returning.

rain falls.
i fall too.
bumps and  bruises...
skinned my knee.
got lost in the city,
caught out in the rain.

whistling.  
barely audible beyond wind
and sirens,
a tune.
it lifts me up.

walking with a limp.
coming up lame.
and then
from her
a smile,
a word,
a gesture.
now i'm dancing
on wind.

me,
wound up like a children's toy.
her hair,
bound up behind.
both need to come undone,
fall all
          over
                    the
          place.

it's crazy the way
i run so hard
just to get back to this place
that's always here
inside.

i am a puzzle
and a lock
and a bomb
and a dangerous drug.

she is the glass key
to unlock my sky.

let her in.
everything changes.
let it out.
it never hurts so much
as when hurting has no voice.

why does it take so long
sometimes
to remember
what can never be
forgot?

                        -Joshua Putnam (6/7/04)