Oh, I'd like to throw you in the sky
                      and run you like a kite
Smiling as I'm watching you fly above me
Taking you to endless,
                         breathless,
                         /boundless/ heights

But, oh, my feet would tire soon
And the breeze would drop
                and so would you
And you'd crash down at my feet
And you'd know now that I'm incomplete

                                                     ­       high
But I'd hope you'd remember the
While you're down here dealing with the
                                                                ­          low

I'd hope you had the courage to fly once more
. . . with someone else pulling the string from down below

Head hung low,
Back hunched,
Arched inward.
Dragging.
Life, body, dreams -
All dragging.
Once, neck straight.
Once, shoulders back.
Once.
Once naive.
One.
One shot to shoulder,
One to knee,
One to chest.
Rest.
Rest.
Rest.
An empty eternity.

My insides crash
And my lungs explode
And my eyes squeeze shut
And everything is urgent.
Muscles tense like that last argument -
You yelled, I cried.
Isolate. Isolate.
Go away.
Numb, yet bursting with pain;
Shot down & wounded.
Truly an attack.

Babe, we're living in times of history.
It's happening right before our eyes,
But all I do is lie in misery
And wish for warmer skies.

I'm sitting here watching time pass me by.
You're running with it.
I'm trapped in a bed of sorrows and lies,
But I made it myself.

---

Time slowed on the way to Kentucky.
The golden leaves of the southern trees --
I saw it all,
Every last imprint of mother nature's kiss.

It was in that land that father and mother coexisted for a period
Without time,
Without noise,
Without fear,

But that was the land of yesteryear.

Here time sped up, but me,
Well, I'm still stuck
Living in slow motion, and you
Couldn't wait for me.

It's only fair,
For I accelerated far too far for a fair young girl,
Wind in my pigtails
And hope in my heart.

The thing about using hope for fuel
Is that it's a limited resource that drains
                                                                    too
                                                                        soon.

I slowed down and for a time
Found you running by my side,
But my hope ran empty
And your heart ran cold,
And you left me coughing in your path,
Following footsteps that grew older by the second.

I lost you when I lost myself.

For now, I'm still where you left me.
I only got so far as I did
Because you replenished my hope for a short-lived spell,
But I'm too slow for your bustling heart --
I couldn't keep up with your footsteps.

The path is gone.
I vanished with it.

Can't you ******* fear, my darling dear?
Isn't that the reason you're even here?
In your eyes, I disappear.
I'm sorry, who am I again?

Your skin is sheet white,
And your mind carries scars.
Your hair isn't clean much,
Lungs black with tar.
You love to argue,
About how ****** up we are.
But I still love you.