Countless Are The Words You'Ve Spoken Poem by joe c.

countless,
countless are the words you've spoken
in your broken rhetoric. A foreigner to this
country and untempered to our customs,
accommodating these new-found ideals is surely strange;
I'm sure it's unnerving, I'm sure your homesick
but I would never ever want you to go home.
endless,
endless were the days spent under that tree,
where we picked ripe, green pears and ate and laughed,
not a word was spoken, but there was always laughter to break the silence;
never awkward but I find it quite comforting that we could say nothing and
still enjoy each others presence.
flawless,
flawless is what I thought you were.
Never mind solving the puzzle of our dialects,
it's a problem quite easily solved,
we found the key and we've solved this-
it's laughter, it's physical, it's in your smile and in your kiss.
lessons,
lessons you've learned and that you've taught,
I had to teach but enjoyed being your pupil much more,
listening to your new-found palaver,
it's amusing and it's hopeful, for you at least:
it's hope that you'll one day better the life from which you came,
and I'll be here along the way
to keep you from straying off your path, hopefully.
mistakes,
mistakes I've made and that you've suffered from.
This language you've had to absorb from me,
the countless words spoken under the tree,
the pears we've picked and that we've consumed,
was it all for nothing? You're back where you started
and I haven't helped at all,
I thought myself the shepherd but I was misleading you all along.
advice,
advice I've given,
no longer should you take it as sacrosanct,
it's blasphemy now and it's left you barren and
back in the land you called home for oh-so-long.
I became obsessed with learning your story,
your words, the history you've come here to escape
and in the end I left you high and dry and didn't impart the knowledge
you needed to be the success you wanted and I'm sorry,
I'm sorry.