UNDERGROUND VOICES MAGAZINE/TIM HAWKINS


	UNDERGROUND VOICES: POETRY - 10/2012

TIM HAWKINS

Visit from an Old Friend

I see in your eyes
that you've been betrayed
like all our best intentions,

that people and places
and things you loved
have left you year by year,

and the most cherished dreams
have fled in silence
from both of our hearts
to make room for other things.

I can't help but hear
that the nervous edge
is gone now from your laughter,
but so is the sheer joy
verging on hysteria,
and I can see that
you will have no great trouble
getting hold of yourself
from now on.

Let's sit together in silence for a while
on this bright, warm afternoon
and watch the wind play
randomly through the lilacs
throwing shadows on the freshly mown lawn
and the hard, unforgiving sidewalk.

Let's sit together like we used to
when we were young -
eager and delighted companions
in diligent preparation
for something we can't yet imagine.

Tim Hawkins has lived and traveled widely throughout North America, Southeast Asia and Latin America, where he has worked as a journalist, technical writer, communications manager, and teacher in international schools. He currently lives in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. His writing has appeared in numerous print and online publications, most recently in Eclectica, Eunoia Review, The Midwest Quarterly, Shot Glass Journal, The Smoking Poet, Underground Voices, and Verse Wisconsin. He was nominated by Four and Twenty for a 2012 Pushcart Prize.