I'd like to be alone,
but I don't want to be lonely.

I'd like to be in hope,
but I don't want to be hopeless.

I'd like to be in love,
but I don't want to be broken.

I'd like to be sad,
but I don't want to be weak.

Picture –
The ancient slave
On one knee, hands in chains
From his dreams, he refrains
A soul destined
To follow his master
Like a beaten dog tied to a post.
The few who rebelled
Either died, or were expelled,
Outcasts for life,
Labelled as heretics, agents of strife.

The ancient slave
Was born a slave, a captive soul
Animated as a shadow, not a whole.
No freedom, no choice –
A voice
With its chords tied,
Its right to speak denied
Because slavers and a bill of sale said so.

Visualise –
The modern slave
The one who is born
Not with bonds made of chains
But of laws,
Of the systemic corruption
The incessant drive for consumption
And the illusion of freedom.
It is the modern slave
Who lives the greatest lie –
A purposeless drone who will die
Thinking he has lived
Because he had an affair with life.

A life fully savoured
Cannot be just this.
Working 40 – 60 hour weeks
A system that just reeks
Of exploitation,
Of the horrible foundation
On which everything we know is built.

Most of us
Work to eat, to provide,
No secret accounts to hide;
Most of us
Make enough to get by,
Maybe enjoy the weekend
When given the leave to do so.
Most of us
Have this affair with life
Living freely for a few hours
Like rain when it’s just summer showers
Brief flickers, drops of rain
Sprinkled onto an otherwise barren field of crops
Of which the main harvest is pain.



A few of us, however,
Endlessly profit and plunder;
The modern slave
Differs from his ancestor
For he chooses his master
And loves him.
He is conned
Into thinking his masters care
Allegiances are laid bare
Hands are cast in adulation
Rights undergo strangulation
And nobody bats an eyelid.

The modern slave
Caresses his chains,
Wears them like a badge of office
Distaste for dissidence of the state
Pouring out of every orifice.
The modern slave
Could learn and understand
Confront the shimmering illusion, the shifting sand
That is the realm of made men,
But doesn’t.

Rather than fight back
We consume the great lie like crack;
These made men
Will run our planet into the ground
Until it is no longer a home
But a graveyard made for us, by us.
These made men
Spin lies, smear the truth
Force them to mingle and interchange
Like mismatched lovers in a diner booth.
Reality has shifted
It has become unbelievably twisted,
Our perceptions are suffering.
Towards each other, we direct our hostility
Unable to grasp the possibility
Of a better way.

The modern slave
Is cosy in his prison cell;
The reality of the world outside
Is a structured, engineered hell
To be avoided.
So, we just build our own bubble
Outside of which
Our only, primary concern
Is how to get rich.

Life isn’t meant to be an affair;
Life shouldn’t be
Something we are given permission for
But a free pursuit of happiness,
A learning experience.
So, with this I will conclude –
Raise your fists in the air
If you are tired of living bare,
Resist
If you’re tired of a world that does not care.

The warmth spreads across my body like a feverish dream
Leaning into my chest, laying there
Her head upon my shoulder
Silently day dreaming
The slow, gentle rise and fall of her breath
Earphones in as we sit and await
The bus traveling to our final destination
attempting not to be late
My tired eyes glance to the girl by side
Her worn black shoes
Her pale pink socks, dyed from the past wash
Lightly Tanned legs leading up to the navy blue dress
Her matching year 12 jacket resting gentle on her chest
Her short golden and brown locks fall gracefully in front of her glowing blue eyes
A tired look adoring her face as she thinks of the day to come
Clutching onto my arm
That lay over here own shoulder
I wonder what will happen to us when we get so much older
Will the peaceful days of silence be as they are now?
Or will there be heavy conflict that will bring us so much closer?
Will there come a time where we both become loners?
A thought of a moment, a life we have lived up till now
Just close your eyes tight, We can think about it when the days over.

I need to leave
I've ought to say goodbye
This unrequited love
Simply must to die

I've completely slipped your mind
Fallen through the cracks
My only existence now
Is a forgotten name in your contacts

Below all those studs, that you call your great friends
And underneath all those girls you call at 3am
Covered in dust as it grows old with age
I sit here and wait, patiently within this stone cold cage

Transienting through life, days pass like any other
Sleepless nights, Friendships bite, Its simply quite a bother
Messages from others, blowing up my phone
Yet without yours, I feel so alone

I thought I had forgotten you
Moved on from my past
I was going to find another
But that was never going to last

It seems I cant escape
no matter how far I run
Is this merely my fate
Or is it karma having fun

What can I do?
What can I say?
Because a simple text from you
Consumes my waking days

Is this intentional?
Are you leading me on for fun?
Our texts are quite stale, answers are close to none
Every time we talk now, You always seem so done

But once in a blue moon
We call for a single night
Forgetting the conflict
Our souls filled with delight

I'll put it all behind me, Let it fade from my mind
I'll dwell in emptiness and move on with my life
Even though these feelings, cut through me like a knife
Acting like nothings wrong, Everything okay
Just force on a smile
It doesn't bother me anyway.

Never trust
Few are loyal
Fewer are honest