Patrick Tolan - Good Questions

'Do I know you? '
Good Question.
An answer, a winning lottery ticket
Alike in sad hope

You think you know someone, a love deceived
No unkindness given, no love received

Jovial chitter-chatter, the opaque mask
Clandestine in its evil, keeps the cards from the table
Tired eyes read the flush in hand
We all know you hold the Aces
But whether one, two or four
A shadow cast on forevermore

The strands that hang, his heart as yet untorn
But bruised and broken, from lack of true token
He's lying there, not whole, like the ticket stub ripped by the toll
Which side is he? Are you the other?
Good Questions.
An answer to which can be found
Within the depths of his heart, he hears the sound
Of her voice in tune, as he learned her in June
Though once he fought it, no one's immune
From the love that digs deep. In his moment opportune
He lost his way; from the crowd with which they both sway
And still they gazed on each other from day-to-day
He wished he had learned her the month before May
Back when the prior hurt was too much
Not something you see, smell or touch
But something you feel in a place unknown
Torn apart like the tapestry sewn
Though the both of them, through pain, have grown
All the questions left unknown
And all the answers still on the phone
Can weigh down heavy, like the stone
At times all of us can be prone
To lies that stab deep, beneath flesh and bone
In the highest order, we cannot condone
Such questions to be unanswered
Such answers, or ourselves, left alone.

Patrick Tolan

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