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.

a breath catches on my teeth
as it tries to escape, and it snarls
as it claws at freedom.

my teeth are a prison's gates;
my duty is to maintain the silence.

while the confinement holds,
my words die, discontent;
the scratches on the wall continue to wait.

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.

when i think about how things are now,
i simply see

fog pouring in from the sky
and a shapeless jaw yawning

i guess things are, in a way, simpler

or maybe it is simpler because i forget

My darling, my ocean,
Stars in the silver sea.
Dream of light a little:
That's what you are to me.

Though I know not of love,
This joy is just as rare;
All that warmth I have now,
I'll cherish it, I swear.

i am sorry. i had feared that
you were someone cruel like me;
i had worried about your eyes,
wondered just how much they could see.

the exit could have been a scythe—
so afraid i was you'd use it.
the threat of that death hung over
everything. challenging, taunting.

i am sorry, i am. to have felt
no regret for cutting myself
upon that sharp blade, to have left
memories of sunlight behind.

to have made that vile decision,
to have made that sad admission.
i know no one, not even you;
not even you, i'll hold on to.

I have often been found drifting, unmoored,
Into the deepness, and out into sea;
While youthful sailors passing would be lured
to end and break on the rocks, three by three:
By sweet hymns to gems lost under the waves.
How rich a man would be, to go under!
Come see, the water sings, and fill your graves
To the brim with hills of pearls and plunder!
But too often have I dreamt of your smile
To want for duller treasures; No more songs
Nor jewels can make a semblance worthwhile.
I pray, leave me be! Lest I make new wrongs,
And find my ship against diamond cracking,
With my heart studded but still so lacking.

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.

Perish not, fire of my soul; you know
This much: art is worthy that makes you feel
More than any other (that you are whole).
Take a few moments to dream an ideal.

This you extol, and write with zeal.