Why, love?
must distract tasks and chores
my lonely focus jolted me forward
your calming charm now blurs my path
what once was clear, my vision bright
now replaced by your mere sight

If thoughts could form, free from your scent
I would see the time and love loss spent
but so long as your taste lay on my tongue
I will forever choose you as the one

I give you my youth
I give up my dream
Why, love?

If, I were to find you
a different place
a different time
I, would still be certain
that your hand belongs in mine.

Though if I found myself
and could speak
of winds to come,
I'd back away
to distant space
and never meet my love

for whichever current guides,
or whatever whisper's heard,
it brought me near
far from fear
straight to your backyard

I once was poor
not knowing love
drunk on living free
your eyes found mine
our souls entwined:
I now know how to be.

What are these nerves?
         Just how do they arise?
Where do they grow such hunger
     to eat at my insides?
Maybe the seed of guilt plants them in my feet
I water them with shaky tears, precisely what they need.
Some days they're good at hiding
I forget they're even there
I notice sweet scent flowers
and the taste of thick, crisp air
I'll bask in bliss and glory
join the tides for a quick swim
it's then they'll spring control again
            repent me for my sin

i stay hungry
so knowledge will feed me
but you stay full
on the tainted process
of contaminated lies
what they feed you in these pages
a rodent wouldn't touch
but you digest it happily
for it smoothes your troubled lines
and everyone knows

lines leave wrinkles

colorless words fall from your mouth
like delicately placed-holders
the sound of silence is one that
is too intense for your modest ears,
those which only hear annoyance and desperation
those which dismiss doubt and fear
those which once, but only once
experienced the sound of anger and wrath
but quickly forgot the intensity of pain
how do those ears feel the emotion
ingrained  in cracks on the streets
how do they possible know that
here once someone experienced their
very          last           breath?
if the sounds of gunshots make you deafen
if the cry of a distressed victim weakens your ability
i may excuse your bare back in the storm
but by the dimly lit candle
the shrieking howls of the wind
on the sturdy walls of your shelter
you have no cause
to absorb the destruction
like a minute flick of a lighter

In my dreams
I stumble
wake, to tell my trouble
your presence of shyness
detected in silence
the room vast
air stale
energy weightless
even colors seem pale

My loneliness called
like a fog horn at dusk
your tender touch answered
encompassed with lust

wearing promising lenses
of visions to come
I molded the outcome
this time, didn't run

for what? the purpose
lay dark on the ground
but skepticism fades
with your spirit around

escape with me now
through trees of our youth
bathe in my passion
your scars will be smoothed

long after departure
lie skin bare in the dirt
your eyes will feel heavy
let me sing you alert

if the torture of life
wets your soul with soft tears
remember your promise
and my soul will be near

each tree has a secret
I swear it is true

the way fountains runs red
when the moon is blue

they stared at the veins
exposed on her hands

sweaty palms
sticky lips
ticking time
swollen glands

tricks trickling down alleys
on cobblestone paths
where a lady in black lay
red on her lap

blank stare compress
the distress left to hide
the people all saw
from pale windows inside

screams like white noise
but the people they knew

the trees all have secrets
the people do too