All these lights
Shining different colors bright
Cast the same shadow

I am lost in it
the storm fills my whole world
and I forget the Sun

a beautiful rainbow fills my sky
I am shining in its light

closing my eyes against the rain

A wall once wove all through the town
Fraught fractured freedom fenced and furled
And on the day the wall came down
It was a good day for the world

There is a little row of stones
And in some places that is all
That stands between the sundered lands
Knit back together in the fall

And you can walk across the border
Without knowing that you've crossed it
Where the guns and guards kept order
Checkpoint Charlie, Friedrichstraße

Only thirty years have passed
But it's not the same place at all
Tyranny is not built to last
We all know what happens to walls

my identity
labyrinth that I construct
to imprison me

I used to believe

one day

I will meet my soulmate
and we will love each other
just the way we are

one day

I don't believe that anymore

but it's okay

I do not show my poetry
to anyone I know
I don't want anyone to see
so deep into my soul

to know what hides
inside my mind
and who I have become
but you do not know who I am
I could be anyone

this same pain
keeps coming back
all throughout my life

you're not the one
who cut me deep

you are

only the knife

I say
if we had never met
how happy I would be

but for real
somebody else would hold
their own cold steel
to me

There are so many things that I don't know
And I accept them as a mystery
But there's no telling how far I would go
To have all of these truths revealed to me

And where the waves are higher than my sail
Still deeper is my curiosity
My kingdom for one look beyond the veil
On which we paint our own reality

There is hope and there is fear
Can't have one without the second
If you don't know but you care
Then hope and fear both loudly beckon

There is hope and there is fear
Both of them are always here
One helps you run, one helps you cope
But if you have a choice, choose hope

I wonder at this underworld
the demons and the ******
how long before I wake up
and remember who I am

but as I think of all I've done
the darkness in between
I wonder if this other one
is who I've always been

Shining Sun
Chases me out of my bed
In the cool morning

Somewhere beneath the smooth façade
Lies someone rough and raw and flawed
She makes me want to **** and fight
She scratches at me in the night

Tense and lethal as a crossbow
As she crosses o'er my shadow
In the dark she wakes and laughs
I have become the shadow half

this is my thought, this is my prayer
if you are real, if you are there
protect the ones who love you true
and make it safe to worship you

they call you God, Allah, Hashem
you light the way for all of them
they follow you
what's in a name?
they all believe you just the same

how many voices sing your songs
together where many belong
and through the terror and the flames
how many voices called your name?

reward the ones who keep the faith
make all the holy places safe
if you can hear me
if you care
this is my thought, this is my prayer

some say
the opposite of hope is
fear

but I think
the opposite of hope is
despair

hope and fear
are connected
a bird with two wings

but despair is what's left
after hope flies away

You who bring the stars to life
And bring the worlds to wing
And blow a cool blue Moon into
A thousand shining rings

You who bring the tides to rise
And bring the world to bloom
As shimmering the glitter rings
Fall back into the Moon

so hard to erase this pain
I thought that this was who I was
and maybe it was who I was
when I thought I was not enough

can I write over my scars
I was right
I have a heart
I have the right to have a heart
that is a part of who we are

tear apart the tape
of all the hateful things I learned to say
behind my back and to my face
my lowest moments
on replay

how much of that can I erase
can I replace the thoughts I hate
with something whole

my blood runs cold

afraid I could erase my soul

.

there is a place inside where I hide my desire
power                                                my rage
can I admit                                  I am the one
who put myself          L           inside this cage
sometimes I see          E        the world outside
as through the glass    T             as from within
but other times                                I am aware
that I am outside         M                    staring in
at this creature             E       who dares to want
to stand her ground            and make demands
her eyes say                O      I will bring a storm
and turn this glass       U             back into sand
and I can feel it            T                    in my soul
I do not know                                how to react
I am afraid                                     to look away
I cannot turn my back on that

I think about the things we see
What we know of reality
How different they are

Forces and fields and particles
Quarks and atoms and molecules
But we see trees and stars

We wrap ourselves in this cartoon
And paint the walls of our cocoon
Like Michelangelo

But if we turned to face the door
Which casts these shadows on the floor
What madness would we know?

I wander
but do not forget
I wonder
do you see it yet?

it is kismet
it is fate
I am patient
I will wait

you're broken
like a mirror
that my shadow falls onto

but we should thank the gods
they thought to cut
our soul in two

come on
be strong
and on and on
and still I long for you

you're wrong
you don't belong
how long till I belong to you?

and though I know
I must let go
it's oh so slow to do

and it is tearing out my soul
the one I stole
from you

still holding on
though this is far too sharp
to hold onto

how long until I can move on
and say so long
to you?

if I could fly
upon the sky

into the silence and the cold

I'd write your name across the Moon
as it is written on my soul

held by the tide
that does not turn
showing the same side
day by day

no wind to blow

no fire to burn

no ocean to
wash you
away

though it lives
high
in the sky

it comes back to the Earth
to sleep

even the eagle
has a home

No more trees
Zero hour
No more bees
No more flowers

No one knows
No more power
No more rose
No more Tower

I forgive you
I forgive you my friend
I'll forgive you no matter what you do
I forgive you
I forgive you my love
I'll forgive you if it's the last thing that I do

I still love you
I still love you my friend
I will love you no matter what you do
I still love you
I still love you my love
And I hope that you will learn to love you too

We were led
By a man
One who said
Yes we can
We would give
Many things
Just to be
'We' again

a sound like rage
like metal rain
the sound of the dragon
breaking her chains

beneath her wings
the sky in flames
fire in her eyes
as she flies away

there was a time
I was connected
to myself
and to it all

my heart feels like a piece of wood
just waiting for the axe to fall

I know it will be split in two
I don't want the suspense to end

but deeper down I look within
and want to be the tree again

Music they share
Singing they roam
Deep under the air
The sea is their home

Secrets they keep
Unknown in our lands
A song in the deep
The sea understands

We hide what we don't understand
And bury it deep down below
In darkness under land it slumbers
Hidden numbers
Where the Sun won't go
Nurtured by our hiding hand

And there it learns to live in darkness
Deep below it learns to grow
The buried shapes deep down beneath
So many rows of dragons' teeth
Lo and behold, we did not know
The darkness only makes it whole

As time goes by a form takes shape
Some hidden shadow faint remembered
Learns to move before it wakes
And as it dreams the whole Earth quakes
Rivers rush and mountains tremble

And one bright day it all breaks free
Once more to greet the fiery Sun
And all the shadows rise as one
To take wing, take flight, to take form
A form which we have always known
And never understood

I am
the Moon
you sing to me
I am the Sun
you look away in fear
I am the Earth
I feel your footprints in my soul
I am the sky
I see you search for all your gods in me
I am the sea
in dreams you follow music to my hidden shore

I am not afraid to love
I am afraid to be loved

Why should this be something
That I am afraid of?

So I can never break your heart
And never show my soul

So you can never say
You do not love me
Anymore

I am a nomad
my mind is my home
I take it with me
wherever I go

woven together
with poems and songs
deep in the wherever
a place I belong

what force or what pressure
could ever
compress you

enough to force you
to transform

deep down in your core
may be one filthy diamond

waiting in the grime
and the coal

Harmony
Between synchronicity
And tranquility

We've become
Strong enough to turn the world
Inside out

something blooms
inside of me

slowly
petal by petal

inside the cage
I built around me

soft against
cold metal

so open
and vulnerable

so gentle
that I tremble

more tender
than the spring

more powerful
than words
or symbols

A long time ago
I climbed up a hill
In some dark forest
And shouted
I am not afraid anymore!
But I was afraid
That someone would hear me
I know myself
Much more today
I can admit
That I am afraid

my love for you
has grown
deep into my soul

that's the truth

I want to climb it
high into the sky

and at the same time
I want to tear it out
by the root

I'm tired of playing the fool
waiting for you
wasting my youth
chasing you
lost in space
like a wild goose chasing the Moon

I'm tired of wasting my time
hating you
when I'm the one who keeps choosing to lose
choosing to water a vine with no fruit

but my soul has grown too
it has grown around you

and you are oh so close to the core
evermore
too deep for me to move

I think there is something missing
in my head
the way I think
and it makes it hard to obey
even those who wield much power

I think I'm still much the same way
although I have learned to cope
I find ways into submission
lead myself through
proper channels

as a small child I thought this was
why no one could ever love me
and instead of learn to obey
I learned to lose hope

now that I am older
and I have seen the true face of power
I have learned
obedience
is the world's cruelest joke

What would you say
To the world
If you could?

Would you say
I love you?
Would you say
Be good?

Would you tell your secrets?
Would you tell a joke?
Would you be afraid to speak
Lest you misspoke?

What would you say
If you knew you’d be heard?
How would you choose between
So many words,
So many different
Forms of expression?

As for me
I would ask the world a question

you didn't break my heart
you made me hope

hope like a knife
that opened up my soul

hope warmed me like a fire
and made me feel again

I feel the cold

I feel the weight of being so alone

hope drove me though
I was afraid to start

hope shared with you my fears
my dreams
my art

hope brighter than the Sun
that burned my eyes
till there were no more stars

and now
alone
I truly know the dark

I step out of the shadow
into the light
of a thousand suns

I had forgotten
how beautiful they are
in the dark

A spider
Sailing through the sunny sky
Riding the weather

Floating down
Gently falling to the ground
Terrible feather

How many different ways can I say
Who am I
How many different ways can I say
I don't know
How many different ways can I say
I'm afraid
How many different ways can I say
I still love being alive

As many as there are stars in the sky

Monsters steal children
And lock them in cages

Are we them?