Even if you cannot shape your life as you want it,
at least try this
as much as you can; do not debase it
in excessive contact with the world,
in the excessive movements and talk.

Do not debase it by taking it,
dragging it often and exposing it
to the daily folly
of relationships and associations,
until it becomes burdensome as an alien life.

You were...
You were the love of my life, but in love with another.
and i galloped into the relationship with my "know better voice" undercover.
suppressed and muffled
i tangled a puzzle
and (deep sound of cigarette inhalation)
I set myself up for PURE pain and struggle.

(don't read the parentheses. Feel them)

T.S.

Maybe it would be better,
if I didn't wake up tomorrow morning

Because then maybe if anything,
I could wake up with you

The ponds are dry
like sunken earth
A cloudy relief
shades the pain
You draw me in
with little worth
other than
a selfish gain

i look at myself in the mirror
and i see a red-haired leopard
with man-eating eyes
that are smudged with left-over eyeliner
from a night-out with the elitists

i see silky, curly red hair
that people so often
get entwined in
thinking that this is the reason
for the things i do

in the mirror my lips are a beautiful snarl
and my freckles,
camouflage for the jungle i creep in  
my nose,
a defining arc

reflected back at me,
a red-haired leopard
in a concrete jungle
doesn't belong here
got put in a zoo
on accident
a red-haired leopard
looking for escape
from inside of me

they'll try to tell you
that mirrors lie
but they
don't

if i could cuddle with the sky (i wouldn't feel as lonely).
and i'd sure feel better if the wind could hold me.
instead it surrounds me, impossible to locate
everywhere but nowhere, making me hollow

if only i could chat with the trees (i wouldn't feel as lonely),
they have a language of their own, i'm too small to know.
i'm given their beauty but not their company
while i sink into myself, they continue to grow