I went back to the boiler room

Joe Lehman
8/10/08

I must confess that when it comes to poetry I can truly care less about certain formality: poetic form, rhyme or meter. As such I've paid them little regard as I've whipped this piece up during the last hours of this, my day off. That I am able to bring myself to write again after such a long absence is what matters to me right now. I regard this as something of an icebreaker.





I went back to the boiler room

when you invited me in

and then stayed behind after you'd gone

and that's become my sin


I know you always needed me

but could never touch my skin

yet I can't leave the boiler room

The fight that I can't win


I can't handle heartbreak

I told you time and again

I'm just too weak to hold out

so I stay till who knows when


I just stand still in the boiler room

I can't move forward or back, but then

I do feel some protection

in that no light will touch my skin


My comfort is that you still need me

It lasts till that one point where and when

I too start to need you, love

and you pull back again


So I know you can't truly leave me

though you never touch my skin

we just keep falling and then we keep falling

and it remains that way time and again


Now I can be where I'm protected

where the light won't touch my skin

I'll stay behind in the boiler room

and can wash away my sin


I went back to the boiler room

where nothing ends and nothing begins