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.)
….
….

She’s awake in the night, she is dreamless.
The tears start to form, they are streaming.
She tries to cry out, but she is voiceless.
My, my, it’s maddening.
And to think that all she loves
Have turned their backs on her.
While her emotions have declare war on her.

Apathy has set in, she is hopeless
That someone will see that she is falling,
And feeling deprived.

She’s all alone as depression slowly covers her room.
The pressure is there, malignant, questioning if she
Can get through the night.

With a mask on her face, she feels stronger
To face all the world, she’ll convince them.
A performance she gives, and they believe it.
But I see her disease, she is breaking.
I’ll take her home.

‘Cuz I sit and watch as depression slowly fills up her wounds.
It spreads to her core, malignant, I wonder if I
Can catch her before she falls.

How I feel right now doesn’t matter.
‘Cause I’ll say I’m ok.
Yet still I’m wondering why do you love me?
It feels... I feel so out of place.
I know you’re looking for answers lovie
But I don’t know what to say to you.
I’m holding, dearly, my bad emotions.

Last night in the shore we killed that scene.
Whatever I was feeling it.
Now my alarm clock wakes from the dream
And reality’s back, I gotta deal with it.
All of these strangers became new friends.
New stories wrote with old pens.
Same picture seen with a new lens.
But that was only for the weekend.
Drunk nights get remembered more than sober ones.
I just can’t remember how the night begun.
Order up, I don’t know from where these drinks came,
But I know that I remember those strippers by their real names.
Jody? Maxine?
It’s all the same, they were pawns in my fantasy.
****….did I say that?
I’m just lost and I’m tryna find my way back.
But instead I found my way into your bed
Now I’m thinking about everything you whispered in my head like
“I been searching for you my whole life.”
“I think I wanna be your wife.”
And none of that even computes.
I can’t imagine me settling down, laying the roots.
I gotta slip out of here before
You wake up and read the note I left on your drawer.
‘Cause I know you’ll be full of questions
And I’ll have to be real and give you my confession
That I know you’re looking for answers lovie
But I don’t know what to say to you.

I’m holding, dearly, my bad emotions.

I’ll hold you tight
Like a memory you think of when you’re low.
You don’t let go,
Smiling and singing ‘til your heart is full.
We’re slow to realize how quickly life can change
And how fast these days roll by.
It’s like a tidal wave and we’re just floating on.
So let’s look to the sky and know
We still have tonight.

As the fire dances on,
I can see us in the flames.
So vibrant, so alive.
Oh I’d write it out on paper to remember everything,
From all the days and nights we shared
But I’m so lost inside this moment
I hope I’m never found.

After tonight
I’ll be alone again driving home beneath the star light.
When all that’s left of you is your scent,
These memories will get me through the days.
Whisper to me what you swore you’d never say.
I’m hanging on every word.
The hardest tears and the hardest years ahead,
But I look to you now
And feel so safe in your eyes.

They call her name up to the stage
But she’s not sure she should go.
They call her name and yet
Her stomach practically explodes.
It’s not unusual and surely not so desirable,
But she knows it’s her moment so focus, focus.

I know she’s nervous I can see the sweat forming on her brow.
Anticipation, hesitation settles over the crowd.
Anxiety is swelling as the people keep staring
All the while wondering who this girls that’s wearing...

An aubergine Tanglewood.
She starts strumming and she’s humming, set the mood for the room.
Songs with three chords amuses the hoard
With enticing melody’s.

She closed her eyes so she wouldn’t see the eyes in the room.
She closed her eyes and now she’s all alone inside the venue.
It’s not so tragic as she thought it was gonna be.
Still a few more songs left so we’ll see, we’ll see.
Heads are nodding, feet are moving, they’re all feeling the vibe.
She’s the doctor and her music is what she prescribes.
The walls echoing the cheers but the room was too bright.
Nobody will notice when I change the lights to…

Aubergine to change the mood.
She keeps singing and they’re beginning to become unglued.
Ignite the masses and let’s toast glasses
To songs from the guitar.

Everybody get your *** up on the dance floor.
Tonight we gotta show out for Bay Shore.
You got stress? Go ahead and check it at the door.
Let the bass move somethin’, hit you at your core.
Let’s get disconnected,
No phones.
Let these strangers be your friend,
You not alone.
It’s hard to dust it off, trust me I understand.
But it’s hard to be depressed, we partying on sand.
Ain’t none of this was planned, love is in high demand.
We got you covered so why you still acting like you worried?
We gotta capture this for the IG stories.

And you holding back, but it’s alright.
Go and let it loose, cuz it’s alright.
This is our night.

The music’s live and the music’s bumpin’.
Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme? Cool Runnings.
I’m not tryna get in your pants,
That’s a no no.
I’m tryna show my Charm City dance,
How I go go.
Babylon at noon, Gilgo soon.
Fire pit on Fire Island under the moon.
Move the party to the boat, set sail for the cruise.
Sit back, have a drink, enjoy the views.
I don’t wanna wife you up,
Not this evening.
I only wanna life you up,
I’m just teasing.
I see you working now, come out of that shell.
Don’t you leave here without a story to tell.
Put your hands up, this a celebration.
Give yourself a standing ovation.

Live in the moment, and it’s alright.
Let’s just own this, cuz it’s alright.
This is our night.
A Bay Shore night.

Misconstrued
Are our lies and truths.
How the definition’s lost
Through the trials of our lives.

And I should have known that the crown
Was too heavy for me.
Will they lay down flowers
When they bury me?
And I cast my tears in the puddles of my misery.
My heart and soul has detached from me.
And all my convictions paved the way
For proteges to see.

Vitality and destruction
I command at will.
How the variable of love
Can sway my hand.

And I should have known that this burden
Would have consumed me.
Please say a few words
When they rest me in my grave.
And I cast my tears in the puddles of my misery.
My heart and soul has detached from me.
And all my convictions paved the way

For proteges to see.
I pray they never grow to be....me

Persistence mixed with resentment
Has paralyzed
The life that you're used to.
Flood of Maclin and 3rd
Left you drowning in the street.
You try to compare moments
But you're too far removed.
Feel the skyline
Sinking beneath you.

A picture hanging from your locket,
A constant reminder
You're drowning underwater.
Water from your eyes.

Time will visit.
Return you
To the surface.
Resurface.

It’s 12 a.m. and here we are again.
Tears on your sleeve,
How hard you grieve.
Oh I know all about who you were
And who you are now,
But what really changed?
Fairy tales you were told
Seem different as you get old.
And it’s left you with a longing for
Something more.

It’s 2 a.m and here you are again.
Tears on my sleeve.
How hard you grieve.
But what made you believe
That he was the man of your dreams?

Oh, tell me how you feel.
Lend me your voice tonight.
Whisper it in my ears.
Slow down, slow down.
Just tell me how you deal
With fire all around you.
Paper hearts disappear.
Breathe in, breathe out.

Dig your claws in me
While I lay imagining
What it is you see in me.
I’ll just wait til the morning.
Feel you empty me.
Guess that means that I fell flat.
Would you even tell me that?
I don’t know how much time has passed.

Hindsight stares at me,
As I stare into the night,
Breathe in unpleasant delights.
Just the thoughts make my skin crawl.
Replay all your words,
But there’s no way to take them back.
You tell white lies to black cats.
How many lives do I have have left?

I want to scream into the silence.
Repel your touch but I’m compliant.
I want to hate you but I’m biased.
No sedative.

To what does the world owe to her beauty?
A beauty no one has ever seen.
Locked behind a door, a barrier of sort,
But not to keep the world at bay.

She speaks to me through concrete and wood,
Curiosity growing fonder by the day.
Her voice echoes off the empty manor
To which my ears captures
And my mind constructs an image of her.
I can only assume she does the same of me.

I sit of hours in that sturdy chair outside her chamber,
Engaging in conversations we’ve never had before.
With each spoken word we unravel more layers of ourselves,
Layers we both feared of discovering.

I mustered up the courage to reveal feelings,
Feelings that quickly became a bouquet of clumsy words.
She laughs at my blunder
But not in mockery.

I place my hand on the wall.
I hear her footsteps grow closer.
I imagine her putting her hand up as well.
The closest I will get to feeling her touch.

My Rapunzel won’t let down her hair
But granted me access to her tower.
Frustration tells me to abandon this endeavor,
Yet hope yearns to see it through.

I return to that sturdy chair once more
To continue our routine as always.
My ears prepare to capture her voice again
Hoping to be greeted with the sound of a door creak.
The bedroom light sneaks from under the door
Accompanied by a woman’s fragrance.

I long to see the face she hides.
I long touch the skin she protects.
I long to break down the wall between us.

“You're an *******”
She says to me on the phone
It looks like she's mad
She’s always so mad.
I went drinking again with my best friends
Instead of having movie night.
I guess I should feel ashamed.

“You're an *******”
She says to me through text
It’s something I said?
She left me on read.
I think we're fighting again and she pretends
That everything’s alright.
I guess I have to play this game.

I’m an *******
I know, I’ve heard it all before.
Everything’s my fault.
It’s always my fault.
She takes a look at my flaws and makes it cause
To mold me as she deems.
I’m not animal that she can tame.

She doesn’t seem to
Understand.
I didn’t mean to
Disappoint.
I'll never be who
She wants me to be.
It’s no use.
She can’t accept me,
She’s to blame.

Stuck in a life full of tragic
She wants to leave
And find her magic.
No, she’s not erratic.

Hides all her pride inside the attic
Of her mind
It's all just static
No, she's not dramatic.

She slips again, and starts to panic
She’s sinking fast
Like the Titanic
It’s just a habit, it’s automatic.
This isn't fairy tales that you read
It's ****** her dry she can't even bleed
She’s falling apart all over me.

She's in her room on the phone
Crying to me
That she's alone.
Her mind is stuck in traffic.

A pile of dreams under the bed
Once full of promise
Now torn to shreds, can’t admit it’s dead.

She tells me what she thought it would be.
Like it is on tv.
She’s no longer in the scene.
She picks it up right where she left it,
On the floor, she can't forget it.
This isn't magic.
This isn't habit.
This isn't tragic.
It's automatic.

She stares in my nervous eyes
Her steady hand touches mine.
Im breathing her in, the air's getting thin.
Im open wide.

She presses her lips to mine,
My hands climbing up her thighs.
And all I could see was pure ecstacy
Tonight.
Oh, my head wont stop spinning,
No, my heart won’t stay still.
Oh, nothing can be better...no,
She has only begun.

She's laying inside my arms
While she seduces me with charm.
My emotions sway, I beg her to stay
Tonight.
Recover my beating heart
So naive from the start.  
I know that she'll leave once she's done with me
Tonight.

Oh, this room won’t stop spinning
No, what have I become?
Oh, the fantasy's over...no,
I am coming undone.

I put a dream catcher above my bed
Just to get you out of my dreams tonight.
I know it won’t help,
I’m always reaching out for you.

The words we left unsaid,
All the words we never shared.
They're hanging in the air,
All the feelings we never spared.

Am I out of line
For reaching for what’s never there?
Madeline,
Do you still think there’s nothing left?

Cuz this time we’re out of time.

Yet another weekend,
The same as last week.
Waste away the day
Because we’re too weak
From the weight of boredom.
Please don’t speak
Of drinking in Fells Point.

Forget this town, we just need a break right now
We need something new.
Let’s blow this town, let’s go somewhere we can’t pronounce
Put it all in review.

We can leave tonight if,
If Rob’s okay to drive.
Let’***** the road tonight.
We don’t have to stay here all the time.

Before we all set to roll,
Who’s got money for tolls?
Forget this town, I don’t wanna wait around
For life to find us.
Forget this town and familiar sights and sounds
Just trust the impulse.

So let’s leave tonight.
We can leave tonight.
North on 95.
We don’t have to stay here all the time.

Another girl
Different emotions than the night before.
Where are you?
Are you back home?
Is it alright if I called you tonight?
I’ve filled this room with things to forget you.
But it wouldn’t let me.
It’s still empty in here.

The time drags by.
Memories of you echo off the walls.
Am I too late?
Are you back home?
Is it alright to hear your voice tonight?
This ceiling fan always stares down at me.
Like the world is spinning
But I’m just lying still.

Maybe it’s nothing.
Maybe it’s everything.

Downpour of the rain and midnight thunder soothes my brain.
I can fix this.
I need a breakthrough, I need something…
I just can’t think, I can’t create.
You sound like them, nervous and ready to condemn,
But I’m closer to truth, and closer to all the sickness
In their bones.

So I scratch out their names of another soul this disease claims.
And it just spreads, it always spreads.
Their eyes hardly sober now.
If they’re alive, then I can’t tell.

Silence of the room, it’s not so bad, it’s not so bad.
Stealing from the tomb, it’s not so bad, it’s not so…
Not so bad.

So I scratch out the names of the poor ******* I can’t save
To ease the blame.
The ghosts of humanity beckons for life I can’t provide
Or recreate, or sew the seeds of my good deeds.
I see the line, I can’t stop now.
I know I’m flirting with hell.
If I’m alive, then I can’t tell.

Pills and optimism seem to fail when I need
Strength to persevere but the light is fading.
I can feel the nightmares in my bones, persuading
Me to find solutions for the sick
So we won’t die.

Patience, I see that time has failed you.
Why did the people praise you?
Why did the people warn me
To keep you close by?

Hope, how could you betray me?
You were my one foundation.
Why did you decide to leave me
To suffer alone?

Darkness, I can’t begin to tell you
How much I’ve come to crave you.
Sorry I kept you chained up,
But I need you now.

Her exotic gaze caught my jet lagged eyes.
The bar was filled with drunken banter
But I heard her loud and clear.
She approached me like a lion approaches its prey,
And the trap was set.

We didn’t speak each other’s language
But our bodies did the talking.
“Come hither” it said as I followed.
Her hips led the way as my hands followed.
She smelled of Juniper and lust.

She can’t take her hands off me,
And I can’t take my lips off her neck.
Her body says “Let’s get out of here”
So I obliged.
She’s taking off my tie in the taxi,
And my hand heads further up her dress.
We left a trail of clothes from the taxi
To her condo.

Ecstacy and cigarette smoke filled the room
As we caught our breaths.
The midnight moon crept in through the curtains.
“Come back to bed” her eyes said.
Her dreamlike state quickly faded
As her eyes locked onto the barrell
Of my gun.
Her eyes said “Have mercy.”
My lips said “You’re just an assignment.”
We couldn’t understand each other,
But a bullet sounds the same in any language.

A single shot echoed into the night
And gently disappeared into the wind.
Her once vivrant body was now
Lifeless and cold.

I’ll collect my check in the morning.

I know better than this.
Why am I here?
This isn’t my bed.
I should be home.
I should be alone,
But I’m inside a stranger.

Whisper nothings to me.
I’m in a trance.
I’m hypnotized.
I’ve been deprived.
I am alive,
Take me all the way in.

Love, beautiful love,
Run your lips all over me,
Lie to me and I’ll believe
Everything you tell me tonight.

Lustful tempers rising high,
My hands make it to your thigh,
Temptation is driving tonight.

Leave me sweaty and numb,
Heavy and cold.
Something is wrong,
I am a pawn.
Get me out of this bed.

Darkness blankets the room,
Stealing my core.
Goldenrod eyes
Taking my life.
Her teeth are all the way in.

She smiles maliciously.
She claws me viciously.

I can’t go home….

Love, embrace the healing
Ignore the feelings welling up inside.
The world awaits before your jaded eyes.
Learn the lesson in your reflection
From the aquatic blue.
It’s hard for you not to reminisce how you

Spent your life
Trying to make sure you prevent
Your demise,
Guiding lights will help you realize.

Stare in the big blue yonder
You always wander off inside your mind.
Release the turmoil you hold so dear to you.
Let the cerulean absorb your worries,
Float in tranquility.
The truth you seek is in the twilight.

“I’m afraid to see what waits for me,
I don’t trust myself to believe”

Spend your life
Diving into your escapade.
Ocean night,
Thrive to find what makes you feel alive.

I saw it, I saw it,
Please trust me, it’s coming soon.
Forgive me, don’t ignore this, I mean it
Pay attention pay attention now.

Don’t dismiss me, I promise, I mean it,
Hell comes tonight.

I know I...I’ve said this all before
I’m a liar, but I’m not lying.
I know I...I know I’m a joker.
I’m not joking….it’s coming for your

Children, your loved ones, you hear me?
You’ll burn tonight.
You welcome your extinction, keep faking,
You’re all gonna die.

I know I...I made it up before,
This is different, I feel it coming.
I cannot...Can’t fight the change anymore.
It’s a poison, it’s overwhelming.
Fever sweats, the growing hunger for meat.
It’s the moonlight, the transformation…

So ready your shotguns, I wonder
Will anyone survive?
Don’t beg me for mercy, should’ve listened
When I cried wolf….

I dream of a dream that dreams of me
Though this dream is not what it seems.
I've been here before, but something is different.

The sky is an awkward shade of miserable.
The land scorched by fire and hate,
Raining pain and fear from the clouds.
The forest has a treacherous aroma to it.

A girl sits on a mushroom, just out of arms reach from me.
I cannot recall if she has been here the entire time.
I ponder for a moment, just a second
To see if this is a memory.
A memory I have found
Or a memory that has found me.
She turns around swiftly, and I see her eyes
Those emerald eyes peering through hair of nightmare.

She tells me the Queen lost her head.
She tells me the Hatter is no longer mad.
She tells me the Cheshire lost his grin.
She tells me the Door Mouse lost his pocket watch.
She tells me the White Rabbit has a new color.
Oh Alice, what has this memory done to you?

Her dress is stained with blood.
Her hand wields a knife dripping in triumph.
Her demented, derelict smile is twisted and eerie,
Yet her eyes, her eyes are so alluring.

Fear has escaped me.
Hope has abandoned me.
The shackles of truth remain.
The reflection of myself in the red stained waters is not of mine.
It is of who I've hidden away.
She holds her hand out, and my decision made for me.
She brings me in close, brings her blood lust lips to my humble ear
And her whisper strikes me to my bones.
“This is not the Wonderland that used to await beneath the rabbit hole”

Nights are cold, trying not to think of home
But it seems to always happen when the lights get low.
She got dreams and aspirations so she takes out loans
To get her degree, prove she can make it on her own.
Step dad’s an alcoholic, mom nonexistent.
Tested early on to be resilient.
Searching for prince charming but he’s no prince at all.
No fairy tale ending, no glass slipper *****.
Relationships got down with a couple of beers.
Can’t rely on a man, gotta rely on a career.
She says she’s fine but I know her soul hurts.
Determined to make it and emerge from the dirt
To be more than a piece of *** in a skirt
And keeping a wary eye for guys trying to flirt,
Sizing her up, ignoring her mind they want her figure.
Magazines and media say she could be thinner.
Surrounded by females who care about fashion details.
Jimmy Choo shoes, Prada bags off retail.
Superficial women riding on their man’s coattails.
If that’s the standard then she knew she’d fail.
But she can’t, so she close her eyes and imagine
A world to call her own and she had to make it happen.
She stay grounded while her friends stay high.
They looking for their next fix, she keep her eyes to the sky.
She don’t really belong so through her teeth she lies
And just a few more years she’ll get that prize.

Cinderella wanna be a role model not a pole model.
Cinderella wanna be a work girl not a twerk girl.
Cinderella don’t wanna find answers at the bottom of a bottle..
Go Cinderella, this is your world

Let’s get lost, but first we gonna dress up.
But first, love, here’s a heads up.
If you leave here with that **** black dress
I might have to put your legs up.
Let’s get lost, don’t even tie your hair up.
No make-up, keep it bare love.
You got the kind of look they only write about in books,
Were you even aware love?
Let’s get…

Oooh, it’s the way you glow,
The city’s gonna ignite.
You burnin’ up this moonlight.
Oooh, you just have to know
We headin’ to a hyper night.
You know this feels right.

Power Plant Live, up in Mosaic taking shots of patron
You whispered to me “I think I’m alive again.”
Another round from the bar let’s get revived again.
Seduction all in your eyes and I just can’t defend.
Moving from your waist down to your thighs.
You pressed up against me in reply.
You said “You wanna see me dance on the bar?”
Now I’m taking pics of you dancing on the bar.
The room’s full but it’s just me and you.
You throwin’ signals I can’t misconstrue.
I’ve seen that smile before, I think it’s deja vu.
The time of your life, you were overdue.
We came to get lost but found another view.
You shaking those hips giving me a preview.
Electric lips encourage me to pursue.
We gotta bid adieu so I can give you the….

Oooh, it’s the way you glow
That makes the room ignite.
We gotta exit stage right.
Oooh, it’s the way you glow
You got me in a hyper night.
We gonna be up all night.

Let’s get lost
In hyper night.

Looking up at the glow of the sky
As the leaves fall slowly off the trees
Resting on the silent creek.
I imagine I painted the sky.
Wish you could see it.
The stars are waking up soon.
They don't shine the same when you're gone.
How I wish that you,
That you were right here right now.
You'd see the light in the sky
Slowly passing us by.

Diving into the blue of your eyes.
The city line is far from our sight.

Every time that I
Stare up at the stars
I can't help but wonder
If you're out there looking up
At the same stars
Thinking about me.

I remember the first time you brought me out here.
You said “Tonight will change your life.”

Anytime that I
Stare up at the stars
I can't help but wonder
How many stars I saw
That first night
Nestled in your eyes.

Come back to me.
Come back to where were free.
Cranberry woods.

Tell me, was that the first time you felt alive
Like it was for me?
Home alone, it’s just you and I and some DVD’s.
Opened up the window and let the air fill the room.
It was getting late and you asked if you could stay
For the night.
And just like that,
That summer night became more than just a passing time.
I stared into your smokey eyes,
Watched your hand creep up my thigh.
I had to pinch myself just to make sure I was
Awake.

I always forget, is it you or is it me
That doesn’t believe in happy endings?
Then you kissed my cheek, hugged me slow
I’m begging for you not to go.
All I have left of you are those nights in my room.

The tv glowed of gray and blue.
Credits rolling, Sister Act 2.
Luther’s songs playing to tell you everything I was scared to.
Dancing with me to the tune as the room faded to black.
Please don’t get on the plane and leave me.

That summer night became more than just a passing time.
I stared into your rainy eyes.
The world melting with our goodbyes.
I had to pinch myself hoping that I wasn’t
Awake.

Songs in stereo.
The bass has taken my body, I’m sure to not complain.
Spirit calling out to you,
The nameless woman on the other side of the room.
I see the moon in your eyes, so divine, our nights entwined.
Oh, rhythmic vibes you hold deep inside start to surface,
You are an inhabitant of the…
Electric life, and you’re its Queen.
You and I could rule the night together; I’ll be your King.
Special occasion! Toast! Celebration!
Rich as royalty breathes.

Shirt and tie, my, my, my
I’m defenseless against your stellar dress tonight.
Hands around my neck, hands on your hips,
The music burrowed its way into my bones.
Pour some more liquid fever that I can’t sweat out.
I’m sure you are just a dream.
Are you, lunar eyes? Tell me, make it convincing.
After all it’s the expectation when you are living the…
Electric life, and you’re its Queen.
Let’s live this moment forever and I’ll be your King.
Sleep-talk me baby with words so crazy
It rolls like gold off your tongue.

When I found you on the rooftop
Crumbling at the knees,
You confessed to me the air
Made it hard to breathe.
You felt complacent
But knew you had somewhere you had to be,
Just getting harder to leave.

We found some solace
In the undergrounds of Charm City.
You said “These basement shows relieve the angst inside of me.”
I said “It’s gonna get better, love, just wait and see.”
It’s getting hard to believe.

Wandering hearts.
We were lost in the Art Space, the soul of the city.
Looking for answers
All we found were strangers and bands bonding over riffs.

She’s still waiting for the air to be breathable again.

There we were, sardine packed,
Shouting out for the band.
Vibes of Old Bay Punk echoed off the walls.
Jimmy’s worried the neighbors might call a noise complaint.
Tommy’s laughing as he turns up the stereo.

After the show
We stumbled out of the basement
Off balanced and content.
Smelling like sweat and Natty Boh.
The high wore off and we were back to where we began,
Wandering the streets with shattered lungs and dreams.

On Charm City rooftops
You broke down all around me
Along with the railings in the basement of Art Space.
By one or two we wandered into the Ale House.
We were just in time before they had last call.

Somewhere on Pratt street
We ran into Remy.
He was looking for Megan and a taco truck.
Found our way, unwinding on a bench by the harbor.
I swear there was magic in your midnight eyes.
You held my hand, and breathed a bit lighter.

The air is not so bad...

Her eyes held the story of the tale of our young love,
Somewhere beneath her somber eyes.
Locked up away from me in a tower of her making.
Why do you hide away my love?

I’m in! I can save her
From the torment of her prison.
Escape the walls that echo out her pain.
But these eyes are not hers,
They are frozen in apathy.
“I never told you to come.”

Her hand I squeezed tightly while we ran down the corridor.
Desperately searching for the exit.
I felt her demons closing in now,
They were foaming at the mouths to
Deprive of us safety and love.

Then she fell down
On the floor, crawling, breathing hard,
Begging me to give up.

“You’ll be dead
Before you even reach the stairs.
They’ll take you too, I swear.”

The darkness surrounds her,
Slowly dragging her away now.
She won’t resist it or even fight.
“****** your memory,
Just forget all about me.
You’ll be safer once you do.”

I can’t just abandon the hope of restoring her heart.
I know it’s in her waiting for life again.
Snatching her away from the shadows that have plagued her,
Striving for freedom once again.

That’s it! Think I found it!
The exit from this construction
Laced with the smell of fear and mold.
I was too excited of the thought having her back,
I barely felt her slip away.

Turning to see her face just to be greeted by a pain
Piercing my flesh, piercing my soul.
She holds the knife, unaffected by her actions.
“I’ll be the death of you, you know.”

Like her, I too was slowly dying.
Her face welled up but she’s not crying.
Through tears I beg don’t let the dark win.
…
…
…
“Leave me to die.”