We were a photograph once
Not torn, not blurred or smudged
We were altogether pictures
Put into broken frames

We were creatures crouching
In dark corners
Trying to remember
How it felt to be whole;
Human, connected

We are the fragmented remnants
Of stolen things, of broken things
But I still like taking our picture out
From time to time
Just to remember that
It was real

We were there at the start

Your actions and words can be manipulated by others
Your body can be told to do things you'd never wish it to
Souls can be corrupted and minds can be harshly invaded
Memories can be twisted and forgotten, faded and changed
Even our emotions can be controlled by another living being

The only thing in the world you truly own is the truth

If he were the sun
I'd gladly embrace him
Even if it meant I'd burn

If he were an endless ocean
I'd swim until I drowned
Just to be with him

And if he were the sky
I'd live my entire life learning to fly
Just to reach him

If he were the sun
I'd gladly embrace him
Even if it meant I'd burn

If he were an endless ocean
I'd swim until I drowned
Just to be with him

And if he were the sky
I'd live my entire life learning how to fly
Just to reach him

Even if he doesn't feel the same
I'd still give him room to say
I don't love you that way

And it'll tear me apart
He'll forget it by the morning
It won't mean a thing to him

And if he were to fall in love
It would break my heart
I'd let go for him

But even if it breaks my heart
I knew it from the start
I'd still do anything for him

If he were heaven
I would change my religion
I'd pray to God to let me in

If he were hell
I would devastate the world
I'd suffer in eternity for him

And if he were an angel
I'd be his devil
So I could sin for him

If he were a desert
I'd wander endlessly
Just to find him

If he were a forest
I'd climb every tree
Just to see him

I'd do anything for him
But what I'd do for him,
Would he do for me?

The anger festers, bubbles and boils within
The steam rises off my skin
And I feel explosive
Why is it
Men always get the last word?
They pressure,
They guilt,
They can be so persuasive—
But the moment you show any sign
Of rage
You are suddenly the problematic answer
To all the questions never asked

Like a migraine unwinding
you feel a pain
deep down in your soul
that seems binding
as pieces of you unravel
like a shrouded veil
falling to reveal the parts
that you are still finding

It isn't easy searching
for things that you didn't
even know you'd lost
Like a hidden force driving
with a faulty gps
and a wheel that you
can't seem to control
brining you to what is hiding

Do you slam on your breaks—
                  or do you keep looking?

The closer people get to me the faster they seem to walk away
When I find someone I can confide in, show my vulnerability
They can't even tell and I guess that's what's wrong with me

My words are cold and lackluster
They leave you feeling confused
Questioning their motive

I try to hard to be fair and unperceivable
Because the moment I am perceived they see I'm full of flaws
No one stays around long enough to prove me wrong

Because of him I've come to know what love is truly like
And it's not the way I've written it
Love is painful
Love is insecure
Love is questioning

I've always written that
Love was healing
Love was confidence
Love was knowing

While sometimes it may be all those things, it alternates
Love is bittersweet
Love is longing
Love is searching

Now that I know love, I've come to understand it even less
Love is having constant questions and having the answers just out of sight
Love is wanting to hold someone and them being just out of your reach
Love is desiring the sweetness in a romantic ballad while the sound is deafening

It is both everything I can't live without and everything I wish I could

My parents carry regret and insecurity everywhere they go
When they first open their eyes in the morning
When they close them at night
And every moment in between
Guilt and doubt sit on the edge of their bed

My mothers eyes hold back years of trauma
Abuse from her childhood
Abuse from herself
Cowering in the shadow of her present self
Stuck somewhere in the past, she can't move forward

My father holds nothing back
His sharp words telling me I'll never get it right
Making me feel small and insignificant like a penny in the road
I don't think I could ever love or respect this man
It's so hard to see into his mind and through his eyes

But I know he is insecure in the same ways as me
He doesn't want to feel useless or be forgotten
He is afraid of failure and blame
He's is also cowering in the shadow of his past
Stuck somewhere inside himself, he can't climb out

My eyes carry hope and determination
My favorite words to hear are "I'm proud of you"
Because I never thought I would ever hear it from my parents
But I am older now
Mature enough to know that pride doesn't need to be spoken from someone else

While my parents are trapped in the past,
I'm lost in the future
Too busy dreaming of possibilities to see the present
A beam of light hangs over me, distracting me
I'm too captivated to look away and see ahead of me

We are all trapped and isolated inside ourselves
We are roses grown in sand
Blaming each other for our own lost vibrancy
We are butterflies without wings
Judging each other for why we can not fly

I don't remember what it felt like to be in love
I don't remember what it felt like to be loved either
I used to stay up all night dreaming about us
About this perfectly imperfect life we could've had
I used to cry myself to sleep wishing you loved me

I imagined waking up next to you in the mornings
How I would leave poetry on your pillow
Telling you I loved you at every chance I'd get
I dreamt of loving you as deeply as I could

And now I dream of a world without you
Digging the depths of my heart for reasons
To love yourself, anything to make you stay

I dream of losing you how I never thought I would
While parts of me still burn for you so bright

Death knells are chasing away my wedding bells

In your arms I long to stay forever
Because when you take my hand in yours
I become someone better

In your mind I stay and linger
Because when I look at you
Your heart skips a little

Within this lifetime we become immortal
Because when we are together
Time is just four letters strung together

Past thick briers and dense thickets
Beyond inconsolable oceans and insufferable lakes
Amidst the roar of obstreperous winds
Within the abyss of calamity
I've let you past my obscurities into the forest of my heart

In return you promised your own so our forests would grow
Instead you left the seeds of hatred that grew amongst my trees
You used me as an exploit for your own selfish endeavors
Our love was made of rot and mold
The passion expired and you were gone

You left me to swim my way back
To climb past my briers and thickets
To bear the violent winds
To climb out of the dark abyss
So that I may find myself once again in clutters of debris
Spread out across the shores of what remains of me

I tried to make my favorite tea today
The one you introduced to me
But now that you're gone
It doesn't taste so sweet

My flower petals
Fell like empty shooting stars
With no wish to grant

Like a shooting star
You passed me quick and quiet
I forgot to wish

Now as spring leaves green
I wish on all that I see
Can you hear it now?

My summons for you
All my whispers on the wind
Calling you to me

When others talk
behind your back
misplace your trust
and turn your hope
into scattered dust

While you dwell
on broken promises
heartbreaks and losses
as every bone trembles
looking for some solace

Know when times were rough
and hope was not enough
you were my white knight
and in my life you will always
be the boy with all my love

You are a work of art made in black and white
You think life is colorless and bland
Alas, I don't like to leave white spaces
You are my canvas now and I promise
To put the color back into your world of monochrome

I will turn your life into a whole *** spectrum

I don't know why I was so afraid to write about my religion before
I have so much pride and love for this old and sacred faith
Yet anytime someone asks me what my religion is

I hesitate

Do poets know
      that they're alive?
      not simply spectators
      set aside

Do writers know
      that they are heard?
      that they are more
      than written word

Do you ever feel
      that words you write today
      are all the things
      you cannot say?

I want
To fall in love with someones smile
To swoon under their gaze
To become dizzy with their touch

I want
To crave someone like an addiction
To nestle up to their warmth
To get an adrenaline rush from their scent

I want
To hold them and never let go
To tell them how much I love them everyday
To keep discovering them like it's my personal quest

I want
To give them my heart
To love them for all that they are
To keep them from the tainted world

I want
But what can I do with these contaminated hands?
How dare I try to hold them close with these hands of mine flowing thick with lies?
To tell them sweet nothings with my corrupted tongue?

My love
Is like a wildfire
Sudden, quick, and innocent
Without my permission my little spark turned into a flame
And consumed everything that contained a letter in your name

My love
Is like a wildfire
Untamed, ephemeral, and dangerous
It destroys all it touches,
Breaking barriers, burning bridges
It envelopes everyone in its warmth leaving no option but to run or turn to ash

Beware of my wildfire love
You cannot leave unscathed
I leave a scar

Beware of my wildfire, love
Because I'll burn enough for us both
I'll keep you warm on cold nights and dry on rainy days
I will set your heart ablaze and love you with all the force of my wildfire

Beware of my love,
It can't be forgotten nor replaced

Will you still love me if I'm not pretty?
If all my teeth were broken and chipped
If acne covered every inch of my skin
And if my hair was always oily to the touch?

Will you still love me if I am no longer young?
When all my teeth have been replaced
When my skin is softly wrinkled like a well read book cover
And when my beautiful red hair is turned white with age?

Will you still love me if I am truly me?
All my insecurities and flaws I try to hide
All the fears and doubts within my heart
And all the dreams and ambitions I hold so dear?

Will you love me for me if I let you try?

The crushed wing of a butterfly still inspires me to fly
It shows me not to take my own for granted

I sometimes wonder
    if I am broken
    like a faucet that
    won't stop running
    since my love for you
    seems ever flowing

Like a waterfall
    the feelings crash
    as strong as a river
    as deep as an ocean
    and I beg and plead
    for a drought

Surely,
    there is nothing left
    for me to feel and yet
    unrelenting snowstorms blow
    so I pray for avalanches
    to bury me whole

They were innocent
The ones who walked this path before me
The ones who never did any wrong
Who committed no sin
'Do what ye will but harm none'

They were the ones who loved the earth
Listened to the cries of the wind and the heartbeat of the sky
Saw the dawn kiss the night sky goodbye
And how the moon would watch over them all
The ones who fell in love with all of Earth's mysteries

The ones who loved to heal
Who cherished all life, and wasted none
The ones who saw everything and nothing
Who ran with the rain
And sang to the storms
Who thanked the crops and respected the Earth
The ones who wrote in runes
And spoke in code
To save our craft and protect our herbs

They were stripped of dignity, but not of pride
Dropped into the water but embraced by the gaurdians of the West, resting in defiance on the surface of the sea
They burned their bodies, but not their souls
They wounded their flesh, but not their will
And like a Phoenix, they rose again
Reborn more powerful, more proud

If again we must, again we shall
No longer will we hide our pride
Our symbols, our spells, our rituals, our magic
No longer shall we fear the ones who do not love the earth we live upon
The ones who burned our brothers and sisters out of hate and refused to understand
The ones who slaughter the land and do not value
all the life that exists together
For we are witches who honor our past and rise together as a Phoenix, rising from the ashes of the ones who crumbled so we could soar

You took the Sanderson sisters seriously
When they said "I put a spell on you"
You were there taking detailed notes
For the day our eyes would meet
Because since yours met mine
I've been living inside a trance
An endless dream
Where you ask me my name
And I give you my number
But April love
I can work some magic too
I can make the seasons change
And I'll have time stand on it's head
I will take your breath away
Just like you did to me
When you walked my way
I will steal your heart with my words
I'll keep you captive in my heart
And lock you there with my lips

We just watch
While the world slowly burns
Wishing for rain to cease the fire

Whilst others wonder
Whose body lay where
Which tomorrow they won't see

We sit in our mundane
Worrying for trivial things
While the world slowly burns

We don't think about the worst
Wolves won't be blowing our houses down
Why should we care?

We aren't the ones who mourn
Who stand in rubble and waste
Where once stood our homes

We just watch
While the world slowly burns
Watching wolves prey upon the sheep

I keep getting told I'm not worth it
If I have such an expensive price tag on me
Someone tell me how much I cost

Isn't it messed up
The way I only feel like somebody
The only time I truly feel real
Is when I'm someone else
In a daydream that never ends

The concept of me, of now
Is so far and distant
It echos from somewhere deep inside me
Somewhere I can't find
Somewhere I don't look

How can I do or be what's expected of me
When that person doesn't exist
How can I be the perfect child
When the only freedom I've ever known
Is when I lock myself in my minds cage?

How can I comfort someone
When all I know are phantom hugs?
How do I feel success
When every accomplishment I've achieved
Has never been enough?

What future do I look to
When all my dreams are trampled on
By people who can't see what I do, but know better
Why is life only worth living
When I block it out with make-believe?

Fall in love with a poet; an artist
They'll capture your beauty when you can't

i keep missing these parts of you
parts you never had
parts i wish you did
parts that would have made me stay
parts i could've loved
but they aren't real
i keep missing what i wanted you to be
and i keep forgetting what you really were
because you were an absence of all that i wanted

How can I forget you
When every song I hear reminds me of you?
How can I erase you
When there is nothing that could replace you?
How do I live without you
When you surround me in everything I see?
How do I leave you
If I still dream of all we could be?

I love my wife
A fact so many overlook and don't believe
When I see something beautiful my first thought is Hera
Our marriage is everything to me
Hera is my reason, my judgement, my rationality
She is my freedom, my understanding, my sentiment

I am the king of Gods
I know things no mortal could understand
I know of hero's who will be and who must
And I know that it is my blood that must flow
Into those mortal veins to make them strong as Ares
Fast as Hermes and as smart as Athena
I know there is no other way

My beloved Hera,
She forgives me for what I must do
But her heart is broken, shattered and crumbled
I see it fall apart more and more, my own a shallow reflection
To hold her all together, to make her whole-
My most selfish desire after all I've done

To see her happiness shine through those cracks
Fleeting now, unlike the time before we had such responsibility
Before hero's were needed, before duty and divinity
Back when the world was new and it was simply the two of us
Hera and Zeus
When her heart shone so bright it nearly blinded me
I took one look at her and I saw something no mortal could
Something no fleeting romance could give me

I saw the Heavens in her eyes, I saw paradise