I would have called to you
Were it not for the sirens
Blaring in the back of my mind
I would have ran to you
Were it not for the chains
That shackled me to the floor
I would have
If I had wanted to
If you had wanted me
If I had wanted you

My biggest wish for you
Is that when you are old
And grey
You have crow's feet
That crinkle
At the corners of
Your eyes
The world will know
You lived successfully
You were fulfilled
In life
You found happiness
In all you did
You will not have
Wrinkles on your forehead
From years of furrowing
Your brow
In dismay
May this life
Bring you
Nothing but pleasure
May you find
Beauty
In the cracks
Of the sidewalks
In the face
Of your reflection
In the still lakes
You will age marvelously
With a smile like that
I just wanted
To tell you

She loved to scare me
To dangle a future in front
Of my dark chocolate eyes
They gleamed with childish hope
But then she would say something
Anything
A little comment
That felt like splinters
Under my fingernails
Maybe we should wait
She would say
And my heart would ache for her
Long for her
She loved to scare me
Because not five minutes later
We would speak of a future
With children
A white picket fence
And a million other cliches
I knew she meant it
She loved to scare me
Because at the end of the day
She knew I was hers
I would follow her
Anywhere
Everywhere
To the ends of the earth
Loving her scared me
But the thought of losing her
Scared me more

I don't want to tell you
That I'm scared too
Because I know that what I'm feeling
Can't hold a candle
To how you feel
I want to be strong enough
For the both of us
So that when your strength fails you
And the water rises
I may carry you on my shoulders
And wade us through the oncoming tides
No matter what
We will go through this life
Together
Unified
I will never let you be alone
I will never give up on you
But I do know one thing
If nothing else
I know that you will be okay
I love you

My selfish heart broke a little
With words that tore through me
Like butter knives
Because it takes longer
To rip out a heart
With something so dull
Dull like me
Dull like the music
Rushing through my hushed lips
Because music isn't as beautiful
When it's escaping prison
The prisoners rage war
On the backs of my eyes
Not the front
Because everything is connected
From the back of them
It does more damage
You've damaged my prisoner of a heart
And I cannot scream though these lips wish to
I cannot fight back
If I were emptier
I would be dead.

But what if
My vision
Is different?
What if I see
6 kids
And a farm house
With a barn
Full of animals
To keep our children
Smiling and giggling
I see ten cats
And four dogs
A cow, a horse
A pig even
I see a hammock
In the yard
To cradle our baby in
While she sleeps
While the children play
While the dogs wrestle
What I see is
A marriage
A happy one
With angry moments
And more love
Than this world
Has ever seen
I see us,
Forever
When I look at you
I see
A future
I see love

You are a hard days work
When you collapse in your fit
Of sleepy eyes
And tired smiles
I know that the day
Has been a complete success
You are a sweet surrender
When I'm unsure of myself
You are there
To lift me up
And I see myself clearly
Once more
You are the sweetest melody
You are a song destined
To be sung
To be heard
You bring music and life to the world
You are my lover
My best friend
My soul mate
The reason I awake every morning
I will love you forever