I bite down on a sliver of silver
That connects your lip to outer space
I cleanse the stars of all diseases
But find my heart cannot keep pace

I bite down on a sliver of turquoise
A talisman fit for an everyman king
But like the rings around Saturn
Escape velocity is hindered upon your string
                                                          ­                     
Poach me of my skin
And coat me instead with rust
I awake to a lute playing out of tune
Causing my dormant senses to all combust

Teach me to be a vulture
To sink my talons far beyond the surface
So many sharp facets, so many blunt edges
And my one and only distorted purpose

Darting in and out of atmosphere
A slave to bloodstained convictions
You own all the lands between life and death
And all the roads between fact and fiction

Calloused hands.
They are a mother's fallacy.
She trades her beliefs, and the missing pages, for the acceptance of her counter-culture.

Bleeding families.
They are a father's destiny.
He devastates, and intimidates, his circle of trust from the inside out.

Off-key lullabies.
They are a daughter's inheritance.
She is born into subsistence, watching television instead of daydreams.

Frivolous fantasies.
They are a son's one-way ticket out.
He is carefully reckless, boldly reserved, and he will begin the cycle again.

Terrors in the night again
That slither like serpents in the sheets
I ward them off with manufactured lullabies

Cold sweat runs down my spine
Burning my flesh, yet chilling my soul
I clutch my pillow and dare to dream again

The visions have evolved again
From grey to colors as vivid as your eyes
And I am invested, beyond hope of repair

Under willows, the apathy weeps upon my face
Leaving my guardians paralyzed
And yielding all of the secrets within my bones

Pierced through, watching myself bleed out
I smile a broken, transparent, smile
And drift away, where angels dare not tread

She waltzes through his mind
While he trips over her melody
And eyes finally lay down their silent guns
He's a shameless drifter
A bedraggled amnesiac in disrepair
Yet he'll never forget the way she moves
The clouds burst of bronze as she rises
Rivers run of silver as she falls
But he remains a frozen epiphany
Her brilliant eyes like a morning star
Her lips flushed in crimson repose
As she sways her way into guarded memories
She waltzes through his mind
While he trips over her melody
And eyes finally lay down their silent guns

The memories come
The way a flood comes to a desert
But it's too late, I am parched again
Footsteps
Footsteps linger through forgotten halls
But as a father I'm just an echo within

Bitter is just a different sweet
And sweet is just a different bitter
Tread lightly, each step is more reckless than the last
Trespasser!
You trespass on ground not made for your two feet
So move thyself, and do not return til' storm has passed

I once spent uncertain days
Drowning inside the wishing well
Dry, and drier still the wishes would become
Terrible
Terrible, all the things that I would rip undone
I devoured the essence of all I loved for just a meager crumb