With the flicker of your wrist, pen live at hand.
Academia once again applauds and stands
The ovation unawaited, unexpected, Unabated, unresisted,
As the world before your knees bends.

The gray shroud of insecurity is tormenting  you,
Coalescing with the muse that gives you life
You’re duality,
You are human and then monster,
Nothing more than rampant beauty in your lines.

Appreciated never were you while you could be,
Torrid romance brought you happiness and strife.
Yet, you never stopped for death although he kindly did for you,
And felt a funeral in your brain come back alive.

You tell the truth, although a bit slant,  to succeed,
Your life has stood - a loaded gun straight at your head
And though success is counted sweetest when you least have seen him come,
A man’s entitled to take pride in all he has.

You say your enemy is the demon in your head,
A restless pen and *** of pearly sheets,
The manuscript of a novel never read,
Instead you leave plastered your heart in poetry.

Poor, thou, little girl who thought
Love would get to thee one day,
Bet thou never thought to expect
It would culminate in doom.

And I am the resurrection in thy tomb
And the life that speaks of mercy at close of day,
Muddy Waters carry thou so far away
From Polonius and Laertes,
Tears in bloom.

Denmark's Prince in shambles thine heart left,
Dissembling and conniving against kin,
In his heart only one ambition firm:
Take back his rightful throne and fair Gertrude.

Neither Shakespeare nor Victoria save thee could
From the evil of the quill, it's own mind set.
In the labyrinth of the parchment thine fate met
"To be or not to be?"
Aye, there's the rub.

Nothing but despair is
Life as I know it,
Nothing but a far and distant cry.
In the darkness,
Blackbirds announce the morning
And a nightingale alone sings lullabies.

The first rays of the sun awake the raven;
Its students,
A robin and an owl.
And some dark god awakens
From its slumber
To wreak havoc on Earth,
Cruel, yet divine.

The "Harbinger of Doom"
In all its glory,
Resplendent and sunbathed beyond doubt
It finds me, it hunts me,
And it throws me
Blow by blow
And without respite to the ground.

'I' and 'Me' always too deep in conversation,
The taste of venom in my tongue
Nought can deter.
Such self-hatred can't coexist with admiration,
For one to thrive must the other
Fade away.

The sweetest words can
Come along with sour actions,
Like the waves of the ocean come with storms,
And when caffeine is not enough
To keep me going,
My heart is to blame,
Broken doll parts I've become.

The world has squashed me,
Like a bug under a microscope,
Poked and probed me
But found nothing to exploit.
I am empty; not much to find,
I'm afraid,
The dark god awakens once again.

I tremble with the fear and
With the doubt,
The dark god rumbles,
Once again I hit the ground.

The walls don't falter
If the seems are solid,
Storms do not come
Without some sun,
And the darkness does not belong
Without the sunshine,
Have faith, Dear Heart,
And the courage for it all.

At first, it hurts,
Then you rage,
And eventually, you laugh.
That's how we come full circle.
That's how we close eras,
How we put the past behind us.

Because there's more to being human
Than just flesh and blood,
Because sometimes life
Isn't as simple as heroes and villains,
Because the gods do watch
As we're trapped in our bodies and our minds,
We must all come full circle.

When the Queen of Composure has fallen,
When you realize you're nothing
But a set-piece in a giant chess game,
You'll understand when your time
       to understand is over
That a man can become a chess piece
        or a chess player;
Chess players can choose how to play,
Chess pieces cannot.
But still, we all come full circle.

The poetry seems to have left me,
And my veins ache for it
With such brutal, primal need.
I need more books, more dreams,
Less life
That only seems to smother me,
     at every breath,
With all its strength, its scars, its history,
With all its devastating beauty.
Still, I must come full circle.

I've learned as much as I could from the dead,
Now it's time to listen to the living.
For the love of Aphrodite,
See the warrior fallen
As we come full circle.

First, it hurts,
Then you rage,
And eventually, you laugh.
As we close eras,
As we put the past behind us,
As we come full circle.

I. We are mortal,
    Our time in this world is finite.

II. We are built for much more
     Than just the fight.

III. The heart wins always in the
       Battle of the mind.

IV. People are transitory,
      But so are sweet coffee and laughter
      By the morning's light.

V. Don't forget, my dear,
     Here is life,
     Hot and human,
     Equal part hope and part despair,
     A mix of curiosity and primal fear,
     The purest element, but, oh, so volatile.

VI. Use your gifts wisely,
       For they come with a price:
       They are tethered to strings of compromise,
       And they, themselves, can crush you
       Under their weight.

VII. Be not afraid of God,
        Instead, be afraid of man;
        For we are fickle creatures, Child,
        This you must understand.

VIII. None of us can choose our destiny,
         And none of us can escape its ****** hands.

IX. It is not thunder that grows flowers,
         It is rain,
         So watch your words,
         And watch your tone of voice,
         Remember words are weapons
         Of the purest strain.  

X. And lastly, child of mine,
     Remember this.
     'Happy mind' and 'Happy life'
     Go hand in hand.

Beloved,

Facing death is but the ultimate test of character.

I don't want to die,

But if I must

I choose to do it with pride

And loads of impudence.

Beloved,

Dying is bad enough

But to lose my sense of humor

Would be sacrilege.

I haven't lost all hope yet,

I haven't given up yet.

Beloved,

The great pyres of hell I fear not,

Though my sins are great in number.

I fear not the four horsemen

As described to John of Patmos,

I fear not the white horse,

No matter how righteous.

Beloved,

With your hand holding mine,

Among friends, among flowers,

Among beauty and poetry,

I intend to leave now.

I must join with Charon,

Son of Nyx and Erebus,

By the shores of the Styx

Like Aeneas did once.

Beloved,

From the deepest of abysses

I can hear your voice, crying,

Asking me to hang on

To the feel that once was.

I can see those black pools,

Those eyes that once hunted

Me in dreams

Welling up with those tears made of salt.

Beloved,

I had only dreams of

Galaxies and stars.

Beloved,

Now you see

Not even death itself could draw us apart;

You're the heart in my day

And the sun in my night.

Beloved,

Well know I you're no fan of goodbyes,

So instead, I'll say:

"Until next time, we'll meet

In the next life. "