Do you remember when we walked hand in hand to that beautiful fountain
where the statue of the nameless man stood with a sullen face?
We tossed some pennies into the rusty water and smiled at our perfect reflections

It is not lost on me—the whisper of something greater that you once spoke of
That wonderful vision of adventure and song that would surely keep us together through “thick and thin”, as it were
I guess maybe I was too stubborn to realize that the dance you were trying to teach me was pointless
I CAN’T dance, and life would be a horrible dance to watch, regardless

And as I walk you back to that ugly fountain, I laugh when I realize why it feels so wrong
I sat in one place while you simply tried to zip on by as if it were all some sort of roller coaster
If life were a roller coaster there’d be a lot more laughing and smiling
Rather than this bitter pit of emptiness that is eating away at my pulsing innards

Right…now….

And maybe if I listened rather than heard, I would understand why you are letting go
Why you are digging your nails into my hands as we speak
And to think that I had the opportunity to be alone and content in a self-inflicted internal infusion of insistent isolation

But as I finally listen, the only voices and words I hear are in my head saying
“Why is he here,” “Why won’t he leave,”
“Why…can’t…he…just…see…”
And it breaks my heart

Just like you break that precious string of hope you strung
The one you ruthlessly ripped with restless relentlessness
A stupid struggle sparked by a simple suggestion

But that bond, that cord, that link that you severed so suddenly
Pours out an endless stream of steaming blood—
Blood that cannot be given back

The trickle of heated fluid settles into a small pool at our feet
And once again we see our reflections in a glossy glass lake of red liquid
But this time we wear frowns instead of the smiles we so foolishly masked ourselves with
And the only sense of hope and resolution I feel is oblique
Made obsolete by that faint flare of fiery indignation that you so shockingly bestowed upon me

So now I sit at the edge of the forgotten statue pondering on why the tourists blow their bubbles of gum so gaily
While their hopes and dreams are tossed away into such a sickening fountain
The pennies’ red rust swirls as each wish is swallowed into a vortex of nothingness

Maybe if they would look up at the statue they would know it was all for naught
Because to throw away hope in a red pool found at the feet of a nameless face is to throw away life itself
And we’ve already agreed that life is a terrible dance to watch

So as you walk away to leave me alone I realize that I never knew what that meant before
Too absorbed with myself to have time for others and to feel ANYTHING at all

But as you leave
As you TAKE your leave
I get it…and I feel it
For after all that IS the statue’s name...

...Alone

To be left a rotting corpse in the inky depths of my screaming, vacant soul
To taste the freshness of the air only to have it ripped so unnaturally from my shriveling lungs
Once sitting atop that merciful beacon of hope,
I find myself tumbling, grasping, gasping, clasping for some hold onto the beautiful signal

And who is to blame?
Who?
Certainly not you, for it was your hand who found me troubled in the merciless murky vapor
Your hand that lifted me from the bowels of hell and so dotingly destroyed my detriments

But had it not been for you I would have so happily, so cheerfully accepted my vacant vocation
Of restlessly, recklessly, ruefully running around without any remorse for my forlorn reality
For it is not the force of you freedom that loosed my heavy chains, but rather the form
That vicious vigor that stuffed my spirit with a seemingly ceaseless, incessant self-assurance

But for my essence to not identify isolation, to not recognize regret seems so conceited in comparison to yours
Which is ever growing, ever loving, ever laughing, ever knowing, ever telling, ever asking, ever showing, ever…
After all it was your being there that showed me how lonely I truly was, how pitiful of an existence I truly led
So now I state the obvious

Why?
Why go through all that endeavor, all that effort of effectively and essentially helping me escape my insanity just to throw it out the
Door is where you went, leaving me to collect the shambles and shards that was the life you made
Leaving me to collect these silly splinters just so that you could prove a point

A point well taken, a point notably noted, and a point you called no return
Return?
Return from what?
From the friendship promised, or the friendship broken, or the new twisted friends of which you’ve hardly spoken?

And so I take my leave, but I will return
I will not leave such a dear thing to burn
Burn in the essence of what we call hope
For, after all, you were the one who threw me the rope

And so what if a merciless vapor encircles its fingers around me?
Your fingers are bright and can tear through the night and on that I am counting

An angel's rapport can give nothing more than being a counter
And so for you I will wait, a more timelier date, my dear yellow lantern

For though courage I lack, it's patience I have and your voice will keep me
Afloat and aloft, a beautiful face, so pristine and lovely