Kurt Philip Behm

Sleep Well My Love—Goodbye (+3)

At the far end of the casket,

 his girlfriend hugged his wife

 

And told her she was sorry,

 that she had tried to steal her life

 

Their tears then ran in unison,

 for a man who loved them both

 

The years they shared now testament,

 to a choice he left unspoke

 

They never met before this day,

 and would never meet again

 

But each knew well the other,

 and they almost felt like friends

 

The mistress left, the children wept,

 and the grandchildren played outside

 

As his wife looked down, saying: “Your hell has passed,

 sleep well my love—goodbye”

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2016)

 

 

A Joy / A Curse

 

Loving one woman…

  a joy unto heaven

 

Loving two women…

  a curse upon the soul

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2016)

 

 

 

 

Emptiness Reveals

 

Loneliness arrives for breakfast,

  anxiety for lunch

 

Rejection for my dinner meal,

  desperation left for brunch

 

Passion came and passion went,

  the nighttime thief did steal

 

And darkness all that’s left to bear

  —the emptiness reveals

 

(Dreamsleep: May, 2019)

 

 

Great Grandfather John

 

I love you but I don’t know you,

  I miss you, though you’ve never been here

 

I long for what the years have stolen…

   a vacant memory so dear

 

I feel you across the hallowed spectrum,

  of death and then beyond

 

Where our spirits write the words together…

   different verses—the same song

 

(Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania: May, 2019)