ronald baatz | sometimes I’m a happy poet

Poetry Dispatch No. 46 | January 4, 2006

SOMETIMES I AM A HAPPY POET by Ronald Baatz

Sometimes i am a happy poet.
Sometimes in my heart a lost and homeless bum.

Sometimes i can see my life as a clear, beautiful
crystal-cold stream, and at other times as
a distorted circle of foul-smelling mud.

Sometimes the joy of my life is unmistakable
and overwhelming, and at other times it is
the sadness and disappointment of a life
unlived and wasted, dark and empty.

Sometimes there is the love of family,
the warmth of friends, the embrace
of a passionate woman.
Sometimes there is nothing
but anxiety and fear and loneliness.

Sometimes there is God.
Sometimes not.

Sometimes i want to live forever.
Sometimes the thought of another day
is intolerable.

Sometimes i wake refreshed from dreams.
Sometimes i wake terrified from what i’ve seen.

Sometimes there are birds.
Sometimes not a wing
is left in the world.