Silence
Created from a lack of noise
Reminding me
Of everything that speaks to me
Anywhere but here
Maybe midnight will give me the will
To scream
Not for me
For those I lost, stand in front of me
Please, oh please
In a better world, you would be here
I wonder how many said these same things?

Never enough
For the ones I care the most about

My foot
Was caught on a dream
For I had built a palace
Much like my dream palace
Yet, it looked nothing like it.
The unending freedom of imagination
Came crashing down
Giving birth to dismay

At first, I was shocked
Now I am old, it is the standard.

During pure paranoia
The most prominent features
Do not have to be visible

A corrupted world
Into broken hands
I would hold it by the mirror
Got no time to reflect
On being a reject
Recess is for kids, a court is for children?
How does one court an escort
When all are in discourse?
Course correction
Compass with no direction
Look at the dying light, deep inside
Robots making robots, ironic
The condition is chronic
Until made iconic
My urge to say hello
Replaced with a goodbye
To our world
But not this world
One exists in the mind, the other is realized
Tangible, impregnable, life never misused
Maybe our search for understanding
Has caused more issues

Entered the cave
Pilfered some treasure
Apparently
It was all they had
Oh well
They can't chase me
Not anymore

I am not afraid
Of the rambling man
Who has no filter
Speaks in rhyme
Proclaiming the clouds
Are diamonds in the sky
I am only afraid
Of what drove him mad
If it claimed one
When will it claim many?

My heart feels dissonant
Cognition is not innocent
Dissent, can no longer repent
Words are fluff that fills in actions
But my motives are repressed, under duress
Mediator between mind and soul
Why can I not dig out of this hole?
Maybe my goal comes with no flow
For a lack of growth fuels slack and ropes
Binded in tightness, blinded by brightness
Intuition guides, reason lags behind

The living envy the dead
The dead envy not even one
Peace is a distant memory
Only available to the ignorant
Until it begins to harm you
You never cared about humanity
Humans are created to be machines
Gone is the world of sanity
Now we remember
There is no justice or morality
All words that can be ignored
Saving the world?
Cannot agree on saving ourselves
We are our own downfall
No invasion, no climate
Just us, begging for the end

The more we are
The more we unfurl the world
Humanity has lost its humane identity
Bringing up more problems
Fewer solutions
A race against time for survivability
What's the probability of our revival?
Order to the chaos
Yin to the yang
Black to the white
To win a war, you have to lose some fights.

Familiar faces
Leave friendly places
Before having the chance
To enjoy it
For the man always on edge
Can never lower his guard
Not because of perceived danger
But out of habit and disregard
To the finer tastes
Which cannot be tasted
For his life itself, flavorless

Toxic sassafras
Poison to the bone, yet still
I desire it so

Fought for the flag
I pray to every day
Now this country
Has gone "funny"
Protected us from the prey
Served my purpose
Time to be thrown away
Sidelines grow closer
I am forgotten, what a drag.

Fools craft constant rage
Sensibles temper the fires of wrath

Remaining static
Leads to stagnation
Remaining overactive
Leads to burnout
With all things in life
Balance avoids decay
Turning stagnation
Into administration

Irritation and demand
Two core characteristics
Of a citizen
Turned criminal
Yet, we all are like this
The only separation
Comes in the methodology, the execution
The very same concept
Directed by a violent excursion
Cause when backed against a wall
The only way forward is force

Teeth like knives
Eyes blood red
Hands adorned with claws
Feet fast to hunt
A beast, a monster
Self-made moniker
Looking in glass reflections
Was it always like this...?
Am I the victim or just another monster?

Only a few have gone by
Today some more
Yet you're acting
Manic
Like the whole world
Crumbles by the hour
Watch the coverage
It'll bring you pain
No stock in relief
Come back again
Relief will come
When others decide so

Bad people don't exist
For that implies a universal opinion
Good is good
Bad is bad
But what is truly "bad" can be seen as good
Is it good to be bad? Bad to be sad?
Good implies a hero, bad suggests a villain
But life isn't called fiction
It's called R-E-A-L-I-T-Y
Exclamatory! This ain't a story
Perpetuating whims that were made long ago
To be a "protagonist" is to be a pro at conflict
And when conflict equals death, wouldn't that be bad?
Or have we forgotten the cosmic vacuum?
Which renders it all futile?
Denial, the absence of sense leads to nonsense
So when freedom reigns, all we can do is speculate

Virtual reality
Alternate reality
Bored with the natural world
The cure for becoming jaded
Yet like all good things
It can replace what's real
The real and the ideal
Swearing allegiance to whatever makes us feel
Immersed, submerged
Two worlds merge and one mirage remains
A twisted masterpiece
With no clear author
Two to one, two scales provide balance
Only one invokes infatuation
Initial fascination
Future rectification, the ode of a modern-day addict
Elevated past the mortal plane
Until the runway is in sight
No place to run
We all come down to the territory
Reminiscing over old glory
A quarry so gory, an even shorter story
Legacy, six letters boxed into a future
Freedom in relation to life's culmination
Only in virtual reality, broken vacation
Free of altercation, alienation
Invoking happiness while becoming more alien, desecration

If I disappeared, would life be the same?
Would I have fame?
Would I be maimed?
Would people be ashamed
Of the signs they chose to not see?
Lighting my heart aflame
All I see are red flames
Filled with anger
From being lame
Life is a game
One that I want someone else to claim

Onto a beam of light; I collided
Large impact
Devoid of pain?
Interesting.
Like the flash of lightning
A being stood before me
Hunched over
With tired eyes
Highlighted by malice
Familiar, yet otherwordly
As if it were a busy subway tram--
The Lighter barreled toward me
With one hand
I grabbed it
It wanted to dance
Soon, I grew bored
The rhythm of the Lighter
Took it off, toward the edge
The Lighter had fallen.

Dancing in the street
The unkempt, unruly man
His personal parade, of song and dance
Does his music
Sound like ours?

Listen to your arguments
Sounding like armaments
Seeking not to convert
But to covertly overtake and conquer
Superiority breeds inferiority
So when you shoot for neither
You reach a bulls-eye, dead center
Focus on your path
Unless you want to be a copy
An unoriginal who can never be
The one who came before
Blood on the floor
Spells out "No encore for a war".

Scorching the planet
For regeneration
Our own dictation, our own fixation
People cling on to their foundations
Rationing common sense
Questioning if they were truly free
Liberation through damnation
Whispering affirmations
Foreshadowing our confirmation
An observation of our disintegration
Will we break the cycle or be a recreation
Of our own artificial salvation?

Authentic fly
Artifical leaf
Life into death
Free from the make-believe

Moving
Stepping forward
Onto glass shards
Opening wounds
That never scar
Progress
Such a funny word
For self-fulfillment
No matter the path
No matter the shoes
They are my feet
They are my destiny
But why on all of the roads
Does the glass show up?
Why must you poke more holes...

Meek and the weak
Polished by pain
Strained by rage
Saviors of the world
Who can never quite grasp it
Strength is a strength
But weakness is a gift
Receptive, perceptive
Victim to deceptive conceptions
But always acceptive

Averting from the truth
Seeing what suits you
How many more will be like you?
Slashing between the real
How can you hope for us to heal?
Full of the unreal
A metronome out of tune
Stepping into a trap you placed
This is the best of our love
Will it suit you?

I do not want to die
I want to stop existing
I do not want to cry
I want to release my emotion
I do not want to sleep
I want to cure my heart's erosion
I do not want to be weak
I want to learn how to be a boulder
I can keep saying what I want
But "want" and "do" are two roads with no guide
One is realistic
The other resides in a hypothetical, deep inside

What is the point?
What can be saved?
What separates a goal?
What about a delusion?
What do we gain from idolizing material?
What future sins will we accept?
What is our calling?
What can we avoid from the past?
What things should be forgotten?

Rushing
Toward the light in the tunnel
Wondering, what will I receive?
Will I be reborn through scorn?
Or does the journey end here?
I've risen from the bottom
Up to the top
I'm at the peak
I don't know how to stop.

Fiction or fact
Is today the day when reality attacks?
Once arouse, the blood covers roses
Without some reason
How can I tell apart the seasons?
All in a mess, forever in treason
The light reflects shadows under us
Yet, today
Our shadows have become us

When does the quo return?
When will the screams cease?
When can humanity be revived?
When will we no longer be trapped inside?
When will these walls fade away?
When shall the restraints be put to rest?
When do we know it is safe?
When will the fog dissipate?
When will we know our fate...?

Maybe somethings have no value...
...or maybe it's hidden?

Looking past the future
Sounds like a game for fools
I fit the bill
No matter where I run
My life distorts the same
The past fades every day
The present becomes a haze
The future I wanted I can no longer see
Did I ever know myself?
Did I ever even live?
Or am I a subject to my surroundings?
What became of my personality?
Personable turned to perishable
Honesty faded to hostility
Did I fade away or are my days a haze?
If I pull back the veil
What will happen to me?

Homeless, without a "home"
Yet, the earth is our home
Love to take care of our "homes"
But not our home

Chose a path
.
.
.
How do I know it's the right one?
.
.
.
Is there a correct path?
.
.
.
Never learned how to do this stuff...

Who is an expert?
Who says that we shouldn't speak?
Who are you?
Who am I?
Who amongst us all is dead inside?
Who will bring peace?
Who can prevent our fall?
Who will help us all stand tall?
Who is our master?
Who is the chain?

Luchadore
Actor
Entertainer
All live out life in masks
To give blind entertainment
But when the veil becomes you
Surrender to the mass
For when it starts to slip
Ego trip ends, judgment begins

When did novelties
Become mandatory?
When did the cost
Go too high?
When did equality
Earn an asterisk?
A column of apathy
Culminating, self-sustaining
To those who own empathy
Wait for the day it turns you
To psychopathy

Why must the best of us suffer most of all?
Why is our success measured in height?
Why does division exist if we promote to not divide?
Why have we moved forward? Why have we moved backward?
Why has injustice come out now?
Why must the past be repeated?
Why are we on a diverse planet?
Why are we here?

Born in
No mistake
Today
The start
Of opportunity
Alongside
Mistake
Oh mama, please understand
Everyone isn't perfect
Stop pretending you're not the same
Downright deranged
Oh mama, who do you love?

Amok
A mock
Mocking our time
Principles of life
Shattered from the spine
Broken, battered
Gone from the divine
Tattered, scattered
Like a burnt vine

Misery follows misery
The pained inflict pain
Rememberance to semblance
By design?
What were the signs?
The messengers were silenced
By ignorance and violence
Amidst a flowerbed
Lies a wilting willow

Will I wither?
Weathering the storm
Brings no warmth
Warned of war
By wells of wisdom
While I worry and wrestle
With the worst of withdrawal
Wondering whenever
We will witness wonder and awe

We did it!
Saved the city
I call my home
But...
It doesn't feel familiar
Did we forget to
Put something back?
Cortal Avenue
Not the same
We won
So why am I not
Proud?
It's time to celebrate
All I can ponder
Is the next challenge ahead
Without another
How will we grow?
Sometimes though
I wish it would stop
No more trials
Peace, come to me
I don't want to win
Instead
Give me a haven
Reject the legends
I accept tranquility

Looks can be deceiving
Bias changes how we perceive
Wise fools trust it anyway
Constantly naive

My hopes and dreams
Greater than they seem
The visions I gleamed
Of a world better than me
Perfected, splendid
The world looked so beautiful
Until my eyes glanced around
To see the faces of discontent
Shattered, fractured in the wind
Trampled under our own feet
Running toward an empty seat
Illusions control all our lives
No one knows true strife
For when I glanced upon the world
Mundanity rang out to me
Striking like a lightning bolt
Deafening my heart
For the future I used to see
Was built out of dreams

The flowers have bloomed
Alive and renewed, nature
Healed, what about you?