Give me mount everest death.


Give me cold glory.


Snow kissing faces,

One man among many.

Nearing the start

Of their final few breaths.


Miles and miles of whiteout

Remind you of the lights

Your mother left out

Too late into spring.

This comfort you will spend

Your final moments seeking.


Give me mount everest death.


Give me cold glory.


You knew there'd come a day

When you wouldn't meet the morning.


Maybe you didn't make it to the top.

Maybe you didn't kiss God's face.

Maybe your mother will never know

Your final resting place.


Give me mount everest death.


Give me cold glory.


Tell me the end

Of your entire life story.

Ice cold breath

Nearly dead in the snow.

Ten years ago

She would have made you come in

At the very first sign

Of blue tinted lips.

Now you're watching snow fall.

White on black fingertips.


Give me mount everest death.


Give me cold glory.


Somewhere out there

Your Mother's still mourning.

Wishing she could call you in.

Ruining your fun

One last time.

To see your blue lips

And make you hot chocolate

To warm your cold fingertips.

An old church at the end of the road
Sunflowers spill over the altar
For children grown old.

Alone in the pews
I watch light suffused
Through stained glass windows.

When I was young
And it was my turn
They gave us roses
Told us they still have thorns
Because life would hurt us
When we found it.

Most of us did.

Including me.

Most of us left those four walls.

Most of us moved far away.

Most of us never returned.

Except for me.

The dusty hymnals smell like youth.
The empty sanctuary looks like home.
And I can still see myself by the piano
The sound of my violin
Was bigger than the world.

When it's all over

I step outside and feel the cold.

I was so young.

And now I'm afraid.

I'm getting so old.

I don't know anyone
Filing out the door.
Nobody knows me.

I walk to the B&B.
I ask for a room.
I used to play there so often
They always let me stay for free.


The clerk says it's switched hands
A dozen times or more.
They say the chandelier
Hasn't heard a song in years.

I unpack my suitcase upstairs
And can't help but shed a few tears

For a town
That truly
Forgot
Me.

Death is a friend who caught my eye
Ten years and three months ago
Up in the attic
Hiding all alone.
When the monsters come and find me
They'll take me back home.

& Death is a friend
Kept closer than any.
He doesn't get angry
His eyes never leak
As he watches me paint lies
Over blue bruising cheeks.

Death is a friend
I'm falling in love with
As months crawl by
I'm gaining the courage
For that first final kiss.

I almost was brave
Ten months & three weeks ago
Driving alone down an old country road
Death in my passengers seat
My skin growing cold.

& Death is a friend
I'm more than halfway in love with
He was all I could see in your face
As you painted in bruises & blood
To put me in my place.

& I cried to the old brick road
I told all of my secrets
I told of all my pain.

Death is a friend
I fell madly in love with
Ten days and three hours ago
Hiding in that alley alone
Begging for death to take the rest of me.

Or some profound piece of me.

But Death is a friend
As cruel as he is kind
In moments of need
He is nearly impossible to find.

Ten hours & three minutes ago
I chose to make death mine.

After ten glasses of wine
These three bottles of pills have finally fogged my mind.

Here I lie
In the attic alone.
I've only got one cigarette left to go
Till the monsters will never find me again.

The streets have grown cold
I can't get lost in this city anymore.
The nighttime silence shakes me to the core
And memories are making me feel old.

I miss the solitude of lonely
I miss the dangers of new.
I came to this city with dreams of you.
I'm going wishing you never knew me.

I don't know if I'm right
To pack up and go
And leave you in your messes alone
But sometimes you have to give up on your dreams.

Just for the night.

Life has made me lawless
Life made me a conman
I can't remember when I last felt stillness
Been stuck begging for change with a can
People walk by seeming flawless
But never look twice at their fellow man

Life has made me lawless
Life made me a conman
Pride and feeling tallness
Are two things I'll never understand
Most days the world seems ruthless
I suppose that's just my hand

Life has made me lawless
Life made me a conman
I hope death may take me from this madness
And make me a free man

It's nearing the time when everyone died.
In October one tried
By November two more, inspired, jumped.
Both land, only one gets up.

I wonder if I'll ever show him your grave.
Did you watch us when we walked right by you?
I wonder why you were one of the few I didn't save.

It's nearing the time when everyone died
& the way you left has kept you so alive in my mind.
I've held so many dying hands
I'm sorry I wasn't there
To keep yours warm.
Maybe if I'd said things right
You'd be sitting here with me tonight.
Maybe if I wasn't too tired to stay the night
Everything would be alright.

It's nearing the time when everyone died.
I've stopped using clocks to track the time.
Remember the night we talked for hours?
Remember telling me your favorite flowers?
I thought that meant you were getting better.
That maybe you could be saved.
At least I knew what to lay on your grave.

It's nearing the time when everyone died
& for every one gone two more tried.
Lately I'm running out of people to lose.
Of everyone I know I really only like one or two.

It's nearly the time when everyone died
& once I'm out of people to call mine
How am I supposed to tell the time?

Though I worry myself to pain,
And the wind unrelenting blows.

There is solace in the sight of an oncoming train.
Sometimes I wonder if the conductor knows.


Every evening at half past five
I board with no real destination.
His gentle voice asking for my ticket keeps me alive.

Though my daily absences keep raising questions.
This band around my finger has grown too tight.

He, acting less as a husband, more as a victor. Nailing my shoes to the floor so I can't leave at night.

Still my mind always drifts back to my train conductor.