Simple Tendencies

Did you know some tree frogs are hermaphroditic?

I don\'t deserve to be sad

My life isn\'t filled with hardship

I didn\'t feel my uncle\'s hot stubble 

Rough on my neck,

Nor the cool taste of his menthol cigarettes

 

I haven\'t gone without food,

And had hunger itch my eyes

Like the uncertainty of the first bite 

Of frost in the fall air 

 

I don\'t miss my bills

Work is over but debt is around forever

And laboring under the crack of its rawhide

Is something I can\'t say I recall

 

I don\'t listen to sad music anymore

Remind myself of the pain of these things with each verse

Losing myself in thorned crosses 

And cigar burns

 

I remember being younger than everyone

With a birthday in May

And the taste of cherry wood scorching my tongue

 

I don\'t deserve to be sad 

 

So why does it feel like the ghost of a lover,

Lost in translation,

Caresses it\'s muted hand across my transported mind

 

And that memory of shallow breaths 

Is one I will hold forever

 

Because it was something I earned

But did not deserve