
couldn't seem to learn, in part, because of their
innate desire to swim in the deep end even
though they can't float or do the backstroke...
    
too often we're willing to suffocate and bleed
our soul for a cause thought to be the answer
to prayers one would never really have faith in
if they were honest with themselves; still, we
said them anyway, like undead soldiers hoping
that bit of cold on the tip of their useless nose
was a sign of life..