It's the calm before the storm
(It hunts me)
I wait for the thunderclap
(It knows me)
Like water, rising like tides
(Above me)
Knowledge was all I craved
(And wisdom to hold me).

High, as a kite in the sky
(Or low, you tell me)
The thunderclap fades away
(Debilitating)
Pain are my bones and now
   they are breaking.

It's always been me against the world
(And the world against me)
On an equal playing feel
But never fair the game,
The world always had the advantage
(My bat kept breaking).

Accustomed to changes
(And the blows of destiny)
I've grown vigilant and weary,
(Bending, not breaking).

Burned but not buried my heart is
(Even when)
My body at the stake is burning
(A promise, neverending)
My spine holds stories and there aren't
  enough books to tell them.

Scars of place and time
(tenderest engravings)
And the sweetest of kisses
(An icy heart melting).

Kingdom of Heaven on Earth
(And Earth in Heaven)
Let the masses know my name
(Oh, let them!).

The thunderclap rolls again
Its strength is devastating
Fire and flood
And fire and ice
(Oh, the world is ending!)
But not me,
Not me,
(I'll be just fine)
I'll be resilient.

I guess that at a certain period of life
You stop being you.
Uniquely, beautifully YOU.
Was it the cold, black coffee?
The sleepless nights?
The drugs you did?
The level of alcohol in your bloodstream?
Was it like grabbing the tail of the snake
  that turned to bite you?
But, you know, it's easier to wrestle the snake
  once the head has been cut off.
Treat your mind like a two-year-old, Child,
Or flower into darkness.
Stop hiding from the shadows.
Start living and
Start being you;
Uniquely, beautifully, unapologetically you.
Start taking care of your body,
( Your body is a temple, ancient and crumbling,
probably cursed and hunted,
but a temple nonetheless.)
Take your meds, hydrate, nourish the brain that powers you,
Did you eat enough?
Did you sleep enough?
Did you took the time this morning to
  look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself
  everything is going to be okay?
Rise like smoke, Little One,
Burn with the strengths of a thousand suns.

Just the extension of a dream
Perching right outside my window
Darkness swallows everything
Like the seaside, sweet crescendo.

Lady Midnight, so mysterious,
Never knew beauty was this,
Lay my head upon your pillow
And let me drift away in dreams.
Morpheus gave you sweetest agonies
And a debt so high to pay,
You must lay yourself to sleep
And make way for a new day.

Lady Midnight
Though your beauty will always remain the same
Your mantle of stars is cursed,
Sooner or later you fade.

Disappear into daylight
And flower at night again,
Roll like tides o'er the horizon,
Make your name known everywhere.

Lady Midnight
Keep my secret until my name fades away,
Erased by water and fire
And my dark soul burns in hell.

Lady Midnight,
I pray you find me
And absolve me with your grace
Lady Midnight,
A talented rhymer
Of a troubled girl you made
Lady Midnight,
Pages and pages
My work expands nowadays
And notebooks with onyx ink
That is bound to fade away.

Absolve me, my Lady Midnight,
Don't let Satan know my name.
This writer soul's only ambition
Was only to make a name.

Among others of her craft
She now succumbs with the flames,
She disappears with your darkness,
Lady Midnight,
Sinner's friend.

Demonic you with mischief in your bones,
Sacred the pyres in which you were born,
Fire and brimstone
And chaos is your blood.

In Lilim you wrote
In a black book of ashes,
To torture the souls
As you destroy your own
Unraveling secrets and pain in the process,
Mitigating it lightly, then
Swimming with the dark.

Oh, Demon,
A promise I made you
A century ago.

Oh, Daughter of Lilith,
All the wars in your eyes
And battlefields in your blood
Made you into a demon
Much better and strong.

Oh, Child,
Your destiny is to serve Beelzebub,
The Prince of all Demons,
His kingdom, his laws,
And it's hard to survive with the Devil in tow,
But you, Little Hellion,
Will cut his wings off.

So go,
Give them hell, Kid,
'Cause there they belong.
Their sins feed the fires as flesh turn to smoke,
And screams turn to ashes
As you torture them all.

In the pyres of Hell,
Little Hellion,
Be strong.

Sylvia, Jane,
Virginia, or Agatha
Names plenty there will be.
Charlotte, Emily,
Mary Wollstonecraft,
Classics, everywhere I see.
Isaac Asimov,
Ernest Hemingway,
H.G. Wells and Faulkner, too.
Henry James and Charles Dickens
And Voltaire with "Candide" swoon.
Homer, Shakespeare, and Bram Stoker
All around the fire dance
With Count Dracula
And George Orwell as he reads "Animal Farm."
Stephen King and Nora Roberts
Still dispute what genre's best.
Was it horror,
Was it romance
That attracted me to them?
Was it fantasy,
The promise of escaping someplace else?
"I have read too many books
To believe what I am told."

To the ones that came before me,
I must thank you for my life.
Light, amongst the wondrous pages
Of your work, came to my mind.
Through the years,
I have learned
All the bright places are dark,
And like Eyre,
"I am no bird and no net ensnares me," pal.
Was it pride or was it prejudice,
Or the "Notes from Underground?"
In the "Night"
"As I Lay Dying"
Oh, a sweet "Farewell to Arms"
"On the Road"
I learned to find
What I loved and let it **** me,
And that love that is kept quiet
Quickly turns to a tragedy.

Through "The Bell Jar" I can see
Other people passing by,
And, pen in hand, I must write
The burning truth for them to find.
But heed my words, my fellow writer,
This won't be my demise,
'Cause I know why the caged bird sings,
And like changing tides I'll rise

Keep your hands busy
Or stuck them in your pocket to keep them from shaking.
Cry yourself to sleep every single night,
Listen to the thudding of your own heartbeat
And the blood rushing in your ears,
Feel the stickiness of your sweaty hands.

Your stomach ties in knots,
Again you lost your appetite,
There is a splitting headache at the back of your head,
You want to yell at someone
For once without consequence,
But still, people find it too hard to comprehend.

Should I clip my broken wings
'Fore I learn to fall or flight,
Hide away the fleeting beauty
Of the mountaintops, so high
Call out fear at every turn
Or be as ardent as the sun,
Cast my caution to the wind
For the mere pursuit of fun.
Name all things that made me tremble
As a schoolgirl, in my youth
Feel the caress of the wind
Breathing life into my chest
And the promise of a love
For which once I made a fool of this
Grizzly savant soul.

Do I dare disturb the universe,
Call myself Tycho Brahe,
Swim in waters full of sharks
And, like Neptune, whirlpools make
Oh!
Like Mars, belligerent fires
Leave my feet upon their wake,
And like Jupiter Almighty
There is thunder to my step.
But like Venus, seafoam child,
Beauty took my breath away,
Came Minerva with her owls
And her wisdom kindly shared.
Spoke so softly even Juno,
Wearing darkness as her cloak,
Listened carefully to Eternity
As Copernicus awoke.

Do I dare disturb the universe
And defy gravity and more?
Will the obloquy of newness
Stomp me dead and steal my throne?

Issac Newton came around
Just as he turned twenty-three,
Laws of gravity and physics
And an apple carried he.
Halley came,
A comet named, by the people,
After him,
Then came Einstein,
German thinker,
With another theory.

As for me,
I'm not as valiant
To disprove what it is wrong,
Not as quick to notice change,
Not as sharp
And not as strong.