What do I do?
With all these thoughts
They run around in this room
Where I fear their doom
What do I do?
Of the quiet ravages
These savages cut me inside
Where lies a deep divide

Thousand words
Dumber than space itself
The beast lies still
As the beauty dies

Remember when you said
You'd remember me forever
And here I am stuck forever
In this painful void
Where I fear my doom
What do I do?
Of the quiet ravages
These savages cut me inside
Where lies a deep divide

Thousand words
Dumber than space itself
The beast lies still
As the beauty dies

Once upon a time,
There was a beautiful maiden.
Without a doubt,
She glowed with magnificent power.
Power equaling beauty, that is.

This maiden, however,
Had a flaw.
She knew she was lovely.
She needn't be told so.
Yet, as much as her power radiated,
her flaw beamed brighter.

She was an  envious soul.
Jealousy  ruined her.
If she was the most beautiful in the land, why must she be vengeful?
She felt insecure compared to all of the other lovely maidens,
even though it was written in stone that her looks out shone theirs.

But it didn't matter,
All that mattered was that she was beautiful....and no one was to ever know about her little 'Beast'...barely being contained in the maiden's tiny body...ready at anytime to be released, and wreck havoc...

Scars cut their jagged path
like avenues across the soul
telling stories grown to cities
reduced to gaping holes.
I tell my reflection
that she was once beautiful
because of any of us
she needs to hear it most.
I draw life-lines on my palms
an echoing lie, whispering
"Of course, you'll live forever!"
without having to pay a price for youth.
I scribble words of wisdom
that no one will ever read
they're written in a language
that the schools refuse to teach.
Each syllable, each song
unlike reflections of Narcissus
leave a new ****** trail
a **** in the heart
a frail little *****
beating with valiant strides
shouting with each agonized step
I shall not go quietly
I shall not surrender
I shall not quit or fall to self-pity
for I am the *****
that powers this beast
a creature grotesque and lovely
a monster too gentle to be at peace
an oracle, a love-sick fool,
with a soul-carved map
drawn over the surface of the world.

She's dark, yet
moonlight glows
inside her soft-eyes
& despite her
tragic-aura,
I still want
her blackness,
to taste her magic,
to kiss
the devil inside her.

Written by Cocoa & RedWritingHood

Both: For who could ever learn to love a beast?

Beauty: I have and will and would again. They were a wolf in sheep's clothing, learning to love was never the issue. With my heart on my sleeve, I merely lend it to others and like a used tissue they toss it back to me without the slightest pang of guilt in their chest. But that's okay...I've become accustomed to your mood swings because learning to love was never the problem, but breaking the bond - forgetting the unforgettable - imagining impossible depths of hell without you was almost...

Beast: INFURIATING! Love me, you said. Love me and I will not break, you lied. You were a porcelain doll just waiting to smash to the floor. You knew my hands would shake, you must have. You asked me to press them into, you promised you would - not - break. But you did. One swing and you shattered. Two swings, and you came back for more by three my hands were cut and bruised and still, you asked me to love you, as if I, could not break

Beauty: Into a million pieces like the mirror you smashed the night you told me I ruined your life. And I let your words hit me blow after excruciating blow, acting as your punching bag and why? Because the only thing more painful than loving a beast who breaks you down rose petal after rose petal...is learning to let them go

Beast: It felt more like you were reeling me back in. Every time I tore a petal off I knew what I was doing. I wanted to leave you. I wanted to love you the only way I knew how. How do you walk away from the one who pleads they are only more broken when you aren't there to put the pieces back together?

Beauty: So fix me
Beast: Break you
Beauty: Fix me like you always do
Beast: Old puzzles tend to lose their pieces
Beauty: You lost them
Beast: I know
Beauty: You, lost, them. You're losing me.
Beast: I'M SORRY
Beauty: SORRY?
Beast: There's nothing I can do...

Beauty: You did everything, you broke me down and sold me for parts, love a beast? I adored you with every fibre of my being you were my oxygen, I never asked you to breathe just to take me in and you took me for granted, took my innocence, took my sanity and smashed it like it was

Beast: Nothing. I'm so sorry. I'm begging you, stop. There's still beauty that lies within.

Beauty: I guess that's the piece you lost. You're a beast.

Beast: For who could ever learn to love

Beauty: A beast

Blue eyes, bald head, haggard skin...dead...
It was like a race
with a bet for her life if she lost
Her delicate figure encased by a
tortoises shell
but no match for the hare that
infects her blood
speeding through the race
...speeding through her life

But wait...
the hare slowed down,
taking a rest
letting her, the slow tortoise
gradually start to win this race
this fight

Steps from the finish line
steps from overcoming this battle
...whoosh...

She lost
Cancer won the race...and her life

**Dedicated to Carol MacPherson