why not pretend ...
© Kennedy James. All rights reserved.
why not pretend
to love me
and imagine your hand
drifting through dusky space
to entangle my hand
like a veil of silk
stitched into and over
seams of torn leather
and together
we will cross
the steel-girded bridge
from reluctance
to consent
and find our way
to the other side
of desire
why not pretend
to love me
and follow the dream
through to its end
before the sound
of midnight's creaking door
splits the darkness and sends
a crack of fractured light
that wakes you
and breaks the hope
into fragments
of broken gray tiles
so completely shattered
that no one should have
to fit the pieces together
ever again
why not pretend
to love me
and turn the killing
bullets of displeasure
into carefree butterflies
drifting skyward
in an unexpected
summer's breeze
higher and higher
until at last
they become the dust
of stars
in a twilight collage
of petals
floating beyond the moon
on the deepest blue night
why not pretend
to love me
and let the armour
of your icy resolve
melt into the softest bindings
of threadbare lace
unravelling in a heartbeat
and falling in a heap
at your feet
leaving you there
in the candlelight
expectant and sure
undressed but not unwilling
to discover
the end
of pretend
to love me
and imagine your hand
drifting through dusky space
to entangle my hand
like a veil of silk
stitched into and over
seams of torn leather
and together
we will cross
the steel-girded bridge
from reluctance
to consent
and find our way
to the other side
of desire
why not pretend
to love me
and follow the dream
through to its end
before the sound
of midnight's creaking door
splits the darkness and sends
a crack of fractured light
that wakes you
and breaks the hope
into fragments
of broken gray tiles
so completely shattered
that no one should have
to fit the pieces together
ever again
why not pretend
to love me
and turn the killing
bullets of displeasure
into carefree butterflies
drifting skyward
in an unexpected
summer's breeze
higher and higher
until at last
they become the dust
of stars
in a twilight collage
of petals
floating beyond the moon
on the deepest blue night
why not pretend
to love me
and let the armour
of your icy resolve
melt into the softest bindings
of threadbare lace
unravelling in a heartbeat
and falling in a heap
at your feet
leaving you there
in the candlelight
expectant and sure
undressed but not unwilling
to discover
the end
of pretend
© Kennedy James. All rights reserved.
Pretend? Is that the same as fake it until you make it?
ReplyDeleteI do love your poetry, but there is no pretending on this end ... xxx
"Pretend? Is that the same as fake it until you make it? "
DeleteOnly if you think in clichés ... haha ...
I always thought there were two types of pretending. With the first, one is consciously aware and purposefully engaged in theater of the mind; with the second, the detrimental variety, one is consciously, and perhaps uncontrollably, lying to oneself.
ReplyDelete~Manfred
Yes, the second is to be avoided, but, you know, most people spend a lifetime engaged in pretending to be who or what they are not. It's not always self-deception as much as the deception of others ...
DeleteSitting here digesting your words (its taken two whole days ~grin~ ... I have come to my conclusion .... that ... Either way .. whether it be self deception or the deception of others ... the creators of deception ... just end up deceiving themselves ... because .... if one is deceiving others ... then one has to be deceiving oneself .. I would think? ...
ReplyDeleteBut to pretend something ... isn't that a little like dreaming? Some times one can pretend in a good way ... but deception is never good ...
ReplyDeleteIn the poem, I think the "pretend" is of this good kind. After all, take little kids. They dress up and pretend to be all manner of people ... and when they grow up, they may actually use those "pretend" scenarios to become an "Indian Chief" or whatever ...
DeleteDeception is pretend in some kind of disguise ... ;o}
~smile~ ... Yes .... Deception uses pretend as a cover ... perhaps ...
ReplyDeleteThe word deception confused the poem for me ... it changed the lightness of pretend into something a little more darker ... amazing how one word can change the entire piece ... thats brilliant writing Mr K ... ~smile~