Someone was wearing your cologne today
So many memories in one breath --
I exhale and find myself gasping for you again,
Breath after shallow breath until I am hollow with you.
It was light enough for the wind to carry it
but it made me feel like Atlas under the Earth.

It was nothing but empty hopes
wishes left ungranted.
As night falls,
and the darkness comes for me,
I find myself gasping for you

Clutching crumpled Tootsie Pop wrappers
And cradling torn Four Leaf Clovers.
Wishing you are far away
The more distance I can place between us,
The safer you are.

Wishing I was in your arms
Craving your lullaby, your steady heart beat,
For selfish reasons.
Take my Tootsie Pop wrappers and Four Leaf Clovers.

I am the very last person who deserves a wish.
Take them and know I never wanted to hurt you.
Wish for a thread and needle

Or a plane ticket to Neverland
Just please,

Don't wish for me.

How do you tell a heart to stop aching?
Command a warrior never to fight again?
A singer to never so much as hum another note?

Two long years, and all I've done is fight
sword raised high some days,
and others--
it's a miracle I'm standing.

How do you tell a bird to stop flying?
Persuade a flower never to bloom again?
A leaf never to fall?

Too many long days, and all I've done is sleep
dreaming of a world with escape,
and others--
a nightmare that leaves me weeping.

How do you tell the sun not to rise?
Punish a star for shining too bright?
Stop the moon from changing shapes?

Too many short seconds, and you're slipping away,
through my fingers like sands,
and others--
sitting on my shoulder with everything else.

As I've said before, and I'll say it once more,
My heart was born in the ground,
Raised by the sea,
And housed in the trees,
And that's why I love them so.

In separation,
My soul was lifted on wind,
Traveled by light,
And slept in the clouds,
And that's why I love them so.

For my heart and soul are one,
One that has yet to meet me.
One that carries nature on his shoulders.
And that's why I love him so.

He and I are separated still,
Distanced by time,
Lost in the woods,
And brought closer by opposite currents.

We are carried by will
Followed by fate,
Inspired by others
And freed by blue skies.

And that's why I love them so.

The snap of sparks from cloth on skin
                         lifts
The hope that         from dark to dim.
The sound of rain-
                                 and groaning trees.
A storm's great bowels, a rumbling breeze.
The lilting scent of sweetened air,
Skin on skin, that's soft; that's fair
A sky that waves with colors afar,
A glow that blinks in a child's jar.
The whipping  rise of adrenaline rush,
                                                           ­          The peaceful repose of a library's hush.
The winter's bite; the wind's white claws,
The child shrieks, the crow, caws.
                                     on
The hair that stands                  at night.
                                            end
The awe that strikes the morning light.
    The two-faced smoke that ~swirls~
                                                                ­that chokes.
That clever doubt, that probes- that pokes.
The pitch that screams a piercing beat!
                              ~the air that soothes the ceaseless heat~
Cigar smoke, and creaking doors;
                                                          ­stealth that fails by squeaking floors.
A favored picture, in weary frame,
The roll of tongue on a lover's name.
The smell of coffee, fresh and
                                                     deep
The Forever Memories our minds will keep.

My soul, so dark, what things it lures!
What things that writhe into my pores!
With teeth like stones
they devour my bones,
And slip past my heart's ice locked doors.

My soul, so dark, with evil it teems.
It blinds you and, and breaks you, with ravens' black screams
Stream into flood,
It chokes you with blood,
And send shadows to skulk and to stalk through you dreams.

My soul, so dark, what demons it hives!
What demons that pose as emotion's disguise!
It robs you your trust,
It's blinded by lust,
And forever it lies, and it lies, and it lies.

My soul, so dark, what hell it demands!
What hell, that will grab you with soot-covered hands!
Its fires go on,
In the dark, in the dawn,
And the devil will curse you and laugh his commands.

My soul, so dark, what sadness it sighs,
What sadness that fills out your head with its cries!
The heartache that breaks,
From tears, into lakes
And strength that burns up, withers, and dies.