I Want To Walk Poem by Rich Harney

I want to walk again,
broken boned, broken hearted,
I want to walk again into a great height,
With hours and hours of doing something,
With days of bikes and smiles from strangers,
Shoulder length hair and cigarettes,
Throw in overalls with tobacco stains
And no stupid regrets.

But,my bones weigh as a proud hammer,
clanging on an ancient anvil,
heated up and malleable,
ready to break if a bird so much
as clips his wing on my shoulder.

My heart weighs
as a cold tramp in winter singing
his saddest song.

Though
I am not so lost in age as to forget
the enthusiasm of youth.
Yes, I still swing from ropes
dipping out over a river,
my toes skirting over nibbling fish,
a pole by the banks for the hot afternoons,
that ragamuffin girl with her kiss,
the crawdads liked me too.

And I can dream can't I? —

A mind never stops dreaming…
Through lost loves, rhumetism
And creeping adenoids,
And oh what the hell
was I thinking about.

Just lend me your bones and
Your jubilant heart awhile,
I'll show you the meaning of youth.