Poetry Challenge Day 16: The Last (blank)

The Last

I am not ready

    No, not ready

For the last

    Of anything

They say that heaven is the most wonderful place

But I don’t know how

    It can compare

To late night movies and popcorn

To listening to my children laugh 

Or a deep kiss from my wife 

    Before we enter our home

Will I have headphones in heaven

    To turn up that song

        So I can dance as I wash dishes

Will I have a desk

    pens and notebooks

    When the muse strikes me on fire

Can I feel the cold pierce my skin

Can I cry when my heart cracks 

    Little pieces in my hands

        Knowing time is not enough to put them back

I know that the day will come

That there will be a last time I brush my teeth

That there will be a last time I read a book

    A last time I breathe

but,

I am not ready

    No, not ready

For the last

    Of anything

            Here on earth

Demons (Lord of the Flies)

I've got the sun in my eyes…

My stomach filled

I can laugh with the best of them

Some would call this paradise

But it's my mind..

that runs with trouble

My ears are filled with demons

They gnash and scratch my eardrums

  darkening my thoughts

  blurring my sight

I hear them whispering

 like flies around a pig's head

 tearing down everything I worked so hard for

 I smell smoke in the air

I drag myself through the hours of the day

 the rhythm of life has an easy beat to follow

 even with the constant buzz of doubt

   swarming my head

That only clears when I have reached the top of the mountain

to see the truth

  to see the dark blue ocean

  and the flashes of people

   living to the beat of this life

I can think

I can feel

I understand the battle

The demons have nothing to say from this vantage point

But the silence is so hard to hold on to

as I walk the pig run

 down and down and down

 into the echo of their song

And the demons again invade my mind.

I Wish

I wish every child would be woken up

 By a loving parent saying “Good morning, sunshine!”

I wish every child would have an option for breakfast

 A seat open on the bus

 And a smile from a friend when they walk through the school door

I wish bad wasn’t cool

  That we didn’t spend time defining ourselves with

  Clothes

  Music

  Hair color

  Or how much of a jerk we can be

I wish the bell wouldn’t ring every 50 minutes

  Signaling it is time to get up

   Then to sit down

I wish we understood that

  Sticks and stones break bones

  But words crush our souls

I wish every child carried a book

  With a beat-up bookmark

   That had their dreams written in ink on the back

I wish the test were written by elementary students

  Because you know

  Recess would be the first question

I wish the diploma

  Meant you have become the person you wanted to be

  That the three Rs included

 Reaching for your dreams

I wish every child would go home mentally tired

  Ready to spend time with family and friends

  And when it was time for bed

  The day would end with a story and a kiss

I wish I could do more then just wish…