With sweet nostalgia hanging in the air, the winds pick up and spread it through the park like butter on toast. Orchestrating the poplars' subtle and routine symphony, the winds travel, leaving a slight coolness in their wake. A clue to their presence. The over-powering scent of familiarity lingers and invades the senses, prompting a catharsis. A feeling reaches deep into the soul and reacts. The product, being of a something...of two somethings, perhaps, unknown.

In response, the heart skips a beat, jostling the distracted mind awake and alert to the surroundings. Opening the eyes.

And you notice, quite suddenly, how alive the world around you really is. Like the curtain opening to a show. And an array of beautiful notions dart to and fro, as if attempting to escape your understanding and into the wind that journeys; even through the tiniest blades of the grass at your feet. If an idea could only wander from one spot to another, like the sound of children's laughter echoing between the old trees. If one pure thought could escape and find host in another, would that not be a beautiful thing? Or for the indomitable affection of two lovers sitting at a park bench to trickle over and illuminate the heart of the old man passing by. If only beauty and love be so easily given and not so easily taken.

The gentle fluttering of wings breaks concentration, as a nearby dove settles upon a low branch that is set to swinging. From its perch, the park must seem smaller as it watches the people move amongst the greenery, ignorant to its presence above. Save one. A face, upturned. A soul reaching out for an understanding of beauty's very nature and being met by the gaze of a single, white dove.

It's only a matter of time
Before happiness turns into boredom
and claims that it's time to leave
To seek out a new venue to play
For a limited time only.
Maybe a one night engagement
Perhaps longer
Until the happiness returns in a wave
of strumming tunes and sweet harmonies
New to a used-up heart
And just as exhilarating as the songs
that it has heard before
On repeat

And the girl chased after the star. If she could reach the horizon, the star would be hers. But as she continued to chase, the star flew further and further away from her. She stopped by a stream and noticed her reflection as she drank the water. She was crying, filled with frustration at the star for fooling her. And as she stared at herself, she noticed millions of stars behind her. Above her. Beside her. She looked to the sky and saw each one. They were just as beautiful and shone just as brightly. The girl was content to lay under the nighttime sky. And for the first time, it was her mind that raced after the stars, as she was happy just to watch them from below.

I am the Lovestruck One
for your viewing pleasure
From love, I could not run
Hear and take good measure

Many years in the past
when I was just a man
I thought my cheer would last
thanks to my lifelong plan

I would be whatever
I decided to be
I would go wherever
my heart dared to take me

When suddenly love struck
and turned my plan to ****
My running feet got stuck
and forced me to just sit

My soul found elation
My mind explored the new
Life, free of frustration
Fresh sense of what is true

I was in love’s embrace
and very happy that way
With no more roads to chase
I was glad to just stay

Then it let go of me
for the first time ever
I lost my sense to be
Love is cruel and clever

It returns and then goes,
taking over my heart
keeping me on my toes
The game, Change, is its art

I stand here before you
Still playing love’s sick game

I was once like you too
Now I’m not quite the same

To all of you, beware
Of peeling back layers
Love will never be fair
and makes you all players

You’ll never know
where you’re going
Or when you will get there.
Be happy
to continue on the road
The perfect (perhaps)
Never-ending road
Of music, self awareness,
Happiness.

Keep walking down, up,
for, and with the road.
It is part of you
It is yours!
Feel it
Follow it
Question it
Climb the hills
Run down the valleys
Fall.
Get up.
Accept the ones who walk
next to your road.
Maybe,
let them follow it too

Comfort tells you not to.
Ignore comfort!
Embrace chance!
Let it join you
It can only widen the road.
Leave the chances you took
Behind.
Follow the rhythm
You guide the road,
it doesn’t guide you.

Run when you need to
Stop to rest.
Dance.
Sing.
It’s your road
Do whatever you want on it
Be willing to love
Wherever it leads you
because that
is where you have led it.

Friendless and hungry, once again. I stroll through the sullen, lonesome streets of suburbia and consider the faded footsteps beneath my own. I remember the early days, when food was plentiful. When the threat of death brought the world to life. Last songs filled the air, sparking thrilling sensations in lost wanderers. Like me. The world moved too fast, and we slowed it down. Now it doesn’t move at all. My friends blame it on the  hunger. I blame it on the heat, which I search for still. The burning warmth of life. Just to grasp for a moment. Before the starvation takes over and the cold comes back in.

So, I stagger along, dragging the unfortunate mask of death with me. The prospect of food is long gone. Along with my friends and their empty company. The leaves dance in the wind, though I can’t see them in the dark. Their music makes me sad and lonely, until there is a light. Shining through a far off window. It guides me forward as the world becomes a blur. It is the heat. It is hope. And I can feel the warmth already. It takes hold of me and for a moment, I can feel life again. I can almost taste it.