They came like fire, like brimstone from the sky above
With a fury that painted the landscape black
Soot and ash coiled in the wind
Bodies charred and mummified, pompeii
The wails of the unlucky filled the sooty, choking air
As if it wrapped around your throat squeezing life from your lungs
I looked out over the razed hell before me
The broken glass and crumbled buildings like sand
Ground did shake as screams came from afar
The cry of a shrouded beast
Echoing forever, for it was etched in my memory
Splintered wood dripped with red syrup
A twisted arm sprawled from beneath a toppled house
A rumble sent tremors through the rubble
Through my body it brought me to my knees
Our city burned
And all was lost
For today
The Titans had arrived

Toil and trouble
He went through it all
Just a man yet so much more
He was the seal of prophet hood

Orphan child
Never knew his mother
But brought with him all parents rights
And love for children alike

Illiterate and uneducated
Yet not a word was taken for granted
Read in the name of Your Lord
A duty upon believers to seek knowledge

A noble and trustworthy tradesman
His character and personality spoke for him
Can you imagine in those times
A woman proposed to him

Committed to his mission
Peace treaties and alliances
Evicting racism and hatred
He even fought with rules and principles

He preached for the sake of brother hood
Humanity and love
We were all one
No nationality, no patriotism

Such responsibility
Yet never a burden
Beaten and exiled he lost his wife and kids
Still he carried on for us

Courageous and fearless
Never judged anyone by their past or looks
Open minded and tolerant
Even when he was helpless

Jewish neighbours
And Christian cousin in laws
He believed in good relations
And practised what was preached

He spoke of a time riddled with strife
Temptations with every breath
Those people would be tested the most
And he prayed for people he never met

Yes we love him
Because he guided us to right
Showed us a perfect example
The role model we all aspire to

I feel all wrong
But can't contain it in words
A type of wrong that makes me think
That makes my head hurt
And heart ache
A wrong that makes the rights all smudged
"What's wrong" My mother asks
"I'm Fine" I shoot right back
But yet there is a deepened pit
A stone within my stomach
That urges me to think
Prompts me to listen
Forces me to deliberate
About nothing
Or everything
I feel like there is more out there
Yet I'm cocky and scared to death
I feel this wrong building up
A biding time for the emotional tsunami
BUT.
I.
DON'T.
HAVE.
A.
CLUE.
As to what is eating me a away
And I hate it
All of it
The soul crushing knowledge
Knowing the maze will never end
No hint
No help
This wrong in me begs to know
To know of its own confusing worth
It urges me to look inward
But when I toil I come up empty
People yell and dreams crumble
Swingsets still slowly sway
I feel the wrong inside me
A tumor in my soul
The feeling that you've left something
A feeling a numbing isolation
It starts in your chest and symptoms all show
As it spreads it slowly consumes you
Leaving behind the mangled corpse of a victim
Who never knew he was ill at all
Or simply thought it yet never sought to fix it
Fix the problem that I never knew
The problem that made the most sense

How do you expect me sleep
With you circling every thought.

Like the leaves of autumn,
You're everywhere I walk.

And stepping on these leaves of yours
Produces my favorite sound.

Tonight that sound is too loud to sleep through.

To me its just a dream
A bitter-sweet thing
The way
You gaze
At me-

From head, down to the toes
As this story goes
You will-
Always
See me
------------------------------------
And if you ever wake
And I, by mistake
Have ever
Left
Your side

Find me on the moon
Where the sun always shines
And bring me
Right back
To your side
------------------------------------
And finally
If clouds block your view
Just whisper
Those lovely
Weathered words

And I will find you
As strong as before
Without any clouds
In sight.

I feel like I could kiss you,
And my lips wouldn't feel like ice or mercury or death. Rather...

Warmth.
Not the kind of warmth you feel with a new pair of wool socks.

The kind of warmth you feel when your 6 foot 6 football-playing-friend embraces you like a lovable toothpick after his workout.
Where the sweat drips on your cheeks and forehead, and your legs lift off the ground and you know he truly loves you as a friend.

It's more that kind of love.
But still not quite.



The kind of warmth you feel when everyone is asleep and you're sitting in the darkness alone, dozens of miles from settlement, and you've kept the campfire going. The sun is starting to rise, you can see the blue in the sky. The heavy blanket around your body has protected you from the piercing cold. And you hear that zipper of the tent come undone and you see the white of a smile.

That kind of warmth.

"I don't want to be forgotten."
"I don't want to forget you."

*It's too bad things change.

Spewing forth the lies of man
Dripping with deceit
Sopping up the foolhardy gents
In shadow do we meet
Out the corner of my gaze
He stalks the darkened halls
Watching those who are lead astray
And from the path do fall

With courtship and loving words
Oozing sticky sap
Stench of rotting milk and curds
Of fleshy skin and tight burlap
Two eyes do pierce the thickened fog
His body a black wiry frame
As he offers you the deal
To keep his lantern aflame

And from the trees he'll feed
Sipping souls straight from the shell
Beware the beast who turned his back to heaven
And shunned from the gates of Hell