They say you'll die if you don't breathe
But I've survived hours without a single breath
And I've never been more alive
Than when I'm in her presence.

Sure, I have dreams,
Like any other other man
I want to find love
I want to have children
I want to be rich
I want to rule the world
Who wouldn't?

But sometimes I wonder
If it is all worth it
And perhaps it is not
For the only misery
Worse than that of failure
Is the suffering of success

So perhaps I self-sabotage
Because I fear victory
The way most fear defeat
And so I am condemned to fail
But I wouldn't want it any other way.

The Warm sun on an October afternoon
Rays
Staving off the inevitable
The crunch of leaves underfoot
Lungs full of delicious dry air

The woods beckon
A reprieve from the sun
Leaves rustle as squirrels flee
What have I done
To make them scared of me?

The trails, so empty and peaceful
Focus on the rhythm of the run
Tired? Not on this day
Sense of time long since lost
Nature has mesmerized me
And there's no place I'd rather be
Alas it is getting late
Helios has thrown his cloak upon the woods

Finally, fatigue
Footsteps abate

The woods of Vermont are where my tired bones rest.

It is in those moments
Between the words
Or laughter
Or kiss
That you truly fall in love
You smile at each other
With a knowing glint in every eye
And nothing but dreams filling each mind
The time before you can admit that it could be love
But your hearts know it is
Cherish those moments
They are the most beautiful of all

First steps
Gingerly
Fleeting joy
Heart racing
Suddenly
A hint
Not taken
Suddenly
More than a hint
Footsteps abate
Melancholia

November is the cruelest month
Reminiscence forced of things far gone and
Bitter foreshadowing of what is to come

The leaves have lived up to their name
The trees, a shell of what they once were
The grass clings to its last hope
The temperature makes its empty threats

The beauty of Autumn deteriorates
She is haughty and cruel
We were strung along for so long
But like all good things
Her presence is too fleeting

We try to rationalize her departure
We didn’t need her anyway
Her sister is far more beautiful
Autumn was never committed
We will look for someone else
What luck!
Her sister is coming
Her name is winter!
But alas, how could we love
Someone so bitter and cold?

November is the cruelest month
Joy is attacked in a dark alley
Melancholia does the mugging
Bitterness steals the Hope
November tears apart the heart
With a ruthlessness unseen
In any other month.

The days are soon so short and cold
The landscape is so barren
There is a hint of snow
But it is more like rain
It is so unfortunate to see
Nature’s beauty going all to waste

The thirtieth is here
Judgement Day has arrived
It is only possible to conclude
July was great if too hot indeed
January hard but nearer the end
September its usual lovely self
One month stands alone in its horror
November is the cruelest month

The rope is so thin
Why do you still cling?
Any moment could be its end
Its edges are fraying already

The rope is so thin
Why is it so thin?
It took so much work to make
You love it so deeply

The rope is so thin
But yet so powerful
It has done so much for you
It has given you hope

The rope is so thin
Your arm is getting tired
Your heart is broken
Will you hold on?

You look down
There is a cushion a hundred feet below
You look up
There is a fair lady and joy above

But on the way to it
A million hearts broken
A thousand dreams crushed
Is it worth the struggle?

The rope is so thin
It will snap soon
It is slipping away
What will you do?

It was in the winter you left
Leaving my heart frigid and alone
And no amount of evil theft
Could steal back your lovely soul

The demons down under the earth
Arose and bore you away from me
Your loss could not be measured in it's girth
For nothing could contain it, not even the sea

And there I stood, shivering
Jack Frost would soon consume
My unprotected skin, left withering
From it, blood would seep; a flume

And then came the spring
A time of warmth and rebirth
Joy, excitement, hands trembling
The sight of a whole new earth

None of it could resurrect
My darling, my life, my love
My beautiful effect
The warm hand to my glove

And now I approach the summer
Walking alone through new sun
And then it hits me, a true ******
Perhaps to escape, I must run

So through the fire I persevere
My lover gone and my will in ruin
Summer is long, hot, and severe
But my heart keeps its glue in

At last at ease,
Alone and content
In the warm September grass I lease
My joyful soul with nothing to lament.

One day I came home
And you were no longer there

To the floor I crumpled
With no restraint I wept

Asked God why it had to be
Felt the smooth steel on my skin
And did the horrible deed

I once thought I could never live without you
But after you left I was better off throughout new

I once thought you made me whole
But after you left I saw your true role

I once thought you would be my forever
But after you left I wished you’d been my never

I once thought you were all I could ever need
So darling please come back and give my heart a new seed.

Her face floats in front of me
When I lay down to sleep
Her name dies on my lips
While I dream of our time together

Her eyes chill my very bones
Despite the hot summer sun
Her voice echoes in my ears
Despite the silence in my room

Her taste remains on my tongue
Sweeter than ice cream on a hot day
The smoothness of her skin
I swear I can still feel

The smell of her perfume
Is the most nostalgic sense of all
But one I wish
I’d never smelt at all