I need a choir of laughter
To lift the clouds of gloom.
I need warm rays of sunshine
To brighten up my room.

I need the arms that love me,
Not the arms of war.
I need a path before me,
Not a padlocked door.

I need an inspiration
To draw away my doubt.
I need a hope within me
To not despair without.

I need someone to listen
When I’ve nothing more to say.
To learn to face my demons
And not to run away.

To try and be more carefree
And not so much careless.
To keep life more in focus
And not so much digress.

If I could find all that I need
Would I learn to want no more
But love those things I held so dear
That once were lost before?

selfabsorbedandangry
ifindithardtotry
toseethebettersideoflife
th­roughblindanddirtiedeyes.

selfabusermedicator
fearihidebehind
di­ssectedintrospection
amurderofakind.

introspection
dissection
gu­tsandentrails
weighedandlaidaside.

methedoctor/patient
etherised
uponatable
stretchedbeneathnightskies.

I’m paranoid in the morning,
I’m paranoid at night.
I know they’re out to get me -
They think that I’m not right

They talk in darkened corners.
They whisper when I’m gone.
I hear their silent mutters,
They haunt me all day long.

I’m running to far off places,
Hiding behind closed doors,
Staring from barred windows,
I’m crawling up the walls.

When they come and get me
They’ll see that I am gone.
I won’t be here to find me.
They think they’re right. They’re wrong.

When I get home at the end of the day
my significant other rises to greet me
with a kiss on the lips
as divine as the wine
that it is.

Each person sees their own rainbow.
It is just for you,

Reflecting in its arc of colours
Your own uniqueness.

No-one else occupies your place on the planet,
Only you see the world through your eyes,

Your bow of light, refracted through rain,
Arches over the scene set before you.

Behold its beauty before it fades.

Being on the edge, where light fades greyly into dark,
Already you speak in echoes,
Your words from somewhere lost within you.
If I touch the veil of your fragile skin
Would I be touching you?
Although our touch to me still says “love”
When helping you from your chair or just holding you steady,
The Earth no longer firm beneath your feet.

Is my voice confused amongst others
In a kaleidoscope of utterances?
I’m not sure who makes more sense of this, you or I?
A bird that can no longer fly gasps quivering on the ledge,
Its heart a barely visible beat.
And I am the child again, behind the window,
Watching until it passes, its song
Carried away on the wings of the air.

Because I have loved you,
You are here.
Because over you I have bled and cried
And fought frustration and anger deep inside
You are here.
You are part of the fabric of my world,
A bright-coloured thread to my weave.
In body and soul, you are part of me.