There is a silence that hovers, lingers
it lurks in the ringing of my ears;
the violence of passivity
the broken remains of a living breath
crawl along the forest floor like a starved leech;
latching onto memories and learned behaviors
a puppeteered husk among the awake
trying to pretend that it's still alive
although it lacks the pulse to prove it
There is a sound that breaks, cuts
it hides in the crevice of my conscious mind;
the last beat of my own heart
although my lungs still breathe and my legs still walk
and my eyes still seek
for they have yet to find meaning in this charade
when behind them lies my brain
and ahead of my path, the water is still

Written By Athena D. Bennett

This darkest night, she did go
Unto her love; moonlight, rain
Hidden warmth will melt the snow
Tomorrow, she will feel again
The branches of a pine bent down
The leaves white and gray with rot
Frostbitten, the birth of decay
Showing her all that she is not;
Begging her to stay
This is not goodbye; Hello
But now she leaves, and so you go
In the shadows of your light
She'll watch you grow
Learning and keeping to heart
All the words you didn't say and didn't know

If you do not love the way I talk
I will talk to the trees and stars
If you do not love the way in which I walk
I will walk by myself, but never alone;
My goddess is with me
If you do not love the way I see
I will watch the waters without you
If you do not love the way I am free
I will be free without you
If you do not love the way that I feel
I will still feel without you
If you do not love the way that I dance
I will dance with the waves I tread
If you do not love my feverish thoughts
I will think alone in my bed
If you do not love me
I will love myself instead

I lacked the heart to tell you
I broke myself to think
perhaps it never mattered
whether I would float or sink
You held your tarnished ribbons
and braided them in my hair
and left me in the shadows
after kissing me on a dare
I thought maybe I misspoke
I thought perhaps you misheard
I was so very mistaken; every bit the brittle bird
I nested in the leaves and sticks
of what was once our love
and now I stare at old gray bricks
and crave a finer drug

A fidget did happen upon
a slighter hint of sense
and so did she conjoin
to fit a great pretense
Enter the grand old master
who plays his wicked lute
his armor is mistaken
for an Italian-made silk suit
They danced until the morning
and danced the more 'till noon
and that is when she realized
her heel would fail quite soon
A fidgets stride did falter
and the music it did stop
but not in time to alter;
just missed it by a drop
Fell down, the merry maiden
upon the merry steep
and like a candle, flickered
and faded off to sleep

She rose in bouts of waking; wearied of this tender aching
Into the night, a riot shaking;
no one could cease the worlds final breaking
And so she bled, and thusly fed
the darkness at her door
She slipped into the mask
and wore it as a second skin once more

Dismissed
You don't have to fight anymore
Your life has been a chore
but you'll be stronger all the more
Ultimately you've thrown away
essential needs and hospitality
but you will always see
the mask of immortality
You must take in insanity
and show your own vitality
against poverty and property and
the mockery of constancy