I'm cheating once again today with my National Poetry Writing Month effort (30 poems in 30 days) because I did not write this today or even this year. Since I went with a vault piece for yesterday's post, I thought it would be nice to follow it up with what feels like its rightful sequel.

I feel that this is one of the better pieces that I have written in recent years, with a rhythm and rhyme structure that is just very pleasing to me, and an ending that feels perfect (I do struggle with endings sometimes). It comes from a place of confidence and intelligence, a bit of hindsight that is not negative as many "looking back" poems tend to be. Well, I suppose it looks at what could be negative, but with the light of age and wisdom shining plainly on it.

Looking forward to your comments whether here or on Twitter (@poeticonic).

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10,000 NIGHTS

It's beneficial that you don't know
the healing storm of beauty you let go.
You would cry 10,000 nights of black tears,
losing sleep in the soundlessness—
losing sanity in the solitude.
Your ears would long for my lullabies
while your heart drowned in our goodbyes.
Your hunger would compare my embodied steam—
this luscious physical cornucopia of dreams—
with her meager and ordinary offerings.
You would backtrack and regret the past,
wishing you had just done this or said that.
You would press on through countless hard workdays,
sweating out the pain of watching me fade.
You would pour your dollars
into mind-numbing substances,
attempting to drink and smoke my image away
but actually searing it in deeper,
branding my name
or tattooing my stain
into a face already so strained.
But no, you don't know all that's within me.
You'll never comprehend all that you set free.
You'll continue on your trek and live boldly.
You'll never realize the blessings you spent.
We'll both find bliss in your ignorance.