A gentle breeze
Caresses the still pond
Where willows weep
And thoughts can't sleep.

The lilies glide
Over the surface
Their white petals
Shining with potential.

One stands out
With its roots so deep
And its pink sheen glistening
With a unique, ambiguous glow.

So subtle
Yet so remarkable,
That a dragonfly
Takes pause in flight.

Sitting alone
Wrapped in darkness.
Its cold embrace
And emptiness,
Reminiscent of a life
That I once had.

Her touch,
A seductive slash
Upon my lacerated skin.
Her kiss,
A tantalizing poison
Upon my parched lips.

And yet as she turns her back
Is as the sun wanes
And the moon covets its light
With a foolish, jealous glow.
And even as twilight arrives
The moon still doesn't let go.

And as she walks away
With a flick of her sharp hair
And a roll of her dark eyes,
She leaves me a crooked smile
Which captivated
And I was mesmerized.

But suddenly,
Through the darkness
Appears a stunning bright lantern,
Breaking my trance
By beaming brilliant rays
And shining with compassion.

Sitting, no longer alone
I bask in the inspiring aura.
Warmth enriches my heart
With a revitalizing swell,
Reminiscent of a life
That I once had as well.

Another stands
Before the audience.
Appreciation drained
From their fractured minds.

Eyes, tainted
By the inherent corruption.
Heart, stained
With insatiable vengeance.

The reckless devastation,
An undeserved consequence.
A tale known by many,
Yet told by few.

Meanings are shattered,
As blood drips
Once more,
From guiltless hands.

Superficial insomnia
Fiscally collateral.
Primalistic defilement
Of a world so material.

Where every breath
Preceeds another hearse,
And every thought
Breeds another curse.

In a place held together
By disintigration and wildfires,
Stems the hope of a new face
A new place with new desires.

Bleeding from the walls
It spells its name on the floor.
It drops its heart in a grinder
To be chopped into more.

It's deranged and disturbed
That much seems to be known
Presiding deep in these hideous
Perplexing, competitive overtones.

Shellshocked beyond resentment
Another hand pressed against it
Attempting again to knock down
The insidious box which holds us to drown.

And again it presents itself
In a crisp suit and tie
Hiding its nature
Hiding the lie.

I know its design
Because I've seen it before.
So I drop my heart in a grinder
To be chopped into more.

A desperate comfort
Shines on its silver blade
As it glides like a sailboat
Across ocean waves.

A soothing wake
Creates a canal
From the then and there
To the here and now.

A wound too deep
To dismiss the pain.
Flesh too weak
To ignore disdain.

Darkness slowly overcomes
As I lay, freed at last,
In a red pool of fleeting misery
On the cold, washroom floor.

They say, you cannot see
The forest from the trees.

But bear witness
The flora and fauna,

The commotion that exemplifies
Its graceful sovereignty.

Alas, from the clouds
Only a copious green sea.

No sound,
No movement.

Lacking intrinsically
Its innate beauty.

One word to describe
A million things
At one time
And a million tries
To escape
The ever encroaching sublime.

One word to express
A million thoughts
That digress
And a million sensations
That overstayed their welcome
And still haven't left.

One word to define
A million little lines
That pose as the signs
And a million little dots
That distort
My understanding of why.

The word clings to my tongue
Like a convict who was hung
Desiring release
But not knowing how to cease
Its reclusive opacity
Which only I seem to see.

It cuts
And it digs
Inside of me
Until there's nothing left.

It jabs
And it stabs
The surface
Until I lose sight of purpose.

It carves
And I starve
For a taste
Until I stand defaced.

It eats away
And I rot today
Tomorrow, and to my grave
As I cling to my mistakes.

An empty void,
Dark and inhospitable.
Desolate.
Barren and blank.

Lingering shards
Of a once beating heart.
Had it never found a rhythm
It may not have fallen apart.

A standing ovation
For a display of dismay,
Yet where he once stood
Only ashes remain.

The wrappings unravel,
To reveal a smiling porcelain mask.
A scarred face frowning beneath,
And the empty void beneath that.

A new land, a new plan
Freedom dawns upon man
He stands, right hand
Pressed on his chest to stress
The strength he dares to possess.
Through revolution and regicide
Through intolerance and genocide
A mile walked, ten miles left behind
Creating a beautiful painting
Drawn on the canvas of time.
His life benign, followed by crime
Because he’s unfit to limit himself
Another nail driven by itself
Into his coffin that’s been waiting on the shelf
Since he fell away from himself
Corrupt beyond any help
Another mile walked, this time
Only a foot, left behind.

So we can see truth to the prophecy
And the mad prophets cackling with glee
Another tragedy, yet another symphony
The imagery is really sickening me.
What is there to be
In this world, if not free
What is there to know
If it’s all just a rolling joke.
Maybe I shouldn’t have spoke
Who knows, I don’t.
But there’s no point in standing down
While my feet are still on the ground
My hearts beating now
My brain’s thinking loud
And my voice is proud.
Another free verse to vocalize
The fact that we’re all demoralized
By the lies, by the times, and the ties
That keep us all alive.

The mistress
She missed it
It’s the bullet
That kissed it
Bloodstained garments
That flaunt it
And a blood soaked flag
That haunts it
Silhouette of a cross
That watched it
Symbolic of a trust
And we lost it
He never wished it
And couldn’t have dished it
He always told it
But couldn’t have sold it

Again and again I hear the same words
Patriotism isn’t part of the verse
Fascism couldn’t have a bigger hearse
And capitalism couldn’t be a more deluding curse.
It’s diseased at its roots
We’re deceived by the loops
And twirls that make it spin
That make us forget our world.
And it hurts
Because these material prosthetics are all lies
Democracy is an illusion
And it seems these days, free speech is a crime.
You’d better get back in line
Listen to them preach the divine
Watch them drink all the wine
And then, let them hang us all out to dry.

Bodies piled
In ornate mounds,
Some are smiling
Many others frown.

With open arms
They aid in the plight,
Yet those same arms
Create the blight.

A thin black veil
To mystify,
Another face
Telling another lie.

But they keep adding
To their insidious mounds,
And in the name of Liberty
The rain keeps falling down.

I don't know
Where to start,
It seems to be
Tearing me apart.

I don't know
How to cry,
But tears keep pouring
From my eyes.

I don't know
What to feel,
Is any of this
For real?

I don't know
Where they went,
But they left me all alone
Again.

I could tell you the story
But it would take
The rest of our lives you see.
Just know that in this quarry
Lie shattered hopes
And broken dreams.

Heart cut into pieces
Blown away in the wind.
Perhaps some day
I'll find them
And maybe then
These wounds will mend.

I don't know
What I'm doing,
But I know
I'm not doing that.

I don't know
Where I'm going,
But I know
I'm not going back.

I don't know
What they told you,
But I'm not
Okay this time.

And I don't know
How to show you
Without feeling the pain
Again.

What if I told you
That a river begins as a stream
A scar begins as a cut
And reality begins as a dream.

What if I took you
Away to a place where we could step back and see
The beginning and the end, and all in between
Would it be too shallow a bowl for my heart to bleed?

What if I asked you
To close your eyes and imagine
A great tree without a trunk
Or a sunset without a horizon.

Would you then understand
What it is to know for certain,
Regardless of the consequence,
That which truly gives you purpose?

I have waited
For a thousand years,
And I don’t look back
Because it brings on the memories.

I had walked
For a thousand miles,
Only to realize
I was on my own definitively.

Here I am
Still eroding,
From the sands
Of time.

In the end
I’ll stand alone,
And face the wind
So cold.

I’ve been searching for a thousand days
And a thousand nights,
Yet I still don’t know
What I’ve been looking for.

The world has changed
In a thousand ways,
And I don’t know how
But I’ve seen it all before

Cover my eyes
With shades of grey,
It’s dampening
My sanity.

In the end
The world still spins,
Old life dies
New life begins.