Seconds left on her flame
Rivers of hopes, dreams, fears
Never the same
This final chapter of a name
Ends with a loving whisper
One final kiss
Mountainous highs
Gut-wrenching lows
Stand and be recognized
This world will never be the same
Stand and be recognized
This surge of bittersweet pain
Stand and be recognized
The promises kept by this name.

Land of unfollowed dreams
Memories that warn "Better not call us"
"We'll call you"
Never did
Had red string mittens as a kid
Thought they'd be mine forever
Lost them anyway
"Come find me"
Thought I did
"Don't blink"
She said
Life will **** you in your sleep
Tears are only water
And blood is only red
Good looking out
You're only dead
Fishhooks once got buried in my heart
And now I'm afraid to breathe
To pull them out
They'll only dig deep
If tragedy breathes hope
Then hope is the last thing I need
Rumor has it gravity is sometimes broken
So I'm stuck here waiting for
Other people
Including you
To free-float off this planet
See I once kissed this girl and regretted
Nothing as I fell upwards to my doom
Still remember how
Her silky hair blossoms like newborn spring
And since then
Every flower smells exactly the same
Needed you
Couldn't admit to
You left the cage door open when you
Got up and left
But I don't go outside anymore
Threw my favorite ball
And it never came back
A defining moment was when
You suggested we should have shots
And then you shot me dead
I'd draw lines in the sand
You'd draw circles in the sky
And I'd mistakingly try to walk on air
Just to catch up
I'm creative that way
In pretending
Thought I had wings like you
But they weren't really there.

He is beyond intimate
With the texture of fresh human meats
How it feels
How it slaughters
How it stretches against his sharp blade
A godlike penchant
For the curves of red blood cells
And the metallic taste of crimson spray
And now
As he takes your doe-eyed life
And wears your dying heart on his sleeves
He will know all your secrets
And none of your regrets
As he fuses with your thoughts
And makes them
His
Own.

Grass stuck between my young pearly whites
One record-breaking nose bleed winning
As it plays catch with my middle teeth.

Find myself crashed on the new neighbor's lawn
Must have shot right over the handlebars
Cleared their bushes
Must have been going near Mach one.

Untangle myself from the remains of my bike
Clicking my jaw
And there she is
The head-turning epicenter of my crash
A summer dress made of rainbows and promises
A question in those blue dreamy eyes.

"I'm fine", I chuckle and shrug
"I do all my own stunts"
She beams
I smile back
Traces of white
But mostly
Stuntman reds and greens.

Thanks for the meatballs ma'
On a mission
Be back soon
Took a huge jump on my bike, not a moment too soon
Got struck by lightning and bit by a raccoon
Next thing I knew
I'd taken to the sky
Swept up in a bubble
Passed the Hubble
Made a wish
As I streaked across the sky
And landed on the moon
Found the moondust powdery
Heartbreakingly abandoned and alone
Felt it caress the palm of my hand
Smooth as purest silk
Gave it love
A home
Made it a part of my fingerprint
And as I did
Sprang this wonderfully innocent music
Harmonies of such clarity and void of lies
Brought tears of sadness to my young eyes
As I laid them on this blue marble that houses our skies
Still bleeding itself dry
Spinning faithfully on the blackboard of life
Such grace
This wonderfully complicated dance of life
Never asked for anything in return
Except maybe the answer to a burning question
Why all this grownup warmongering?
Why?
When in the midst of all this hate and terror
Every kid in the world is born
With a natural instinct
To play
To laugh
To explore
And to celebrate
The precious gift of their newborn life.