Hit rock bottom.
My lungs burn.
Cold steel jungle.
Never did learn.

Ink on the arm.
Stories do tell.
Life behind bars.
Sure is hell.

Many empty nights.
Lost in my dream.
One last tear.
In silence do I scream.

Haunted at the mist.
Shadows swallow me whole.

Visions of the past.
Shadows beckon my call.

Summons of the evil.
Pierces at the heart.

Casting out the spells.
Pierces every part.

~
          I'm afraid to die
          But don't we all fear our dreams
          The limit's the sky.
          Can you hear my screams?

Night and death, the same
The silence echoes
Who will win this deadly game?
No one really knows

          What drove me to losing my mind,    
          this wasn't in my plans.
          Could I find it in your hands or did
          you drop it along the way?
          I've yet to find my heart so I sculpted
          one from clay.

This heart, has been carved out of stone,
Hollow inside, filled with tears
Terrified of love to my bones
I've forgotten all my other fears.

          It's Love that keeps me up at night.
          Or perhaps it's The absence of
          Your strong arms that held me so
          tight.
          I wore you out, now nothing fits right.

You were the other half to my heart,
Now it's in pieces and battered,
I think there's still some missing parts
You left me alone and completely shattered

          That leaves me as half of who I used
          to be.
          I thought hearts were inseparable.
          And of course that means half of you
          is missing as it is with me.
          And it's beating but it's miserable.

Locked away, never to be loved
Thoughts of you keep me up at night
That you could of done this, astounds me,
Now, no other love will ever feel right

          And I wonder if anything will be so
          tight
          That it could cut off my circulation
          I'm tired of life's fight
          I've already lost my imagination..

My mind has gone blank,
From all this destructive hate
It was a love lost, forever gone
I'd like to just say it was fate

Broken.
A swirling emptiness within.
A burning void.
Chaotic darkness.
The fires of hell burn in my heart.
My broken heart.
I loved you too hard.
And it burned us away.
So now here I am at 3:00am.
Alone.
With red eyes in Vegas.
There were too many things.
And too many people.
And your good nature was too highly rewarded.
Enough to make you flee.
To scare you away.
Run you away.
Burn this bond into dust.
And watch it blow away.
I know that you're gone.
I feel it in my soul.
I miss you.
But you've moved on.
And my heart ignites.
Like the veins of a fiending ******.
Or the City of Gomorrah.
Struck to oblivion by God's Wrath.
Because I know you're gone.
And the fire's warmth has grown to an inferno.
An incendiary maelstrom that consumes my every impulse.
Because now you're gone.
My heart burned you away.
And you vanished once again.
So I'll just be waiting here.
Broken.
Alone.
With red eyes in Vegas.

Why do we feign such rapturous delight,
in pretence to others that all is alright,
what if the soul is quietly suppressed,
cloaked in darkness, hidden and repressed,

Are we ashamed to drape the veil,
to retreat into darkness and embrace the pale,
truth can be found from deep in a frown,
so why wear the clothes and tears of a clown.

© H V Swan

What is it we see and so often despise,
when we view ourselves using only the eyes,
that distorted image inside our head,
the old snakes skin that we’d like to shed,

dare we look from behind the frame,
beyond the self-loathing, repulsion and shame,
our vesture is woven from the beauty inside,
so take on its mantel and wear it with pride.

Smiling politely in the local store,
another happy shopper that most would ignore,
but what torrid secrets lay under her grin
the tainted stigma of that hidden sin,

she wraps up her fears with the things that she’s bought,
packed into bags without a thought,
the knots in her stomach drive her insane,
for she knows that tonight there’ll  be anguish and pain,

She drinks her coffee and stares at the clock,
It’s ticking hands seem to laugh and mock,
her doleful eyes are starting to mist,
as she thinks of the bruises made by his fist,

Violently  thrown onto a bed,
pinned down and stifled as if she was dead,
pretends not to feel the hatred and pain,
as her virtue is stolen again and again,

She’s sick of the broken promises and lies,
prays to a God who never replies ,
Its all tucked away where no one can see,
longing for the day that her soul will be free.