Red Rose

Someone once said to me
how is it a poet you can be
you were not like that when you were young
all you thought about was fun
and older now and wiser to
but you still do not have a clue
to speak and make sense to the people you meet
when you see them in the street
not two words do you utter to them
as conversation is hard to do
especially for someone who
prefers to write rather than talk
as writing comes from the brain
and talking comes from the heart
and conversations can be hard
when the brain is not doing its part.

Writing invokes strong feelings about
the subject that is at hand
but conversation is more real
as passions and feelings make you feel
sad and miserable and happy too
depending on the person who
you are talking to at that time
and what the subject is about
life and death, loss or find
make conversations of the other kind
difficult to have if you are like me
as choked up I get and barely can talk
and turn away so people don’t see
the feelings I have that is in me.

That is why I prefer to write
as generally I am alone
if the words are so powerful they make me sad
at least no one else will see
what passionate words can do to me
whether they are of the written kind
or are spoken, that too is fine
I cannot help who I am
or how I react when people I see
especially those who are dear to me
although alas I have to say
some of those have passed away
and those I can write about with fine words
and shed my tears, my sorrows to feel
alone as I write with no one around.

Words will pop into my head
when pen to paper I apply
but this cannot be said
when conversations I do try
my brain thinks this and my voice says that
and the two are not in harmony
so I speak when others do engage
in conversation but all I do
is answer what they have to say
and hope we’ll meet another day
when my brain is turned on to the subject at hand
and my voice will respond to them as I plan
to get better at this talking thing.

I have been working at it for seventy years
and alas its true that all of my fears
of speaking to others is not my way
as I run out of things to say
and unless with conversation they proceed
then for me it’s time to leave
and hope that on another day
we will have much more to say.

Dedicated to the Great Conversationalists of this World.

——————————————————————————————————————-