Guns are everywhere in sight
Muzzles, fire and fright.
Blood running through sewers
like flooded rivers in mid-May,
when it should be running through veins.
Slain bodies once filled with life
are now filled with undeserved death.
Pain seeps through the eyes
of brutalized victims as they weep.

A mother pleads to God
with hopes He will breath life
back into her daughter's lungs
as a child stands over the rotting
bodies of bystanders,
and waves at the flies
Unrest fills the air
while fire's are burning under water
Tragedy burns the face down to a tear,
Could Hell get any hotter?

Mirages mirror terror,
Silence in broken mirrors.
It may seem that voices don't exist
in places like this,
And that a difference lies off
in the distance;
out of reach, unattainable.
But they do.
A blind man's eyes become
his hands and his ears
when he needs to see,
While the mute lack a voice,
they still find a way to say,
"Hope is never all lost."

They need to know they are not alone.
Battles are being fought all over this world.
War, famine, sexism, racism.
A fight between mother and father.
Grief for the loss a lover.
We can all relate,
in one way or another.
Ignore ignorance, become informed.
Silence does not defeat violence,
nor is strength needed to beat it.
Courage and a heart
are needed to defeat it,
along with the will to believe
it can be defeated.

Throwing punches with fingerless fists
and broken spirits can seem useless,
but more has been done
with less.

Remember, a voice with something to say
is harder to forget
than a voice
that is
silent.

Incarceration of the Imagination
Innocence is instantly lost
Angels and Demons are difficult to shrug off, so
when the rain falls, dance in it
because even too much sunshine can get you burned.
When roaming lands unexplored
Shout at the top of your lungs from the bottom of the valley,
and an eerie echo will emanate .

Don't be too guarded
You never know what you might protect yourself from.
Innocence is the key to Freedom. Set yourself free.

Inside the mind of a man mad with enthusiasm
resides the eagerness to express it.
Lend a helping hand
Don't follow footsteps, make your own path
During the day blue skies disguise what lies beyond the atmosphere,
but at night the stars reveal what's hidden to the human eye.
Endless opportunity. The desire to discover. Dumbfounded by the unknown.

Love like there's never enough to go around
Sing while others are watching
Show the world your lack of shame.
Understand that
                              you can't always be a hero, sometimes you have to be human first.

A perfect imperfection is the best complexion.
Reflections are molded by self-perception.
Don't ever be fooled by self-deception.
Three lefts don't make a right
But one truth can uncover 1000 lies so,
Be careful what you decide to hide.
You won't have it easy if you try too hard.
Focus on forward because
going back was never meant to be.
Frame your memories.
Envision keeping your dreams in vision
Drawing from mistakes when you need revision
Making the most of every opportunity your mission.

Soar to new heights,
but don't over-step boundaries
You don't want to end up the victim of a guilty conviction so,
ignite your innocence.
Let it burn and spread like wildfire.
Bring new life to forlorn forests',
Sing a song yet to be sung
Walk to the beat of your own drum.

The good don't die young, they die happy.
Happiness is absent without innocence.
Hold on to it.
Breathe in and let it go.
There's no time to be timid,
Resist the urge to second guess
because there's a first time for everything.
Your destiny is not a destination, it's a journey.
Travel with innocence, and you will never lose your way.

I was walking to work today
when a train got in my way.
It seemed like it was half an hour long,
Staring at car after car while caution lights flash red.
On and on and on it goes to a destination I do not know
Rumbling and rattling bed frames and window cills.

For five minutes the commotion in town is forced to slow down,
Slow down and observe the surrounding scenery
Some with low patience scream and shout while anxiously waiting
Some with a place to be call to say "I'll be late from this"
While the patient ones will sit and wait in wonder

Sometimes the train is a pain and drives the locals insane.
It doesn't stop to ask how we're doing or what's going on in our lives
It just passes through our town, uses what it needs, then leaves
                                   just like that.
Like a traveling business man, here on a two day business trip,
who hits up the local bars late at night to find a one hit quit chick.
But we dont know where that train is from
or what it's been through
or the stories it has to tell.
So who are we to get angry at it and belittle it?
What makes it right to hate on what we don't understand?
These trains all carry something we could use
            been somewhere we haven't
            seen something we've never seen
You may not realize it now,
by it you will find out later.
Each train has a unique story to tell of all it's travels
                    but hardly has time to tell them.
Graffiti covered boxcars are all we have to tell of where they've been.
So when I was stopped by that train today
I didnt see it as a nuisance, nor call it any names.
I just pondered in envy as it passed, wondering about it's untold stories, and let it continue on it's way.

Ripples of smoke drift across the water on this starry night
My life was lost in a coffin on the night I was pronounced dead
But what I saw wasn't what I had imagined in my head
Roaming across a ruthless prairie rampaging through the ruins
And I begin to wonder, how man lives are pressed beneath this soil?
Think about it, there are Angels all around us, wherever we walk
And what if they aren't looking down at us, but up instead
Through the soil that separates their soul from humanity
Giving us the lift we need keeping us from sinking in

The air around here isn't the same without you to breathe it with me
Like im the only one being harmed by this field of radiation
While everyone else around me is going through their routines
Uninhibited by the fact a boy is wandering the field in misery
Sometimes it takes a while to adapt to this empty feeling
But it usually comes at a price that doesn't make much sense
I go over that night in my head like you go over a budget
But instead of losing money, I lose a piece of my sanity
Because there's part of my that won't erase the picture
And I lose the need to sharpen my pencil when that happens
And the motive to keep pensively pressing the paper

You may not know it, but you're the reason I keep crying
Because tears are the catalyst of my crippled company
Yes, it's crippled, but there are still two feet to stand on
Which means there is reason to keep myself moving forward
It's like when your heart started beating, mine lost its life
I don't find that fair
It's as though I'm walking with a noose around my neck
I still think about you in the depths of my dreams
But they give me this perception trying to deceive me
Leaving me with misguided directions that mislead me

It was ****** she wrote on the night she up and left me
It must've hurt her when she found the folded note
Like she could feel the pen weave with every written sentence
Don't lie to me, I know that's how it made you feel
I wrote it knowing it would throw you back on your heels
What I didn't know was it would be the last note you ever read
Now I'm sitting here wishing you were here with me
But I lost you to the world that was more deserving than me
When you were MY world, and I would roam your fields freely
Getting lost on purpose, strictly so you would come find me.