Throw out the shared life
Life I always dreamed of

Throw open depression’s door
To assault the senses

To behavior that loves one minute
Savages mind/body the next

To days of hope/even laughter
Until mania hurls them skyward

Descent shivers windows to wall
Words shatter oneness of heart

Actions speak louder than anger
And little tempers the uproar

Sympathy owns no place in us
Its syllables ignite/incite

Despondency knows no season
Wildfire unyielding

The other’s turbulence mine
Drought that shrivels the rose

Let’s find peace elsewhere
Yet serenity’s not a place

I gaze longingly at six ranges
Peaks placid/last of the Rockies

Rio Grande’s Indian Country
River of unwinding legend

The other wants only oceans
Tidal storms in minor keys

What to do with harmony’s days
Days I wish last forever

Dreams of shared life
That will always be dreams

And little more

Dick Altman writes at 7,000 feet on New Mexico’s high desert plain. A Pushcart Prize nominee and a poetry winner in Santa Fe New Mexican’s annual literary competition, his work has appeared on four continents. He has in progress two collections of some 150 published poems.