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Jeremy Betts Jan 17
From day one, from the moment I was given one, my compass has had a faulty magnet
Why was that written into my script?
And why didn't I get a say in any of it?
Shouldn't I have been given a manuscript?
Explaining, for one thing, why I have to combat life and everything that comes with it?
How would you go about it?
Can't I just shrug it off, maybe let some shiit slip?
My path doesn't always need to be backlit
Certainly not by the ember of my burnout that fell from orbit
The punishment never fit the crime but I still submit that most of the claims are, in themselves, counterfeit
But I didn't quit in a panic
Not every life is a good investment
So I made the corporate decision to forfeit
Call it an early retirement
The more fitting term is a forced exit

©2024
Jeremy Betts Dec 2023
Me against myself against I, a perpetual tie, not alright
Never try this darkness, it's destined to conquer light
It's the fault of the people close to me that my everything's bottled up air tight
Try as I might
Still pushed aside, out of sight

Me against myself against I, but who is right?
Do what I gotta do and what I gotta do is wake from this nightmare of a plight
No time to address it, either die in the ring or forfeit the fight
Despise the spotlight
Despite what you might think, I embrace the night

©2023
Parzival May 2020
One foot after the other, in perfect alignment
Carrying their spears of regrets with mirror shields to remind me of what I am
A full compliment of soldiers ready to invade my mind
More and more, their numbers never cease to increase
I try my best to stand my ground, equipped with my sword of dreams riding my noble steed of hope
Again I am faced with sad odds, I lose, again
I end up forfeiting a region of my country, again
I end up retreating to my castle of solitude
As I watch the invaders colonize the plains of my mind
Shades of sadness cloud the once clear and sunny skies
Color rich fields fade to black
Another battle, lost
They draw closer, so I ask myself, How much longer
How much longer till my walls of faith give in?
I started counting the days since my noble steed ran away
I've been doubting my chances since my trusty sword broke
The marching draws closer, I'll go out to face them, again.
Alexis D Cruz Mar 2020
I trudge along for what seems like an eternity.
With each step, I fall further into the pits of despair.
Pretty soon, I fear, anxiety will consume me and shatter whatever flicker of ambition is left.
Maybe I should just give up now and lay here in these woods until the vultures decide to make a meal of my remains.
An excerpt from a book I'm working on that sounded pretty poetic to me.
Em MacKenzie Nov 2018
I’ve been wearing a mask and telling lies
to anyone who will listen in this town,
and sunglasses can hide your tired eyes
but they can not hide your frown.
I’ve been saying all the right words
every day and on repeat,
the song blends in with the birds
and the traffic on the street.

I’ve been lying in bed,
arguing with the silence in my head.
Every book I’ve read
just says the same things that you said.
I’ve been lying in bed,
thinking I’d be better off dead.

I’ve been walking with a limp and a crutch
even though my legs are working just fine.
And I’m always thinking but never say too much,
but I will never turn down a line.
I’ve been speaking all the wrong thoughts in my head,
but no matter what I do they seem to never go away.
I’ve tried replacing them with the righteous ones instead,
but it’s tantamount cause the instinctive ones just stay.

I’m lying in bed,
arguing with the silence in my head.
The sunlight I dread,
I much prefer the nighttime instead.
I’m lying in bed,
starving though I’ve just been fed.
I’m lying in bed,
thinking I’d be better off dead.

I didn’t get to choose the colours for my painting, but I swore that I tried my very best.
And what do you do when you hate your creation?
Do you hang it up with the rest?
I packed for a trip with no return
but skipped bringing anything essential,
I had to walk a path just so I could learn
that every action is consequential.
And I’ll tell you now that even the right type of misery can be happiness
it all depends on what you yourself choose to feel.
Nothing is perfect so it’s best to embrace the mess,
it can be imaginary but we both know it’s real.

I’m lying in bed,
arguing with the silence in my head.
Every single layer I shed
is consumed by ink and lead.
I’m lying in bed,
hoping for a second chance with each med.
I’m lying in bed,
thinking I’d be better off dead.
Lyvana Nyx Aug 2017
Not meant to be
Means nothing to me
I am unpersonified,
A bounty on every breath
I ceased to exist
At 5 months conceived
I was born a miscarriage,
A mistake, a not meant to be
Fate has no ties,
No threads to weave
Im a mess up in the
Fundamental tapestry
Even god seeks my death
To take back what's not mine
Defiant, deviant, I don't abide
My life is not forfeit
Unbound, unbalanced, unknown
I fight for the right to LIVE.
saniyya Mar 2016
It's funny, you would always say that you're the best 2k player out there,
but I doubt it because you forfeit before we even got started.
Stone Fox Jul 2015
I forfeit you often in tiny moments lingering like age..To a titanic of an opponent I know I will never defeat. You.
You're the mighty unbreakable door, with no handle nor **** to turn, neither knocker or bell to ring. You are the only door that is not a slave to any metal. Not even a cursed object like skeleton keys can force it open and break into your secret thoughts. It opens from one side and one side only. Your side.
I've watched you slip behind your door and get lost inside yourself.. Never taking anyone with you. Slipping through time in a compelling labrynth, hidden somewhere behind those dark intoxicating eyes.  Those eyes that make me often forget what I'm saying midsentence.
The spark to the match of my irrelevant jealousy, driving me to the brink of insanity. Making me restlessly patient for your return from the door and back to reality, or the reality we physically share.
I want to get lost with you, take me through your door. I want to see more than you show, and know all the things you never say. I need your raw unyeilding commentary and this unwanted vail you hide behind lifted: exposing you bare.
I've been stealing bits of you over the years while you were unaware-but it's no longer enough.
I want to finally see all of you at once. Not the glimpses and echos that I have collected and pieced together under your nose for all these years. Like some common stalker..
That version, my version of you, is forever unsatisfying and incomplete. It will never be enough, who you are in my head and who you are when we are together, is only a shadow of the you let me see. I want the version you keep locked up, the one you  never share.You may be content being lost inside yourself alone, but even so, it doesn't have to be that way.
I beg you, stop keeping to yourself. Keep me instead.
Together, we will be the perfect trade.

-Stone Fox
Stan Feb 2015
Oh, darling, you need somebody to chase you
But forgive me, my legs won't move no more
Find yourself a fast runner because you run like the wind
And I'll just stay here, with my feet on the moon, loving you [standing] still.
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