Empty ride
My heart sits in the passenger side,
While my soul drives
Passing deserts with the occasional swath of life
My mind navigates while my emotions tune the radio
Sometimes it's just static and there's nowhere to go
I watch them from the backseat,
Like a child with no concept of distance or time.
They speak of an ocean not too far away
A place to bathe, Baptise some would say
I've never seen the water but I've heard the waves
Terrifying in their never ceasing might,
Why we drive to them I don't know
My soul knows why, always telling me it'll be okay
While my heart beats away,
Ageing with each pulse and quiver
My mind is busy calculating, though someone should give it a break
While emotions can't be satisfied,
They know why we need this drive
Peace in the journey, we were never meant to stay
In the rearview mirror I see all the cities we've passed by
We never belonged in them and they let us go without a goodbye.
The water awaits
I know it'll be my final fate
A breath to end all days
Flood waters to fill my chest
This body of mine, it follows
Even to its demise it knows
My soul will lead us home.

Drop the beat
Whistle that final wheeze
Blow the ram's horn
Strike matches on three

Hangman's knot
A fine collar for mortal decor
Ends hanging those ****** cords

Heaven above
Watching as soaring souls are freed
Lifted from mortal coil
At the hangman's drop
Chanting gallows horns
Deep chords of aching hearts

A dead man's walk
A final trudge
Whether sinned or not
Fate has been ordained

If I hang from that noose,
Will you meet me one last time?
Under dark skies
Before my gallow walk?

It's better this time,
Last time they set me alight.
I still smell ash,
The sickly sweet burning flames

Kiss me one last time
Before my drop
I'll carry our love to the final swing.

Don't look when my eyes turn grey
Glazed and faded away
I'll have left,
Freed to the skies
Where I'll roam and breathe free
Waiting for my captors,
So they'll see they could never **** me.

To my back sit the stars
Under my feet lie the clouds
An endless staircase rises both ways
I breathe the clouds
I feel the void on my neck
Sit with me on the steps
Talk a while
Labors of my love came today
And I had to go away
Do not grieve the loss
It was always meant to be
I'll return to the skies
Where walls of captivity cease to be
Change has arrived
Birthing pain of a new day
It is growing late
The stairs go both ways
I sit on the steps
My final wait
Weaving stars and galaxies.

It rattles and shakes,
More than half of the fake fur is gone,
Exposing the plastic underneath
That doesn’t change how much she loves it.
A little toy mouse,
Nearly as old as she
She carries it like a teddy bear
In her mouth, safe in her teeth
It goes in her water dish and in her food,
To bed and down the hall.
A kitten and her toy mouse,
Such pure love,
A beautiful thing
I hope any love you have
Is as pure as a kitten and her toy mouse.

Silver lines stretching infinitely
Atoms of dust
Stars crushing themselves alive
Checkered across the plain
Webbed waypoints supporting the tapestry

Life among the stars spinning fast
Fading brilliant lights
Scattered dust among the skies
Pondering an infinite cycle of why
Oblivious to the Weaver's gentle nudge
A cosmic string intertwined with dusty lives
Cradled by gravity to keep stomachs tight

Stories of old
Creation's magic and a socerer's stone
Fervent prayers of desperate souls
Each cry an echo vibrating a string
Of the untold and grieving nights
And heroes and villains of the heart
Empty throes if only known
The pain would surely go

A Weaver of majesty
Knows her tapestry
Each fiber taut or loose
Is a making of her own
If gravity should let us know we aren't alone
Our stories will never grow old.

It’s been a while,
I know,
Pristine walls I built are washing away
The ever tide comes in.
I was so young when I started,
My walls of sand,
Sculpted terraces,
A moat and giant doors,
Sea shells placed carefully in the walls.
The sand is dripping,
Floating back to source
The waves are gentle and merciless,
Going back and forth,
Canibalising the shore.
A city collapsing on itself,
An empire of dreams falling down
And the builder has long gone away,
Leaving the castle to melt,
Into a pile of sand,
Reclaimed by the sea
It’s ever loving embrace
Like a body taken by the fields,
The castle becomes the sea.

The desert is a special place,
Among the red cliffs and hellish scapes,
The empty spaces wait,
Fallen boulders lie like sentinels at the gates

Painted rocks,
Of a ****** sun,
Colorful river, snaking along
Full of Siren songs

The heat is merciless,
A slave master
With chains and whips
But something here,

Whispers through the canyons,
Of what lies ahead,
The barren before the end
No man’s land

Here the mystics sing,
Through the breeze
And swirling sands
Of the beginning and the end.

Do you think a shadow knows?
That it's just a shadow?
Given form by some matter and light?
I doubt so, but what do I know?
Perhaps the shadow is real,
And I'm the one who doesn't see,
The illusion of life lying to me,
Making me another shadow dancing on the wall, thinking I'm free.

Mighty pine
Age has rotted your branches
Your roots no longer caressed by vines
Your needles have fallen
Eighty feet high
You've touched the sky
Heard its whispers and sweet mysteries
Now you sway dangerously
A stiff wind shakes you horribly.

Mighty pine
You've seen seasons pass
Longer than many alive
Now it is time to rest
Your wood turns into a sweet smoke
An offering to the sky you reached
Freedom from your solid stance
A guardian you no longer need to be
Be free and kiss the sky for me

I’ve been standing on this line
Unsure where I’m supposed to lie,
In the field where I know of home
Or in the raging storm outside?

I’ve been running for some time
And I’ve sat with my demons for a spell
Neither have given me peace of mind
Now it’s time to go

It’s a slippery *****
To the place of lost souls
Ridden with self-told lies
And pitiful holes

Should I stand my ground this time?
Or surrender to the endless fight?
What an empty night
Now that I’ve pulled this splinter from my mind.

Who has seen
The midnight hour
Filled with hope
Of dying day and birth anew
Scarlet tags hanging
Upon the changing hour
Of all coming and going
With baited breath
The clock chimes true
Lost for all who blinked
Death is in bloom
A new day
Born in darkness and quiet
Stilling hearts with a whisper
Sleep and all will come true.

Burnt orange
Pastel of pink
Intermingled with purple hue
Breathy haze
Of mountain cool
Aspen and pine reaching high
Meadows of deer grazing in dusk's light
A peaceful fading sight
Full moon rising
Broached by tips of trees
Beautifully rising night
Burnt orange
Of smoky skies
Mountains rising above the hazy light
Breathe this burning sky
One last time.

May my blood of this moon
Fall upon the stones
Creating life tonight
May the earth hear my cries
In the heat of night
I'll hand back with warriors might
Every grain and stars alight
Heal these wounds
Mother of the land and sky
Incantations of spirits on my side
May this blood flow bright
Down the stones to river beds and watery depths of absent light
Sky grant me one more breath tonight
I'll whisper my creation into life.

Midnight
Her solemn gaze,
Fade into black with hints of cold light
Her echoed name,
Ghostly foggy breeze
Her sweet lullaby,
Thrice times the raven calls
Her wisest words,
Winters harshest night,
Her gentle kiss,
Little one
Your laugh is the brightest day,
Youth's grace,
Your smile is full of ease,
Dear,
Your tears raise life from barren seeds,
Lady,
You're heart bleeds life into dying days,
Aged and grey,
Your eyes don't hold back
O' moon up high
Hear the chant
Born to death and life
Endless cycles
A daughter's craven namesake.

I dripped tonight
Slid down the way
Warm little drops
Wet and sweet
Didn't realize they were there
Till I felt them run down my face
Wondering why they came
Knowing they've been at bay

Several years ago
Life led me to a fork that went both ways
One was known and everything I had been raised to be
The other was singular and marked with shame
The former was the only one I was supposed to take
A simple lie is all it would take
A sip of kool-aid to dull the pain
But I couldn't kneel before another's game
So I took the latter
Beginning a journey that belonged to me
I lost what childhood had given me,
I watched family and friends turn away
At eighteen that was a bitter thing
Deracinated from everything
It left me grasping to make sense of anything
As a child I had always been told about people like me
I had taken the red pill
The lies went away and I had to rebuild everything
I made home for myself
Not out there
Where the world spins without wait
But inside
Where my shadows dance and play
And I found my way
I still don't know where it leads
Or what I'll be along the way
But I've made peace with the pain that led me this way
And all the friends and family who have gone away,
Because I didn't see life their way
Now this path doesn't seem so lonely and the shame that marked the entrance was a lie to frighten me away.

I wish,
I didn't float so easily,
That my lungs didn't rejoice so with cool air,
That the night sky didn't fill me with longing,
That my thoughts didn't touch eternity every night.

I am,
A million lights and a void with nothing in sight,
A tempest given form,
An echo of past life,
A sunrise and sunset folding into endless light,
A storm of unparalleled might,
The child of my dreams crying at night
And the one who comforts her each time.

I will,
Attach my willowy ways to sinew and bone,
Stick my feet in the Earth,
Find peace in my temporary home,
Ask the highest of you
And not think less of you when failure is due,
Be the gentle breeeze caressing your face,
And the violent hurricane bringing change,
Be the storm inside of my wildest dreams.

Salty spray and sailing trips,
Worries of simple things
Come close,
I'll take it all away while I can
Scraped knees and bad dreams
I'll cure any wound and chase the monsters away

As you grow life will change
I'll still be there,
To answer anything.
I'm not perfect,
But I've got strength that never fades,
Something I hope you'll gain.

I'll stay until it's time to sail away
By then I swear you'll be okay,
I'll have shown you how to love,
It’s from my mother and it's purer than any light,
I'll have taught you when to fight to the bitter end,
And when to have wisdom to give in,
I'll show you how to find peace
When all you feel is a storm within.

Little one,
You'll have all I can offer,
Today and tomorrow
You'll have my heart, mind, and this old soul of mine.

You look at me
Like you could command the sky and sea
If only the sea didn't thrash
And the sky wasn't so vast
It brings a smile to my weary face
The darkness in the eyes,
The pain hidden inside
My dear I've written those lines
It's why you feel safe in my sights
A port for a storm that's raging inside
You found something you like
If only I didn't thrash and seem so vast
Perhaps you could find mastery
But these are foreign seas
And the sky is storming, see
I see you looking at me
Wistfully
My dear, I am the sky and seas

I write tonight.
Nothing great or in pretty lines,
Just a little pain of mine.
Of loss and heaviness.
Some days I can forget
But in wee hours I drop the lies and gaze at the little things.
Love lost, people gone, desires unmet, and the madness of the mundane.

It opens questions so I write.
Often it's to a friend, my never reader
But when it's right I write for someone to see
Perhaps for me and partly for others
For those that need
A reminder that even alone it's never completely so.
I write of a little pain,
With this in mind:
Pain is a drug that runs in my soul and maybe that is why I never let it go.

Wet slime under my feet
Mud in my teeth
On the jungle floor
While you sit in the canopy above
Watching over me
As the stars circulate

I'm lost below
Searching for a path amid the vines
There's too many trees
And I can't take this **** heat
Eyes glow as the only light
Sounds rage above the quiet night

You know I'm lost on this plane
I don't remember the fall
But I recognize the jungle sounds
My body aches and my blood seeps
I crave those lights at night
Peaceful empty skies

But here I am
Roaming the jungle floor
Looking for my place
Though you wait
I don't know how long it'll take
Before I can leave this dark place.

In the shade the desert ground is blessed
In scars survival fights
In broken ground life is sewed
In storms water is split
What is pure was distilled
What is life but a healing wound
Broken hearts and souls
Empty grief within
The cracks let strength grab hold
The end isn't coming
The beginning has just rung in
Broken vases
Has made you see
Just shells hiding are we
Set down the burdens and you'll be free.

I wrote a story of something in my mind
It grew rather long and felt like pulling a thorn from my side
I know not from where it came or why it calls me home
But I gave it life and claim it mine
All the loves and losses
And the characters who live and die
It's a beautiful and frightening thing
To see a world and a people exist in your mind.

Waiting in line
For the train to pass
Storm clouds moving swiftly by

A man steps aside
Lights a smoke
Waiting for the train to go by

Impatience in the air
Traffic lights
Rushhour time

Tack, tack
The tracks shake
Electricity sizzles

Sun fighting for a chance
But the clouds dominate,
Rains held with a sigh

Waiting,
No one watches the clouds pass by,
Not enough time

Breathe,
Love, if you listen,
Breathe

When you die,
The trains,
The traffic lights

You won’t think of these
But of the clouds,
The gentle breeze.

Waiting
Waiting for our time,
We’re all ghosts walking by.

The train roars through
Hustle on
If you don’t stop,
The clouds will never see you pass by.

Tonight is a night of hallow
One we cannot share
In light or dark
It's a night beyond compare
Of wonders and horrors
Blatant to disregard my care,
Of what I speak
A wile of mine
That wanders my sacred places
Of grey and white
And where the caged beat roars,
Upon the midnight stars
Roam the horses
Of winds and dreams
Running fast
Upon cosmic sleet
The void of all who seek
An endless well
Reflecting each question back on thee,
Tonight is a night of hallow
The trees have said to me,
Follow the roots
Twisted and gnarled as they may be
White and black
For every scar and age
Ash upon your feet
Not to return from this night
A night of hallow
A lonely journey of the soul
That must be complete.

I lost myself along the way
In the mirror a stranger stares at me
But everyone still calls me by name
I sit in reality's shade
Pondering the day
It's time I leave this place
To where I don't know
But it's too strange here
The sounds and colors aren't the same
I think today I'll make my escape

My lungs bent the air
Making my breath come and go
The blood in my veins runs like water
My heart bent it through my body
My bones stand like stone
They bend my knees to the ground
The fires of my mind burn bright
In imagination I've made the sky.

I lay my body down
I've got no further to go
I'll hear the call come round
Until then I'll lie here and listen
Hung my heart so I could hear it play
It was a symphony
So achingly bittersweet
Each beat seeking majesty
Percussion of obsession
Strings stirring the currents longing
Woodwinds calling dreams
Brassy passions
The argot of my friends in arms
Battling my mind for possession
Each beat a harmony and a tragedy
My symphony
Always in my mind
Granting pain and peace

A slip of silver shining in the moonlight
Crescent midnight sun intoxicating dead to life
Molten iron in a mouth full of strife
Hot fires raging inside,
I hear your cry
Anger and fear blinding everything in sight
Brother can you hear me now?
The day is won
There is no more blood to slay
I know you never left the fight
Peace is hard when you've seen the hate in people's eyes
You've been breathing red haze
And now you've forgotten who you are
Brother listen to me now
Take my hand and hold it tight
We'll find sanity's light
I'll rinse the blood stains from your eyes
We're both built for the fight
Let me be by your side
Hold my hand tight
I'll take us down to the river tonight
Where we played and make-believed
My brother I'll join you for this fight
Coming home is a long journey of the night.

Roots burrowed deep
Roots burrowed shallow
A tree clinging to a cliff
While climbing to the sky,
Cancerous roots
Spreading out
Grasping ground
Solid foundations
Ill winds won't knock it down,
Twisted tree
Its bark is scarred
Old and gnarled
Survived a lightning strike,
A squirrel family
And a woodpecker or three,
Aged back to Roman days
Its past pain is clear to see
A beauty unique
Should I live thousands of years
I think I'd be as twisted as this tree

A friend's request
I rise to meet
A dovetails nest
Resting steadily
Perched ever so gently
On a perilous peak
A nudge and the young will tweet
Plunged into eternity
A request complete
Bittersweet
Broken free
The time has come for awakening

There are some poems,
There are some stories,
I write with so much heart
I dump them onto the page
Hardly sorting them out
The way they came is already better than I could say.
They are beyond blood
They are little pieces of my soul,
Children of mine,
Should I let them go?
Let them free for all to see?
Something beyond words and philosophies
I feel them when I breathe
Gods, monsters, and prophecies.
Heaven and hell are within me
I see the lives in me,
And more than that I see them in you.
No matter the times the story never dies
See a myth and read it twice
It is your life
Your journey to find both hero and villain inside
I write not because it's a hobby
I write so I can breathe,
Would you like to take the journey?

Standing on the broken cliffs
Watching the tide retreat
It carries my heart
Every beat,
I wait for it to come in once again.
I'm always here
In stalwart verse
Providing words of certainty,
Lionness of the pride,
Reliable everytime,
Soldier marching in stride
Are you frightened by the quiet blaze in my eyes?
I know it's a little intense sometimes
I'll close them for you tonight.
I keep myself on a leash
Knowing when the day comes I am released
I'll admit it was a lie
While I stood on the cliffs
Waiting like a guardian of ancient times,
I wanted to be free
Join my heart in the sky and seas
Longing for the moon and stars
Bringing in high tide
So I may feel one more time.