What does your heart cost?
Can it be bought?
Not with money
That's a silly thought
A million kisses,
Maybe two
Gentle carresses
And "I Love You's"
Late night laughter,
Secrets whispered and kept
Promises of smiles
No tears to be wept
"How was your day?"
Asked with care
The complete reasurance
That I'll always be there
What does your heart cost?
I'll pay any price
Just to hold your heart
And see love in your eyes

Part 1: 'Upon Arisal'

Upon arrival my thoughts painted a patina
Full of dark hues of crimson and ink
Creating a stark contrast between the living colors of a healthy mountain sky

Months of worry and loss perpetuated a sense of loneliness
Like a disease slowly unraveling the progress and success
Obtained after years of falling

You taught me how to stand...
How to love...
And how to forget...

Upon my first step into this wilderness,
Our home,
A rush of lost emotion was found
And above me the sky roiled,
Screaming in protest,
As my thoughts of you merged with the quiet serenity of the neighboring peaks
To form a rolling tempest
Of our past and my present

The pain then crashed upon my soul
Sending myriad flashes of opposing memories
Incompatible with the reality of your absence

Through this colorful migraine
I found the courage to take another step,
One foot in front of the other,
Each alleviating your glare that had consumed my senses

With the last ray of light upon the horizon
I, like the sun, set down your image
So that upon my arisal
Fresh eyes can begin to see the sky
For its own inherent beauty
That for so long I had attributed to you

Part 2: 'Sunrise Orchestra'

I awoke to a song
A melody foreign to the ears
Of a life surrounded by concrete
Walls that strangulate the creative nature
Against mother natures nurture

With every note, a new realization dawned
Like the sun rising above jutted cliffs
Each varying in magnitude
To the degree that even the birds
Didnt know their tune

When alas,
The chorus reached a mountain creshendo
Filling the forest with such harmony
That I knew with every single beat
These woods are a part of me

Part 3: 'A Fires Radiance'

A fire has never burned so beautifully
Its radiance so mesmerizing that,
Like a thief in the night,
It had captured and stolen
More than just my attention
But also the affection of my heart
As it brushed its golden hot flames
Into forked tridents,
Each invoking the image of poise and grace
As it danced around
Joyfully engulfing every ounce
Of positive energy to be found
With every twig and log added
The blaze raged brighter
Burning at such a pace
Not even a whole tree could withstand
Its reach
Yet no ember wishes to be confined
As the wind gusts in,
A shower of sparks fly at their embrace
Spreading the message in wonderful ashes
Across this mountain
And to the amazing woman
Who ignited my inferno

Part 4: 'We Push'

Forward we Push
Into the never ending
Winding paths that detour
The heart
From the course of the ordinary
To achieve the extraordinary
We Push
To be more than the others
And better than the most
Panting and huffing we release
Our constraints,
These chains that shackle and bind
Our minds to the normalcy
That plagues the weak
So we Push
To be
More

Part 5: 'Home, In the Clouds'

Looking back has never been so painful
To leave the place where you find peace
Is no easy task
For me that place is in the clouds
Atop deeply forested arches
That link our Terra to the heavens above
Allowing every brave Explorer
To reach for God itself,
And for just a few fleeting moments
Understand what it means to be holy,
And pure
Like the crystal clear streams that carve
The mountainside
Creating bizarre gneiss's
That resemble an ocean wave
Turned to stone,
As old as Terra herself,
Slowly crashing down the cliffside
Moving the world
With every breath
Of my mountain home

===================================
.......................­.................................................

Always remember, life is nothing more than putting one foot in front of the other. Never give up.

-L.R. Thompson Poetry

I have yet to know a self I can call my own,
wandering through these bodies
the way one would try on clothes
but far deeper
than this analogy could ever dig,
I live with these identities.

I fall for them
the way lovers do in autumn,
keen that the coming winter
will leave me yearning
for the comfort of another,
but no sooner do the bells of spring
begin to ring in summer air
does the necessity of this comfort fade.
The temptation of sweeter fruit
hangs above me in the orchard shade
and an affluenza of potential
almost coerces me to stay.

Though no self have ever felt my own
I know within my heart, within my blood
and in my bones, more than anything
I am compelled to grow
towards entropy and complexity,
ascending, never settling at any plateau
a silverback drumming his barrel chest
and roaring into the void of the valley below
“What is next for me!”

and the answer is silence
(I should have known)

Her heart was full of bookmarks
From those who had once loved her pages,
But not enough to finish what they had started.

I take your hand and guide you through the fire
I walk with you
Aware as I can be that I'll only get burned
That my skin as ash and my bones as coal
Will no longer be beautiful
I take your hand
And watch as madmen fall in love with you
And you feel their love
Knowing they only bring abyss
For you to fall in and die as horribly as any sinner did
I watch
The eyes of a savior knowing
Angels can't exist without some demon to fight against
Some feeling from before
When man was animal
And instincts are primal
They know your skin but not your heart
Your voice but not your song
Your eyes
My endless skies
To fly through
Or endless oceans
To drown in
Not knowing how to swim
I take your hand
Knowing I can hold it better
Reading lines across your palms
Love as shining alms
Love
I take your hand
And fall when you're falling
And rise when your rising
Walking through gardens
As evil surrounds your halo

Here I go,
Trying to write about you again,
And my heart starts hurting,
Tears collect in the corners of my eyes,
And yet,
Nothing
Nothing
Nothing,
From unending pages in my heart,
Nothing
Nothing
Nothing,
From my flaming soul,
Nothing
Nothing
Nothing,
Reaches the pages,
Forms words,
Gets written.

Everything I try to tell you,
Gets lost in translation,
Because it's only able to be experienced,
The language of love.

Cut me
open
while I sleep

Take my heart
if you're in
need

Take it
while it's still
beating

It's only slightly
bruised
and partially
callused

It no longer dreams
but it's
at peace

It won't
be the end of me
If it's the beginning
of you

You age like wine
but you are mine
Young and old

I age like milk
but I am fine
A clever fool

You age like wine
blessed and saved
loved and wanted

I age like milk
brave and alive
strong and sure

You age like wine
sweet and immature
naive and suave  

I age like milk
pretty and patient
loaded and free