Exerpt from Part X

there
are
moments
when your voice
thunders from nowhere
and I believe you are not dead

there
are
moments
when music
filters into night
and I believe that we once loved

there
are
moments
when what you
did and why you did
brings fear back into my cold heart

makes
me
wonder
who I am
why I am, what I’ll
do wrong to my most precious son

Part XII

have
no
fear child
you are safe
this life is magic
sweeter than Pop Tarts, bright as noon

here
with
me there
are good dreams
ice cream, TV, games
and I will hug you when we’re sad

have
no
fear child
this is love
pure, innocent, true
until the very end of time

Excerpt from Part XVII -- Tales Told in a Hotel Room, Part Two

we
hear
beating
we follow
the sound, blindly on
drifting across open seas, eyes
wide
shut
until
something hard
wakes us and we scream

fear
stops
hope but
there’s still that
beating rhythm, so
we do what we must do to hold
it
tight
closer
absorbing
each note into skin
until it becomes our own song