I pray thee leave, love me no more,
Call home the heart you gave me.
I but in vain that saint adore
That can, but will not, save me:
These poor half-kisses **** me quite;
Was ever man thus served?
Amidst an ocean of delight
For pleasure to be starved.

Show me no more those snowy *******
With azure riverets branched,
Where whilst mine eye with plenty feasts,
Yet is my thirst not stanched.
O Tantalus, thy pains ne'er tell,
By me thou art prevented:
'Tis nothing to be plagued in hell,
But thus in heaven tormented.

Clip me no more in those dear arms,
Nor thy life's comfort call me;
O, these are but too powerful charms,
And do but more enthral me.
But see how patient I am grown,
In all this coil about thee;
Come, nice thing, let my heart alone,
I cannot live without thee!

She took a moment to pause and ponder
one lonesome, dreary night
the consequences of her untimely death
that would end a hidden plight

One that had interlaced itself in her a while ago
that she had forced to silence and lull
but that enlivens itself at times like these
when she is feeling awfully dull

And so the shadow had visited her again that somber night
and in her, it forced her to see
the careful steps to her self-planned death
had she chosen to agree

It asked her, "Do you believe anyone would care?"
and to that she murmured, "Maybe."
In her head appeared images of remorseful Facebook posts
like those sent to a deceased boy in the same class as she

"But the frequency of those posts would decline," it said,
"as the topic of your death no longer became a care.
No one would mourn for your soul anymore,
and no one would shed a tear."

"Your friends will move on with their lives in time,
your family will eventually cope.
Your lover will find another love,
one not filled with forlorn hope."

"So take that thick rope into your hand," it urged,
"or those colorful pills in the bathroom drawer
and if you do it correctly and succeed
perhaps you'll be found dead on the carpet floor."

This shadow, while it still talked like an eager villain
no longer made a sound
She found she could quiet its menacing voice
with faint memories of happiness that she found

Of sunlight after a burst of rainfall
the woodsy scent of a winter breeze
morning grass speckled with dew
long streets in the fall adorned with golden leaves

Of family dinners gathered around the table
witty remarks and laughter shared with friends
quiet moments spent with her dearest, her lover
and his warm clasp around her hands

This shadow looked on in disgust
and bid her a sour farewell
as it shrunk itself in her yet again
and her dismal unease quelled.

My heart is black, chained by malice
They ripped out my tongue at the foot of the palace
I opened up my mouth and drank blood from the challis
Fell from high beams when I lost my balance

The poison in my mouth unfolds as a travesty
I left for dead all my love of her majesty
Ambitions fuelled by primal savagery
Barriers reduced to comical transparency

The court knows not the depths of my vanity
I'm trapped now between arrogance and clarity
Oaths sworn now in desperate disparity
Coalitions made purely for posterity

Perceived as the fool, perceived as the jester
I've raised all in with two suited connectors
Clinging to ideals is a pointless gesture
The void up in my chest is where the demons fester

I had not the strength nor the nerve to defend her
Buying truth and love from the bags of street vendors
Chemical reactions induced astral splendor
The song of dark angels is the song that I rendered

The spark is gone, and now there is a dull blaze
Vision is distorted by the coming of a thick haze
Smog twisting in the trappings of a tall maze
Walls so thick that even phantoms find they can't phase

demons--
angels of
                  darkness
conjuring up
perfect darkness
every minute.

Mangled pieces of paper
fly through this brain tissue,
swirling in a dirt devil.
They fall into place and
then picked up again
to fly inside this dome.
Who is there to collect these
pieces, but the hands
on the outside?
Oneself can only see indoors
but not reach the outside
once trapped in.
These pieces quarrel
to be put together
and to not be burned
in the fire.
Where is the water to douse
these flames
but on the outside?
No flesh
can properly reach in
and douse the flames
and still the storm.
Only the door on the inside
can let Him in.
On both sides He is
seen
and the heart invites
Him in.

I press my body closer,
A moth to the lustful light.
I am a man in your arms,
But what am I alone at night?
As he seeks his lewd desire,
Or as we claim him doing so,
For what am I but his reflection,
A muddy field beneath the snow.