He went to a bitter place
There was too much hate
Perhaps that's why the bottle was never far from his face
When the forks came he always took the darker way
It led him here to a gutter of a place
He was content to wile away
Until she told him to get up one day
He yelled and cursed
How dare someone disturb his disgrace
She said nothing and edged him toward a cliff
If he was so miserable why didn't he end it all today
He sputtered and complained
But there was no sympathy on her face
She gave him the option to either fall down the rest of the way or come with her to another place
He chose to go with her after some debate
She led him away and he followed cautiously
She never said a word on the journey
Until they arrived where the winds meet
She led him into the sea
He panicked when he was neck deep
But she drug him further
He cried and screamed, she was killing him
She laughed, asking how she could **** what's already dead
He protested that it could not be
She smiled and shook her head
Saying he had died in the gutter a while ago
He hadn't learned that he could move past it you see
She came to show him another way
But first he must release all he's been carrying
So breathe the water deep
Let the bitter man lie where your body sleeps
The only thing to lose is suffering.

I tied my laces tight
Bloused my pants and secured my vest
Canteens sloshing stale water
With a ninety pound ruck on my back
My buddy jokes I weigh just as much
A pen, knife, sunflower seeds and 550 cord
Kevlar helmet strapped to my chin
A sure weight slung on my shoulder
Its cool embrace always in my hands.

****** heels inside my boots
Exhaustion makes this dirt feel great
Embracing my rifle like a lover at night
I don't care I'm atop rocks and brush
I'd sleep on the firing line or in a ditch if it meant some shut-eye.

The air rocks with blasting sounds
Waking me from sleep
My exhausted mind hearing cries and shouts
I grip my rifle tight and silence myself
Hearing footsteps crack the ground
I should be scared I know
But all I feel is anger over my lost sleep
Fear slipped away the moment I laced my boots.

Ambushed on a lonely dusty road
My heart did not skip a beat
In the mud and pain life became a game
Grit my teeth and walk again
Laughing when insanity hits
Sleeping on shells
Rolling my eyes as the guys play a game of 'worse smell'
In it all I saw myself
It was too easy,
This road to hell
And I feared a soldier shared my cell.

Been looking in my well as of late
Saw my reflection on the watery face
I don't have much to say
There was plenty to hear
But I didn't want to listen
I was tired of its watery song
It's been quiet as of late
Leaving me with my wintry soul
It weaves and blows
Its direction unknown
Always returning with a story
Been looking in my well
Saw my watery face
Never dry as silence unfolds

Breathing in and out—
Collapsed in soul gaps
Face brushed against
The edge of emptiness
In this dead lapse
Where the soul gasps
Breathing in and out—
No one can hear
Your cries
In the unknown
Expanse of just you
And yourself,
Breathing in and out—
In an expanse
Where the soul gasps,
Is it only you
There by yourself,
Or someone else?

Rise from ash and dust
Soughter bones until their tough
Call of the night
Is birth and death come to life
Resurrection cry
Rise from the ground to the sky
Bringing light on the darkest night
Combusting to bring darkness in the brightest light
Fly with me one more time
I'll burn us to the ground and make us new tonight
Magic born from ash and dust
Birth and death a cycle of rite
Hear the birth pangs and dying gasps
The balance of creation and destruction
Coming to life in fire and light

An old wooden shack
Built by hands long ago
Still ptotecting those inside
From storms and predators outside
A small hole appeared one night
In the roof just above where I slept
The black sky peered through
Threatening me with its vastness
So I might float away at night
A horrid black thing
Until a small pin of light appeared
Followed by another and another
And the hole was filled with pins of light
A starry sky
My first sight
Alone yet inspired
By these mystic lights
Is their cold light warm on another face?
Outside this barn of mine
Is the death of this life,
A traveler's delight
This hole shows me otherwise
My journey of the night
To starry skies of mystic lights

Through my eyes,
My human eyes
I saw you standing there
Afraid with eyes bright
Aglow with instinctual light
A hint of recognition sparking to life
A smile of mine
With kind eyes
Will they show you my compassion?
Sitting down in the moonlight
Waiting patiently while you pace
Wild and untamed with feral eyes
Nothing as beautiful as you roams the night
Our empty lives incomplete
You are free and I sit silently
Forever gazing at each other
Separated by mere shadows and light
My beautiful wild sight
I'll watch you every night