Poem: Take Me Back

Take me back
to all that I knew
once

To backs of palms
that grazed my forehead
and gauged misery

To smiles that flew
off faces and nested
in my heart

To words strung
on threads of clarity
and worn with pride

Take me back
to what I once knew,
away from what I do now:

Decoding words
Deciphering smiles

Digging for a meaning
that never was
there

Take me back
to the time when
words were words
and smiles were smiles

To the time
when I lived a lie
and lived it well