Constantly tripping, stumbling
The circus search for imperfect heels
I’ve offered so little effort to protect
My love for the empirically ideal
Concerted my focus on what never to expect

I’ve been wearing a chip upon my shoulder
With an Achillean charm
Been chopping at my shin to guard my pride
When I should have thought myself an Oddarm
And thereby learned to fly

And of all the endless grained aspects
Strewn on the gray beaches of time
I could not have wasted my ignorance
On one more voraciously sublime
To squander the virtues of such chance

And the glancing blows of life
Shape in me such strange affect.

Our scene began one softly chilling day
There were lies in your head, but that’s ok
‘Cause girl, we’re all actors of comedy
Played the understudy a time or two
But real-life heroes are too far and few
Honest men only lead in tragedies
We can smile and dance and play games all night
We’d lose our parts if we saw wrong from right
We’d all lose our minds to reality

I’ll always be the beat you should have skipped
But, dear, you’ll never stray far from the script
And so my ****** caring eyes betray me
Just too in love with truth to learn the role
And too in love with you to claim control
I’m living between fraud and honesty
And no, you never asked my forgiveness
But hey, we’re all young and we’ll outlive this
Time ever frees you of morality

Yes, time will free us all of ev’rything
The stage will fade beyond all reckoning
Neither applause nor encore will there be

In speech it seems forever right is wrong
The grammar love must use enumerates
What sadly grows but smaller while so strong
And failure reigns that none articulate

For words that do oft fuel hot debate
Are ever left from matters of the heart
And if the heart does mirror soul and fate
No passion has the lexicon of art

But look on past the void and back to start
To endless want for passion to express
And find my sullen weary face apart
For I instead the earnest do impress

If there are countless words but in my mind
Would long, for you, that speech romance refines

Little boy Cain finds daddy’s old straightedge
Cracked leather band, wipes the blade on his thigh
Little boy stalks ‘round, slingshot in the sedge
Soft stinging cheeks, striped where bloodlines dry

Little boy breaks ice, cold winter this year
Big brother chops ash with numb hands out back
Little cat hunts mice while the dogs chase deer
One last hammer lash, then leave duties slack

Little boys grow up too soon, mother knows
Brother lain face down by the cutting wedge
Little white-furred pup, matted crimson nose
On the icy ground left in need of sledge

Little too late now for the morning chores
Cries upon his knee, curled by reddened bed
Little boy, head bowed, listens from the floor
Brother, bury me where the raven treads

Brother, forgive me, curse the wanton gods
Now, I walk alone through this land of Nod

Every time I’m lost, I will come back to you
I will sit here with a pen and we will meet
And I will cry to you, beyond the words
I will ask you questions without answers

You will never know it,
But you will lead me back

Because sometimes, when I drive down any highway
I yearn to stop at any small town
And believe that I could live a life of wandering
Every small town has a story
But the words will bring me home to you

And sometimes, when I find any lovely shaded garden
I’m enticed into hidden corners
And believe that I could live a life of wondering
Every corner has its secrets
But to learn them is to be with you

I have spent a thousand sleepless nights
Dreaming of you

I am a writer, and as I toss and roll
I dream of your smile, your tears
Your beating heart

Just maybe as you read
You dream of my sleepless mind
On a highway winding
In a hidden corner
You’ll find me

there is nothing left to say
everyone is speaking
gets louder everyday
a din of cell phones blaring
ads harassing to the soul
where went our truthful daring
all is stripped to twice produce
what’s then ten times over-tolled
clichés were born of meaning
but, oh, what great vigilance
note how keen the public eye
one thought of valor seeming
and the marrow is ****** dry

the straw children run and play
their ring around the rosies
but burn the field of posies
for television tells us
today, roses are more chic
and love has lost its justice
romance is just hide and seek
affairs come in litany
for want holds no salience
in lands of great industry
good girls know no prominence
past the throned celebrity

and god is a silent place
where everything is said
like symphonies of poets
softly writing in their heads

Love, tell me where the old souls find their rest
Or, better still, that you and I are young
Just scream to me and tell me where you are
Tell me someone out there cares for me, else
Tell me no one will and dispatch the lies

And please, show me how to be whom I want
My thoughts are like those papers in the trash
Nowadays, I discard more than I keep
Should have learned to edit before to think
Editor, come save good thoughts from the waste

Love, tell me in a whisper of the world
Editor, come save my life from the waste