Jake Lane

The longest nights when everyone seems to know we’ve Once AGain fallen short

Can anyone see?

I’m sure we wonder while wandering through the crowd, feeling

eyes on us even if they’re not from those whose shoulders we

pass or whose wrists we bump in to.

They’ve got to see it

we say to ourselves, feeling the heat rise as the heart quickens,

palms becoming moist at the thought of our inner selves being

exposed, a permanent exposure of celluloid and sin.

I’m sorry.

We mutter it to everyone, audible only to ourselves and God

but not nearly as often to an ear or a cloud or a mirror.

Trespass after trespass seems routine even though we

continually scream

no, no, no.

Does the body simply will itself toward destruction, regardless

of the heart and mind wanting nothing to do with it? Shadows

follow our falls and make sure we’re sent over the edge,

glistening the whole way down as our souls deplete from the

judgement of our own self. There, in our ever-present stupor of

tears and shame, we feel the only hand we’ve ever needed wrap

around our shoulder, comforting us to sleep.

I’m here

all parts of myself

Light finds a way through the colors

of the glass, mimics a standard

of excellence that is rarely ever achieved

by human hands.

How did we get to a point

where we rely on self-commands instead

of relying on words from He who gave us

vibrance, radiance, robustness.

I long to silence the masses.

I gaze toward the sky, wondering…  

Thoughts pave the way,

leaving me engulfed

in a lake of tears.

For given to us is

the forgiveness of

so much, we call it all.

Lakes of tears

dry up, leave imprints

upon us, reminders

that we’re always close

to filling it again.

Jake Lane is a husband, father, poet, playwright, and occasional half-marathoner. Jake's works focuses on examining themes of identity, memory, time, and the human condition, often asking what it means to really be here, right now. His work has been published in The Writing Disorder, Coalition Works. and JMWW. Jake is an MFA candidate at Augsburg University and lives in the Pacific Northwest.