I gazed at her skin, fried and sprayed orange like the flames
That swallowed her soul, dragged her down to hell with ‘em…
Let her burn.

Staring at her sparkly stripper shoes, I wondered how she could sleep at night.
Well, she probably wasn’t alone.

Her hair, so harsh, bleached blonde beyond compare,
Frail, fraudulent, wannabe beauty
Like her shallow, gimmicky, stage get-up for the guys,
Giving the goods in mass quantity, like a buffet.
How cheap could she be?

I ogled her body, ***** that resembled balloons.
Psh.  More like implants.
Honey, you’re not fooling anyone.

Her makeup, tacky and overdone.
It could never be plastered over her tattered self-worth.

I glared at her clothes, or lack thereof, itsy-bitsy and a poor excuse
For a cover-up, of any kind,
Physical or emotional.
Leave something to the imagination, would ya?

Some girls, how pathetic they are.
I’m better.  I have morals.
Even if I don’t abide by them…
Even if I despise the creature I’ve transformed to…….

I gaped at the reflection, in the million-watt mirror lit aglow…
Who could this be?  It never could be me.
Staring between false eyelashes, she was easy to see.
A party girl.  A ***.
No, no!  
It’s not me…

What happens when your good
isn’t good enough?
What happens when the going
gets too tough?
What happens when your love
isn’t strong enough
to keep the world upright?

What happens when your mind
is left open to the world?
What happens when the mirror
shows just a little girl?
What happens when you try
to bear the weight of the world on your shoulders-
and you drop it?

What happens when the world is yours
and then it slips away?
What happens when your life
turns into just another day?
What happens when you have a book
of things you want to say
that you can’t?

What happens when your wishes
stay at the bottom of the well?
What happens when your secrets
aren’t worth enough to tell?
What happens when your world becomes
a scattered, living hell
and there’s no escape?

What happens when the light
at the end of the tunnel goes out?
What happens when you’re living
in a shadow of doubt?
What happens when you lose
that thing you just can’t live without
and there’s nothing left?

What happens when you die
with your whole life left to live?
What happens when you lie
because there’s no truth left to give?
What happens when the only one left
to save you is you,
and you’re the reason you’re lost in the first place?

Hold on to the hands of those who love you.
Never think of letting them go.
Tell them that you appreciate them
When times are high or low.

Those who love you are close by,
So stop looking for what you already got.
Your blessings are close to you.
Standing beneath the sky so blue.

Thank God for the sunflowers in your life.
Sprinkle them with your water of gratitude.
Also find the time to stop and smell the roses
Because that is the right attitude.

Don't ever go looking for what you already got.
Your cups of love already overflow.
Thank God for all the people who care for you,
And promise you will never let them go.

Hold them close to your heart.
They've always loved you with a love that's strong.
Remain in your garden of genuine love,
Knowing that they've loved you all along.

I was foretold, your rebell ***,
  Nor love, nor pitty knew;
And with what scorn you use to vex
  Poor hearts that humbly sue;
Yet I believ’d, to crown our pain,
  Could we the fortress win,
The happy Lover sure should gain
  A Paradise within:
I thought Loves plagues, like Dragons sate,
Only to fright us at the gate.

But I did enter, and enjoy
  What happy Lovers prove;
For I could kiss, and sport, and toy,
  And taste those sweets of love;
Which had they but a lasting state,
  Or if in Celia’s brest
The force of love might not abate,
  Jove were too mean a guest.
But now her breach of faith, farre more
Afflicts, than did her scorn before.

Hard fate! to have been once possest,
  As victor, of a heart
Atchiev’d with labour, and unrest,
  And then forc’d to depart.
If the stout Foe will not resigne
  When I besiege a Town,
I lose, but what was never mine;
  But he that is cast down
From enjoy’d beauty, feels a woe,
Only deposed Kings can know.

I can't forgive myself.
I can't even like myself.

I can't look in the mirror
without wanting to shatter my reflection
into a million pieces
and use the broken glass
to draw a thick line
straight down my wrist

Not enough to die
(well, maybe.)
Just enough to feel alive.

And everyone says I need to give myself a break.
But I can't
because I'm the one human being
that I just can't seem to love.
(and nobody else can seem to, either)

she ***** her black eye
peering through the gate

"i see you," she tweets,
greets with a sideways blink

one, two, three hop
up, down, then to me

companions peck and feast,
pitter-patter on the wire

holding up her wooden seat
where gossiping talons reside

my brown eyes connect
to the beady left of her skull

imagining the lush landscapes
her ancestors once flew through

who felt the wind and warmth
and knew of seasonal change

intruding hands take her away
for a new gate to look through

I don't feel at home where I am,
or where I spend time; only where,
beyond counting, there's freedom and calm,
that is, waves, that is, space where, when there,
you consist of pure freedom, which, seen,
turns that Gorgon, the crowd, to stone,
to pebbles  and sand . . . where life's mean-
ing lies buried, that never let one
come  within cannon shot yet.
From cloud-covered  wells untold
pour color and light, a fete
of cupids and Ledas in gold.
That is, silk and honey and sheen.
That is, boon and quiver and call.
That is, all that lives to be free,
needing no words at all.