The old schoolhouse.
On the hill next to the creek
Sat the old school house.
Not used today because of the old bell.
The school was built with a large old bell you can really tell.
But every day it rings so loud that it can be heard for miles around.
In the school, there are no books,tables or desk to set.
A big crack in the old floor where he fell to his death.
The old school house is just there to stay.

Floral limbs paint pictures in these woods,
Overlooking the garden where evening now hangs it's hood.
Dwelling among the stones where we used to sit,
Longing and loving, I shall not forget!
And I'll always remember where your impure heart may lie.
Where the loveliest did bloom, and where the blooms did die!

We took this path once when it was green and blue.
We counted the flowers and beheld this picturesque view.
We also walked around my favorite tree, so tall and so old.
It still flourishes over the weeds, truth be told!
And I'll still remember where your impure heart my lie.
Where the loveliest did bloom, and where the blooms did die!

The ivy hangs itself around these gates so artful.
A dove slipped a vine around it's neck ever so mournful.
And I wish I could have stopped it and made it wait for the sun
To shimmer about this garden tomb to make these curses come undone.
But I'll always remember where your impure heart may lie.
Where the loveliest did bloom, and where the blooms did die!

Frightened,  timid, and cautious I may appear
But a coward is something I will never be
Unsure, hesitant, and thoughtful I may seem
But weak is something I will never be
Confident, proud, and unashamed I admit
But arrogant is something I will never be
Lies, cheats, and thefts I have done
But a sinner is something I will never be
Weakened, humiliated and kicked I have been
But disgraced is something I will never be
Unwilling, unjust, and mistaken I will say
But dishonorable is something I will never be
Cowardly, Weak, Arrogant, Sinful, Disgraced and Dishonored these are the things I will never be.
And These are the things you have always been
These are the things I will never be
She said, as she died slowly
These are the things I will never be

I am of water still thinking I'm in it

there's no ripple it's internal

body temperature thick and dark like black marker or pen ink

writing yourself poisons you

but I feel fine

maybe I read it wrong or heard it for too long

this love song in the chambers of me

You're the answer I hear
when learning misbehaves
friendship running off around hedges
with rounded edges
calling me to figure out the facts
behind neatly pruned leaves
learning what is covered
when they cease
to scatter and dodge

I follow the delectable hints
to where the giggles grow
louder now I'm led toward
your near indecent scent
the flowers in the borders
wriggle with unbound glee
whilst love hides with held breath
in hidden indents

you dare to press up close
against an idle post
where radiance warms
to a chance find in prospect
expectant that your dalliance
will escape my notice
but I see it blooming in pupils
where love's not faked

I find you on a hunch
in the midst of hesitations
when I tease the bush
apart like two explaining pages
opening answering lips
brimming with wild questions
each kiss a knowing release
to lush and flowing fields

that day that friendship faced
the truth of love's sweet tutelage

this is the land where everything is coated in dust
here, lips go dry waiting for something to taste
travel north, wander to meet the aurora
and if you go
won't you return to tell me
what it was like to have so much water
it spilled over every rooftop
and made atlantis out of suburbia

I have often dreamt in liquid color
lurid with motion, I’ve woken up dizzy

******* the tear 
in lullaby time

tempted to test it’s fragility

wiping the sleep from my eyes

to find them sealed shut

I’d extend one arm, brushing the greyscale
unable to escape what I couldn’t see

“this is blindness”, I thought

as the world shrunk to a sliver of sense

all crunch-sounds and sandpaper jaws



I fashioned myself armor made of the transparent melodies

chanted by nameless birds, unidentifiably perched 

on the other side of my window

it didn’t fit right

I had misinterpreted my body

the fabric clung too tightly to my skin and then jutted out

like a Christmas parade

I can’t remember if it was only a story, but north of here

they fastened wheels to their feet, to roll over pavement
what would it be like, to glide over miles

or grow gills, and escape this
stale air
I could live a dream, in the north
I could make a hero
of the river