These Hard Earned Tears

Infant eyes intimidated reason

Incubated empty dreams into emerging concepts

Grown out of lust and melancholy

Howling wind filled vacant hearts with rage

Chasing love on the storm’s wave

Echoing pleas from the drowning sea

Treading each territory with new hope

With constant loss and destroyed visions

Testimonials will recall the tale

As it was told and as it was captured

Surrendered to the fulfilled dream

His leman has the evidence

Last flight never forgotten

An abrupt end executed from desire

© 2017 David Greg Harth

17.09.06.13:31:04@1CTSQWLICNYC

Trees

As the end of the year nears

I walk these concrete sidewalks of my city

Evergreen soldiers stand tall 

Like majestic canopies

That line bodega’s boundaries

The scent of spruce and pine and fir

Always remind me of you

How we’d walk hand in hand

Through the East Village grid

I have such vivid memories

Of being in love with you

But now that you’ve been gone for years

There is nothing I can do

But visit your grave

And never hold your hand again

© 2014 David Greg Harth

14.12.22.24:12:02@130BklynNYC

Taken Too Soon

Walking on the sidewalk

Passing reflections in the glass

Everywhere I look

I see haunting memories of you

It was twenty years ago to this very day

That I lost you

We were young and in love

We had grand plans

That our parents didn’t approve of

We talked of traveling the world

Making babies and love under a sunset’s ocean

We talked of setting up a small café

Among locals that spoke a different language than us

We talked about sailing oceans

From port to port

Even though neither one of us knew how to sail

We talked about writing a book together

About adventure and sex and loneliness

Even though we were virgins of life back then

I walk the cold streets of New York

And think about what could have been

An empty typewriter sits in my studio

My heart is broken

Because you were my first

And my only

Ever since you’ve been gone

There has been no one

Remotely comparable

No matter how many times I mend

No matter how many dates I attend

No matter how many samplings I taste

I wish the Five O’Clock was late

Bending around that curve

The train was on time

There was no warning

The lights weren’t flashing

The barriers weren’t down

My foot was on the gas

I was driving as late autumn leaves drifted in the air

Your hands outstretched from the car window

We were singing together out loud          

Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” was on the radio

And that we were, so free

You were so cheerful and beautiful

It happened so suddenly

And in such slow motion

The cracking and crumbling

The shattering of glass

The car spun a few times

Around and around

When I came to

I felt the trickle of blood

Down my face

I looked at the passenger seat

And you were gone

© 2013 David Greg Harth

13.12.11.17:47:56@323NYC

There Were Three

I can name all three of them

There were three women

From different mothers

And in their own time

During their own lives

They destroyed the very heart

That existed deep inside me

I can name all three of them

These women were filled

With such passion and intellect

Each one radiated with a fire

Of care and talent

Each totally different than the other

Yet similar in fate

I can name all three of them

I will not speak of their name to you

I will not yield any hints as to who they are

But there were three thus far

Who annihilated by heart

Who obliterated the very core of what made me beat

I can name all three of them

They each stole my heart

Each woman was strong yet innocent

Each woman was filled with luring deception

I can name all three of them

For each took a dagger to my heart

Each tore the flesh off my bones

And each stabbed me with the thrusting of a bayonet

I can name all three of them

There is one extreme similarity to all three

It is not their name nor origin

It is not their hair color nor residence

It is not their eye color nor height

It is not their occupation or ethnicity

Rather I fell in love with each of them

Before —

I can name all three of them

And they can name me

With confidence

Your name will be the name I whisper

That I take with me into the shadows

During the death that I decide to lead

© David Greg Harth

12.11.18.15:54:06@323NYC

These Lands

I.

These lands I walk upon seem flat

I hitch a ride on a satellite and orbit the earth

And I give out my business card with its hidden girth

You’ve trespassed on my heart

My complete circumference you swallowed

Left me howling and hollowed

I called for a press conference

To clear the air waves of false lies

Hid behind the curtain in disguise

You put on such a great act

Ignited my seeds and wings on fire

Yielded to the Southern Hemisphere sire

These lands I walk upon seem flat

With torn sails, a ruptured hull, and broken mast

I build new memories while hiding the past

You’ve impressed me and tore out my tongue

Speechless without reason or taste

My affection for you has been displaced

I listened to your whispering voice

It echoes and emanates from the lost void

Shipwrecked on this jagged coastline and destroyed

You are the most masterly thief I know

Stole every concealed map and unknown route

Left me upon the flat land in dire drought

II.

These lands I walk upon seem flat

In the horizon I see mountains rise up from beneath

Tonight’s dagger stays in its sheath

These lands I walk upon seem flat

I see tremendous elevations reach for the sky

A potential number nine in each cloud passing by

These lands I walk upon seem flat no longer

And these lands are rebuilt with stone and mortar

And in these lands I have left my vestige

For you to find me, oh new lover from forever

© 2012 David Greg Harth

12.09.26.01:50:27@130BklynNYC

To The Woman I Love

This is a public expression

To the woman I love

I have published this expression

So, all who read it will know

Just how much I love you

And her name

was Idaho

And Idaho is the woman

I’m in love with

So put away your assumptions

Excuse your mistakes

Hide your fears

It’s her that I love

Not you

© 2012 David Greg Harth

12.01.05.10:03:46@130BklynNYC

Thank You Van Halen

It’s that time of year

Everyone says Thank You

Everyone is thanking

Thankful for this

Thankful for that

I’m thankful for Van Halen

And swooping chairs from the 60’s covered in hand knitted afghans

And military hats made of grey flannel

And swords and beads and M&Ms

And wooden tables and vinyl covered couches

And windowsills big enough to sit upon

And black La-Z-Boy chairs

And tuna fish and pineapple chicken and chocolate chip cookies

And the best chocolate milk in the world

And canned pears

I’m thankful for Van Halen

And Richard Marx

I’m thankful for Tom Cochrane

And Tom Stoppard

I’m thankful for Leslie

And Olivier

I’m thankful for Gilbert

And George

I’m thankful for Van Halen

And my 1991 Ford Red Probe

I’m thankful for all the doctors at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital

And Vicodin and Percocet and Huey Lewis & The News

I’m thankful for Van Halen

And remote electronic garage door openers

I’m thankful for the Garden State Parkway

And sunrises and sunsets that arrive at the same time

I’m thankful for Walkmans and Discmans and iPods

And these emotions that make me incredibly high

I’m thankful for Van Halen

And the prayers in my name

I’m thankful for prophylactics

And apple cider (served cold)

I’m thankful for pins and staples and physical therapy

And that high school cargo net

I’m thankful for blanketing snow

And goggles for my eyes

I’m thankful for gasoline

And tin containers that can hold ashes of the dead

I’m thankful

So fuckin’ thankful for Van Halen

Fuckin’ Van Halen

Mother Fuckin’ Van Halen

I thanked Van Halen so much in this poem

And you (the reader) have no idea why I’m fuckin’ thanking Van Halen

You don’t know the connection

Fuckin’ Van Halen

Thank you!

© 2011 David Greg Harth

11.11.25.24:17:07@130BklynNYC

Twelfth Floor

The eleventh floor was always an escape

An answer to the everyday illusion and imprisonment

But it wasn’t the quickest way down

It was that open window

During that winter day in the middle of January

You could barely make out the Hudson River

Blossoms came early

We’d dodge the doctor’s orders

And cheek our medications

We’d joke about the lonely man who later died on the floor

And the guy that looked like Kramer who did the Thorazine shuffle

Or the teenager who constantly washed his hands over and over

It was just me, a Guy, and The King, and Little Rich with the plantains.

Betty caught me touching myself once while in the shower.

These are the things I remember.

That’s a lie.

I remember everything and a lot more than I’ll ever share with you

Because you are just a reader of words

Not a reader of my heart

© 2011 David Greg Harth

11.09.02.03:31:20@130BklynNYC

There Is A Helicopter In My Pocket

After being scolded I sit isolated

In the corner of the room

I’ve been forever alone

Ever since coming out of the womb

I sit there quietly waiting

With nothing to reveal

Patiently with no words spoken

From life I file for a repeal

My pockets are empty

Not even a hint of last week’s lint

With inquisitive blue eyes

I began to squint

Anticlimactic stories overshadow

Not even I, in a lover’s quarrel

Letting my possessions be my climax

For you, a fifty-dollar oral

Contemplating yesterday’s dreams

Among piles of discarded X’s hearts

Kissing many leads into an abyss of nowhere

I diagram, I plot, I’m making my charts

Sailing the uncharted seas

These pockets vacant for your nest

Wind carries me forward afloat

Dime-less in function, I am put to the test

Hands covered in dirty graphite

Burying every minute of my conviction

Weapons known; discoveries unexplored

Back on my knees, it is my addiction

© 2010 David Greg Harth

10.03.18.18:17:33@550MadisonNY

Two Eggs

On the last day of my arrival

It was cold out, frigid

The Bronx air made tears roll down

Wind would cusp my wishes

Snow lined the streets

Procession marched just last week

An empty apartment before me

Decades of nothing now gone

Everything once was so magnificent

So real, so vivid, so warm,

Like a fireplace behind the hearth

No one to phone,

To check the status, to bring in the new

Or to alarm about early departure

No one to slip five, no one to eat lunch

No one to wave goodbye, no one to sleep

Alone with no one

No father, no sister

I reach for the door one last time

I see two hard-boiled eggs in the refrigerator door

© 2009 David Greg Harth

09.12.31.18:13:45@130BklynNYC

This is Suicide

I have an introduction to make.

You, you there, please meet my friend,

Suicide.

© 2008 David Greg Harth

08.12.04.01:43:15@130BklynNYC

There Are More Clouds In The Sky Today Than Yesterday

Losing my friends, losing my love

Like before, I look right - I look left

I smash the glass, I yell, “Father! I am sick!”

The glass breaks, the glass falls, the glass, everywhere glass

So, love opens up

Love opens the door

Ajar forever, he is the clock, she is the wind

Swimming in this ocean

Decisions are tripled

You thought I would never phone you

You thought I turned away and would never look back

Thorns and needles, stones and rocks, burnt ashes and broken glass

The world collapses around us

Magnified magnificent - the world pauses

Clouds parting, I’m in the air now

Fire is burning, flowers are blooming

She escapes through my fingers

The last strand of hair floats away forever

Dancing across the sky

She is the star in my heart that keeps me alive

© 2008 David Greg Harth

08.08.12.11:23:35@130BKLYN

Terminées Amour

Orchestrated walk of ivory ghosts

Doves sing an epic unfolding story

Honoring the conqueror month began early

Laid our hearts down to rest

Recover the depths with felt blankets

Let nomads rub us down and heal us

Started something alone

Expected more waves of beauty

Art made mornings rise before nights departed

Recurring dreams dance our ballet

Flowers of memories wilt

Falling from our lasting empire

Barricade is constructed

Walls are fortified

Rivers run through inconsistency

Wind churns up today’s sea

Turning towards the light

Shade covers our year’s insight

Lonely evenings spent in solitude

World is ending beneath heavy black clouds

Deep drums beat toward lowered enclosed poisons

Pierced blues penetrate us both

Reasons elementary in life’s journey

Proposal on the heightened city

Point of passion now vanished upon the horizon

Warmth of another no longer near

Cease for other dedications

Drape the crests and raise the flag

Frozen eyes of sadness

Restless in their surroundings

Longing over our blindness

Not ourselves when one

Belonging on time spent to the fire’s ash

Forever forbidden to understandable truth

Bravery bound to the empty cavity

Declare the tale’s finale incomplete

© 2008 David Greg Harth

08.05.29.24:07:14@296NYC

Twelfth of March

Upon the leap

He couldn’t see the span across the Hudson

But he could see all twelve floors on his way down

He hit west 168th street

The thirteenth of March never came

© 2008 David Greg Harth

08.03.12.01:33:33@296NYC

Trying Hard

Pleasing you -

I try hard at my job.

I try hard at my art.

I try hard at my love.

I’m trying, doing the best I can.

I’m giving the best I got.

I know it’s not enough.

My tries are not hard enough,

I’m not trying hard enough.

I wish I could try harder.

I wish I could be someone else.

But I’m only me.

So, I think it is best to be said,

I’m better off dead.

© 2008 David Greg Harth

08.01.16.14:02:22@599BwayNYC

This Is Hardcore

In a back and forth motion

Almost a continuous pacing

Stroking repeatedly

It’s a remedy

In a vibrating moment

A counter attack

Slippage of something

Dripping out

So dewy

And succulent

Sinking in

Deeper into the ooze

Preaching thoughts shared in screams

Devoted to the wavering of two

Quivering intensifies

The wave crashes down

Gushes in its place

A treaty with sweat is made

At peace we are laid

© 2007 David Greg Harth

07.06.18.17:36:54@599BroadwayNYC

Telling Me, Making Choices

Why would you tell

Why would you tell me

Why wouldn’t you go

And why did you say that?

I can see you moving over this water

Swiftly to me across the lake

I can’t look back and I can’t look forward

Nothing resolved, nothing to bake

Why would you?

Cauterize me

Deceive me

But a swindler you are.

Watching the oaks sway in the sky

Watching the blades of the windmills rotate

They all tell me

That I am one of the wise men

A fool

Hearted and not grounded

You’ve left me stuck

I have two choices

Which one should I make?

© 2007 David Greg Harth

07.01.18.13:35:05@205HudsonNYC

There was a night

There was a night,

I remember,

We were across the street from your apartment building

The weather was mild with a tiny crispness

We were saying our goodbyes

A long goodbye

And you buttoned up my jacket

So sad

Yet so much care

That was a moment

That I’ll remember

Your love for me.

© 2006 David Greg Harth

06.12.13.13:13:30@205HudsonNYC

Turning

I never imagined

Written words over years

Fantasized about it

Took oil to canvas

Thirty One years ago I fell to this earth

Sent by your love to protect your heart

Here I am

Wasted and lost in this ache

No more fantasizing

And no more words carried on

Winter will turn into Spring

And Spring will turn into Summer

Summer will turn into Autumn

And the cycle of seasons will pass

I give up,

I’m turning my wings in.

© 2006 David Greg Harth

06.12.12.16:20:29@205HudsonNYC

Ten

Ten in the making

and ten passed by.

Tenth one third,

and ten to ten.

I’ve never been in love,

and I’ve never met an angel.

But ten passed ten,

that all changed.

I met an angel,

and I fell in love with her.

Ten times ten,

and the tenth of July.

Ten more waiting,

and the fourteenth of July.

Until ten times ten,

I’ll die in love.

Next to my angel

of ten.

© 2006 David Greg Harth

06.12.10.03:29:57@296NYC