the good will fall
                when we eliminate the evil
careful wrought balance
                dashed upon the rocks
and so our paragons
                our storied heroes
entomb their hearts in dark places
                and sink with heavy burdens
the natural harmony must
                be preserved at all costs
new demons for new heroes to brave
                the scales can tip
and level once more
                 in victory we found defeat
betrayal, a sour taste in our mouths
                 but in defeat we found courage
bravery, hope in darkness
                 never forget that what is high
can always fall
                 and what is low
can always rise

Through a window shuttered by blinds
a cloud rains a torrent on the mountain.
Blues, Grays, Silvers, and Whites cascade.

A tree begins in noise, settles in silence,
slips between my eyes in greens and browns.
The wind whistles a dirge seen in waves and bends.

Life flutters and whistles, ***** and sings
I've seen it all in colours.
But now it's all in greys and blacks.

Once upon a time when we were all birds
the Sun and the Moon fought in love.
With an eclipse it died in a sliver.

Over the edge of the bluff lies a distance. It's lost,
deep and consuming.
I've clawed, fought, and surrendered.
Loss turns to despair, despair to hatred.
I hate you and your fears.
Your fears are my fears, and the dawn reveals a truth.
We believe in the truth we neglect. A wind is a whisper, a gale
a shout.
My fear is a breeze, keep your ear to the wind and you'll hear me

Time lost is time gained if lost in heart.
Love lost is love gained if lost in time.
Work lost is work gained if lost in love.

Whatever were we doing when children played games.
Growing up is the greatest sin we've ever committed.
Life passed us by when we thought to buy it.

You dig dig dig dig dig dig deep
It grows darker darker darker darker darker darker black
Stop. You've gone too far. You've been forgot.

the reminder that I'm still alive
found wrapped in my arms in dreary morning hours
night washed in stolen kisses, adventurous hands
and ticklish discoveries

passionateviolent moments of silence
as futures dance in shadow covered eyes
lips turning wry smiles at jokes told behind
a guarded heart

the inescapable quality of simple fond regard
a rush, a blush, and another quick kiss
traded for promises in tomorrow and after
that when I wake up you'll still be there

vapid hunger seethes in the loudlyquiet conversation
pattered out in hearts like morse code
rivers of circulation apart, the heat of our skin electric
secrets shared from old scars and dying wounds

to hold you dear is enough
replants the trees of my stolen forest
life rebuilds in moments then years
and all because of you

The Terrifying Realisation
               that this could be the
                                     Certain beginning
                         to the
                                     Certain end

The echoed shot reaching
                        the peak of the white-capped mountains
            An imperceptible rumble felt in the spirit
                                             rather than heard in the ear
soft rush of an Avalance of tiny
infiniteinvisible
                         particles

Intent on our Destruction

             From the vantage point of solitude and isolation
                          we watch in rapt fascination
as
one
by
one
      
             the lights of our countries go out
It's hard to imagine that anyone could
witness our timely end.

Yet all the world's citizens
                        through screens and eyes
                        words and sounds
Experience the last things they'll ever do

Spite is as effective as poison
(and vengeance as heroic as genocide)
Hypocrisy is the GREATEST evil
Hidden invisible fear of truth
it boils and seethes
Biteandsqueeze
and drains the life from hope
so much time is
$pent
on appearance
That we forget what truth
L%ks like
What colour is truth?
I only smell lies

these waters move on a token shore

twenty-some-odd stone steps down

not so far from my home door

rests a weary beach of grey,green, and brown

the old sun sets gently tonight

a world that has long forgotten what it means

washing a world in warm golden light

we live on the other side of vast ethereal screens

hope is barred from trespassing

time has stopped its changing

We ask ourselves the hard questions
(and expect the easy answers)
little did we know that life lives in adversity
and triumphs through a long struggle
no one ever told me that the right decision
is sometimes the hardest thing to do
and no one ever warned me
sometimes there isn't a right decision
i stumble, i struggle, i do what i can
the only thing I've learned
is that life is unpredictable
but sometimes (if you try real hard)
you might just get what you want

Would the world make as much sense
if the sunset was green?
What if forests were silver and the
dirt was purple?
          Would love feel warm?
          Would comfort be found in fear?
Deep seas of sunflower yellow
          and mountain ranges of teal
Long roads of deep maroon
          lead us to ponds of lavender
          and caves of sapphire
Maybe in such a world
I wouldn't have forgotten trust
          Would we have met
                       or
          would we only know each other
                       in strange deja vu

The sun sets behind too many trees,
inverted needles stabbing at the sky

The sky bleeds, crimson then rose then amber
As blue fades into violet, and the forest becomes blotchy

Thick ink dropped in water, cloudy
and almost impenetrable, then translucence is consumed

Memory is this way
The way I remember you, is this way

A bad taste on the tongue,
sour milk, moldy bread, tang

I once tried to paint with my memory of you,
and the colours ran, mixed, stained my canvas

I've painted over you a few times,
but you're a scar

The sun sets behind too many trees,
I can't see it, save for the shadows

The pages I journal
All begin the same
But the mistakes I make
Are always different
Cast as a character
Trying to break the loop

The tears I cry
Are for the parts of you
I no longer remember
You try to remind me
With photos and journal entries
The mementos of a stranger

The words we use
Are hollow expressions
That fail to grasp
Deeper melancholies
And sweet truths
But suffice for directions

There is a pull
From where I know not
It demands attention
It has hooked my soul
My body cannot follow
I am rent in twain

I hear whispers in the walls
Chuckles behind the curtain
And now the ghouls have made their calls.

A gnawing doubt, cold and certain
That shadows stole away the light
My heart grows cold, a heavy burden.

This house now stands as a blight
A monument to some great fall
Lorded over by this wicked wight.

What you hold in the palm of your hand.
isonlyasstrongasyourgrip

Your examination of life exists only as long as the balance between strength and understanding is maintained.

between cool fingers of life and death the fragile thoughts of something misunderstood learn to fear all they've ever known

the cage has only ever been what you make of it

Echoes
Whispers
Ghosts
and Death

Leave Me
Little
Time
to Sleep

Slumber
Tumble
Wake
and Dream

I Have
Much
to
Think Upon

The lake below the ice
Is another world
Teeming with alien life
Inhospitable to me
But come the spring
I will be an interstellar traveller

Once upon a time
            I counted all the trees
But I knew by the time I finished
            more had sprouted
I counted again
            and found a new answer
This time it was infinity
            eternity, the wheel of time
When we count something we
            expect an end
What if there is no end
            and we didn't know that?
Would we spend an eternity counting
            or lose an eternity?
            I don't know yet.
                     I'll tell you when
            I reach the end.
Ten-Thousand One...
Ten-Thousand Two...

there once was a lonely little leaf
champion of his tree, soul survivor of a bitter winter
one-by-one he watched his exquisitely green opponents
fade, turn and die
until at last remained he, singular resident of the tree
and with a shudder and shock
was hit with the vein-cracking chill
in his moment of triumph
he had forgotten what he was meant to be
and now too strong to fall, this lonely little leaf
stands guard over all

sunlight flits through a wicked, worn white picket fence
bathes fading green grass in the day's last outstretched fingers
casually it recedes, the pale radiance dips behind the crooked mountain
              and the flood of night rushes in to envelop me

He ran
far from his home,
to free himself from pain,
of ruined love and broken trust.
Last night,
when sleep had come,
I tumbled inside this
old, recurring dream of the boy
I was.

It was
an old, frightful dream of my boy,
that I tumbled inside
when sleep had come
last night.
Of broken love and ruined trust,
to be free and leave pain,
to a new home,
he ran.

Blue morning light
                         outlines an idea of your image
           serenity in carelessness
and soft contented breathing

                        I, a mere Mortal
gaze upon your Immortality
         peace and pleasure
a cool autumn breeze

                                          You are perfect in a moment
and the next
                     and the next
                                          Dream-etched feelings

It seems such a crime
                    to look upon you so
          A Blessing undeserved
in such a cruel world

Silently            softly           stirring
            hushed          husky            whispers
fluttersunderoceansoffabric
The Goddess of the Room Murmurs

I'm never prepared
to be taken by your eyes
All cool satisfaction
and the glimmer of ageless curiosity

                                              I Whisper Defiantly
against the pregnant silence
that I am yours
          and you are mine

anytime the skylark sings
secrets flutter, take to wings.
agonized scars torn anew
bleed letters, words, and lies
over skin profuse with fragile trust.
veins course like rivers over falls
ends from beginnings
such sorrows beget little lamentation.
over trees the skylarks soar
bathing in the pale moonlight
every dulcet tone born from memory.
lonely shadows on the heart
overcome in love
washed away in song.

tickles of startlight
(and flutters of fancy)
dedicate a sermon
to all the hopeful dreamers
casting a wish tonight.

vivid imaginations
moved by frank impossibilities
peeled away the layers
to reveal a mellow thought.

we are not all that we seem
(but not quite what we imagined)
yet there are still a few of us
unafraid of standing out.

heroes destined not to be remembered
and adversaries universally praised
line the pages of this notebook
in ink that looks the same.

embers and coals alive and whispering
haunting memories quick and ticking
fill my addled brain
with threads i cannot follow.

but You can
with all your acquiescent defiance
and souls alight with our raw potential
push us into tomorrow.

A conversation held in silence (Hello.)
between blue eyes and green, long stares and held breaths
subtle twitches of the finger, and tucking of hair behind the ear.

(What aren't you saying to me?) A long uninterrupted gaze,
and one heart hammering in my chest and yours (What am I to you?)
the growing fear that the moment might be lost
by blinking or a cruel sneeze.

two reflections of two frightened would-be lovers
trapped by (Anything? Please!) poor timing and failing
commitments turned to fast regret

the hushed silence fades with the rise of the soft din of (You are...)
comfortable chatter, the ambient (...very...) background of a private eternity gladly forgotten in favour of quaint fantasy (beautiful.)

(I don't want to go.)
and then nature kicks in and we breath simultaneously
like an empire we are crushed, the silent blossoming sun on
an unattainable horizon wilts and sets.

"Hi."

a tickle of the river rumbles on by
tearing apart stones that tempt languor
the whisper of the flame echos beside
shattering the enforced calm of night
the ripple of battle knits the sky
predator and prey embark in love
the sarcasm of nature building the framework
of piecemeal eternity entrenched in freedom
the cyclical angle of come and go
pout and moan with ardor
as the arbors bend and root
and with this sickening contradiction
this beautiful atrocity
life laughs at the weak, stamps out the strong
and heaves a shiver of mere satisfaction

a haze settles in sight foretold
clouds the certain predicts the past
and creates answers for questions wondered

i wondered where life grows
weeds, fears, darkness, light
ever did  you cheat fate

a wicked wind rises in the east
sweeps the west of broken promises
the sun rose in the west, set in the east
we learned then time is eternal

I will wade through the fire and flame
across the void, against shattering current
an arrow through the water, like so
I shall glide, unwavering, undeterred

I will wait through perdition and justice
against time immemorial, and chained truth
freedom knows no such strength
as that which I abuse in silence

I will serve through temptation and harmony,
evocations of fear tremble 'neath my resolve
my eyes pierce the unimagined veil
of love, loss, and suffocation

I will meet you on the other side of hell
scathed, battered, and bruised
a testament to eternity's inadequacy
in my devotion

with the darkness of winter closing out our days
so too is winter's bite, silent, invisible
mandibles of frost and hypothermia

at first the pressure is light, even pleasant
an embrace, and we welcome it
until it starts to hurt

the chill eats at your fingers, your nose
a cold consumption
of unprotected flesh

there is no fighting, no hiding
only waiting, and freezing
winter is long, and winter's bite - patient

We all dance and sing
To sounds unheard
And rhythms felt in flesh
Like one we move
And though our distance grows
We are timeless bound
In a sacred heritage
Of genetic expression

Watch the starts turn
The horizon bends
To swallow them whole
The moon rises and runs
It can only run so long
The dance resumes tomorrow

We look to our future
(and regret our past)
I've always wondered,
what to do with you.

I have two choices
that hurt more than words.
I never would have thought
this would end this way.

I fear, miss, lament, love
You.
Where are you?
I'm lost and afraid.

You were right,
I was wrong.
Would you ever come back to me?
You deserve better.