As I lay to sleep tonight,
a thought creeps into my mind:

If unseen disaster were to
take me from my very bed,

I could die with a smile,
for I sleep beside the one I love;

Yet surely that's such a sad thought,
that they've peddled us violence

The bloodstains are all we've known,
staining the expectations of the crowd

We devour the fear and swallow
the swords so the crowd may gasp

Too bad the sword wasn't quite right,
and the crowd can't see the pain

Until it revels before them,
invites them to dance

So we laugh and take Death's hand
as he weaves us through the fog

But who really leads who?
This dance wasn't asked, just forced

A skeletal hand locked in chains
we refuse to let ourselves see

For this is not the fate we were meant,
this overflow of pain and fear

Our demise inches closer, but
surely it wasn't written so

All we dreamed was to fly and be free,
to forget the chains and aching need

To feel the sun in our souls,
burning too close

Refusing to learn from our lessons,
and repeating it all again.

There's blood on the chalkboards
and chalk on the crosswalks,

but the wrong one is being told
that it's clearly out of place;

The other, a wolf in a wooly coat
baring his teeth as he pockets his coin.

The right person, the wrong time.
The right script, the wrong line.
The right poem, the wrong rhyme.
And a piece of you that was never mine.

Some poems seem to write
themselves;
I just move the pen.
Others are like lumps
of clay;
they refuse to be molded;
they need moisture and time.
This one is like
a robin that just learned
to use its wings.
It heads west, on a
gentle breeze, into
a tangerine sky.

My blue mixed with your storms
makes a raging torrent
and all we can do is hold on.

The blue is over our heads now,

arms up,

drifting


The cold is settled into my bones now,

brittle and frozen,

breakable.


This feeling is too familiar now,

written many times before,

repetitive.


All I can do is wait for the sun now,

reaching to the surface,

floating.

the water's in my lungs again

and I can't even breathe with full oxygen

the waves aren't at my feet anymore,

they're at my throat, and I'm barely

still standing on my feet

I can feel that one wrong move

will pull me deeper into the cold

stray waves wish to cast me aside

my toes dig in, not ready to leave

just enough water to splash into

my mouth and nose, I can feel

the sloshing in my chest,

heavy, heavier by the second

so hard to breathe.

I dig my toes in a little deeper,

not ready to be flung into currents

that I know will grasp my soul

in an icy grip, pulled from between

my aching teeth, clenched tight

my smile probably doesn't quite

look right anymore, I'm left

with this growing grimace

salt stings my eyes,

wishes to leave me blind

even more hopeless than

I could've been before

my chest is tight, heart held close

what little warmth to keep a pulse

as the waves keep surging higher

and my neck can't save me now,

I have to choose to let go

release my toes or watch my vision

fill with cold blue so I can't see you

because you've been here all this time

but you cannot feel the waves

you cannot hear the crashing

that continues to call my name

your hand was there, I waited so long

and now I can only frantically hold on

as the waves push, and they try

to pull me away to the darker day

please, just let me stay.