forgotten gems

I wish there was a way to capture
those miniature, minuscule thoughts 

that whisk by inconspicuously
throughout the day

throughout the day unheard, unseen,
except in flashes 

when the sneaky bastards decide
to show their face 

sometimes it’s with a grin,
ugly with missing teeth

and big ears, long balding hair
that hasn’t seen water in days

thick, furry eyebrows that want
to fly away, a five o’clock shadow  

breaching through his fat cheeks
and gullet, a long, crooked nose 

with hairs sprouting out like
little weeds 

he’s an ugly son-of-a-bitch,
I swear, he makes you feel 

like shit, repulsed, angry, afraid,
and those are ugly 

nanoseconds of your life
that you are glad to waste

but then there are the
good ones, the ones that 

make you feel nice and laugh
and briefly smile maybe

those come with handsome
faces, charming faces, kind

faces, and you enjoy looking into
their mystical eyes, it calms you 

and strips you down to
your bare essentials

they understand you entirely
without a word, without so

much as a flinch or a
wink

and their smiles are both faint
and everlasting

as if in their natural state,
as if they know no worry

no dread, no malice,
faces that invite you in

that fascinate, illuminate,
ones that take you to the cosmos

but those, too, run away

the nanoseconds
you’d trade for days or weeks

the ones you wish you could grab
with your bare hands, you chase  

and chase and get so close
but never catch them 

you never will

those nanoseconds eventually
add up, so I would think

like darkness in an abyss
or runes in a cave

unclaimed treasure on an
island unreachable

unattainable and forgotten
with all the gems 

of the past.