I'm lifted.
Floating to the place where I'm just high enough off of the ground to feel the boundless freedom
and just low enough that coming down won't hurt me a bit.
I'm seven again.
On the playground where me and my schoolyard buddies used to play tag.
I would have never imagined in my youth that two of those kids would be gone
by my senior year of high school.
None of that matters now.
Randy is seven too, and he doesn't even know what alcohol is yet.
Sarah is six again, and has yet to know that your heart can be broken.
Dan is "it", and all the girls are running from him.
but this was a time before the needle and before the germ.
Back than they ran from him because he was "it",
now they run from him because they don't wanna catch "it".
No one would have guessed it,
That this was our fate.
That we would ever grow older.
That we would ever grow up.
That five students of our graduating class would be mothers.
That two of my best friends would be dead.
None of that matters now,
I'm seven again.
We're playing tag.
The swingset is a safe zone.
No one can touch me here.

Like the moon sitting high in the sky
Your beauty does shine
Like the sun shining bringing a new day
Your warmth radiates through me
With every breath I take
And every move you make
I know you are mine

Like the moon and the tides
It’s like you and I
One without the other
Would make anyone shudder
Our hearts are intertwined
Our love aging like fine wine
Without a doubt I know you are mine

And the tides they will shift
But every day will still seem like a gift
And I know we will cry
But I’ll always be by your side
So here’s to love, my dear
Here’s to love without a fear
Without a fear, for you are mine

With you by my side
Anything could be mine
My love, can’t you see
Forever we will be
Here’s to love, my dear
Love without a fear
For you are forever mine

Eyes hang low
Retreating from the light,
Seeking shelter ‘neath heavy lids.
Machines whir in the back of my mind,
As their users push themselves
Thoughtlessly through their tired routines
Like hamsters on a wheel.
I hear the water dripping,
Almost as slowly as my thoughts,
Into the endless myriad
Of blue and red buckets.

My consciousness drifts away,
And suddenly it is my vehicle,
As I awake walking aimlessly
Through the crowded streets
Of some hot Arab marketplace.
Bearded men in headdresses
Bicker in strange languages
Over bizarre fruit, almost as vibrant
As the decorated sword hilts
Gently resting at their hips.
Past me walk crowds of lavishly clothed,
Brightly jeweled women,
Dressed more strangely and exotically
Then any person I’ve yet to see,
And I avert my own attention
So as not to draw that of others.

A co-worker walks past me,
Looking at me strangely,
And I emerge from the lake of my mind,
Flopping about as if I were a fish out of water.

My world is a radiant caramel dewdrop,
amidst the blissful blades of chocolate grass
that flourish like an expert sabre,
waiting to sever me from bleak reality
and the coldest of darknesses.

My world is the battlefield of imagining,
waged between the disembodied armies
of beautiful youth and frantic existence.

My world is an upside-down fairy tale,
where the princesses are sovereign and joyous,
but soon locked away by charming princes.
Where the absent shoe is found at a ball
and is never worn again.

My world is a creation of innocence,
with generous fountains of exuberance,
and a statues built after words unsaid.

My world is the autocracy of rapture.
I am king, hear me roar.
The invisibles and the less-importants
are tacitly knocking against the door
of my nougat castle, intruders!

Arm the guards! Foot the gates!
Let it be known that my world
shall not fall to mere accusations
of "autistic" and "challenged"!

I am king! Hear me roar!

“Your home is here in my arms,” she said
Moaning her ******* enchantment
We never meant to exist longer than we should
But she would take no for an answer and turn it into a yes
She spoke with her soft eyes and sharp tongue
Promising the world and every moment a supernova

“Forever,” she said
And I laughed at the thought that this would last
As she ran her fingers thru my hair and scratched down my back
The sun would shine and the moon would gleam
The two of us entwined in malted passion
Like love poems hanging in the thickest of air

“It is too early to be this bored,” she said
Her open arms always closing
Just as I reached to touch
Sly coy smile and the breathing of fire
Her dreams were for us to be together
And the breaking of my heart

“Our forever is over,” she said
Twirling her auburn hair between her fingers
And lighting her cigarette with the lighter I bought for her
She turned her back and walked away
Out of my life and into her own dark void
Leaving me wanting nothing but the taste of oblivion

Hugging knees in darkest corners
Leaving love behind
Sinking so deeply, light is lost
Spirit broken
Heart shattered
Soul torn
Before the mending could begin
Before the pieces could be swept up
Smacked to the ground
Crushed into powder
Irreparably damaged
Irrevocably heartless
Too much love begets too much torment
Agonizing over unowned burdens
Cold shadows become welcoming
As warmth feels more like **Hell