Keep Art Alive :: “Surface” :: Art by Aaron Nagel

“And from the shelter of my mind,
through the window of my eyes,
I gaze beyond the rain-drenched streets,
to England where my heart lies.”

Each side now
by me

Unexpected blue
hidden on the back of penned postcards,
and inside the lyrics to that half-finished song.
Our eyes wide and full of a wonder
we are far too old to hold.

I hardly knew your name then,
still we traded stories through the wall.
Yours made of campsites and faraway stars,
and mine of warrior girls left shivering beneath trees.
“I’d hold your hand if I could.”

Your hands held open now.
I look away not wanting to read the lines,
half-hoping to find my name at the curve
where your smallest finger begins,
the one that holds down the C-chord.

These things I tend to screw up,
loves pulled out of friendship’s bass line.
Yet I sit here irregardless,
the wings of fourteen birds fluttering against my ribs.
Would you help free them if I asked?

And would you follow me back home this time?

Kathy’s Song :: Simon & Garfunkel
from the album, Sounds of Silence (1966)