I Build

Nights like these

when my head throbs

and my friends all

are elsewhere

and tomorrow

weighs upon my

brain and pillow

On nights like these,

I build

I build myself

a trojan horse

to lay within

and then emerge

to shocked faces

and smiling friends

I build a song

with chords like fire

and drums like fists

to share my heart

in sound and lyric

I build a meadow

and rocky stream

on which a tree

might someday grow

and I will plant

the first seeds

I build a world

in which I fly

and grow beyond

my body

and its limits

I build my world

with keystrokes

and pen strokes;

with rhyme and

vision; with

fear and false

security

as cornerstones

On nights like these,

I build