brave boy
brave as a king
stand there and show them
the man you will become
sunlight is your great kingdom
forest glade your throne
brave boy
wrestle your freedom from invisible army
fight to win the hand of some princess
long into summer you play hour upon hour
with friends around you to conquer kingdoms
play young man
proud young man
brave brave boy

come softly down
move gently through
do not go lightly

oh passion, shimmering spirit of hope
your voice resounds

strengthen, uplift
inspire and deliver
do not stop short

oh passion, coiled conception of desire
your heart resounds

fill slowly up
remain deep and true
do burn brightly, do

oh passion, elusive love-light
your fire is water

©Jason Cole

I can be so brutal
or so you say you can tell
but stop and look again
this could be a match made in heaven
for two angels straight from hell

We could sit here
and stare the clock down
stare it right off the wall
or dust off the top hat and spats
and strike out on a crawl

Now I know what it is to be drunk
and I know what it's like to be sober
I know what it is to be young
and quickly growing older

The safest bet by a long shot
is to keep time hung up on the wall
make believe we can predict
just what way it's going to go

Shake  those dice
and give them a blow
by the time they hit the velvet
you know how it's going to go

We can do it up just like a drug
you don't have to convince me I'm already sold
it's back to throwing out a life line
drawing some heat out of this late winter's cold

Wind,
you shake me.

Wind,
will you take me?

I don't look at you the way I used to,
Just see the sleeplessness in your face,
I don't follow you the way I used to,
You were never worth the chase.

You wore out the strings keeping us together with a million little lies,
After years of nearly severing them,
Now I've cut all the ties.

I can't keep reading the apologies, like a suicide note, every time.
Leave you hanging by a thread,
But in the end, I always die.

I don't know how I ever let someone  like you find their way under my skin,
Finally got you out,
Now I'll never let anyone in.

Her hair smelled of cigarettes and loneliness even while smothered in my affection,
And her eyes glazed over when she spoke to me for too long,
Like she was trying to pretend for me,
But I could always sense the progressive disconnect.
Her mouth smiled with sad eyes when I held her hand through town,
And I knew in my soul that our love was already dead,
But I still let her wander around my life like a ghost for months
Unable to bear the pain of reality.

Everything reminded me of her.
When I went to get coffee on Sunday mornings,
I thought of the time she kissed me for the first time,
The snow falling from the heavens,
The February wind breathing her hair over her face.
I thought of her when I skimmed over the newspaper,
The family circus comics I remembered she said she loved as a child,
Back when we were cocooned under the vast ocean of linens in my bed,
When she still loved me enough to laugh with me,
And her feet lay warm, entwined with mine,
Not so ******* cold.

I even thought of her when I was alone,
How much her eyes reminded me of melted milk chocolates,
All the weird facts she had memorized,
The way she always pecked me three times before going in for the ****,
The way we were so in love.

I am still in love.
We are not.
But we
were.