I Found the Love That I Was Looking For

I heard the yard sing to us It bursts into green Not just in the summer But in changing of leaves As strong as a grizzly With death at its teeth Look into the garden It grows as you breathe And I've been afraid But in none of the beds I've slept in Have I felt so safe, so I close my eyes and drift away I sleep with the lights on I wake up with headaches And one day the light will go out As all things in their place I just want to be the first of us to die I don't want to know what without you is like

Submitted by Iron_Wraith — Jun 03, 2026

There is no love in my heart that I am not willing to spend on you I am grateful to be bonded by blood with men you are now and men you will become What did they expect from us? And why did they expect so much? I want to learn and grow; and daydream a life so bold they’d write legends of us Oh, the things we used to dread seem so petty to us now All our lives we were sons of sons of war And I think all we wanted was to play in the sun Our blood ties us together like soldiеrs at arms Basking in the glory of dying for love I also know how it felt Whеn the night came to a close Did you dream up the next fiction that we’d find ourselves in Just like I always did? All our lives we were sons of sons of war And I think all we wanted was to play in the sun Our blood ties us together like soldiers at arms Basking in the glory of dying for love There is no love in my heart that I am not willing to spend on you I am grateful to be bonded by blood with men you are now and men you will become What do they expect from us? And why do they expect so much? Will you keep me, as I am, like we share the same blood? In the places we’ve seen, how will this measure up?

Submitted by Iron_Wraith — Jun 03, 2026

No matter the length I keep Distant but oh-so obviously linked Secretly afraid of what will happen when you’re gone Too much at stake and things we have not done It’s been hard to tell the difference between Stoic bliss and suppressing everything So for all this time I’ve kept out of reach And begged my friends to burn their memories of me No matter the length I keep Distant but oh-so obviously linked It’s been an uphill battle licking my wounds clean Working toward a better lifе is harder than it seems I stepped away to sink into thе grove Near my old home that grew towers of green Always on the hunt for ways to snuff my temper I find nothing but still the ache always finds me I guess I’ll never learn And take my anger to the grave But in the wildflowers, the words make themselves known: I don’t need to be anything I just need to be loved To be loved is to be seen I know I see you the way that you see me I think this whole time we were Human beings navigating ways we hurt And one day we all must die So I remind myself to be patient and kind Any moment it could all be over quick And I would have missed every chance to tell you what it means All the signs that I am grateful you’re alive Might be missed when we’re just passing through this life

Submitted by Iron_Wraith — Jun 03, 2026

You do not have to be good You do not have to walk on your knees For a hundred miles through the desert repenting You only have to let the soft animal of your body Love what it loves Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine Meanwhile the world goes on Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain Are moving across the landscapes Over the prairies and the deep trees The mountains and the rivers Mеanwhile the wild geese, high in thе clean blue air Are heading home again Whoever you are, no matter how lonely The world offers itself to your imagination Calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting - Over and over announcing your place In the family of things

Submitted by Iron_Wraith — Jun 03, 2026

Touching down in Seattle I pictured our lives here I slept in the cold and wrapped myself in heavy sheets to keep the heat in We walked through the suburbs And realized that life here seems just as ordinary as our own And I felt at home And it dawns on me that I'm further from home than I've ever been But I'm finding the solace that I knew in the Pacific wind passing through At Lake Tipsoo we walked softly as to not disturb the bees and wildflowers I know you're exhausted But I'll savor the momеnt And burn it into my memories While wе sit and watch the birds Take the runway toward home I always thought it'd be me I always wondered how much its killed you But we can sit and watch the birds for now Take the red-eye back home Wherever that is Wherever it is, it feels like home And I'm starting to find my peace In the moments we both know I stopped and watched a thousand birds migrate back south before December came around I can't help but think of long drives to my childhood home after seasons away But it feels like there's a barricade built from the scars upon my arm And its buried me in shame for well past a decade I wondered how many lost fledglings starved before they reached a nest that was safe and warm Far from the only home that they knew Or did they even know where home was at all? Did you ever figure me out in the end? I don't think you ever really did And for once I think I'm okay with it It's clear to me now that you never resented me I think this whole time I'm the one who hated me So I've savored the moment And burned it into my memories of you You said you see God in everything And I'm too dazed to speak I think I know what it means I think I know just how much its killed you But we can sit and watch the birds for now Fly together back home Wherever that is Wherever that is And I can't stop dreaming of the places we will go But I know that time is running short And we will not get more So I'll sit and watch the birds take flight Then close my eyes and imagine I'm home Wherever that is

Submitted by Iron_Wraith — Jun 03, 2026

One day soon you'll be reduced to a stack of photos And a cluster of memories that I will desperately cling to Afraid of missing your last Christmas taking your presence for granted Watching my life pass is hard but nothing hurts quite like losing you Somewhere in my mind I'm still a kid on Halloween Carelessly roaming the neighborhood while you wait at home for me I was a coward before but today I stand bravely I'll be there in the morning I wish it were every day I don't want to waste your final days fighting a war that only exists in my head You did what you thought was best And I'll see to it that I don't take for granted your last breaths Counting the seconds to cherish the moments we have left I'm reminded of a funeral in every photograph And I don't want you to think that I don't know that you don't really hate me I was a lost bear cub clawing my way through the briars and leaves Recklessly fleeing the den Pawing at the ground with bloody feet I still don't believe in the God that you promised would save my soul And I am confident that I never even will But that doesn't mean that I'll ever stop Wanting to see you again in the end and walk the streets of gold hand in hand On your deathbed, I will say what you want me to say I'll pretend I got saved and cast out all the demons and fell to my knees, it's okay Just so you can watch the sun set Casting aside all the worries that we won't meet again beyond the pearly gates

Submitted by Iron_Wraith — Jun 03, 2026

And here is the life I've always longed for It spreads into my world like kudzu on a vacant street And is it all I dreamt it could be? And could it break if I move carelessly? I feel love even in the mundane moments They stretch across the day like summer storms Here one moment then gone the next But I know they'll return like I do at the end of long days I am not significant or meant for greater things I am enough, at lеast, so I am content So I'll rest my eyеs for just a second And it will be more than enough for me It will be enough I could be enough Despite all my flaws and regrets I can begin to love myself I found the will to bury my pain in red clay And bloom from the dirt a joy I'll feel for decades This is it I lay my head to rest And look back fondly At all the memories made in time And forever onward the beat of my heart Carries on in words written in a not-so-distant past And in friends I made that carry the light As we find the paths that bring fulfilling lives My pain has sprouted abundance and I will harvest a deep sense of joy for a whole lifetime And it leaves no doubt that I found the love that I was looking for And by the time my story here on Earth has come to close I'll know in my heart that my love was a garden that will forever grow "Each and every piece of me has swelled and decayed like a wildflower Each word written was the scripture of a youngest son seeking truth and fulfillment And in the end I left behind a trail of shared progress The warmth I know enraptures me like a childhood blanket and I surrender to a stoic peace This has been my story and I cherish every moment And no word, thought, or feeling has been left unspoken So now, I know with every beat of my heart Until the end of time and beyond I found the love that I was looking for." I have not said enough that I am grateful you're alive I can't bear to know what without you is like I found the love that I was looking for I found it in you

Submitted by Iron_Wraith — Jun 03, 2026