I have this shirt
It is really old
Holes in places
Faded graphics
Frayed neck
We all have one
Couldn't tell you
Where it was
Purchased, or when
But here's the deal
It's comfortable
Fits me, soft
Just comfortable
Every day now
Every conversation
Is this shirt.
Every day I look, seeking out as if
Some dusty, half forgotten explorer
Searching the most far flung corners
Of every continent and landmass
Hoping to discover the reasons
A reason to smile, a reason to grin
For so long, they were there but
Difficult to locate, exceedingly hard
To stumble across, let alone find
With regularity and en masse
But that has changed, gotten easier
I find my smile now, just sitting
Plopped down on a bench, saying hi.
I don't carry for myself
It's not to feel bigger
Or more of a man
Or because I'm paranoid
Or afraid or to be badass
It's for you
It's to protect those I love
But also for someone I've never met
For that person that I don't know
That might one day need help
I carry simply because their exists
In this wide world of ours
Monsters,
Hawk soaring, catching the thermals
Warm up drafts extending its glide
Aloft, it's keen eye observes all
Feathered brethren relying on
Minute information seen
Always watching and protecting.
