If I could stoke every single flame in the
     fiery blaze that is your heart
          To ashes are the
               kindling that I so willingly volunteer

If I could be the strength
     round the girth of your trunk
          Formidable am I made to last
               year after year

If I could exist in the
     tales of your breaths
          Perpetual am I etched in the
               eternity of your forever

have I become
the the person life
could not compare
to anyone

or am I in
my solitude
the lonely ghost
of everything

I will not blame
the maps I see
for I have drawn
them all the same

there is no sense
to what I've done
and where I go
is but pretense

for what is truth
when facts exist
a bold design
that leads to you

I want to walk
the other way
but both my feet
have turned to chalk

and what I write
is right and wrong
the whitest black
the blackest white

cannot discern
which way is up
I'm out of here
a lesson learned

descending more
than I can take
to sleep it off
or stay awake

if you look into a person
and ask to see their soul
they may not grant you access
but if they do, you'll know

the act of being earnest
will frame the way you ask
and if you are intrusive
you'll never stand a chance

my mother often told me
don't plan the words to say
but give them to The Maker
and trust them all away

you were not born to live there
in other peoples' minds
so wake with only purpose
to see with eyes of time  

let's gather up the curses
and scatter them to death
replace them with the beauty
in every single breath

in faith I find the meekness
to bring these words to life
let anyone who hears them
sleep soundly through the night