she praced around on graceless feet
wearing a crown made from
the shards of broken dreams
her eyes were vacant or
at least they seemed for there were
glittering tears falling down in streams

l.r.

it seems that as time passes
we grow old and our art
grows immortalized

l.r.

you think you are alone
lost and numb to this world
but what you don't know is that i
silently send my love to you
every night in hopes that one
night you might feel it and spare
yourself the torture that plagues you

l.r.

the hardest part about saying goodbye is that you should never have to

l.r.

the hardest walls to climb
are the ones we build ourselves

l.r.

justification for cruelty is the most slippery of slopes into darkness. be wary of those who walk it.

l.r.

today is the day that i lost all respect for you;
the day i realized that i couldn't trust you and that the "you" i knew was never coming back
                                       l.r.

so much damage
so much deceit
i feel the ground crumble
from under my feet
i want to fight back
to feel some relief
but i've already given into
defeat

WHAT IS ART OTHER THAN
BOOKS AND PAINTINGS?

IT IS PLEASURE, ***, AND POETRY.

l.r.

her heart was bursting
at the seams
as her eyes fluttered
with untold dreams

l.r.

born to be free
never to be tamed

is she a woman or a wildflower?

l.r.

and here i am in bed
staring up at the ceiling
and it's 1 a.m. again
but it's funny because i don't remember
even lying down to begin
with
              l.r.

after meeting you
love is no longer just a
physicality
                         l.r.

i want to share everything
that i am with you
from the love that i give
to the taste of my mouth
    l.r.

i love you
i thought you loved me
i guess we were just interested
in different things
                                    l.r.

lend me your lips
and hear my decree
you wouldn't be here if it
wasn't for me
                           l.r.

i had a dream about you last night

you were so kind
you took me to dinner and
that night you held me in your
arms and told me you loved me

that's how i know it was a dream

l.r.

it was a classic love
one that was timeless and simple with
both partners looking in
the same direction

forget the darkness
cut your ties
dawn is coming,
open your eyes
                             l.r.

so many words have begun to
fill my mind and writing them down
is the only thing i can seem to do
but i guess it's okay that they take up
so much space because i am
no longer thinking of you
                                               l.r.

her voice was
a beautiful song
his ears had never
heard before
                        l.r.

they say that love is the
greatest thing you could ever possess
and i guess that's true
because even now
seeing you with her
i have it all but i'll never have you
         l.r.

the thunder cracks
just like the fragile glass
that is my heart
                               l.r.

there's just something about the way
you touch me that feels
different from what i'm used to
there's something about it that
makes me feel special
i don't feel human when
i'm with you
                           l.r.

lately i seem to be finding myself
in the faces of other people
                                                  l.r.

chapped lips
shallow breaths
anticipating what comes next
legs weak and
sweaty skin
how could this be called
a sin?
               l.r.

i had a glass heart
you shattered my fragile love
now i am just sand
                                     l.r.

i'm not sure what it is
about me that
makes you want to
be thin
i guess i never told
you enough

it's your flaws i'm interested in

        l.r.

palm trees and sandy feet
saltwater beaches and
sugary sweets
ocean spray and saltwater
sweat
our souls are dry but
our skin is wet
                              l.r.

you say your dad hasn't
been doing too well and
that you haven't really been
whole lately
saying things to keep me
away from you.
well, love, i'm not scared
to fill the hole he's leaving
behind or too frightened to
help you fight the ghosts that
will haunt the halls
                                      l.r.

heart and mind
both opened at the
exact same time.

outside of my comfort zone
i quickly and quietly
write the poem.

regrets and fears
of darkness from the past
how long will AJ let me last?

a dark secret i don't want
to show
just how long until they know?

he seems supportive
accepting and such
and he says he likes me way too much

l.r.

it's two a.m.
and i can't help but think
of what we could've been
if you hadn't hurt me
but treated me right
instead
                   l.r.

i gave you every
last piece of my heart
a fact that you are so
blithely unaware of
  
                 l.r.

in a crystalline sea
we sink deeper and deeper
there's all of this clarity
around us but none
between you and i
                                   l.r.

something about that fair skin
makes me want you more
our moans sound like music
from the outside of the door

l.r.

it funny to think
of how much sway
you have over my
heart
              l.r.

we are not human
you and i
we are fallen stars
walking upon the earth
when where we really belong
is in the sky
                          l.r.

your body on top
of mine
our sweat mixed together
like the ocean's waves
exchanging foam
                                 l.r.

i asked you to take care of me,
to nurse this deepened scar.
you said that you couldn't fix me

*it's too much for a galaxy to ask of a star.

each poem i write
is a petal.
those petals then begin to form
a flower and all of the flowers
are for you.
                        l.r.

i hope that one day
you can learn to love
my mind the way you
love my body
                            l.r.

kiss me in the way the waves
touch the shore.
love me in the way the stars
love the night.
whisper sweet nothings to me
as if you were telling a secret.
                                   l.r.

you are an adventurer,
constantly exploring the
geography of my
heart.                        l.r.

it seems like only last year
we were standing here,
our toes in the rolling tides.
you told me that you loved me
but I could see some sort of
reservation in your eyes.
and now I'm standing here
my toes in the sand,
facing the setting sun.

*i hear your name in every breaking wave

endlessly searching for
knowledge in a world of
fear,
we are the white knights of
our generation.
                              l.r.

sand and saltwater sweat
fills my nostrils
as we lay side by side on
the shore.
if love was an ocean,
then I've never wanted to
drown more.          
                             l.r.

In between lives I've loved you, different parts of you each time, so now in this life we are living I've come to love you completely, without reserve, like putting all the pieces of a puzzle together, leaving me one beautiful something made with the tiny pieces of us.      
          s.w. collins

Like any puzzle,
though -- overtime -- we lose the little pieces. And the whole picture that once was is now distorted.
Eventually, we leave the puzzle behind because the holes cannot be filled.
we are missing the things that used to hold us together            l.r.

chest pains.
heart aches; crying from
repetitive breaks.
i guess i just don't have what
it takes
to differentiate real love
from the fakes.                      l.r.

cold mornings brought on by
the absence of you in my
bed.
sheets lay unwrinkled because
there is no one to help me
tangle them.
the only thing that remains unchanged
is the noise; except that the sound of
my moans have been replaced by the
sounds of my struggle
                        l.r.

you were all that i
never wanted,
but that didn't stop you
from loving me.
you tried your hardest
to be what i needed,
but i was always
too blind to notice.        l.r.