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. "

It concerns you not

To try and understand me.

I'm just a fish against the current.

You think you can hook me?

Wrong, think again,

For you are used to guppies

And what a piranha I am.

Don't try to build a bridge over troubled water,

For me is best you build

One hell of a good dam.

I am a torrid river with merciless torments

Yet you won't understand it,

Go swimming somewhere else.

At night,

My waters are cloudy with nightmares

Even the stones are afraid of my wrath

You think you can brige the gap,

What an ignorance!

Beware, friend, for

He who swims in muddy waters

Too often ends up drowned.

The battlegrounds of Hell,

The pyres burning bright

Like the brightest day

Amongst shadows

Aphrodite's chariot is

Blazing love and passion,

See Persephone and Hades

With Iris.

Mingling in happiness

The ****** are there as well

Watching life pass by

With seriousness revered.

They're singing a sad tune

About love long lost,

About dreams not met,

About life and death

And what could go wrong.

"Beloved, know your master, "

Says Hades, of all,

The eldest of all devils

With her fell in love.

Persephone,

Of Iris her only child born,

Her beauty a flower

From Mount Olympus.

Forced to spend six months

Hidden underground,

Paying debt so strong,

She said without a doubt:

"Yes, alright. I'll go. "

And things took a turn

For better or worse,

The shores of the Styx

Were witness of all.

Fight fire with fire,

Fight fire with love.

Go fight Father Time

With Mother Nature.

And I must be dreaming

For this rhyme is too long

This requiem for the ******,

Not so ****** after all.

The world created us
To belong in this constant state of ecstasy;
Living in the middle,
Creatures of balance,
The absurdity of it amuses me.

Balance,
Easier to say than to obtain,
The center of everything that is sacred.

Balance,
For we are intensely human,
For we have gentle depths,
We are
Of heart unreachable and obtuse of brain,
Needy for redemption or revenge.

Balance,
For one misspoken word or
Misunderstood action leads to tragedy,
For fate is certainly a twisted *******.

Awake,
The lioness,
Alive and hungry,
Of turgid past, with many dreams deferred
Awake,
Eyes open, finding causes
To understand that some causes have effects.

Long, long ago she faced injustice with a growl
Of pain and fury,
And then her faith collapsed.
Erasing from the blackboard  all she was,
Replanted her ideals further down.

Walks the lioness
With weary paws the land
That once belonged to her pride as to the world,
A battle always fought but never won, for
This sets the world apart from deeper down.

Awakes the Lioness,
All hear her roar tonight,
All apotheosize the sole sight of her crown.

Every day is a battle.
With feelings and thoughts,
And you own aggression.
With the fire in your bloodstream,
And you complex fixations.
And the universe is in no way
In obligation
To make sense to you,
A kid, an aberration.
And "Volition" is just a term
To describe rebellion,
You couldn't keep that one in,
You Little Hellion.
Although the world always had
An explanation
For all major successes, there's no salvation.
There's no heaven and no hell,
Only isolation.
There's no love and there's no hate,
But resignation
To a world vile enough that sets the pressure
On your humanly, small shoulders
Made for perfection.

You got called to do the Devil's bidding,
Blood and bones,
It is his coat of arms.
Words are energy and they cast spells,
Its "Mind in the absence of body,
Body in the absence of mind."

You can  love a monster, Kid,
But that doesn't change its nature.
In Satan's Jigsaw puzzle
You were half-demon, half-god.
Forgotten by the world, but not by your Creator,
From the womb of the earth
All patron-saints march.

You don't have to be evil to dance with the Devil,
"One dies as he lives," they say where I am from
Burned too bright for this world
Entombed below perceptions,
Searching meaning
Where there shouldn't be at all.

Everything that's ever been said is a lie,
Earth awaits for its hero with delight.
And when you hold the universe
In the palm of  your hand,
To talk about death is to talk about life.

Forget everything you've ever known,
Start over,
A functional adult
Is merely a fictional adult,
You might not be in control of what life throws at you,
But the reaction to it entails a tricky job.

But why did you think
This was going to be easy?
This might be revolting,
But is still kind of fun.
That's a lot of heart to carry,
But, if the truth cannot be proven,
Is it still the truth at all?

This world scares me,
Paralyzes me.

My name isn't as clear
As it once used to be.

I once burned with the fire and
Now ashes are all that's left of me.

I once danced with the storm,
The thunder my drum and beat,
But my dance was none of joy,
It was one of pain, you see.

My secrets revealed to an unjust world
In poetry,
Undeserving of beauty,
Concerned with Psychiatry,
Drowning in screens and black coffee,
Anxiety and sobriety.

A world so unstoppable
It continues to puzzle me.
These are chaotic times, Lass,
And too many rely on me.

Strong girl, brave girl
(Crumbling)

What brought the Girl of Steel to her knees?

My heart is the one to blame
For it was cursed like Sisyphus
To carry a heavy burden undeniably, painfully

It's all balderdash to me now, anyway
Girl of Steel at my core
But I still somehow fade away.

I'm the doomed, the ******, the triumphant
With no promises and no regrets,
And cold hands, like doomed lovers,
Hung by strings, a marionette.

Someone told me it's no small thing
To control and choose your own end,
The universe loves a bad joke,
But respects the decadent.

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.

With your mighty sting
And your body small but toxic
Like death itself
Little Scorpion,
Are you happy?

With your soft exoskeleton
And your blood that runs like fire,
Burning like Troy and the libraries of Alexandria,
Little Scorpion,
Are you happy?

Have the sands of the desert,
Ardent like the forge of Prometheus,
Burned your legs
And waged wars with your claws?

Have the dunes
Consumed you yet?

Little Scorpion,
Are you happy?