Tell us your witty tales, bard
Don't leave us whimpering and suffering
On the other side of this pale, pitiful, world
Tell us anything to ward off the demons
Tell us something to make the ale taste better
As we swim where dreams and nightmares clash

Drench our sorrows with your songs, bard
Send all the soldiers and waifs home tonight
With wrinkled smiles on forlorn faces
Strum your chords as we gambol about
Hit your notes as we hit each other
And laugh spitefully at fate's cruel jokes

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 brittle around tender edges
I am skittish around rocky ledges
But I am still finding all the layers within myself

I am faithless around the enemy
I am graceless around the melody
But I am prospecting the deepest mines within my soul

I am radiant around sunshine
I am deviant around moonshine
But I am no longer listening to the voices within my head

I am oblivious around elegance
I am envious around dissonance
But I am merely one chord in a forgotten song

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.

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

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

Faded stars and bittersweet Thursday mornings
Where one end of this rope is tied to the dawn
And the other end has frayed and broken free

I find scattered amidst this sunrise all that I have hunted
Taunting me, delicately erasing hovering shadows
And exposing the darkness for the liar it has become

A fleeting slumber is the crux of my discontent
Where one eye opens to a world of majestic wonder
And the other opens to the aftermath of my dreams

Sanguine and butterscotch
Wildflower and sanctuary
Beyond the iris there is a tempest
Subtle, but, in no way ordinary

Starshot and malignant
Orphan and kaleidoscope
Nimbus clouds blanket hazel skies
Fingernails catch on slippery slopes

Luminous and forthright
Emerald and venerable
Tiptoeing through the shards of life
She is shadow, but, never invisible

I caught a glimpse of you
Behind the wall of tinsel
And a thousand words exploded in my mind

You stood there so eloquent
While your eyes told me fables
Though your gaze I could never find

Like a distant rainbow
I kept debating within myself
"Could I ever catch you if I chased you?"

Was there a *** of gold?
Or just me playing the fool?
Unanswered questions burned through and through

I was whisked into deep daydreams
Where my hands would set sail
Across the ocean that was your skin

Your lips met me softly
There was a hunger awaiting birth
The fabric of bedsheets between us, paperthin

Then I cursed reality for its unwelcome return
To exact revenge upon my conscience
And you disappeared, fiancée closely in tow

I should have disconnected
I should have burned the prologue
But happily ever after beckoned me to say hello

Circles, and now I am dizzy
Faint pulse tells me to right my wrongs
To spill my soul into the void of space

Circles, and now I am weightless
It seems a shame to leave this world
To the sick, sheltered, shame of its own devices

Circles, and now I'm incomplete
Drifting further from myself, I am staring
Into the eyes of a broken down satellite

Circles, and now I'm forgotten
The truth is a vacuum in which I don't exist
While my fingers grow numb at this endless cold

Circles, always circles*
Encircling time and encircling throats
There is no more life, and there is no more death

There's a warm wind blowing in
A welcome change
From winter's crippling breath

She says she doesn't fancy theatrics
She says it's clear that I do
Yet, whispers only when we fade to black

I have exhausted all the air in the cabin
At least what's worth inhaling
I have spilled all the blood that's worth spilling

I have been afraid of heights like these
Since the days of my innocence
Always hesitant to face the lifeless abyss

Because the one thing I have learned is
Between paramours and parachutes
Only one opens when you pull the cord

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?

My mouth is dry.

Drink.

I spoke all the words, though not necessarily of wisdom.
You respond with your patented silence.
And what little of my soul remains,
Seeps out from my pores to further stain the floor.

Drink.

Then, like a westerly wind you sweep through,
Temporarily rattling my leaves
Upsetting the rhythm of my heartbeat
And dividing the spoils of my treasures
Then everything turns calm.  Everything is dim.

Drink.

Somehow, you always avoid reaping what you sow
Nothing ever changes, be it from scream or whisper
So I salvage my belongings
And build a foundation that's at least stronger than before

Westerlies.

The mortar in the cracks of my heart soften and crumble at your feet
The crevices are just enough to slither your way inside
And like a termite, you devour all that's within
Do you have no conscience?
Are you pre-disposed to destroy?

My mouth is dry.

My mouth is unfathomably dry.

*Drink.

I am astray, again
Or asunder, one of the two
These broken, branching, pathways
Have a knack for leading back to you
I am astray, again
Or softly spoken, one of the two
These broken, branching, pathways
Speak in whispers that sound like you
I am astray, still
Or forgotten, one of the two
These broken, branching, pathways
Have never erased my love for you

It's raining acidic dreams and satellites
Sheathed in shadow, she tears her veil
My feet are cut from all the rubble
My throat is clutched, I can't inhale

Empress turns her keel
As she sails further and further away
She is feasting on simple solitude
Like a ravenous bird of prey

The aperture is closing
Soon, no light will pass
She stares through my empty soul
Sharp as starlight and broken glass

Twirling a dress sewn by comet tails
Fabric of penumbra and white lace
I trip into the low gravity of her love
Forever drifting through time and space

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.

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

Gravity and all its symptoms
Cause my pretenses and expectations
To dangle like pomegranate

Salt, as I am, changes with the seasons
Light, as I'm not, dims in dark places
I bring famine to these fertile lands

I reach an outstretched hand beyond
The dank foliage shrouding my view
I am uncomposed, but unashamed

The eavesdroppers wait for my whisper
But I am far too loud for simple minds
And the echo dances along the horizon

I cry out, a plea to whoever listens
I beg you, leave me out of focus
Because the blur is where you'll find me

The sun is setting over this wonderland
Here I am, drifting along shame again
Using my dreams as the raft
And my heart as the anchor

I make landfall and plot a course
Blistered feet causing no distraction
My veins run with yesterday's toxins
Making my scars more visible than before

Anxiously, I await in the shadows
For the villain to make his grand entrance
My hands crave to clutch his throat
My eyes burn with fires of vengeance

The cost of everything he took from me
A debt that could never be repaid
I crouch behind misshapen branches
And inhale one spiteful last breath

But the cowardly ******* never shows his face
Leaving no print for miles around
Until, at last, in the rustling of summer's death
Autumn points her finger directly at me

.

If this atmosphere is casual
She is stark-naked in the aftermath
This pain is ever so gradual
Slippery slopes on a primrose path

She mails envelopes to Cloud 9
Always marked "return to sender"
Her parade is just an empty line, but
While skin is tough, the heart is tender

The Ferris wheel is broken down
But she prefers them stationary
Isolation chokes in this abandoned town
But breathing has now become secondary

She leaves her high heels on the carousel
Remembering every last heart she's severed
She glides past the carnival like a gazelle
And barefooted, skips into forever

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

I am, in ways, a disappointment to my father
Who never once failed to disappoint me
But, my heart was revived once I realized
That I am greater than the sum of disappointing parts

There's but a fortnight now
Until the shadows run off with what's left of me
You should know that there are only scant remains
Of the man you once knew

They say to just be still
And wait as a bystander to my own life
But waiting has never come easily to a man with thorns in his hands
So I fly instead, like a fool with his eyes closed

There's a moonlit ocean in the distance
A place to sink, or learn to swim
For a moment, the shadows have diminished from my sight
And her radiance erases the vile inside my heart

Metallic heart,
Savor what you can
While you can
And rest where you lie

Rain.

Sanguine flesh,
I will pierce thee
To feverishly rip, and tear
At these rusted-over heartstrings

Rust.

Sluggish pulse,
Hand over calloused hand
Wipe the luster from her brow
And drown me in the clamor

Pain.

Dangerous dreams,
I smell the rain from years away
I recede, and believe
That time won't repair this erosion

Lust.

.

There's a fantasy we all share
You know the one I'm talking about
The one where real life doesn't exist
Where cancer evaporates like water
And where anguish isn't even a word

It's the one where she leaves her husband for you
Just because you've loved her now for years
It's the one where your children
See a father that isn't battered and broken down

It's the one where instead of missing the subway
You made it in the nick of time
And the man of your dreams sat right across from you
Reading the Wall Street Journal
And half-smiling the way you've always dreamed he would

It's the one where shadows are empty threats
And the long register of mistakes I've made
Are just pieces of crumpled paper
Discarded on an old, wooden, floor

Trapped in the rearview
Peripheral sense fleeting
Sirens and sadness

It took some time,
For our hearts to blossom
For our fire to truly rage
And for our dreams to

Reawaken

So now all I crave
Is you by my side
Your hand placed in mine
And various parts of your skin Attached effortlessly to my kiss

All the shadows
Have gathered in the square
To sell their petty little trinkets
To those without a prayer
"Pennies on the dollar,"
Is the word on the wind
His cryptic smile is slowly curving
His broken mind relearns to bend

For he is as penniless as he is penitent
Sorrow spills across the cobblestone
Footsteps linger as long as rainbows
Memory outlives brittle bone
"Deal of a lifetime,"
Is the word on the wind
His dreams are crumpled papers
His shadow, his only friend

If I repaid you in kind
It wouldn't be so kind
For I am astray and unable to find
The grace for which I need to forgive and forget

If I repaid you in kind
It wouldn't be so kind
Silent misery drenched and undefined
Vengeance fills my lungs faster than oxygen

If I repaid you in kind
It wouldn't be so kind
For I am simply the blind following the blind
Tripping over skeletons and shackles in this pitch black

If I repaid you in kind
It wouldn't be so kind
Drop another coin in the wishing well
Always a devil at the bottom waiting for his due

You read the book of life
But you can't turn the pages
And your plants are all made of lead
Another door slams
But you break right through
Still leaving your thoughts unsaid
Lucy loves John
But George loves Lucy
And now they're all in the sky
The eagle has landed
But he'll take it easy
Watching the whole world cry

When one twin falls
The other follows
Bringing us to our knees
How the pain overwhelms
When a thousand voices
Become a thousand lost memories
There's no comfortable in change
No cushion from the fall
The sirens ring out all around me
Still I can't move, can't even crawl

Images flash by like lightning
And it leaves an aching in me
What hurts most is the price we pay
To make us cry, make us bleed
Freedom is singing a forgotten song
When it's confined here inside these walls
Freedom is ringing, but the machine picks up
To find you weren't home at all
The lights are on but no one's there
My shield is strong, but my will is weak
The camera captures the great unknown
We fight back nightmares and a restless sleep

Show me all of your confusion
Paint it all in black and white
If it's sin you want, then it's sin we have
No color could change that light
I've walked the road to Eden
I know how the story will end
I still taste the apple everytime
I still break before I bend
The carousel spins itself off its post
Landing where angels dare not tread
Show me all of your confusion
As blood spills from forgotten dead

Some days the world is just a playground
Where the weak just pretend to be strong
Sometimes the voices down here are quiet
Waiting on a coward to finish his song
And time plays the part
Of the enemies we can't see
The muse has worked for the millionth time
In a life that will never be free

Wondering if the pieces will fit after all this time
Hoping you'll still shine your smile
Tasting salt in the water of the wishing well
You're so perfectly in denial
Shouting at angels on the freeway
You think redemption can be bought
But each passing day makes you realize
Forgiveness costs more than you thought

A sweet summer song drifts over the hills
You wish the echoes would never leave
A man in chains is no man at all
I remember you, the stains on your sleeve
Forgetting the path you took to get here
Neglecting the oath that you gave
Regret fills your every waking moment
Becoming just another melody to save

The devil calls for another life
We see his face, and we see her smile
He deserves his fate, and he waits in line
To end the waste, to end the trial
It's picturesque
It's all just a dangerous game
The first one to the edge of forever
Is the last one clinging to shame

These empty rooms, and these painted walls
I'm daydreaming on my way to the moon
The darkened sky, and the reasons why
It's just another artificial afternoon
The stars have faded and burned away
The endlessness still exists in here
I walked right into the pale sunset
And all I've ever been disappears

You find that failure, takes everything it wants
Leaving the doubts and broken dreams
But then patience pays for everything
A flood of emotion starts to tear your seams
You watch the daybreak, and wonder
If you will ever be what they need you to be
The words tremble as they dance across your lips
Their newborn eyes, staring up to see

The inkpen on the table
Bleeds far less than its owner
Maybe that's the reason why
She never smiles anymore

The inkpen on the table
Has been shaken far less than its owner
Maybe that's the reason why
There's nothing left to salvage from this wreck

The inkpen on the table
Is not as black as the soul of its owner
Maybe that's the reason why
He has to be rewritten all the time

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

Slowly
Surely
Inevitably
We gather round to sing perpetual praises
While subtly taking jabs at the merry masters

Their chatter is chaos in our hearts
And in our ears it rings endlessly
Their balance is impeccable
But we possess unbreakable destiny

Dying
Rotting
Finitely
We dissolve into the soil of meager meadows
And evolve into cedars of circumstance

These roots will become our legacy
And proof of their coveted love
The branches will become our sanctity
Reaching worlds beyond these frail bodies

Careless steps have taken him
To the intersection of light and fantastic
For "tripping is the sport of younger men"

For all gathered here, we spectate
Until our eyes have pierced the darkness
To witness the most unattainable dreams

He is thin, pale around the eyes and lips
The world weighs heavy on his heart
As the pressure slowly suffocates him

He hastens to his feet, nimble as the men of yore
Releases his tongue from the clasp of his teeth
And finds a song, rusted over by years of silence

an intricate mélange behind walnut eyes
you somehow smirk with no movement of lips
sanguine, as a diamond kaleidoscope
dreams wavering along calloused fingertips

it is much like you to tear asunder
all the fractions that compose the man you see
sanguine, as the day you were born
threading your way beyond the mystery

barefoot, your steps still echo within
this cavernous place I once claimed as mine
sanguine, as the island I have become
you are my disarray, by bittersweet design

Savor the first time
Savor the first day
Savor the first kiss
For the rest are all mired in shadow

Savor the first touch
Savor the first heartbeat
Savor the first love
For the rest shall haunt your waking dreams

Savor the first symptoms
Savor the first fever
Savor the first mistake
For the rest will paralyze every achy limb

Somewhere along this path
They dropped you
Perhaps not on your delicate head
But they dropped you
Into a den of lions
Into bitter, barren, wasteland
Into a marsh of crocodiles
Into misleading quicksand

Princess, this is not the world
This is suffering
These are not the acts of love
These vultures are circling

Inexplicably, they brought you here
But conveniently don't give a ****
They sing songs of worn out excuses
Yet sacrifice their little lamb
But you are more than wool
You are more than mere circumstance
The gifts you have been granted
Should be far from piteous romance

Princess, take off your tiara
And set sail for superstition
Cause the only road they paved for you
Is yellow bricks to perdition

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

My father would read between the lines
To find a comfortable place to exist
His words were veiled by a velvet cloak
Understatements wrapped neatly in their over-thinking

He would wince in pain as sharp gravel
Would impale his cold calloused feet
The road was unenviable in its condition
Yet he never left the discomfort of the ground

He had no proclivity to shepherd my path
He would let me stumble and crash over my own roots
So I took my time and I kept my distance
For his battered body was foreign to my eyes

He would drift out of sight, out of mind
But out of heart was a different story
As all the shoal and sand settled down around him
He remained governed by a far different wave

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

Here I am, broken, porcelain
Walking roads of freshly withered flowers
Grey erases all things harlequin
****** asunder, darkness devours

Here I am, meant to weep and wither
There's venom coursing through my veins
Shadows lurk as she sleeps and slithers
And happenstance controls my reigns

Here I am, a fraud and skeptic
Debating if forked roads lead to forked tongues
She sheds her skin when the need arises
And restricts the oxygen from my lungs

Here I am, contrite and frail
Rattled by the desert within her mind
I chase nothing but wind and fairytales
Yet collapse from this weight of mine

In my dreams, there are colors and carousels
Swimming and spinning
Into a helix of broken hesitation
The dread I feel is insurmountable
Palms drip sweat
Consciousness fades from asphyxiation

Devils awaken from careful slumber
Growling and gnashing
As they enslave my heartbeats filled with envy
In my dreams, there are shadows and shipwrecks
Slinking and sinking
Into depths blurred by this reality

Darting to and fro
This early spring has set me on a path
That I may or may not remember
I keep growing older
Yet not necessarily wiser
Because winter lingers on in my daydreams

Shadows are cast
On jagged rocks and sorely lacking hearts
For I am all but shattered now
I keep veiling my eyes
Yet I am blinded by the glare
Of diamonds that shimmer from within

Emptying all its glory
The sky bleeds drops of fear and sympathy
Blooming weeds that have no business here
I keep sleeping on cold, hard, ground
Yet falling out of bed
For my attention is divided among better days