I don't know if my heart is ever not broken
I don't know if my eyes are ever not heavy
I don't know if my skeletons are ever on vacation

"Don't say such things," they say,
Like I am more than a ripple in a creek
"Don't lose hope," they say,
Like hope is something I ever had

I don't know if my dreams are ever not in black and white
I don't know if my feet are ever not blistered
I don't know if my skin is ever not faded

"Take comfort," they say,
Like it's part of some grander plan
"Count your blessings," they say,
Like math was never my worst subject

For the scent of you
To come back around
All I need do is take a breath
For the thought of your silhouette
To pirouette across my mind
All I need do is close my eyes
For the tremors of your love
To shake my westward soul
All I need do is glance back east

Where our rivulets run quiet
And the cherry blossoms bloom
Where raindrops pool in the shadows
And the sky pleads, "mercy, mercy..."

For the steps of your feet
To echo through these halls
All I need do is stop walking
For the shimmer of your silken hair
To erase all colors of the rainbow
All I need do is drift off to dream
For the rhythm of your heartbeat
To remind mine to skip a beat
All I need do is be still

Sitting where our rivulets run quiet
And the cherry blossoms bloom
Where raindrops pool in the shadows
And the sky pleads, "mercy, mercy...'

Mercy.

Outstretched hands
I'm governed by a cycle of choices
Wash.
Rinse.
Repeat.

Dirt under my fingernails
I listen to a thousand voices
Wash.
Rinse.
Repeat.

Gripping a shovel
I break earth and hit layers of shale
Break.
Stop.
Withdraw.

Eleven barren harvests
Yielding no fruit; just a thin, darkened veil
Break.
Stop.
Withdraw.

I suppose by now my disposition is bitter
From the gravitas that courses these bloodless veins
Write.
Speak.
Destroy.

I collect no glee from your failure
Nor scintillating coins that rattle at feet like chains
I just write.
Speak.
Destroy.

Step 1: fall, and fall hard
Step 2: give up a piece of yourself that you won't get back
Step 3: take a piece of someone else that they won't get back
Step 4: rinse
Step 5: repeat steps 1-4

Keep pace, troubled feet
I am chasing my ghost through corridors again
Where the dark is boundless
And light is hunted like a hungry mouse
Save face, troubled eyes
Close now, leave tomorrow to the visionaries
Where life has become a race to the graveyard
A place where all the winners finally lose

So, I revel in my own destruction
I am judged by the jury of my own chapped hands
And I stitch wounds that have,
For all intents and purposes, become threadbare

Stay here, faint whisper
Stay within the shadows where I can hear you
Leaps and bounds have been taken
But night won't abandon me like the cowardly sun
Don't fear, faint courage
Rise up, leave lethargy to its hibernation
Clutch tightly to the reasons for your existence
Break skin and bone if it means your survival

But, I revel in my own destruction
I'm judged by the jury of my own squinted eyes
And I stitch wounds that have,
For all intents and purposes, become threadbare

Silence!
The field mice have scurried off,
With the last of our sinister seeds
In their spangled, spiteful masquerade
Now the reddest of rivers carry wistful reveries
Out to a cold, callous sea
Tomorrow, the sun may climb once more
But where peace sleeps, war dreams

Coveter!
Dwell within your own spirit,
For these souls have wretched memories
And their willful, wanton deeds
May yet still sunder sons and daughters
From mothers and fathers
Tonight, we stitch our children back together
Because where peace sleeps, war dreams