The Portfolio of Richard Harrington

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Of Meeting and of Farewell

2012-9-24

As we wait here in wonder,
wrapped around each other,
the ship's in the dock
— our luggage all aboard.
It wasn't easy to get here,
to the end of the world.
Still not ready to go,
but how could we really know?

So we hold on with our nails,
with the pains we find.
An old captain and the cartographer;
still a wind in these sails,
and still just as blind.

Our mail comes from the kneeling,
who can't shake the feeling,
of us on the dock
— with those who won't yet sail.
We merely whisper sweet farewells,
to the rest of the world.
With no more room to need,
we're all that we'll ever be.

So we hold on with our nails,
with the pains we find.
An old captain and the cartographer;
still a wind in these sails,
and still just as blind.

Why make so little of leaving,
of those plans still weaving,
as we drift from dock
— to our life out at sea.
So nearly I could not have been;
so scarcely as the world.
To keep it all so near,
what loss could I hold so dear?

Imaginary Lamp Oil

2012-9-10

All I ever knew was your face,
a glimpse through the crowd;
or the dances we've outgrown,
with the pain of our mistakes.

Like a scent you can't remember,
which brings a lost warmth;
as I tremble to confess,
we are not who we've recalled.

You are a memory
- no not even that.
You are what couldn't be,
a rabbit from a hat.

While I've shaded you in my fear,
you have been my light;
in an aimless heart's stumble,
I have found my own new home.

You are a memory
- no not even that.
You are what couldn't be,
a rabbit from a hat.

With Angry Lost Breaths

2012-8-7

And we marched forth from our innocence
To heaven and to hell

We left our voices in the fire
With our lovers and our children

We burned our homes and our graves
With trembling strength and swift hands

Wanton faith and promiscuous hunger

We drowned our dreams before their births
Spread our dying father far across this Earth

We wrote this anger in our blood
While every sacred kiss betrayed him

Still she shook down our jealous skies
Every stone beckoned by her seduction

And we each marched on forever
Forever from our precious Babylon

Everything We Live

2012-6-12

What do we keep in the blink of an eye?
Our completion, cradling hand to face.
Caress the times when hearts have failed us,
at the end of memories we've wrung dry.

Do you know how I have worshiped you?
How I've held you in everything I am.
Embrace this life as we fall gently away,
under the rain of what we will have been.

Have I been to you all you've been to me?
In the darkest, forgotten things we are.
Lose the only way over the cliff's face,
into the ocean we'll drink with all others.

Blankets for Dreaming (Lacuna)

2012-3-18

We live with the truth that we are born to die,
yet somehow the labors of our hands persist.

It is by the obsessions formed in our hearts
that this fear is made to vanish as we toil.

We etch in our souls the music of these loves,
as we play on the phonograph what we become.

We mold the cosmos for our comfort and our children's,
and play the records louder with each generation.

We live to hide the truth we bury in passion,
that we are closest to death when we dream.

I'm Glad You Exist

2012-1-12

You've been up on the stage before me;
taken the faith holding up my knees.
You've handled my heart as a treasure,
though it sits silenced below the dirt.

There is a terror I learned from truth;
I have never loved you more.
I am glad you managed to exist,
to welcome me at your sleeping feet.

These moments are the bones of my being;
while you toil in the labor of dreams.
This inevitable slight of hand,
these hidden trinkets are all I am.

You've performed reality for my tears;
the best experience this spirit knows.
You've always managed to exist,
beyond my emptiness - narrowly crossed.

Benefits of Growing

2011-12-8

I made your young crush fade away
amidst your silent sorrow's sound,
while all your friendships slept around you
in their beds beneath the ground.

You sang,
"I would have taken you in the stars.
I would have stolen your name.
I would have carried all your fears.
I would throw dirt into your grave"
— or something like that.

I led her off into the night,
forgot her silver eyes and lips.
That nervous memory she gave you
was the one you all but missed.

You sang,
"This is the way of life around me.
This is the piteous will.
This is the lover I despise.
This is that foreign hunter's kill."

No idea where you're going,
just an inkling why you were here,
all that's left of you is in your heart
and that's where you kept her tears.

You sang,
"Something was taken by the old clock.
Something was in these embers.
Something was supposed to be there.
Something I just can't remember."
— to me.

Stolen by a fear of beauty
in the moment of her power;
always strong, you held fast despite me
though she is me gone sour.

Her Ghost

2011-11-8

This is the closest she's ever been
when her shoulder touches my arm
unsure of how she got there
but assured of why she stays

She feels it as we smile
when we don't know what we want
we're marching blindly to the end
yet each step remains a thrill

There are days she'll never know
when they've long since gone by
crashing sweetly along the shore
happily home in this new land

She tells me I should wake
when her lips press against my own
that's all that remains in my dreams
so I'm not scared to die asleep

As Stubborn

2011-10-27

You won't like who I am
when I listen to the sea;
who I am when you're alone.

I don't think you can know
how I feel like I'm flying,
when I'm happy on the ground.

When you're most uncertain
is when I believe the most,
what you say I am to you.

So I've trembled before,
as a pillar without load;
bowed down in a gust of wind.

I've waited my whole life
to be older in your arms,
always as stubborn as time.

Yet you like me today,
so I hope you understand
when my mind is out to sea.

Live on Bread and Water

2011-10-4

Let me travel with you as your lover;
Go where you will go,
do what you will do,
but let me travel with you as your lover.

I don't ask for your vows or your word;
Say what you will say,
take what you will take,
but let me travel with you as your lover.

Stab me in the back and throw me out the window;
cry when you will cry,
break when you will break,
but let me travel with you as your lover.

I will not change for you;
be what you will be,
live how you will live,
but let me travel with you as your lover.

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