Paper

Originally written 9/17/97

Pieces of paper make up life.
Whether living or dying,
in love and in strife.
Fine lines are written each and every day.
Some tossed in a basket
with the words wasted away.
Others given with hope and dreams in the making
and later tears are shed
from the toll they have taken.
Tiny printing as the thoughts are exposed.
As the reader responds with a wrinkling nose.
Unlike the mouth with words thrown to the air,
these pages are unfolding and keeping
a timeless work enriched with passion and despair.
Spoken once and written on an evening's whim,
to be forever cherished or hidden
by the rest of them.
Trees of sacrifice for the human mind
to pen and scratch on the surface of time.
Masterpieces to moms by a child so young,
love letters to a man who has come undone.
Laws and regulations to bind or to break,
and promises kept and buried deep within the grave.
Paper so simple
but complex in the making
have made many lives remembered
or wished to be forgotten.

Shelley Robinson Greeves