Those with melting skin
Running after me though

Years ago I’d been
Crumbling with them in the snow

They want my life
And my freedom to thrive

But though it’s rife
Some nights I dive

Into fields of frost
Burning all I am

Where I choke on exhaust
Where I’m overran.

My midnight lover
dances beneath the stars

Nothing shall cover
our deepest scars

In a waltz we'll reveal
secrets only we know

All the thoughts we try to seal
will be dashed upon the snow

Give me your ugly
give me your smile

Then you'll truly know
that I'd like you to stay a while

Never stare into it
For too long

You may hear the siren song
Of the endless pit

That you may find within
Your hollow carcass

The void of sin
The lonely darkness

That corrodes your being
From within to out

And steals your feeling
But will never shout

Fire exists
only to serve

The likes of an oppressor
and the likes of a hero

Burning everything it touches
singing the very fabric

That it rests upon

it's warmth brings you through
the night till it's over

Ambrosia upon earth

How much are you willing to pay?

Man
how simple times were

How chaotic they seemed
before I knew

Friends and lovers are like sand
slipping from your hand

No matter
how like iron your grip is

They go

Leaving you
and a blank page

Don't even try
to write on it

You'll quickly find
your ink turns to rage

Blood flowing
from a bone pen

And you will look back

You will look on with disgust
and try to never trust

never again

NEVER AGAIN.

Nyx's crown sits
heavily atop my head

Like how stone grits
with me it is fed

Darkness
that I'll never escape

Regardless
it's just death's jape

And I'll live another day
because it is my say

Oh yes

You’re the golden poison
Flowing in my veins

Glittering death
With open arms

Acid in my veins

Burn me
As my heart pumps

Tear my dead skin
Like it’s a prison

Tear it with anger
Tear it with malice

End it please
I can’t take it much longer

Now
You are the crimson

The blade
That enters my capillaries

The hand
By which I meet fate again

Yes, this is you

The most beautiful thorn
Upon the wilting rose

My sanity
Faded so long ago

But now I know
The truth of it all

As I’ve gone insane
I now know
that I understand everything

The butterflies
That cause hurricanes

And the foolishness
Of my own two eyes

I've felt
the warmth of winter

Her crown that rests
between my guitar strings

And there was Autumn, too
with her cinnamon hair

Her scent of pumpkin
that blanketed anyone near

If two arsonists
start the same fire

are they not both criminals?

You are lucky
I've decided something

That revenge
is not my course

That the hatred I've felt
has not poisoned your blood too

Preciado.
you are pitiful.

And one day
your stain will leave the earth

A stain
that I can only pity

For you
will not know real love

Only admiration
given by fools

The rain that comes
with this lingering cloud

yes, it makes us shiver
but it's better than constant sun

But you want sun forever?
I won't stop you.

But if you start to wilt
do not come to me

My moss may not
be hibiscus or lily

But it is strong
I know it won't starve

This is your choice
I wish you luck

Is this it?

Am I losing my grasp?

Has my jealousy
given way to greed?

Can a frightened child
also be a dictator?

A hoarder of hearts
I often grab too tight

I feel their blood
trickle through crooked claws

yet still I hold them

for fleshy pulp
will not run

I know it will rot
but I'm tired of longing

The smell
like tar in my lungs

yet still
I've not learned

that pulp deteriorates
far quicker than can be stopped

perhaps these claws
will once again be kind.

Rain graces my hair
small droplets from the air

life to the world
released when clouds have swirled

we may find asylum once again
in the clouds that block

the sun from all that's been
keeping misery's stock

we may all find change
in this world so strange

perhaps for the better
or merely an unwanted letter

Iron graces my tongue
Hephaestus' ferrous fire

My song won't be sung
accompanied by drum or lyre

This won't end
never now or later

See the burns
on your most worthy opponent

See how far
how far you bent

I'm not a poet
just a guy who writes

She is
her talent is raw

I'm a stuttering mess
hell, that's never happened

But, somewhere between
the realm of today and tomorrow

she shows me what art is

she shows me things I can't describe

tell me, how?
how is life breathed?

into words so flawlessly

tell me, how?
how did this happen to me?

falling so impossibly

Moon and Sun
Across the sky we run

Silkie and downtrodden man
I’d do anything I can

Water and Fire
Please, someone

douse my pyre.

I am Saltbreath

I will salt your field and your eyes
destroying everything
everything that's alive

I am Saltbreath

when I look at you I see red
the red of hatred
I will burn you to ashes

I am the great Saltbreath

kneel to my power
kneel to the constant pain
that emanates from my throat

I am the great Saltbreath

I will dominate
all aspects of your life
I will fill them with pain

I am the terrible Saltbreath

I am weakness
I am loneliness
I am pitiful

I am Saltbreath
I am Saltbreath
I am Saltbreath

Dance dance
dance you ****** fool!

Sand in your eyes
not like they worked anyway

Feel the water
crest your ankles

Your tears
they match the sea

Let the sand
burn your skin and eyes

Run as fast as you can
god knows you won't make it

No
I don't want death

I want someone
who once close to my heart

won't poison it
with their tongue

someone
who won't bite hard

or take too much
from my fragile arms

Hold my scars
in your kind hands

hold this delicate throat
without crushing it

use your knives
to cut my dinner, not my wrists

and carry this husk
until it's whole

please
I promise you won't regret it

we've got scuffmarks
you and I

like boots
drenched in the ocean

boots
boots that conquer mountains

through the birdsong
of verdant forests

boots that despite scuffs
will continue to conquer

only now
we conquer alone

She loves my respect
and odd idiolect

Hey there cutie
I'm not your true love you see

But for a night
I'll make you feel alright

If you'll let me
I'll help you see

A world of oddities
among the commodities

The stars above
and the call of a dove

My words may shock you
but you'll find them to be true

How
in this maze
am I to find a way

Out of
sienna catacombs
without a torch in sight

can I
walk out myself
shivering alone?

or must I be dragged
kicking, screaming
praying to suffocate
to drown once more
fighting
punching, kicking air
screaming

screaming for your siren song
begging to hear it again
begging to be devoured
by unyielding jaws
torn to shreds
by serrated claws
sinking into me

you
you never leave
you watch me cry
as if you are a sadist
a guilty sadist
whenever I run
you find me
you tell me you've missed me

and honestly?
I've missed you too

oh god
how dearly I've missed you

Sienna dreams
lay heavy on my flesh

her sheepish tone
that's oh so beautiful

and her steady
steady hand

she's an autumn leaf
composting in the dirt

bringing life
through death

the steady cycle of seasons
will bring only more beauty

for she is sienna

my favorite color

Skeletons
bleached in the river

Bones turning to dust
as animals graze

Machine gun fire
bursting rounds of three

A man bleeding out on the shore
finished by speeding lead

The skeletons watch it all
in silent contemplation

Who am I
But a piece of you?

In fields of rye
Lies become true.

A skinwalker
I stalk the night

I silently saunter
Between wrong and right

Your face is mine
For I miss my own

Straight down the line
Pain is sown

Sometimes sadness feels
like your home

like laying down after work
and feeling your muscles fail

laying face down on the floor
dog hair and all

a familiar sadness
a tired sadness

like just giving up
because what's the point

Why try?

when your efforts
were all in vain

when it's given for a moment
but ripped away the next

I'm done with this painful dance
I'm done being a puppet

a puppet bleeding in the wind
an exhausted and torn rag

that's always been there to shelter
and dry you off

at least I tell myself
that I'm done

it's like a prisoner
saying they're a free man

I just hope
the guards take pity

Oh darling oh dear
the waltz plays in my ear

pounding yet soft

This orchestra
this chorus

please take me far

Darling dearest
**** me now

use a stiletto

so I may die
only once

Warm whiskey
rye and golden daffodils, too

The odd Autumn cicada
chirps sleepily

Thistles and brambles
protect a gurgling stream

And by dusk
the sun will burn it all

And it will regrow
as the sun rises again

May we watch it darling?
the echoes of summer?

In that forgotten ruin
that cabin in the woods

I see the remnants of love and sin

The weathered furniture
well loved but forgotten

Will return to nature, I'm sure

An old man
may gaze upon these things

Artifacts from which he ran

But for now the ruins stand
among the cool shade trees

And burning sand

Chocolate
and tear-stained poetry

why the ****
did I believe
even for a second

that love could be easy
that I could fall
without breaking bones

and why
was I so ready to fall

what insanity
hate-driven entity
has caused this

this rift
as soon as I remembered
what it's like to love

that twitch
of my heart

the twitch I felt the first day
that told me you were special
that I had no choice

the twitch
of love
that I can't stop

a madness that will steal
all senses and wits about me

how fitting
that I should understand once more
the pain I have inflicted on others

through foolish heartbreak
foolish
foolish

heartbreak

Why praise god
when the ******'s out to get you?

If he is truly a father
he is the paragon of abuse

Sickness, famine, plague
how universal the suffering is

When I was young
I believed the lies

That there was someone up there
someone who loved me and my brothers

Then I saw how

The gift of eternal bliss corrupts

And how he is a madman

If such a madman truly exists
then how can anyone love him

If it is not some form
of a sickening Stockholm syndrome?

Maybe if your lips
Never crossed mine

Maybe
Maybe means nothing

Give me a yes or a no
and don't do it for show

Maybe is worthless
like the words everyone spews

Saying they won't go
yeah right, just row

Away like they all do

Go! Get the hell out!
I know you only want my best

my body not my soul

I'm tired of trust
I'd say it's gotten me nowhere

But this pit
is hardly nowhere

has my heart
bled for too long?

have I coated those I love
in my own blood?

perhaps

perhaps it's just
the order of things?

perhaps
I'm meant to bleed?

maybe my blood
may help others

and maybe
just maybe

I do deserve love
and a caring hand

perhaps
I am worthy

yes
yes I am

I've done
everything I can

I've done good
finally

I've done good.

it's good enough
just to try.

If it had a voice
it would shriek

It would scream
into the pitch night

Never to be seen

If it had a body
it would ****

Lay waste to empires
through the night

Never to be conquered

Yes, a ravager in the night
the war cry of an iron will

My words
are hardly special

My self is so
so special

I came to write
because I felt blue

But there's none
none to match me

I may be a ****
do the worst things

and I may be crass
and foolishly blundering

But I know among these things

That I am kind
I am smart

I don't know my strength
let alone my worth

But I'm learning
growing with the tide

Like seeds in concrete
I will break through.

Rose glasses
couldn't turn blue to red

Our rose garden
to where a compass once led

it's wilted and singed
ashes in the wind

But never again
will I plant a garden

never in a place so dry
so windy, too

No, I search for greener pastures
colder weather to work in

where the sun doesn't burn
where the garden

isn't a chore
but a hobby

Our love was a war

we started campaigning

for what we believed in

tensions rose

and shards

like shrapnel

tore our faces

the allies and the axis

destroying each other

senselessly

seemingly for fun

I want you
and only truly you

cold as snow
you're a Chicago summer

Hot like fire
I'm a California winter

Together we're a perfect storm

We make lightning
crash in the sky above

You are my muse, unlike any other
and I will fight in Satan's ring

To prove my love

Yes you’re ice
You sap warmth

You sapped mine for a year and a half
Though I did play my part in it

I’m not mad
Never at you

You cannot blame
The ice in the tub

You’re the warmth of winter
Penetrating my veins

You’re hypothermia
A death I welcome like a friend

Making the cold warm

I WANT TO BE WARM

You do not blame

Your frosty lungs

When they give out

I need more steam

You see

Fire is needed to live

But cold is a killer

You are icy
When my fires melted you

You doused me

But you cannot blame gravity
For what falls

No

The cold is painful
In a lethargic sort of way

It’s a war of attrition
Against yourself

Wars of attrition
Are hardly ever won

The cold makes you desperate

Irrational

It’ll take your life if you let it

But again

The cold is not to blame

Why

Why is your touch
So sweet

But your smell
Is horrid

Cigarettes
Their smell

Was never meant
To enter my lungs

Yet here we are

Little do you know
My dear

That I scrub myself
To get rid of the stench

Every time you go
I question myself

I question why
Why I beckon you back

When we rest together
The scent isn’t there

When you’re gone, everything you’ve touched must be washed

Isopropyl alcohol
I find it does the trick

An hour long shower
Before I rid my skin of it

You reek of sickness
Yet I want your touch

I want your embrace

Was I too hasty?
Did I make a mistake?

When you leave
I’m left with a mess

Spirits and odors that cling
To my clothes and skin

White scars
with bright red paralysis

Burning blood

The white
is too bright

Soft glow
of turbulence in calm

Burning eyes

My friends and I
we hide

In a burning prison
in which we fight

Incinerated heart

These things broke me
a shattering that anyone can see

Holding my glass
hands bleeding

Red as I stab

Everything I don't like
until I die

With an incinerated body and mind