I Need You

 I need you 

I need you 

Of this 

There should be 

Little doubt 

I need you 

Not for the meals 

Which you 

Spectacularly provide 

I need you 

Not for the laundry 

Nor the clean house 

Nor for your awesome care 

I need you 

I need your love 

I need your heart 

I need your breath 

No one 

Can do these things 

Like you 

Do these things 

I need you 

I have always 

And will always 

Need you 

This is not 

However 

The basis 

Of our relationship 

It can 

Sometimes seem 

To take precedence 

Over other reasons 

Regardless 

Of the depth 

Of the ways 

I need you 

There is 

A deeper depth 

Wherein lies 

The greater cause 

I need you 

Yes 

But more 

I want you 

In the unlikelihood 

You should not be able 

To provide for my needs 

I will still want you 

This want 

Not need 

Is the foundation 

Of our relationship 

I need 

To feel your skin 

Beneath my fingers 

Because I want it 

I need to feel your heart 

Beating under my hand 

I need to hear your breath 

Late in the night as you sleep 

I need 

The thousands of ways 

You show your love 

Because I want you 

Although 

Need and want 

May be intertwined 

In our lives 

Want 

Will always 

Take precedence 

Over need  

I need you 

But, far above 

I want you 

I want you 

© Ron Simpson Jr. 

October 15, 2022

Jonathon

 

Happiness is the best vengeance

You built up the value of a life with you 

Speaking the words with practiced ease

Pointing out the sunshine and roses 

Disguising the truth of glib betrayal 

Toying with my fragile heart 

Saying all the right words 

Well-timed and well-placed 

Becoming a truth too true 

My heart so wanted to believe 

Clinging to a perilous perch 

Knowing I am more than worthy 

Knowing this was not too much to ask 

It came as second nature to you 

Folding the truth on practiced lines 

Eventually becoming careless in ease 

Until, even caught, admitting the lie was too hard 

Did I slam a door? Probably

Did I cry? Absolutely 

Will I survive? For sure 

Am I happy? Getting there 

You say I am just lying to myself 

Giving yourself a lot of undue influence

This is the lie I choose to believe

Until it is no longer a lie 

Little by little the smiles become real 

More and more the laughter deepens 

Time erases the pain and sorrow 

Happiness is the best vengeance 

Happiness is the best vengeance 

© Ron Simpson Jr.

September 18, 2022

Linda Marie

 

Beyond

What is easiest to see 

Is what is direct in front of us 

Sometimes it blocks out the world 

Preventing us from seeing beyond 

Life isn’t always like the road in Georgia 

You can see what’s ahead for miles 

Long before you reach anything 

You’ve known it was coming a long time 

In life 

Obstacles arise in the spur of the moment 

Clouds drop down and hide the future 

Problems obscure your vision 

Demanding all attention 

It is not an easy thing to do 

But, we must learn to see beyond 

There is still sunshine behind those clouds 

There will be days beyond today 

I get it 

It’s hard to do 

Much easier to say it 

Believing it, however 

Takes Herculean effort at times 

Here are some helpful facts 

There are still people who love you

There are still those who believe in you 

Not just before 

Not just during 

But, beyond 

Still there 

Still loving 

Still believing 

Still supporting 

Hold to that 

Keep it in your heart 

Say it with your lips 

Believe it 

Your problems won’t disappear 

As if by some magic 

But you are not alone in them 

And that’s a fact, not magic 

There 

Or here 

Anywhere 

Find it 

Borrow belief 

Borrow happiness 

Borrow strength 

Borrow from beyond 

Beyond 

© Ron Simpson Jr.

September 8, 2022

Solidarity

 

We are not the cry of the lone wolf

Penetrating the dead of the night

We are not the force of one

In this battle we fight

We are the thunder 

Rumbling across the sky

We are the quaking of the earth

Which refuses to die

We are the accumulated cries 

Of injustice in our land

We are the force of labor

Standing, hand in hand

 

We are northern and southern

We are from the east and the west

We are proud flag wavers 

And we bear our labor’s crest

We have shed our blood

And buried our fathers and sons 

We have stood for the fair and the right

Against the clubs and the guns

When I stand in your town hall

City council, House, or Senate 

I do not stand alone

There are millions you haven't met

 

We differ in religion,

Family, life, and love   

But we are all part of labor

A call instilled by God above

We are white and black  

And every race betwixt

We are male and female  

We are unified and mixed  

We are the strong

Standing for the weak  

We are the cry of victory  

Standing atop the mountain's peak 

 

America, We are your friend and neighbor  

We are your brother, sister, daughter, and son  

We will work and bleed and sweat  

And build this nation until we are done  

We are the thunder and the quake  

We are the voice of the one   

We are labor 

From the rising to the setting of our sun

 

We are one voice

Solidarity

 

© Ron Simpson, Jr.

Labor Day 2022

Jack Nicholson

 

On my desk. Shemar

 

On my desk. Adele

 

Empty

I have to say 

I can’t really blame you 

For not being aware 

It isn’t as if I’m wearing a sign 

Well, not a blatant one anyway 

Quite the opposite, in fact 

I have taken great pains 

To present an opposite facade 

To wear the proper mask 

But there is a saying 

Relating to books

And covers 

And judging 

Sometimes I feel as if 

Events have opened my life 

And scooped out my feelings 

Not to make room for anything else 

Just to create this empty space 

A place for loneliness to live 

In there with all my nothing 

Rambling and echoing 

Emphasizing the hollowness 

There are prompts in my head 

Gathering proper social cues 

Knowing when to laugh 

Knowing when to cry 

Eliciting the right response 

To prevent the inevitable question 

“Are you okay?”

Which, of course, brings the reply

“I’m fine” 

But there is a saying 

Relating to books

And covers 

And judging 

Now, about this book 

And it’s pretty cover 

Colorful and vibrant 

And said judging thereof 

I fear I have misled 

For the insides are empty 

Leaving nothing to judge 

No content to examine 

Scooped out 

Empty

© Ron Simpson Jr. 

August 20, 2022

Misery

Misery resides 

Forever inside 

Even inconsequential 

Still it rises and falls 

Periodically it drives 

Pushing buttons 

Turning wheels 

Choosing destinations 

We think 

‘Destiny’ 

We use words 

‘Fate’ 

Merely misery 

A word 

Not a sentence 

No life sentence 

Inside 

Also hope 

Also joy 

Also happiness 

Today 

Misery drives 

Skies are gray 

Road is dark 

Discontinuously 

Rising

Falling 

Following 

Whispering 

Influencing 

Coercing 

Backseat driver 

Good times 

Susurrous 

Happy days 

Murmuring 

It’s all temporary 

Coming and going 

Hello my old friend 

Misery 

Speaking 

Out of turn 

Ever opinionated 

Seeing the dark 

Always interjecting 

Welcomed or not 

The sway attempt 

To topple the world 

Never able 

To chase away 

My old friend 

Misery 

Still 

We go 

We walk 

We run 

We survive 

Held at bay 

While others flourish 

Never really gone 

Just biding 

Misery 

© Ron Simpson Jr. 

August 18, 2022 

Echo

 

Juniper & T’challa