lately I am tender

Lately everything

Matters and hurts too much

And I feel young and tender

And jerk back from feeling

Before it takes over

Lately I try to breathe 

Against the hurt of the world

People are dying, wanting,

Fighting, losing, losing,

And I know them all

Lately I count money

To a soundtrack of an empty room

An empty seat at someone's table

And this is all too ugly for a poem

And I hate it and I hate it

And I want it to be gone

Lately I am tender 

But some people can't afford to be

Lately I am tender

And look for gentleness in your face

And I can't always see

But your face too is tender

And it weeps for all these things