Confronted by horrors, ridden with doubt
A discussion of judgement in silhouette
Treachery and riddles in the dark of night
White faces look on, blank features reflected
In salt and stone the truth was perfected

Paradox
A simpleton
Awaken from your slumber

A brazen ox
The callous din
Now death has called your number

What a time
And place so fair
I'd wish for nothing greater

Sweetest rhyme
No more to bare
Be wary, says the satyr

Can I take
The ruthless shame
Life no longer fills me

Endless lake
So filled with blame
These roots rot the whole tree

Saturnine
Of endless shine
Take me one and all

With anodyne
Send me a sign
Sink back and let it fall

Here I am
But here I go
The soul will never mend

Oh darling lamb
What you don't know
Will break you in the end

Is art the brush across the canvas,
Or the pen across paper, the person
Who enacts and enthralls a crowd?
Is it the pounding heart, the moving limbs
Assembling each piece in sequence, Or
Perhaps the minds that shape each facet?
I don't know much of art, or of love, or
The many wonders of the vast world,
But I know my heart yearns for creation
Even as worlds crumble all around

Immolation brought something I couldn't see
Not from where I was
Safe in my inhibitions and doubts
But there was something illustrious there
Or maybe destructive

How could I know?

What was left, what was found
In those dark places
That swallow hearts and minds whole
Maybe we should all be afraid

Maybe that’s

No wait

Gone

A gorgeous, if sullen landscape
This place past thought and mind
A dreaming world I've found here
Lost to the notice of time
As I stand here, on this precipice
I wonder to myself; Will I wake
When morning breaks, or shall I
Ride the qualms of this vision?

It doesn't matter what I think
For the sleep slips away regardless
Morning comes, I greet the sun
And wish again for the night

I sit quietly in terminal B11
My flight doesn't leave til' seven
But there's plenty to see here
In this waiting room before the air
The flying alone does not scare me
But the crowds give me anxiety
So I watch, and I wait, all alone
Praying to catch the next flight home

Crazy, you call me
Because the voice in my head
Tells me things that you cant fathom
And what makes sense to me
Is, to you, like one big irrationality

Crazy, you say
That I don't accept the world as is
And find shelter within myself
Within the world I create, and created
Long ago, since time began

Why call me crazy?
I know we can't agree, I know that
We may never be the same, and yet
Surely we could coexist, I think
If you would take me as I am

So maybe I'm crazy
But it doesn't have to be that way
Not if you meet me in the middle
I try my best, I do, but I always fear
In the end, it just isn't good enough

The window sill creaks
I pretend not to notice its cries
While I work at my desk in the night
For the morning comes,
In my own bleak mind
Too quickly for comfort.
There is much more to be,
Things caught in the dark
We have but yet to see
And I’ll sit here til the break,
Dawn’s early luminescent rays;
Let them change me now
Give me what I seek

Withering pines, whispering wind
Breaks the night with callous din
What silence speaks in darkest corners
Drowned by forests full of mourners
Another friend fallen, rent and hewed
So spoke the forest, we go to our doom

For years, the darkness had encroached
until it stole all my vision, restless thoughts
But when I lay my weary head to rest
And set my soul to slumber, my body
Can remember that which once was
When my eyes were open and they saw,
They could truly see, and I,
With open eyes, now witness
The world and its beauties
Eyes gazing majestic upon
Sights and colors rebounded
Until the light of the dawn
Chases away the vestiges of
My visions of twilight glory

A sun settles over chasing dawn
Looming fate approaches drawn
By carriages of hate that ramble
Reprobate to wander willing of that
Which elevates soul to levels
Thrice unknown by the deep
And whitish bone man is able
For a while to disable that
Which smiles in the pit
Of sorest bind and fires lit
Matching each the others wit
Price for enmity, judging fit

While screams echo on the stairs of night
Forlorn and without hope of end
Charged to lead the dreams of light
Killing me slowly as I ever descend

Forlorn and without hope of end
I pray to soon forget these days
Killing me slowly as I ever descend
To halls of memory, to set them ablaze

I pray to soon forget these days
Charged to lead the dreams of light
To halls of memory, to set them ablaze
While screams echo on the stairs of night

Light the pyre, send the fire
Reaching high in sky of night
While the attendants of sorrow
Wait mutely for the time to begin

Hooded cloaks and hidden faces
Mark the shades who stoke flames
Who lead their captives to the grave
Doomed by their mortal born sin

And smoke blots out the stars
Voices rise into the fetid night
Voices loud with pleading fervor
Whose aim and purpose is to hate

The hate that sparks inside my heart
An icy spear, it pierces and tears apart
The fleeting feeling oh so dear to me
Even fires of Hell from which all flee
Are naught compared to the cold unfeeling
Not a person at all, reduced to a thing

Havoc, I cried
The tempests of passion
Unleashed in full
Strange thoughts do resound
In the caverns below
That of hearts bleeding red
And raw feeling exposed
Boiling up in crimson throes

Lock them away now
No keys and no latches
Shut the door to the furnace
And let all burn to ashes

I couldn't even bear to say it
Not to your face, for I know
In my heart it would hurt
And as for yours, I couldn't tell

To live this way strikes me to say
I live with such dishonesty, such
Curses I have laid upon myself
By insisting every day on lies

But I have hope, that one day past
I'll be stronger than I am at last
And I'll say what needs to be said
Breaking free from this sullen cage

Until then, I suppose, I'll have to wait
And pray that truth won't leave me
It just lost sight, for I've clouded myself
And delved deep into my own plight

It cannot reach me here, this I know
Unbearable to feel so gone, please god
Give me the wherewithal and courage
To just say the things on my heart's mind

And when I dream, I see our lives entwined
Forever tied with bonds unknown to time
Let our love grow and flourish
Like a bird spreads its wings
Or a tree becomes a forest
While our breath draws us to sing

Snared, and fettered
Chained to hope eternal
Freedom is waiting
Just there, you see
Around the corner it lies
And when the sun streams down
In a glorious display of dawn
On the wanting faces of the broken
They will cry out as one

May fire scorch the wicked
And return the world to ash

Breathing hushed, huddling still in bed
Under covers, my shield against shadow
Safe from all the things I don't know
Though it can't stem the tide of dread

I feel it here, yearning silently every night
My shield is shaken with its soft caress
Left alone in the shadows to obsess
Whispering to me all its hate and spite

Would the world halt its motion
If it ceased at once to have a meaning?
For reasons are found in the smallest things
From stone to bird to singing stream
The avail is still unknown, it seems
Or perhaps there is none at all
And there never was, only dreams
Pretty images formed in lost minds
To justify a meaning so hard to find
For what is a life devoid of reason?

Perhaps they are wrong
For in the absence of truth
There is no lie
There is only a canvas
So perhaps, with the right mind
And with appropriate materials
Something so bare and hollow
Can be brought to be more
Even than words uttered
Terribly by the breadth of being

Sitting here, on the floor of my room
Alone, as the night closes in all around
Thoughts often stray to the darkest places
As if one with the shadows all around

I fear, though what I fear, I also fear to say
To name that dread thing which lingers just
Beyond the borders of my sight in odd hours
When perhaps I ought to let sleep guard me

The hours keep on creeping along, like drops
Of a cosmic singing burst out across time
No hour meant for life, or death to be alone in
No better rhyme than this to put to poem then

Creaking steps echo
They stretch down dark halls to me
Enraptured in fear

The rain is falling in the sound
No faulty thoughts to surround
A canopy of leaves so green
Glistering mutely from dew and sheen
Sailing up now, then plummeting down
Like circles of vultures falling to drown
All deep things are one, for deeps things are hidden
Sunk far from all sight, names cursed and forbidden

A mysterious sign, this errant warning
Weighing heavy now in late evening
The moon is rising over dark horizons
To chase the mourning light of sun
Moon of mine, heaven's reflection above
What lives have led us to this ruin?

I pray the day will come
When I close my eyes at last
To sink into the deepest slumber
And do not fear the thought
Of them opening once again

'Nary a whisper shook me that night
For it was the silence that held me so tight
And told me my name, in its humble way
But I should forget it the very next day
Such is the world, and so does it say
Will I remember, when light gives away?
I shouldn't think so, for memory does sleep
Perhaps it's too ghastly and buried too deep
Or perhaps it will find me one day when it may
Let me be gone before then, or so do I pray

Seasons come and go, like the wind
On high
Maybe this time you can stay here
If you will
Nothing is ever assured, I fear, but the
Changing seasons
The world will turn and all my love
Will follow
In revolutions

The sun once set far below the earth
Out of sight
And there it met the moon and thought
What a delight
Is the sun any different, no matter where
It may be
Will the moon still find it as they turn
Somewhere out
In the galaxy

So stay here, alas, my sweetest love
Dear Persephone
No matter how the spring may call
Never leave
Your mother says that I'm no good
That may be
But I'll love you no matter the seasons
So please stay
Dear Persephone

Eager to anticipate
Each fickle breath to raze
Hunger I can't satiate
The wind is on the wane
Let me loose to create
Don't send me torrid rain
Red fire can never wait
For fuel to set ablaze

The wind is blowing now
Unleash the power true
The heat will speak of how
The air is just a tool
So spread and never bow
Fire is not a fool
With this, our eternal vow
We'll burn the world anew

Wind, wind
Course and blow
Bring us, bring us
Cold and snow

What soon makes even strong boughs break
Will shake the world beneath its wake
Though come morning, these eyes will close
Where we go, the priest says he knows
But I keep my doubt deep in my heart
From life I'd wish to not now depart

Wonder, wonder
Til' the dawn
Wander, wander
Hung and drawn

Mercy
Mercy hold me now
I missed the mark
What’s do be done
When the archer’s shot
‘Round target passes
But another shot taken
May find the mark

So mercy,
Mercy hold me now
I wait for impact
And a ****** dawn
Time has frozen
So that this moment
Is perhaps the longest
I have ever known

Mercy now

Mercy...

A nightmare, indeed
Skies that bleed scarlet
Tell stories so heartless lest
The night stars best know
Where we all go in the end
No need to pretend

So come what may
If these demons delay me
I'll fight with deadly ardor
None will see the door peering
In darkness yet leering within
To gaze on my sin

Reflect it all back
No longer just black thoughts
Fine threads each caught together
And scattered to the aether winds
The voice does not rescind life
It ends all strife

What does it take, my dear?
For your fear to melt away
I'm waiting for the break of day
And now you've gone and left me

Why do you cry, my dear?
Eyes wet with tears, you fade
And everything that we've made
Is slowly lost to bad memories

I wrote you a song, my dear
Hope is mere days from now
I've told myself, because I'm down
Ever since you left your honeybee

So listen close to me, my dear
I'll sing you this soft poetry
And hope that you'll return to me
By the end of the lonely night

I wish I only knew, my dear
Why you've up and gone away
And filled my heart with dismay
While winter eats my frozen soul

So listen close to me, my dear
I'll sing you this soft poetry
And hope that you'll return to me
By the end of this lonely season

Queen of the icy realm
Would you be mine?
If I won your heart
With dulcet rhyme?

I may be young, and full of hope
Lost in streams of snow
But the love I offer is of the sun
Beckoning life to grow

No, a love-struck fool
Seeking bitter fruits
Beware the burning heart
Poisoning nature's roots

Now I'm old, and bitter as frost
Like the fruit I tasted
If only I'd know, and chosen wisely
Life is not to be wasted

I walked this morning to the gallows
My father there awaited me
He told me, son, that graves are shallow
The moon is gone, though still she calls my name

So tread ye' not in darkest hollows
For she is there and knows your pain
Beware the day, beware what follows
Obscuring fog and shrouding rain

The sun is hanging ever higher
The shadows grow as daylight wanes
The hangman's noose has stole my father
And gilded green with shades of gray

Now day is gone, and spring is over
A silent world where memory fades
Sleep ye' well as the snow falls
Slumber deep, and sing my name

I walked this morning to the gallows
Where long ago my father hung
In bare earth, his body swallowed
To sing my song once more to his grave

We won't take the long way 'round
The mountain high, singing in the sky
I'll dance and shake my cares away
And plow right through with all the grace
Of a rhino on the savanna

So look above, and look below
Don't worry what it is you know
The snow is piling up outside
So take a shovel, leave your pride
Get outside, start shoveling

The fire's got me on the mend
If only it could lend me a friend
A single spark would do me good
But I think the fire will sit
And keep on muttering

Now I find the day is at an end
My wishes haven't been fulfilled
But it's okay, I'll sleep for now
And wake up in the morning loud
Wishing, always wishing

The petals fly over the ocean
The flowers are bright on the land
What powers did once divide them
With great strength and also soft hands

I once wrote a song for the sailors
A ditty that spoke of the sea
They told me they sang it in storms
And it filled their hearts with great peace

I once wrote a song for the merchants
A tune that spun tales of far lands
They told me it gave them nightmares
But the journeys were never bland

I will write a song about both things
One that inspires every soul
So tell me what to write, and I will
A song that makes everything whole

Noted, the soft sound of feet falling
Alone, well, I think I used to be
Though it seems none hear my calling
I'll close my eyes and count to three

Alone, well, I think I used to be
Something stirs that wakes my fears
I'll close my eyes and count to three
When I wake, I'll see empty frontiers

Something stirs that wakes my fears
Unknown forces spurned and hidden
When I wake, I'll see empty frontiers
Empty of the dark that was forbidden

Unknown forces spurned and hidden
Though it seems none hear my calling
Empty of the dark that was forbidden
Noted, the soft sound of feet falling

Gilded in glittering gold, our cold city
Sitting mournfully by the anchoring roots
Of the farthest reaches of the world
For once there was light, long ago
And a seed was placed here to grow
The city towering over the glory of life

Life came to outgrow it, in time
And the glories of the sun felt fainter
As it followed the ascent of the world
Now cast from past valor, our city
Will glower from its forgotten pit
In the once gleaming heart of creation

There is something out there, beyond all sight
It gathers in the storms of thought and whispers
Dread to the light, which trickles down into squalor
Poisoned with the doubt of purity, questioned then
By points obscured and now embittered to all
What ruin has befallen us, to bring us down so low
We pray one day the depths will rise
And swallow the light of the stars

What is light but cold and thoughtless
Effervescent souls brought to slaughter
The writing tells of deeds undone
Of glory taken and fools cast out
A world without fear, so they say
But the day turns to night
And the dark comes to play
To take back all it once knew
Before the world eschewed its face
Or knew to give its voice a name
Oh yes, there was a time indeed
When beasts were men, hungry to feed

Wonder when, and wonder why
The sky was blue, now comes the rain
The birds don't fly, they hide away
Tell me heavens, why do you cry?

Falling softly, ever green
The wind amid the pines does sing
Tell me now, what is your folly?
Do roots suckle poison
While leaves light the sky
In glorious array
Drink from below
Slowly waste away

I will be lost one day;
This I know, above all things
For all forms are fleeting, merely
Destined to drift off into memory
Growing ever more distant in mind
To those left behind to preserve them
And further still, even those memories
Will be truly lost in the unknowable,
A shifting void whose name we whisper
In awe and reverence, a grave god
Known in our tongue as Time