I am you, imprecisely.
Took in your quirks,

Words,
Actions,
So I am you, though you're not me.

I am of your hands, your
Nose, eyes, heart, soul, bones, breath, teeth.

Maybe, your dreams and vision
Are the ambition I can't find in me.
Reaching out,
Breathing in,
Longing for
Experience, not longevity.

Teach me humanity, I begged,
Hold my hand;
And in between the ribs in my chest and the strands of my hair,
Tell me:

Your story, more lies than reason.
Of love and pain and
Utmost regret.

Find me, searching for the father I was supposed to own,
Over and
Under the sea.
New fish, bright fins, every single
Day, too beautiful for you to stay with me.

My father,
Eaten by the tides.

The world must be good at drawing
What scares me most;
The slightest stroke fills me with dread.

If I fall into a single line
of forever, no breadth, and no incline,
When on Earth will I be dead?

Don't force me into your queues,
Leave me out of your parades.
If I give you an inch of my hair, you'll take my entire head.

Hold those thoughts forever and be brave,
Give me peace for a minute: the words I knew back then,
Let me take them to my grave.

When you are not here, darling, to grief I am no more than a slave.
But I had to do this even then:
Hold those thoughts forever and be brave.

Each night I daydream asking you, "What's left of us to save?"
In my mind, I see, we are broken men.
Let me take them to my grave.

Though I shine light into all of me, the shadows in my mind never behave;
Strangers tell me again and again:
Hold those thoughts forever and be brave.

Once mourning has consumed me completely, swept me up in a monstrous wave,
All the tears I've shed, all past my pen:
Let me take them to my grave.

Because the path that we walk will never now be what I crave,
Dear Memory, never tell me these words again:
"Hold those thoughts forever and be brave."
Let me take them to my grave.