it's all in the gnomes on your lawn
that draws me baby
not your curves
not those curls on your naked shoulder
or your poems
not the way you slide up to me
like some kind of fine woman
just those gnomes
I like your gnomes
baby

We were misfits
the neglected *******
of a backwards world
that rejected us
not because we were sick
demented or dangerous
but because we didn't prescribe
to a preconceived notion
of what a functioning citizen was.

Not rotten enough to spoil
behind the bars of a prison
just competent enough
to work menial jobs
and drown our sorrows
at the corner pub.

We swallowed this hard truth
the same way we drank our shots
with no chaser
and at times it burnt
maybe even made us tear up
but we never let it beat us
(too strong for that)

We were beautiful
resilient beasts
that could carry the weight
of the world upon our shoulders
and it was heavy
but we would tell ourselves
"doesn't every world need an atlas?"
so we went on holding up the sky
when no one asked it of us.

These words don't belong to you
or me

They come from down deep
From the low guttural rumblings
Of our sleeping planet

They come on the wind
as it flies into your ears and eyes
forcing you to take that deep breath: inspire

They come, gently, from the trees
whispering the song of the season
as you stroll beneath their branches

They come from the heart
as it pumps blood through us tenuously, with a rhythmic beat

They come from the stardust
of a thousand dreamy worlds
drifting slowly through the universe
and out the tips of our pens

Captains courageous
Out hunting for whale
Ghosts on the water
Still under sail

Whales are all gone now
Time goes so fast
Ghosts on the water
Still a'fore the mast

Yesterday beckons
But no one can see
The ghosts on the water
Still sailing the sea

Hunting for schools
That no longer exist
Ghosts on the water
Sail on in the mist

Captains courageous
Out hunting for blue
Souls lost in stasis
A captain and crew

Looking for something
Fighting waves and the gales
Ghosts on the water
Still under sail

A sailor's adventure
Going where the wind blows
When will the sea bite?
Nobody knows

Ships nonexistent
Hunting whales also lost
Ghosts on the water
Whatever the cost

I was born with baggage
The stamp of your disease
     branded on my newborn flesh.

I watched you cry behind doors
And collapse with exhaustion after school
     until your sadness infected me.

20 years later
I take the same pills
     covered in your fingerprints.