Unsoft's List

l o v e b i r d

Every day now, since I’m five
I wonder what keeps us alive.
I grew up with Russian missiles
Hanging up above my head.

I built rockets, Sunday science
Fueled by all the fear inside us
Every day was cartoon monsters
Camelot was long-since dead.

Under blankets I would see
A future of uncertainty.
Another talking cartoon dog
Will help me shake this vibe

Another can of Ravioli
Waiting for my brand new box
of brightly colored plastic things,
I build a future out of blocks

I build a life based on belief,
On faith in finding sweet relief
From all the tightness in my chest
I only want to breathe

I know you will be here someday,
I wait for you to come and play
I left you back in that old tree
So many years ago

Feathers brush against my soul
Your fingers reaching out through time
My heart beats air like pounding drums
Or wings against the morning sky

Every day now, since I’m small
I’ve known two things were mine.
They raced toward me while I ate
And slept and passed the time

The string that ties us loosened
As I felt you coming close
I knew that you would win the race,
The darkness rounds out second place

We become the finish line
And all that used to steal my breath
Has lost its power over me,
My leggo future comes to be

And now I know that other runner
Still approaches just as ever
Thoughts that took my cartoon pleasures
Animated anxious measures

Fear that held me down at five
and smacked my face at twenty-nine
can do its worst now, I don’t care.
I’ve found my breath inside your hair

We’ll know when the race is ending
I’ll lay down inside your heart.
We’ll wait it out with our flesh pressed
And wake up in our treetop nest

---

for my beautiful wife, Mandy.