Ah please understand
I didn't say what I wanted to say
Because I didn’t know
If it was the right thing to say

Now I know
And it’s too late

A photographer
Arriving past the golden hour
Loses the last ray of light and
Returns empty handed

In my dreams, you alway write in purple
As you scribble my name and
As you scribble yours

It’s a color that suits you well, I think
And you wear it gracefully
It is not typical like blue or black
It is not flamboyant like pink or orange
It is not harsh to read like yellow or red
It is dimmer than brown and lighter than green

It is purple, like the deep night before the stars arrive
It is purple, like a streak of light in the dark

I will never forget you, you know
I just hope you will always remember
How special purple is
And how special you are

He screams and wails
No one knows why

When they ask
He smiles and laughs

Empty
Silence

Little paved driveway behind the gray classrooms
Creaking bleachers of the tennis courts
Orange coarse grit of the racing track
Thin stone pathway leading to the scarlet oak Tree
Upside-down chairs behind dim window shades
Rusty lockers all along a silver row
Black monitors beneath monthly calendars
Even the Lunch spot under the full oak Tree

Thin sheets of rain fall
Eyes blur
Deep breath
Scream
Silence
Empty

I first saw it beneath the setting sun
A string of gold against the purple clouds
It stood before the edge of the divide
Between the raging sea and the rolling clouds

I dove at the sight of Hope
Washing my hair with salty sand
There is the beacon beyond turbid seas
Haven to repose and a harbor to dock

The waves came, crashing, crashing
It grayed the world with soaring height
It became my eyes and all I see
And when I got back on top

The lighthouse was gone
Buried beneath the dome of the clouds
As the sea and the sky embraced
So passes my Hope

Last night
I had a nightmare.
I was in it.

I molded darkness into my throne
and now I reap the death
of another angel
crashing with her beautiful broken wings

Blight is the sun that ceases to shine
Delight are the stars-- children of night
Burnt is the moon-- bride of smoke
Dread is the dark beneath the whirl

The stars are here, my love.
They are looking down upon me.
O! They see me.
No, stop, stop now!
Let me hide! Let me disguise myself!
You see, I am not supposed to be seen…
Please don’t see me, dear stars.
Please don’t see me, my love.

To my pile of candy stacked still high
And the dumbells that I always walk by
To my Bible left still collecting dust
And the nuts and bolts slowly growing rust

All fair resolutions never to be done
By YouTube or some temporary fun
Time flies when you don’t keep watch
Until the days all go on to be blotched

To the sounds of guitar unheard next door
And the poems I don’t know who to write for
To the dreams of stargazing and dancing and hiking
And those boba milk teas I need to stop buying

A new year seems too stressful for all this
When the digital calendar starts afresh
So why don’t I just do what I need to do
Whatever day it may be and let it be true

I blinked softly against
The edges of your silhouette
My eyes were full of tears
If only you would turn and see

I’m not sure how I should tell you this
But, uh, well, I’m sorry
Everything we used to dream about
And work for
And battle for
And laugh our heads off about
And shed our precious tears about
Is gone

Perished by the arrow of time
Which, like Cupid’s blow
Struck right onto our hearts

I’m not sure how I should tell you this
But, uh, well, I’m sorry
I’ve seen the way you look past me
When we walk past the same hallways
When we wave the same hi’s
When I see your sudden moment of hesitation
A glance at me
A glance through me
And send your smiles past me

Lost among the cacophonous world
Where I, like the giant Atlas
Bear alone the burden of earth

I’m not sure how I should tell you this
But, uh, well, I’m sorry
I promise this is the last time that
You’ll hear from me, but, uh, well,
I haven’t been enough for you to stay
So now you left
And I’m not sure whether I should
Say “Goodbye” or
“Please come back to me”

The world is too dark
And I’m afraid
I’ll lose my eyes
Had I shed a single tear
For every fearful trial
That I’ll witness
And I’m afraid
My heart will break
Had it beat
To the symphony
Of suffering souls

Slowly he walks down the crowded hall
Anxious to not stumble or to fall
Vexed by the swirls of her eyes
Another chance to say “hi”

Nothing but drums in the deep
Nothing more thrilling from head to feet
Against the second when he finds
Her smile again in his mind

I fell
Mind first
Into the churning water

I saw
My darkest dreams
And my sweetest nightmares

Put my loneliness into a bottle
And toss it into the dark waves
Someone is bound to
Find it in the light
And pick it up

Last night I looked out the window
And I saw the silver moon
Reaching down
And plucking the chords
Of our crimson shattered heart

I was too afraid to say a word
So I sat there, looking at you

Your eyes are like the chocolate, thought I
Enticing, sweet, comforting, and kind
Your eyes are like a fireplace, thought I
Radiating with warmth, hope, and truth
Your eyes are like a swift stream, thought I
Swirling with thought and imagination
Your eyes are like the moonlit stars, thought I
Beautiful gems, bright diamonds, glittering love

Suddenly, for an instant, they found me
And they pronounced me guilty of looking
I was too afraid to say a word
So I sat there, looking at my toes

If only you could spare a glance
If only you could share a smile
If only you could look at me
And see something, someone
Behind this mask of fear

A shrill wind from the west had started to blow
Howling and slashing against my dry skin
Like two cars kissing, like the lovers breaking
Like brutal winter in an Arctic night

Suddenly, unwittingly, they began to fall
From the cliff of laugh lines they tumbled down
First like spring rain relieving the cold
Then like summer storms thawing the heart

Like crystalline diamonds harder than stone
Like glittering gems reflecting the moon
Like rings of silver unmarred by the rust
Like shattered glass distorting my view

For shame or for love, for regret or for hate
For lost or for frustration, in anger and sorrow alike,
Forked streaks of saltine river, like serene waterfalls
Crashing down and down a stormy mountaintop

They made no noise yet they thundered loud
They took no shape yet blurred the edge of light
Their soft baby teeth bit hard into the flesh
Drawing more blood to conjoin the tears

You're the poison
I can't run from
Your gaze holds me still
Your smiles tie me down
Your words drag me under
One touch on the shoulder
And I'll be out
Forever

I am the storm
You are the peace
Everything I do
Makes you go away

Alone I shed my tears
Among the battling winds
I mourn a dreadful loss
The price of you is death

Her eyes have became my sights
Her ears have became my songs
Her laughs have became my sun
Her tears have became my stars

In her beauty I found my grace
In her hopes I found my dreams
In her smiles I found my joy
In her tears I found my despair