Sitting still upon the brink
Of a lady dressed in black
Shadows fall in metered rhythm
Blanketing a broken heart's last attack

Broad daylight shatters
These ominous September skies
While her radiance tears at the fabric
Of my kaleidoscopic disguise

I press my lips upon her
A pursing to purge our woven fate
Tatters of her torn dress billow outward
But the tatters of my heart can't yet relate

She stares at skeletons on the highway
And I'm not sure if I'll ever make it back
I drift off to dream, still sitting on the brink
Of a lady, dressed all in black

I'd go anywhere with you
Anywhere that the sun sets
Anywhere that your mind forgets
Anywhere that my heart still skips

But the best laid plans
Lay stationary
Waiting for their chauffeur
Waiting for their moment to come undone

I would have taken flight with you
Taken you beyond the shimmers
Taken nothing for granted
Taken the glow to the ever-after

But the fairest of the unfair
Stays stationary
Carrying the burden of beauty
And waiting for the words to ricochet

Starfield, as scattered as this mind
And sirens,
As shrill as darkness redesigned
Forgive me, please, forgiveness
For I have granted you to the undeserving

Starfield, as bright as your eyes
And sirens,
As dead as this compromise
Forgive me, please, forgiveness
For I have left you weary from overuse

Starfield, as lost as misery
And sirens,
As distant as you are to me
So forgive me, please, forgiveness
For I have finally led you here to die

It's funny how I turn a corner
The same way I turn a page
At breakneck speeds
Where the signs, like words, are all a blur

This place is a foreign land
But my blisters are now my passport
I ask only that you stand aside
And let me face it on my own

It's as scathing as a bitter stare
But I will endure this endless reproach  
I ask only that you stand aside
And remember me for how I was before

May flowers
Under broken raindrops, pale love devours
Nary a bucket to collect them in
Drowsy mornings
A trembling within, and solemn warnings
Nary a violin to soothe a sinking mind
Every awakening begins with a kiss goodnight

We spend existence digging graves
And calling it a new way of life
Slipping on marble stairways
Cutting paper hearts with paper knives

We stand on both sides of the fence
In the court of public opinion
Pleading no contest to the charges
Begging for just a drop of dominion

Instead of the ones that matter
We chase the ones chasing the zeroes
We only applaud when there's a crowd
Gathered around synthetic heroes

I am currently failing to feel a pulse
And I am shriveling into nothing
The thought of waking up to this cold world
Concerns me,
     About as much as the icy breeze

I grasp at straws that all turn to ashes
I drown deeper within all the madness
I have closed all the windows in my heart
But instead,
      Blood seeps through cracks in the floor

I am poorly designed, not just broken
Made prisoner by a mind that's outspoken
I am famished but I feast on nothing
Besides the pain,
     Pain that my heart's been serving

I am an octave below the sound of silence
I am a victim of my own violence
And the straight line I've been walking
Is finally curving,
     Curving into a circle that is far from perfect

Failure
        is not a collision,
               It's only the yellow lines.

When you lay down
In a swamp disguised as a queen-sized bed
Everything is magnified, and mystified
Dreams stray every which way from here
In these broken and calloused lives
We take devils as wives, and use glances as knives
Turning our heads to needless massacres

When the lights grow dim
We find blood in the wishing well
Every savior is synthesized, and desensitized
A fleeting infancy in exchange for plodding demise
It's time to deny captors pleasure from pain
Because blood rusts chains, and covers us in rain
No longer bound by the rules of the world

Beyond the stairs
Past the strands of raven hair and wind-worn curtains
The delicate war between love and hate
Is waged on battlefields scented with cordial

Borders change by day
As her succulent skin is caressed, and scratched
She grabs pillows against the soldier's soft attacks
And returns volleys of similar weaponry

Her eyes are fortified by a dream
As she walks through beauty and comes back again
Hands and teeth clenched, her beleaguered body gives way
To the serenity of a cease-fire love affair

Family values,
Sold on the black market
Five dollars for a segue from the chorus
Of a baby's happy first words
To the tears caused by daddy's final vice

Compromise,
The loft where secrets sleep
Parrying words with shields of skin
Tethering dreams to a fencepost in the lawn
To keep them from the clouds in the distant sky

Life escapes,
Like the air from a balloon
It erodes like a weathered mountain
All the lights are on in a three-story house
But everyone's home and drowning

In the dark.

She smokes her last cigarette
While waiting on the light to change her mind
Because at the corner of bent and broken
Green means stop, and red means go

Her world is just a snowglobe
In the hands of an innocent child
Here at the corner of bent and broken
The snowflakes fall but they never melt

She stares at the lights in the town square
Neon signs flicker, then burn completely out
Here at the corner of bent and broken
The blackout burns brighter than the sun

She is fully conscious of all the subtle things
That turn her rusted wheels and brake her speeding heart
Because at the corner of bent and broken
The collision is the truth behind a forgotten smile

He drops his bomb and calls it a feather
Gripping tightly to his rugged leather
A king of his castle, of north and of south
The worst of intentions crease a dour mouth
He sips at his courage and spits from the parapet
His voice echoes through halls like a blaring trumpet
The queen cowls, tears veil her soft face
A palisade of loathing separates their space
Absolute power drips from his brow
Eyes like lightning, striking a bough
Creaks, cracks, defiance, and spite
The king does not pardon, in black or in white
She braces, erases, knights herself with adrenaline
The spear finds its mark like a dose of medicine
Impaled, curtailed, the king gasps a breath of contrition
The reign falls to its knees, Hell's latest acquisition

If I took a walk around
In your unconscious, what would I find?
Would I see myself bouncing around
Like a pinball
Or soaring through the air
Like a phoenix rising?

Would I collide with your dreams
And be annihilated?
Would I see you naked
And cowering in your shame?
Or clothed in all your splendor
Like the day our eyes first met

If I took a walk around
In your unconscious, would I see how to love you?
Would I witness your favorite movie?
And be splashed by your favorite colors
Would I see the pain that you stowaway
Or the smiles you've yet to discover?

Would I want to run from your demons
Or take up sword and shield?
Would I see the same man you see
Everytime you look at me?
Or would I stare at myself, thoughtfully, and wonder
Who is this person I pretend to be?

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

Striving for greatness is never easy
It's so much simpler to lay down
Wilting and waiting to die

Until the crust of the earth
Crumbles, splits, rips open at the seams
And swallows me whole

Reforge me with tremors
Recreate my senses with aftershock
Decimate me, then build me again

Sandpaper sharpens the arrow
My mind grows duller with each new moon
I feel vindicated
But is that meant to change my destiny?

I hum carefully crafted melodies
While dodging the traffic of unending static
I love unconditionally
But does that mean I am loved the same?

Lavender wine enthralls scavengers
They forage for another bridge to burn
I watch it blacken and dissipate
But does apathy mean I no longer care?

My arrow is now sharper
Voices whisper, "weakling, loose the final blow"
A single tear slips from my eye
But is one arrow supposed to end this hell?

I am no peaceful son of man
I am a crown of thorns
I am no hero, saint, or king
I'm just the weary worn
Bathed in evil, I trade love for war
Dreaming of evergreens
I am no peaceful son of man
I am a submarine

I am no peaceful son of man
I am chaos reborn
I am no martyr, prince, or god
I'm just a man forlorn
Shamed in silence, I whisper lies
Long since I knew the taste of truth
I am no peaceful son of man
I am abandoned youth

As I button up this plain shirt
On a mild Tuesday morning
It's good to know
That I can still smile without you

As I pour myself a glass of juice
And think of my children laughing
It's good to know
That I can still daydream without you

And as the days pass by swiftly
The pain you brought me bleeds away
And it's good to know
That life goes on without you

From the broken words
That spill across the pages in my head
To the paintings that adorn
The very walls of my heart
We still have time to rectify this calamity

From the rivulets that run
Throughout my depleted sandy soul
To the shadows that fall
Upon eyes that settle on the horizon
There rests hope on the eve of hopelessness

From the quicksand of mistakes
That have mired my steps for too long
To the whistles of locomotives
Across salty oceans of destiny
There I stand, changing colors like the sky

I've never given much thought
To an afterlife
If it's as empty as life itself
I'm not sure there's even a point
If it's as painful as the loneliness
I've endured for you
I don't think I care to see it
I'm better off slowly killing myself
I've never given much thought
To the dreams we dream
As the air escapes our lungs
And as our heartbeat finally stops
But if I dream of us together
The way I always wanted us to be
Then maybe it's time to close my eyes
And never lift their weights again

Sometimes, my words end up lost in translation  
I feel as though I'm speaking
To a room full of bystanders
None of whom care what spills forth
From this cotton mouth

It's like there are two of me
One to speak the words
And another to think the thoughts
Neither are in communication
Neither know who the hell I am

Scatter-brained is a loose term
Loosely held together by patience
And carelessly painted grey mornings
My head collects the words
And the same head rejects the connotations

I can't open my lips for all this trembling
I've never been one to placate nerves
Or to weave brilliance out of inhibitions
I just ransack the audience's hopes
And sprinkle them with pessimistic hail

Some might believe I may be hamstrung
By a heel only Achilles might covet
And a frailty in how I read between the lines
If I fail to impress, will I just forget?
Or scar myself with phantoms of things unsaid?

Undoubtedly, there are places for people
Like me, of my ilk, of my stature
Not that I've ever stumbled into such a place
Or climbed the ladders that they set
In front of feet that prefer the ground

Sometimes,
It's just hard to see it
But as time creeps on
It becomes clearer to me
That you, my dear,
Are just a fair-weather
Endeavor

Because,
In times of grey and disarray
You are nowhere
To be lost or found
And you, my dear,
Are the slowest form of
Quicksand

I am frozen in constant motion
I am the fog rolling into the valley
Absorbing a pale, forgotten horizon
For my eyes are now useless and folly

Grant me my daily consequences
Salvation's boulevard blisters my feet
My hands caress these rolling hills
Veiling them in blankets of ice and sleet

As the sun rises, I am stationary
As though I'm tethered to my shadow
The depth of my plight has grown ever deeper
While my list of reasons has grown ever shallow

They label me 'forever falling'
They pull the tourniquet far too tout
I am frozen in constant motion
With no hope of getting out

Dried sorrow on a ***** cheek
What a waste of discretion
Rappel down to the depths of my forgiveness
Twisted ankles, a sorry first impression

Paranoia's alive in paradise
What a waste of such beautiful static
Silence the voices and you'll have your silence
But isn't the screaming just as tragic?

The dust has settled,
Minds rest on the brink of disaster
The gravel has crumbled,
Fleeting footsteps have erased ever-after
I'm halfway through the endgame
Yet only quarter of the man I thought I'd be

The winds have circled,
Tearing asunder the bliss of yesterday
The sky has shattered,
Dropping pieces of every blue and grey
I'm halfway to my sanctuary
Yet only quarter of the man I thought I'd be

The patience has dwindled,
Chaos reigns upon the prince's throne
The lies have multiplied,
Thievery designed to draw soul from bone
I'm halfway to a day of reckoning
Yet only quarter of the man I thought I'd be

My dreams are juxtaposed with failures
My motion is akin to driftwood in the empty sea
Passions that once slumbered within my soul
Now rage like desperate refugees
There are listless clouds on the horizon
Drops of morning dew rest upon my brow
I scream without sound or the hint of emotion
Clinging to anchors I've long tried to disavow

I ache with reasons and indiscretion
I scale the ladders of patience with no remorse
Weapons drawn, she still slays me with a smile
Wearing armor I care not to reinforce
Shame and her sisters 
Poison me with their lilac, honey, and wine
While blame and its blisters
Lie in wait for our stars to realign

I keep a faded picture
Thirty-two cents
And some lint in my pockets

The picture is who I was
The thirty-two cents is who I am
And the lint is what I will become

My mind sends reinforcements
To the crater where my heart once beat
I am sleepless when at peace
And I am exhausted when at war
I'm humbled by this new expanse

I just closed the door
While she's standing on the other side
I am numb and staring off into space
There are no feelings that once thrived
Instead, new pain fills the voids

It's obvious when she jumps, she misses
Leaving behind a footprint that tries too hard
To tell a happy story

She loses her confidence, and in turn, loses me
Because running is so much simpler
Than running in place

She scrawls all her feelings with invisible ink
And stores all the dreams she's saved
In a false bottom box

Beyond the layers and beyond the mask
There's a shimmer of something more
Something, I once adored

In the corner of her mind, I drift
Floating like detritus along the open sea
And waiting for an outstretched hand

Despite the gloss of morning bliss
And the hypothermia behind winter's kiss
I'm finally ready to say....stay

I've tripped through all your circumstances
And reveled in these everlasting glances
So, I'm finally ready to say....stay

Grant me a wish and I'll surrender
Tell me a secret and I'll remember
Because, I'm finally ready to say....stay

We are leery of promises, so we never make them
Hearts are sleeping, so why wake them?
But, I'm finally ready to say....stay

Our hill shimmers with angelic luster
Questions creep in, can I finally trust her?
Honestly, I'm finally ready to say....stay

She grabs her coat and slips on her boots
This passion has started taking its roots
And I finally say with all that I am....
Stay

I am off...
Slightly to the left.
No.  Slightly to the right.

Never straight, never
perfect.

I am disarray...
Out of order.
Out of sorts.

Never aligned, never pristine.

I am inharmonious...
Causing a cringe.
Causing a sigh.

Never melody, never beautiful.

But, I am content...
On my island.
In my sanctuary.

Always me, always in dream.

.

So the morning comes with its make-believers
We are just sketches from an artist's daydream
Every action comes with a reaction
Every stitch in time saves nine lives
And tomorrow will break like the ocean

She stares out the window of a taxi
Knowing where she's going isn't where she's been
Every voyage starts with a footfall
Every storm begins with a raindrop
And tomorrow will break like a tender grey sky

The illusion of my folklore is captivating
And it tethers me to this concrete lullaby
Every avalanche begins with a ripple
Every expedition begins with a tripwire
And tomorrow will break like hearts of porcelain

The demons in my head are trembling
From the madness that's overcoming me
There's only one step left to the bottom
But my feet only delay the inevitable

Your silence has kept me climbing
Your tripwires have kept me falling
Your many faces have blurred my vision
Our beautiful failures have erased my canvas

I need a new scar, so I dangle from the ledge
If only to glimpse at the love we once knew
No matter if love or hate laces our words
Treacherous, is our only state of mind

Maybe I'm a fraud, or just a demon myself
But I gave until my heart became an empty canteen
And though the end looms closer every hour
You drank 'til nary a drop was left

Peaceful
That's what I am without you
Like a star-studded chandelier
I am swinging, swaying
Not breaking or betraying
And I will not plead for you

Radiant
That's what I am without you
Like a million fireflies in the dark
I am glowing, gleaming
Not shouting or scheming
And I will not plead for you

Happiness is not a highway
It's a green exit sign
Failure is not a collision
It's just the yellow lines

Borrowed time.
It's easier to digest when it chokes you before you swallow.
Faceless and undefined.
That's all I am.
That's all I'll ever be.

No.
I will not.
I will not waver.
I will not waver from my purpose.

Circumstances.
They prevent me from patronizing the man in the mirror.
The mirror insults back.
Far better than I do.
Because he's far better than I've come to be.

No.
I will not.
I will not destroy.
I will not destroy the foundation of all I've become.

Petty.
It's so very petty of me to begrudge a man his prize.
I should walk away.
I should have bolted the door years ago.
Tossed the key into the deepest abyss.

No.
I will not.
I will not retrace.
I will not retrace the steps that led me to you.

Cast aside all your fears
Simply take my hand
And swim with me in this notion
That daydreams can be as real
As the taste of salt upon your lips
As the touch of sand upon your toes
I will tread water for us both
For I will never let you drown

My dreams have all been killed
Stabbed in the back, and bleeding out
Pushed off a ledge onto jagged rocks
Poisoned and strangled til' their final breaths
And buried beneath these grains of sand

But, I alone, am the only suspect