Here's to the man in the mirror
the ascending sun
not some saint of sinners

Here's to a higher route
with its timely turns
and harvests wrought from drought

Here's to the ones who scorn
their hearts yet lined with lead
their purloined peace, I mourn

Here's to the blessed and grace-filled
who have left their radiant marks upon me
and fields of hope still to be tilled

Magma slides down the throat
with little ceremony due to its rote
Smoke jets out in inky knots
from flared nostrils, scorched slots

Calefaction pulses past my chin
Napalmic streaks skitter across skin
The very air begins to reek of roast
a smoldering declaration, coast to coast

The sun itself settles in my solar plexus beneath
As I speak, eager flames spit past my teeth
Steps I take, to unjust enemy and cunning foe
impale the ground, utterly melting it below

Feeble are the ones who seek dispute
Mighty remains they who tread the path of truth

Their swords are in hand, stained in slayed ignobility
aware of wickedness and its toxic capability

Let the ones who seek shelter under darkness, under gloom
behold the justice and power of light, upon doom

In haunting form and dignified stance,
Dancing Rose waltzes beneath black and blue
crimson bleeding into the aether

She breathes the night's stillness
while energizing its tempo
for it is time to shed the heaviness

The weight of the world upon her petals
the streams of water dripping down her stem
these things shall be laid to rest, put to bed

With the floaty fragrance of home
and thorns to ***** any naysayer
our flower stays strong for the journey ahead

From the moon to the stars
Dancing Rose will spread her lovely songs
let us praise her in both name and deed
for she has bloomed past the sorrow
no longer a timid seed

Brittle lies the man left in the frost

so he shatters his knuckles to spite himself

and the winter suns could not care less

There I saw it, past the skyline
the things yet to come
how they beckoned in the light
beacons calling me forth

With hell nipping at my heels
and a heavy heart to boot
scars both fresh and new
telling the tale of what I have been through

From simple paradoxes
to crystal clear complications
uncertainty is all I know for sure
the one fact that remains true

So I will not aim for sunny days
nothing is promised nor owed
I shall keep the hopes under lock and key
and tread on, as I always have

Come what may

There are no victors, no spoils to spare
The impasse has been reached
Zero-sum-gain is the name of the game

Keep the moody themes on repeat
Let your feelings fall flat
while trying to be discreet
still saying "no surrender, no retreat"

Slither to your desk
Seep those feelings off your chest
sleep flows like sap
sanguine notions stir even slower

froth churns like curdled milk
like all those seafaring stomachs
atop a bubbly rot with nautical fragrance

it does not touch the shore
for there an aged legion lays
and their sun-bleached bodies do not sway

past their figures stands an omen
a snuffed beacon to once lively men
whose souls now stain the ocean floor

night crawls patient and true
but the stars lack in their duties
and the moon must expand its efforts

so the lone sentinel burns to life
and in awakened curiosity, spins
with ceaseless, circular dance

the sentinel bellows with newborn fury
the froth stirs in dire frenzy
and as the stony legion is overwhelmed
the rocks bled black as they fell

Universal Acceptance over Tolerance
because one champions all paths
and the other only keeps distinctions between them

Universal Acceptance over Tolerance
because one seeks truth in every teaching
and the other simply looks instead of seeing

Universal Acceptance over Tolerance
because to accept means embracing beauty in any form
and to tolerate means keeping this beauty at arm's length