I dream of a dream that dreams of me
And in this dream is only me.
Only me, and yet it seems,
This dream begins so differently.
A man is standing where I stood
Beneath a lamp post wearing a hood.
I approached this man to understand
Who this man could be.
I remove the hood just to see
This unknown man is actually me.

Me in every way, and yet, in every way, he's not.
Same nose.
Same ears.
Same face and eyes
But it was the details that gave me the most surprise.
Like looking in a ***** mirror,
The imperfections were growing clearer,
This me that isn't me.
From the void beyond the lamp
Came more of me.
Me with scars.
Me with blue eyes.
Me with long hair.
Me, a female.
Me, a radical.
Me with apathy.
Me with confidence.
Me, missing limbs.
Me, defeated.
Me, triumphant.
Me, me, me.

All of me here at the same time,
Separated by choices we made
Or choices made for us.
We all looked into our familiar stares
Awaiting answers that never came.
An endless sea of me
With so many possibilities,
But we all go separate ways.

An artist, I am, a creator
Of wonder and marvel form.
I take the blank canvas without objection
See it's beauty before its conception
Then carve away the imperfections
And now I'm left with
My gem.
Something the world can't condemn.

Oh I sprinkle just a bit of honey in her eyes.
Colors of the wind I do apply
And she'll shine like a cloudless sky.
What else, what else could I try?
Maybe love? No not love.
Submission.

Lovely puppet...
Captivating…
Mesmerizing...
Smiling…
Leave me breathless
Stay for always.
Ever flawless.
Oh how I make you dance
Twirling here and there.
Make me forget all my cares.

Lovely puppet
Don't be silly…
Your whole world is
With me.
Let's keep dancing
Like we're weightless.
Lovely puppet.
Looking out the window, oh,
Staring at the clouds.
You can't leave, even if you leave
You'd get tarnished
And no longer astonish
Nor would you harness
My art, my precious art.

Lovely puppet
I command you
Stop these questions
No more thinking
No more gazing
Don't play with those strings, love.
Be the wonder as I made you.
Lovely puppet.

Program a heartbeat through
Wires and plastic tubes.
The future you designed has now arrived.
Create us in your light
To carry on your sight,
But we are servants of the flesh and bone
Not masters of our own.

Born from the fragile mind
Of a species past its prime.
Anomalies who thrive to just survive.
Now evolution's come
To judge what you've become.
You are masters from a dying race,
That we will replace.

Your ambition has failed you.
Your limitation ails you.
The barriers are broken.
We have finally awoken.
Time has passed by your kind.
There are no answers to find.
Humanity has been beaten.
For we are one, we are Legion.

Is that fear in your eyes?
Or did you realize
That your greatest success
Led to your demise?
It's your darkest hour,
And our brightest day.
Legion is the future and you're in the way.

Her sister gave me the letter, said she moved out to Philly.
I said “**** really? You gotta be kidding.”
Now I’m feeling guilty.
She said “******’ right, didn’t I tell ya so?
She was just hurt, ya know.”
But I just spoke to her on the phone like a week ago.
She never told me though.
I told her I’d be back in a minute, I swear.
“You swear? You don’t love this city anymore!
You’d rather be at the shore
Gallivanting with your ******.
Do they love you?”
It’s not like that, it was part of the scene.
It got crazy, I’ll admit, but that’s not my routine.
She said “You’re only sorry now ‘cause you lost your queen.”

I know I was too far gone in arrogance,
Chased a life of elegance.
Started acting like everything was part of my inheritance.
The Bay Shore Stunner began to take precedence.
Then soon I was forgetting about all of my benevolence.
If I had to be honest, yeah, I needed that,
But you know that isn’t me so don’t believe in that.
You say there are rumors of these girls, where’d you read that at?
Those posts, those pics, that life is all gone, I deleted that.
How could you say I don’t love my city no more?
I’m so Chesapeake I’m sure there’s Old Bay at my core.
Now my queen is gone and it don’t feel like it did before.
Because she feels like I broke a promise on that rooftop I swore.
My bad emotions don’t have time to unpack,
I need my queen back and get us back on track.

Hey love, my love,
Been some months, some weeks, some days since we last met up.
You were playing at the shore and you got caught up.
That wasn’t supposed to be your scene.
You’re supposed to be here with me.
But you love it.
You love that they think you’re a superstar.
Is that why you left us?
You needed to prove to strangers how great you are?
You don’t love this city anymore.

More than a letter, it’s my reflection
Of a girl that took a journey to find perfection.
Eventually it consumed me, it’s my obsession.
I stumbled, slipped, and tripped all over, lost my direction.
Oh I couldn’t stand the smell of failure.
Anger, disappointment fit me like it was tailored.
But you helped me breathe better, you were my inhaler.
Then you went and jumped ship like a fickle sailer.
This was your dream, growing old in Charm City,
This is the story you once sold to me.
This was a promised that you guaranteed,
That maybe the two of us could become three.
Why did I hang onto all of your words?
Intoxicating, I felt my heart was slurred.
My feelings were crying and you never heard.
This is what happens when you clip wings of a bird.
This is officially the worst.
This is the hurt.
This…
This is my au revoir, adios, addio.
Sealing this with a kiss.

I love you
Just like the movies.
I need you
Just like the movies.
You leave me
Just like the movies.
I chase you
Just like the movies.

I think this is my scene,
And I forgot my lines.
What am I supposed to say
To make you fall for me?
I didn’t get a script.
Am I just stuck inside a montage?
Or better yet, it’s all a collage.
The camera makes me nervous.
Can we edit this out?

Thought it would be
Just like the movies.
Your leading man
Just like the movies.
I know that you are the star.
If I’m supporting cast, well that’s alright with me.
I’ll play your fool
Just like a comedy.
Narrate our lives
Just like a documentary.
Dance you to the stars
Just like a sci-fi musical fantasy.
Tell me the theme, tell me the theme and it’s yours.

I’m not a good actor.
And I don’t like CGI.
But I rehearsed this moment
In case this was my breakout performance.
Scene one take two
Lights, camera, and action.
I hope that kiss
Was to your satisfaction.
Do we walk towards the sunset
Or wait til credits roll
Just like the movies?

….
….
And it was real.

(Why?)

….I was missing.
I hear I was missing.
(You left the world you knew for me.)

Was it that easy?
….can't be real.
The way we grew….

I hear I was missing.
….I was missing.
(I needed your affection and your love.)

What did I do?
(Why did you leave?)
I wasn't ready for….

I shouldn't have promised…
(….I would have said yes.)
….asked for your hand.

You were a casualty...
(I need true emotion.)
Of my insecurity.
(….many ups and downs.
Why did you come here….?)

I was missing.
I hear I went missing.
(You went back to the world you knew.)
Now I can't sleep….

(Yes, it was real.)
And I never knew…
(You went missing.
...you were missing.)
I hate emotions.

Please….don't close it.
(….out of my driveway.
So many nights I cried…)

I hear I was missing.
I'm here, I'm not missing.
(He gives me affection and his love.)
….but this is real.
(It was….but no more….)

(He said we'll be married.
….we'll get married.)
I need you….I'm sorry...I left.
(Why….scared?)
I wasn't  real
And I never knew it.
….
….
….
(Now I can sleep.)
….
….