At midnight, I rose
Haunted by a longing to see the night sky
Wrapped in a blanket,
I closed the door behind me
And stepped into the grass
The moon bore into me,
The stars were its companions
And all I could think of
Was everything that we are,
You and I
And tears far from sorrow
     welled in my eyes
Falling from my smiling face,
They dropped to the grass
To be obscured by the
Morning dew

Fierce wind, you whip
Against my windows
Singing high melodies,
Making the trees lash 
In accompaniment

Dear wind, you force
Through the cracks
Intruding upon my warmth,
Making me shiver
In loneliness

Oh wind, please take
This kiss from my lips
Carry it to my love -
Sing your sweet ballad
In his ear, and 

Touch his lips with the breath
That stole mine

Sometimes it takes the silent tears
when I'm lying alone at night
  to remind myself that I am alive

Hatred
And lies
Constant lies
You said you loved me
And I loved you, too
Why would you lie to me?
If only you could see that
I would die for you
As you lied to me
You are a vicious beast
With a smile on your face
And scandal in your heart

I feel you in the wind that kisses my cheeks
As it enters the window of my heart
The breeze blows my hair back
The same way that your fingers push it
Behind my ears.
I feel your breath on my neck and
Hug myself tighter to sense your embrace
Lean in to the emptiness,
Not expecting solidity…
Appearing from nowhere
In the time that I need you –
The wind’s kiss is nothing
Now that you are here.

Running a fever
But not from sickness
This fire rages furiously
Against all hope for survival
Your voice comes tome
And like a bellows,
Spreads the fire
But with the warmth of your breath
The flames change
With a new element of light,
The blaze fills me
Obscuring the old ashes
And transforming me
From the victim of destruction
To the follower of love

You take my heart and make it fly,
Each time your touch lands on my face
I dread the time we say goodbye –
The stars shine in your eyes tonight.

I feel warm in your strong hold
My ear rests lightly on your chest
To your form I covet to mold –
The stars shine in your eyes tonight.

I pray to be the same to you
Your beloved, as you are mine
And when you stare, I know it’s true –
The stars shine in your eyes tonight.

This song evokes the deepest longing within me
Each beat constricting my heart and breath
My skin tingling with the line of melody plucked on the whispering guitar

     Please set me free

The slowing cadence calms my wandering thoughts
And places me just outside your grasp

     Please reach for me

The piano starts to fold me in your arms
And we kiss so delicately through the soft decrescendo

     Please stay with me

Hold me as we listen to the harmony
Be the voice in my world of music.

Oh, solemn statue,
What is your story?
You perch upon your marble pedestal
Protecting your environment
With your threatening stare
But in your eyes
I find no menace,
Only loss and longing
What has been taken
For you to assume this sad stance?
And is it your troubled soul
That is represented by your grimace,
Or is it the soul of your maker
Finding no cure for the turbulence in his mind
Only to create himself
In this model of you
From the stone he carved from?
I wish I could find the source of your despair
But since I cannot,
I will leave this gift of a rose
Upon your throne
In the hope that you can find some happiness
In the midst of this gloomy place
Where you have been doomed to stand

A thousand tears for them
The lost, the heartbroken
The angry, the neglected
A thousand tears for you
Plus one more
For being all those things
But never giving up
As the tears fall,
My love for you grows stronger
As I lay with my eyes open
They fill and finally empty
Leaving me,
The tears are my emotions
Kept inside for no one to see
But for my pillow to absorb
Until the next night
When I think of them again
A thousand more tears shed
And then,
A thousand plus one more
Because you are strong
And I am not
But I will be strong for you

Surrounded by silence
Sequestered in a quiet corner of anonymity
I am the unknown.
The soft lamp light on closed eyelids,
Shining through just enough
To cast confusing images on the eye inside
I am the unknown, the forgotten.
A diary hidden in a deep drawer,
Memories buried in their dusty tomb
Buried alive, and screaming for release.
I am the thinker of the night
Haunted by images and scenarios
Eyes squeezed shut with no hope of sleep
What-ifs and whys.
I am the dreamer of optimism
The lover of misfortune.

There they stand before a wall of darkness,
Hands clasped, begging for amnesty.
So long they have been heedlessly running,
Assured in their security –

Shadows now loom over them,
Children weep as their fathers curse
And mothers sit in resignation.
Here I am, no longer part of this world.

Warnings meant nothing,
Outspoken worries provoked only jest,
Murmurs and judgments.
Here I am, no longer part of their world.

The moment of superior judgment has come,
Finding them in a state of desperation.
Mere flecks upon the earth
In the larger scope of the universe.

They sulk in their helplessness -
The bravest of them are now gone.
Prayers are their only consolation.
Here I am, no longer part of their world.

There she stands, eyes trained upward
Her eyes red, hair unkempt
Arms clutched around herself for warmth -
Here I am, no longer part of her world.

Prayers reach me, to no avail
I can be no help to them now.
As the darkness finally overtakes them,
Here I am, no longer part of that world.

Taking time to glance in the mirror,
I saw myself always the same,
My appearance unchangeable.
Tired eyes, forced smile,
Pale cheeks
Always wishing for more, I’d turn away
The cracked veins of my reflection
Leaving a hundred images of my broken self
Imprinted in my mind
Every glance a reminder of my past,
But all that I could see.
Countless days, endless months
Smiling into the shattered mirror
Until my eyes sought yours
And saw in your stare a new reflection
Of gleaming radiance and joy
Of blushed color, and lively movements
Again, a thousand images,
Images not of solitude,
But togetherness – a union of sorts
That fills my entire being
In your eyes I see my future
Our hands interlocked
With no key to be found to separate them

We are travelers of this dream
The wishes of so many,
Yet accomplished by seemingly
So few.
How are we the lucky ones?
But then,
Do dreams really ever make sense?
I smile as we fall,
Tumbling together,
Landing in an embrace full of laughter
We take our time,
Treasure every second,
And as the day falls tired,
And closes to night,
The moon illuminates this vision
Our skin shining silver
As we kiss under the stars
A promise sealed,
I’ll love you forever
In this sweet dream
That just happens to be reality

Alone
I am broken
A fake laugh
A forced smile
An empty shell
Together
We are luminescent
A miracle
A wave
An endless swell
Crashing down upon me
Rolling, turning
Tossed from nothingness
To melodious perfection

Night calls to me,
Bids me welcome
Into its suffocating embrace
When light shines on me,
I long for darkness, sleep
I imagine the soft sensation
Of my eyelids pressing together
Slipping under –
But when I find myself under blankets,
With the whole night ahead,
Sleep stays outside my grasp,
Dancing between my fingers, outstretched
Laughing at my bloodshot eyes
As he watches the darkness take over.
Night, it tortures me,
Despite my fond hopes
Of finally holding security
Of finally discovering rest
I shiver under cold fingers,
Afraid of shadows and demons
Until the morning arrives,
When I yearn once again
For the torment nightfall will bring

A dark room,
A dusty attic
Memories long forgotten.

With the discovery of that old, worn box
Comes a new world
That which was once the norm

The faint, yet redolent smell
Of an old perfume
Takes her to a place long ago
Where they danced and smiled
Blushed and kissed.

A tattered picture of their younger selves
Makes her yearn for the past
His strong, tender touch
His glowing eyes, filled with passion

A package of love letters,
Each envelope worn thin from many readings
Her survival,
In the times of his absence

Her fingers trace over the blotted circles
Created from tears shed over the paper
Her heart breaks again,
Aches for her loss

She clutches the items to her chest
Closes her eyes against the pain
Bows her head, and whimpers,
“Do you remember?”

Light the candle fast,
We will not live in obscurity.
Over the flame, we will think of times passed
Contemplating shadows thrown on purity.

We will not live in obscurity,
Burdened by clouds of hate
Living our lives void of security
Never knowing that it was too late –

Burdened by clouds of hate,
They step on through darkened streets
Assuming that it was only fate
That sorrow they would never defeat

They step on through darkened streets
While we admire the flickering light –
Comforted by its small heat,
We know that love is worth the fight.

While we admire the flickering light,
We see the shadows – accept their vacancy
And the others, they will miss the sight
As we dance, creating a new legacy –

We see the shadows – accept their vacancy
But we will live in the candle’s fire
Refusing to endure life separately,
And giving in to its desire

Light the candle fast –
We will not live in obscurity