Running is essential to being a fighter.
You will never be able to stand your ground,
if you don't spend hours running as fast as you can.
Ironic isn't it.

Every day. Early in the morning when everyone is asleep.
Wake up. get dressed. 3 miles, 21 minutes or less.
It's raining? *****. Its sleeting? Get over it. You're exhausted? too **** bad.

Its those moments when you don't want to run.
The times when you want to say **** it,
that's where you learn to stand your ground.
Ironic that it takes more ******* running to get there.

My heart beats a steady rhythm as I wage this fragile war.
My fists fly through the air and my feet trace a circle,
around an opponent only I can see.

As I sting and dance I watch it move,
liquid failure given shape,
threatening to devour me and all my pride.

I can't let it touch me, the demon that I fight,
I have to fight, have to win, or else I've lost it all.
because I am a sinner, but I still want to be the hero.
I am a monster, but I still want to slay demons.
I killed my angel, but I still want to play knight.
And so I trace a circle and throw punches at a ghost in an empty ring.

I was born evil. I know that to be true.
I did terrible things to good people.
And now that I've learned better,
and hate myself for all the things I've gotten away with,
all I can think to myself is "if God's there, why am I still here"

These dancing lights in my head,
The pounding rhythm like a drum
“BANG, BANG, BANG”
You gave them all to me.

You’re the driving force behind me,
The reason I can take this risk.
Because I know that no matter how foolish I may be,
You’ll always pick me back up and dust me off.

This doesn’t rhyme, barely has a beat,
Kind of like me.
I can’t buy you anything cause my account is tapped,
But I promise you’ll always have me.

When I stand up there, know you helped me climb the stairs.
When I Get hit, see yourself in the way I grit my teeth.
When I throw my hands out there like my heart,
Know that they’re heavy because your name is clenched in my fists.

I watch with wary eyes as the devil lounges against the wall.
"Come on, you know you can't do it without me."
she whispers, golden words dripping from her lips like wine.
I do my best. I shut my eyes, drown out her voice, and mutter "no".

I hear her laugh like a headsman and feel her stroll over and wrap her arms around me,
breathing softly in my ear.
"Sweety, you know you don't mean that. Even after everything I've done, you love me. How many times have I picked you off the ground and made you keep fighting?"
"How many times were you the reason I went down in the first place" I argue, but even to my own ears my voice wavers.

"Baby, please. You know I'll be as good as you let me. You just gotta be careful."
I sigh. For all her flaws, she wasn't a liar. She was above that.
"fine." I mutter, "But I won't let you hurt anyone else."
She grins. "See, I knew it was a matter of time."

I used to have a rhythm in me,
used to have a rhyme at every turn.
now I'm like an off key instrument,
you can hear the echoes of what I once was,
but I'm not musical anymore.

Now I'm a brick through glass,
a fist through sheet rock,
the sound of a storm tearing down a tree,
and yet I whisper to myself,
"If I want it enough I'll turn into that better me"
it never happens.

Tabby cat Tabby cat, stay indoors,
life is easy Where the rain can’t pour.
Food every day at six and three,
Ain’t nothing wrong with living for free.

Tabby cat Tabby cat, you wandered away,
wandering about the tall stone forest,
You try to hunt for something to eat,
Refusing to Join the Mewling chorus.

Wild cat, Wild cat, on the edge of the wild green,
Eyes aglow with a wary gleam,
You take another small step outside your home,
Following ambition and belief and a dream.

Wild cat wandering your hunting grounds,
Watching the horizon and chasing your prey,
Hunter defiant of your birthright,
Look back with pride on that day.