I have no arms
I hold a blade
I burned the farm,
Unleashed the swarm
They called me Rover Wade.

I thought that you
Could understand
But way too few
Attempts at blue
Have lent a helping hand.

I want to know
To see a flare,
To shoot the crow.
I want to know:
Capacity to care.

If you were me
And I were you,
Then you could see
All that may be
And I could see it, too.

But as for now
I merely wait;
I watch this town
Turn golden-brown
At a saddening rate.

With silent pain
I’ve heard a scream
I meant no harm
Or imply to deign:
There is no “I” in “team.”

That night I did cry,
That night in July,
As I read the note which told me of the demise
Of the man made of glass
Who lived atop the mountains, so high.

His prismous chest lay in pieces
Upon the rocks
Which never knew his name.
And the light he reflected for so many years
Never again would know their singular form,
And they scattered their rainbows
On the blanket of water below.

For the summer, before,
All he had known
Was the new cougar in the jungle below
Who sat and watched
And swirled its long tail
Through the glass man’s light.

The golden cougar lay still
With its tail so long
And lifted its paw
And purred when it saw
The man atop the tall hill.

And the man did grin
But knew not of the sin
Which awaited the summer sun.

The next day he awoke
With the sun in his chest
To find a golden cougar
Licking his smooth, glass toes.
It purred and it purred
And its tail was so long.
And the man’s mouth formed a crescent.

The cougar swirled its long tail
And nipped at his toes
And clawed at his shins
And scratched at his knees;
But the man made of glass
He let it all pass
Although his feet grew frail.

“Could this be real?”
Did this cat feel
The skin of the man
Made of glass?

“I feel like a man!”
And each day he ran
To see his idol feline.

And this went on for weeks
And the day of which my note speaks
Came with a whip of the cougar’s long tail.

“I’m bored,” purred the cat
“And just for some fun
We can go up and run
To blot out the sun.”

The man didn’t fret
Thought his feet felt so wet
And he nodded at the cat
For peace for him
Came in the form of a rat.

They ran up the mountainside
And looked down at the tide
Which beckoned to them below.
But the man need not worry,
Said the cougar,
“It’s all just for show.”
And she playfully nipped at his ankle.

At this the man heard a noise
And began losing his poise
And felt the wind on his face.
He saw patterns on the approaching rocks
Brought from his chest;
And his shattered ankle to the left of his head.

On the cliff top, above
The man could make out a golden figure
Swirling its long tail.
And it was this action
Of fatal attraction
Which noted the fast growing refraction
Appearing on the beach below.

And with a frail hand,
He wrote in the sand
“We are not the players
On the stage of the world.
We are the riotous crowd
With tickets in hand,
And we can be shattered with but
One,
Single
Word.

There once was a man
A man “with a plan.”
For our purposes
We’ll call him “Dan.”

Dan had a friend
A friend “’til the end”
But a hand was one thing
This friend couldn’t lend.

Dan cried for a lift
As he hung from the cliff
And he hated himself
Every minute of it.

And they sat in silence
Obvious Passive Violence
But no matter how he tried,
His mouth remained flat.

Dan needed some help
Like pants with no belt
But his friend “’til the end”
Had no message to send.

And Dan cursed at his past
For things move too fast
In a world where you can’t
Leave the thoughts you had last.

And Dan cursed the world
The world he unfurled
Through the months long before
And his body felt torn.

And as Dan wept
Alone he was left
And his friend “’til the end”
Didn’t give the smallest little ****.

So Dan cursed his friends
As his knuckles turned red
And the dirt in his fingers began slipping free.

And he cried out for help
Like pants with no belt
But a hand was one thing
That this friend couldn’t lend.

It’s a matter of pride
Of choosing a side
But Dan didn’t want
To go for this ride.

And the sun burnt down hot
And the moon burnt up cold
And his heart, it did rot
And his mind did unfold.

He cursed everything
From the sun to the moon
And a poison in him
Did bloom in the gloom.

He said “I don’t care,”
But an occasion so rare
Made this man stare
At his friend’s hollow glare.

As Dan’s knuckles turned bare
His friend, he did stare
And his friend said
“Dan, this isn’t fair.”

Dan knew he was right,
But straight out of fright
Looked down to the beach:
The glass man was in sight.

“You treat me so wrong,”
Said this man’s friend
“Please just tell me…
When will it end?”

Dan tried to speak out
Without having to pout
For he knew exactly
What he was talking about.

“Please, my dear friend,”
Cried the man on the cliff.
“If you could just lend a hand
We could end this small tiff.”

“But a cliff top, so high
As the one you stand by
Is something I cannot do alone.
So, please, my dear friend…
Be willing to try.”

And these mortal two
These mortal few
Who stared below
At the water so blue
Stared at each other
Thinking anew.
And as for their fates,
I’ll leave that to you.

The girl is gone; from what, I do not know.
She sold the sweets and then her job was done.
It seems there was a constant undertow,
And now she may rest in the soothing sun.

With tangled hair and feet as large as tanks,
The scout had yelled at everyone with glee
And not a single word escaped but “Thanks.”
It now seems strange without her company.

The bear lay on the floor with ears alert,
A serenade of “Blowin’ in the Wind”
With hopes that it would sooth the searing hurt.
It didn’t work, but still, to see that grin.

The beans must now take on her lazy throne,
“Without this girl, we never would have grown.”

I want to live and I want to love.
I want to see and soar high above.
I want the world to look in my eyes and then look at themselves to see their own lies.
I want to leave my mark on the world and see banners displaying my name be unfurled.
I want you and I want me.
I want to know and I want to see.
I want to experience and I want to learn,
And after it all I want to see it all burn.