We Cracked the Code

We Cracked the Code

(“He has caused His wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate.” Psalm 111:4)

Our conversations were never empty,
though they ranged from laden to light.
We moved easily from jokesters to philosophy.
Do you remember pouring the wine that
brought solace to our bones? We wielded
the wisdom of toddlers learning the lay of the land.

You walked into the room like an uneasy breath
until we both learned there was nothing to fear.
We wished we had known each other longer
but we forged our way through the summer sludge
that stuck to both of our skins. Happenstance
had its work but never had the last word.

Trained in a different space and time we
might have lit candles for each other at the
silent altars of a lonesome cathedral.
We cracked the code like dual countrymen
raised on either side of the peaks we knew
as children. Somehow, we met in the middle
where I was an immigrant and you were a
natural born citizen. We capture the cadences
as we learned each other’s language. Mostly
we did not need to speak, though. We only
listened like eavesdroppers outside a
phone booth on the corner.

We were desperate for understanding, we were
anxious from too many shredded knees trying to
climb our way to acceptance. We could not leave
that behind.

And though it’s years since we have spoken,
the golden hues of sunset conversations have
not departed my mind. We were decades apart
before we met and perhaps the timing was all
that mattered.

Technically the Timing

Technically the Timing

(‘Those who are at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.” Job 12:5)

The timing could not have been more perfect,
technically it should never have happened.
But you find him near the cliff’s precipice and could not
refrain from words that pushed him over the edge.
You had no taste for his tears and so your imagination
ran wild
finding tenured reasons for his downfall.
You thought you could burst the final thought bubble
of peace
he held on to.

You should have known the signs that pointed toward
an uneasy reckoning for careless words without ears.
You forgot the destination he was heading for,
forgot the fate that pointed away from your unsanitized claims.
You tucked it all away like yesterday’s insanity and
quietly went home to your candlelight suppers.
It was too easy for you to ignore the pain so apparent,
the grief so transparent. You purchased your tickets to
calloused hearts and hands.

You only had one thing to do; you had no excuse for
your ignorant betrayal on the sands of indifference.
He hoped to hear hope like a distant waterfall but
all he knew were your uncorked opinions. You poured
out the canister of iced indifference. Your cold
decisions froze him in place while you left him
aching for relief like the rising of a midsummer sun.

You could not have timed it better,
he slid on the icy judgments you left and,
once he fell you could tell how right you had been
all along. You were certain he was guilty of every
heretical handheld encasement. Otherwise, he would not
be so bitter when you ignored him purposely while you
tour the country in your cadillacs of champagne.