He woke up like he was in a police lineup
Almost flunking out never became a regret
The library wasn’t exactly where they met
The people he knew are still his friends
The ones that are gone he’ll never forget

He smoked a few packs every ten years
But he didn’t really smoke you know
It was easy to quit ‘cause it was all for show
Not being paid for acting never mattered
A friend is being planted in the same row

He thanked Jesus enough to be noticed
He never felt worthy enough to pray
Who asks for what they can’t give away
It’s hard being an artist with limits
So he said the hurt will never play

He didn’t want anyone to take care of him
It was hard because he kept his own mind
He was going to learn on his own time
She told him he didn’t want a family
He said he already left his mom behind

But one day he noticed his children
That was the reason for living now
That old prayer was telling him how
He still dreamed of long flowing hair
But it’s love that his life won’t allow

You can only compare the times we shared
You said nobody else was like me
Still you won’t walk upon the sands where I weep
It is easier for you to remember than to actually see

I’m not sure if I’m important to you anymore
Though our friendship survived our goodbyes
But do your dreams think of him while you sleep?
It is hard to love something that doesn’t make you cry

Opposite ends of a freeway
Distance that cannot forget
As I watched you drive away
I thought about living life without you
Living without you
It felt like dying before I could pray

I thought maybe time had been generous enough
Only destiny knows when to write the final chapter
But to have a memory that continues to bleed
Is a book that begs to know why living apart is better

Opposite ends of the ocean
Distance that cannot forget
As I watched darkness in motion
I thought about living life without you
Living without you
It felt like dying without any emotion

To stretch my every being
Fatigue
Doubt
Fear
Genius
Courage
Love
To know the limits of cobbled streets
Where the footsteps of so many vanish
Living life
Not questioning existence
Only feeling their hearts
Not counting debts among friends
Holding love in my arms
Weeping as I bury my family
Without anger as the divide is no longer my concern
Smiling as a song becomes life
Believing without question
Accepting without remorse
Experience without regret
For  the whole of the past is not what tomorrow can  be
But within the worry that ignores my inner peace
I know you
And as I wait for you
I wonder if what I fear is having you in my life
Or you being the love of his

You loved it
You always do
But you had to hide first
That's how rainbows are made
Sometimes it's more than you can take
More than your life can make
Of being in love
Of being in love with  me

I loved it
I always do
But I had to hide first
That's how rainbows are made
Sometimes it's more than I can take
More than my life can make
Of  being in love
Of being in love with you

Why can't the one I love share what I do?

I would change my life for you
if I thought you really loved me
I heard her voice walking away
That’s the trick of it isn’t it then
how can I make you believe in me

Our dreams are about far away things
there’s so much distance between us
There’s no echo of what’s to come
No sound telling us what we should do
Only the silent way of praying alone

It was long ago that we were so sure
But we didn’t really think about it much
We didn’t want to talk about change
We promised to always be who we are
But change is the only way to be together

You moved on trying to be a new person
You take my call but it's still long distance
The way you speak about your life is sad
I know I made you think about a new life
But not the one I'm making you live now

When we are together
We strip down to the bone
When we are apart
I never think I’m alone
It’s the way we live
Taking chances
With love
With loss
If it happens
If it doesn’t
We don’t seem to care
But we do

We have all the time we need
We will live forever
Young at heart
Hearing songs that never fade
That’s how we keep the sun from setting
Listening to a song that never ends
Still the highway seems empty tonight
While my bones ache inside

So many times I play with fate
I believe in it too much
Nobody knocks on the door
You have to buy a ticket
If you’re going to win a prize

Then you said why didn’t you call me
How can I know what’s right
I love you so much when you’re gone
But now you’re here
All we have are questions
I don’t know my love
We have the nerve to bruise our bones
But not to share our hearts

I only have myself to depend on
That’s what I realized today
I can’t ask too much of you right now
It would be romance and not love

The hands on the clock won’t wait
We can’t seem to slow things down
You might think I’m hiding from you
I’m just waiting for time to tell you it’s ok

You have to decide if it’s wrong to stay
But first you have to come my way
We can cry about our sins later
That’s when we will ask to be forgiven
If only we have the time

My hands are reaching for you
But first I must pray
Pray for love
Pray to love the right way
Pray you won’t decide to run away

I have to think about the light of sunrays
Time is the only thing I can depend on
There’s never been a day without tomorrow
I have to ask you if you believe in it too

You have to decide if it’s wrong to go
But first you have to tell me what I know
We can cry about longing later
That’s when we will try to keep living
With what’s left of our time

No matter where I am
I’m ready to leave
As soon as I do
I begin to grieve
Is there no place for me
To draw from contentment?
Is there no time signature
That will allow accompaniment?
It’s best to be a shooting star
Leave them begging for more
Make them wonder why you leave
But their questions you should ignore
Yes this is how it is
Lockets of time to be collected
Wait until the chain calls
Then bring another to be connected
I can do nothing but come and go
This is how it must be
In the leaving is the seed
For the next flower you will see
In the absence
The rain will fall
Tears that sow
My hearts knowing call
This is the way of life
And longing is our secret
For we will rush together
Before the next beautiful regret

I can’t feel if I’m passing through my own head
Or if it’s a movie projected by someone else
I talk so much trying to close the doors
It once was a large room with everything in it
Now it’s fingers of rivers flowing as the ice melts

I wouldn’t have thought it that way
But thinking is living and maybe it’s my fault
I cannot stop the complications of my garden
It takes time and patience, the answer is not easy
Too much sun burns and you can’t drink ocean salt

I watched someone blow smoke rings
I never could do things like that before
Instead I honor the ways of reaching for a bottle
And some old guitar blues prog playing in your head
The time past is a train that runs no more

I don’t mind waiting by the tracks
A barren tree silhouette shadowed by black and white
Being brushed off is a girl looking at her phone
I’m not entertained except by what’s hard to reach
You walked on by while I returned to the light

We spend our entire life looking for it
Even before we knew life was a search

For
A word that is more than a voice
For
A voice that is more than dream
For
A lens that is more than a vision
For
A smile that is more than a child
For
A feeling that is more than birth
For
A love that is more than life
For
A life that is more than death
For
A God that is more than creation

We spend our entire life playing pretend
Even when we believe we have found it

I don’t want a domestic engineer
I don’t need to live off your career
Only the things I know and feel
But cannot say unless you are here

I don’t need more than two candles
And shadows on painted toed sandals
Only the things that a smile can feel
And never spoiled by doubting vandals

Every girl has a man waiting somewhere
That’s how she keeps her interest to herself
I’m gonna’ have to change her point of view
Instead of me she takes pictures of herself

I don’t want to just pass the time
I don’t want how are you I’m fine
Walk past me looking too busy
How can I unclutter your mind?

Every girl has a man waiting somewhere
That’s how she keeps her interest to herself
I’m gonna’ have to change her point of view
If she’ll just look up she’ll see something else

There's a change
In our world today
I wonder if it's me
I know so much
Was it my youth
I just didn't care
Or is it really true
We've lost our touch

There's a change
In the way I love
I'm sure it's me
But I think of you
You seem happy
You've been sad
Now you're not
Being single is you

It's alright though
We grow different
But it's the same
We cope it's true
So much happens
We live for a while
Then we're a story
Tell me about you

Play some gospel
It shines a light
But I'm not asking
For the sea to part
It's just a feeling
I cannot explain
It's inside of me
But not your heart

I know how it is that I felt
But it was not a frozen heart
Nor did it melt
There was no need for stolid strength
Or ponds for weeping
It was only how I am
Refusing to live falling apart on the inside
Or unmoved by a changing life
I cannot give darkness any more length
Or make stones for keeping
But what I had in my heart
Was the stillness where prayers once knelt
And the whispering sounds of a new winters start

I only know how to live with the good times
But the garden of pearls is now desert sand
The beach empties itself as I walk before it
I find nothing now but honor as a brother
We bury Kings and Queens alike in grief
And as we look to the sky staring back at us
The sun reminds us the prince is now heir
Our lessons learned we can only remember
That it is our life now and the time has come
To live as his honor would demand of us
As men who make mistakes far too easily
And loving again with the fear of another loss
Underneath blazing skies that he now lights
His spirit is now the canvas for longing eyes
Where our hearts begin painting a new dream
With the blood his faith bequeathed to you

I want you to walk with me
I can't tell you where
But where we are today
Is tomorrow's memory to share

Life changed when we were born
We survived that first moment
Now we look for our home
But change never relieves it's torment

I saw eyes change green to blue
When skies changed blue to green
But storms should not make us afraid
Because love lives somewhere in between

I want you to walk with me
I don't know why except that it is true
But what my heart knows my darling
Is life may change but never my love for you

I don't mind if you ask me if I'm ever coming back
If you wasn't worried I'd probably ask the same question
For some reason you think I can't fall in love with anybody
But I can and I did and it's you so you can quit your frettin'

You look at me like you're not sure what you're lookin' at
I can take being stared at but forget whatever's on your mind
You pretty much showed me how much you loved me last night
You can give me the benefit of the doubt 'cause my heart ain't blind

C'mon girl it's gonna' be alright
If you don't believe then it's just a long night
You have to trust something
Somehow
Someway
So why don't you trust yourself
There's something about you that love can't fight

I walked up to the door and saw the peephole go dark
You opened it like I was a stranger you never met
I can't understand how you can live with so much doubt
But I guess the last guy that left is hard for you to forget

I love you baby
It's plain to see
But you ain't lookin'
You see somethin'
But it's not me

C'mon girl it's gonna' be alright
If you don't believe then it's just a long night
You have to trust something
Somehow
Someway
So why don't you trust yourself
There's something about you that love can't fight

I cannot she cried
I cannot be alone
As she rubbed her fingers across the lamb
Shorn of its wool, it felt so cold
It was the moment of passing
Where the ocean is deep but abundant
And space is far but promising
Where birth becomes light
But as the chain tightened around her neck
And the still face of silvery grace showed its age
She grew silent
As her lungs filled with the life that was promised
No matter the black painted sun
Or  the moon that wept
She knew this life to be untrue to hearts
It wasn’t always going to be safe enough to breathe
And the end might not remind her of happiness
But she thought of his own cry of being forsaken
The loneliness of this life is only meant to prepare us
And though we love enough to suffer
We also love enough to believe
And we believe enough to be saved

i want to love
but not just you
i want to love freedom
and taste of its fruit

but for those who cannot
by either the law
or by another man's hand
love is all they have

yet it must share its place
with hate and bitterness
and what is love
that cannot live freely
in the heart, unbound
on the land, unchanged?

it is not love at all
it is something else
that cannot wait
for tomorrow
or for heaven

for if today is life
and freedom is not
then it is no life at all

it is only death

When I'm with you I'm not afraid of God
I didn't ask to feel this way
You said talking to myself is talking to you
That's when I knew
Being a man is the same as being a woman
When love is a sin

When I look at you I'm not afraid of God
I didn't ask for these words to say
You said make love to me before get old
That's when I knew
You're what everyone wants but I'm the one
When love is a sin

When I think about you I'm not afraid of God
I didn't ask to live this way
You said how stupid of us to be so bold
That's when I knew
A fire is hell only for those who are afraid
When love is a sin

You read words from afar
   and think about love
Love that you never knew
   except in your dreams

Or maybe for a fleeting moment
   the moment you once believed in love

But now you must believe in life
   our life together
Because life has become love
   or is it just romance?

We are taught to love one another
   and to control our emotions
But what emotion is greater than blinding love?
I can tell you about it
But what would I say if we met?
Would my pride allow me to speak plainly to you?
Would I be able to tell you that you had the power
   to make me fall in love?

Words written in the dead of night are not afraid
   as words spoken to you in the daylight hour

Walls of apprehension are built so high
   so pain cannot be felt
   or seen

But when our eyes meet
So too shall our lives
And that is what you must believe my darling

In life

When you have nothing
and they walk away
I will kiss your breath
and fill my lungs
I will swallow your tears
to mingle with my own
when you whisper in my ear
like a shell I just found
I will love you more than them
even if you lost your crown

We couldn’t find our way
So intention became consequence
We set each other free
And waved goodbye to everything
Except remembrance

Now you’ve come back
With your lonely heart in your hands
We said hello again
But my memory of you
Doesn’t understand

What is it that you love?
Is it me or my company?
Could you love just anyone
Or do you love only me?

I like to watch planes fly overhead
Just like I like to look at you
But when I’m on board it gets too bumpy
Just like love when you say I do

It’s a funny thing to think about
People trying over and over again
It’s as if they have no memory
But nothing burns like an old flame

We had a dream once
But they write books about dreams
There are so many holes to fill
Someone else has to tell you what it means

I could love you every night
But we always seem to forget
We both know how good it feels
But we’d rather paint our next regret

I always felt like I was sleeping out in the rain
You would walk by and only see my faults
But it’s not my fault that you can’t love me
Maybe one day we’ll start acting like adults

When the arrow pierces another
The bowman knows what to give
I never knew of you before we met
Though in my heart you lived
When love is born
What once lived as a mystery
Now lives in the tip of an arrow
But she broke it because of pride’s misery

He knew he could never hold her
She would cry of hunger
Rather than accept his gifts
For of a debt she would never wonder
He wanted to tell her
She had defeated her insecurity
But her defiance was all too real
She didn’t want to be his ego’s charity

He blew out candles and laid them to rest
He wanted no shadow to witness
He wanted to protect her fears
So she could stop hiding her sweetness
She knew she would fall in love
Because she had already reached the bottom
As they parted with another wistful goodbye
She once again pretended what she had forgotten

Nothings the same
Though you think it is
But you don't know what I'm thinking
I can't whisper an ocean in your ear
You can only feel it in my body
Surging all over you because there's so much
It can't lay still
How could it
A body in motion
It's all there
It looks the same from a distance
But that's because people don't know how to look
I wonder if you know how to feel

So you have a new boyfriend
How about that
He likes everything you like
At least he’s smart enough to try
Maybe in ten years you’ll know if he was serious

So you have a new lover
How’s it feel this time
I won’t tell him the things you did
Maybe he thinks like I do
He’s the only man  to make you love like you do

Make sure baby
Make sure it’s love
You look too good for honesty
A man will promise anything
To make love to you

So you think you’re in love
How would you know
Loneliness is nothing to compare love to
But if you’re trying to forget me
Look into his eyes, I will be waiting for you there

You can’t make your bed with our sheets
I took them home with me
I didn’t wash them because it’s your memory
I’ll bring them back someday
But first you have to love him instead of me

Make sure baby
Make sure it’s love
You look too good for honesty
A man will promise anything
To make love to you

She watched clouds just to know how to feel
But now she wants to talk to them about it
She looks at stars to feel closer to life around her
But she knows she’s further away than they are

She heard someone talking about eagles flying
She wished she could find that place inside
She always saw nature as a place to escape
But even falling leaves can’t hide a scar

She wants more
More than walking
More than watching
She wants to know
Why do clouds act that way

She watched clouds just to know how to feel
But now she wants to ask them what it’s about
She looks at stars to see if the answers are there
But she knows her past is as close as they are far

She wants more
More than gazing
More than wondering
She wants to know
Why the stars are so far away

It seems I’m living a life of decision
It used to be so easy to make a choice
To feel desire was to know what to do
I never lost my confidence or my voice

I believed in who I was more than  I do now
It’s a funny thing when you know so much  more
But I only believed in what I wanted with you
And it was so clear that I knew what love was for

I’ve lived more than once
And I’ve seen the signs
I never want to have to say maybe next time
But if I do
Then I will be the first one there

I read once an old man’s virtue is only a loss of energy
But you know I know how it feels now to be left behind
And I want to believe that I love you enough to stay
The beauty of your eyes makes me hope you’re my kind

God tell me how to know
Tell me how to know my mind
To be so sure as I was long ago
To tell her she is who I was hoping to find

I’ve lived more than once
And I’ve seen the signs
I never want to have to say maybe next time
But if I do
Then I will be the first one there

You're going to wake up tomorrow
Is it going to be a day that you regret?
Will you die making a stand for truth
Or  look in the mirror trying to forget?

Can you make it anymore?
You know how hard things are
There's too much that you want
And everything is so far away

Somebody loved your body the other day
You let him have you because it felt right
But he couldn't keep his life inside you
He took it when you turned on the light

You just want someone to be on your side
Maybe that's what tomorrow will be about
Don't ask for help just to get some attention
If you act crazy you'll just create more doubt

Can you make it anymore?
You know how hard things are
There's nothing you don't want
And everything is so far away

Trying to make them love with hatred
Trying to make them forgive with judgment
Trying to make them understand with ignorance
Trying to make them give with selfishness
Trying to win hearts and minds with bombs
Trying to change the world with intolerance
Trying to end racism with predominance
Trying to make them happy with power

You gave yourself away
But only to yourself
You've built a life
And every possibility exists

If you gave it to me
How can I be all of that
Why would the world exist
If I am the only one?

You cannot know me
Cleverness is like perfume
The aroma is not life
It is only to trick your mind

I know every emotion
The same as you
I throw them in the air
But I always drop them

Being alone is a fortress
My voice intrudes
It is naked with purpose
You must consider its strength

Is it all to much
A violin changes your feeling
I try to be soft but beautiful
A sound you cannot ignore

You wait for another soul
How long does a revelation take
If I cannot make you laugh
Is my kindness so worthless?

I cannot see the scarf you wear
I only know it hides your heart
Forever guarded by God's hand
Will I ever know its grace?

I have a question for you
Which mind would you care to view?
One that is cautious and considered
Or one unafraid of how things are delivered?
I can tell you of loves obsessions
I can tell you of pains debilitations
But do you not wish to be disturbed?
May I gain audience however undeserved?
You may judge me to be unstable
But I bring an imagination that is able
To explore the depths of human emotion
While maintaining a focus that is unbroken
By life or even the thought of pain
Though I scour the abyss time and time again
Fear not for what I say
Even though with words I do not play
It is for each of us to decide
If we can enter the tunnel and ride
With one another in the chamber of our fears
And wipe away each other's tears
Revealing to one another our true selves
Listening intently as another soul tells
The tale of their woe and condition
Not as a sign of mental destruction
But as a hand reaching for you
Giving you the courage to start anew
Because we do not fear the dark possibilities
They will not destroy our tranquilities
Even though we acknowledge the obvious
That we tire of the normalcy latching onto us
And wish to explore the outer reaches of existence
And then come home wearing the cloak of deliverance
So I revisit my question to you
Can you take it or shall I shrink from view?
For we are poets and our task is obvious
Tell the tale and let others wonder about us
I can do it and remain a sane person uncolored by blue
I can do it... I wonder if you can do it too

I want to take a trip back
I hope it’s not too late
I never seems to have the time
But a memory will always wait
The words feel the same
And they always will
If they are gone, the story is complete
If not, then there is time still

It’s just to be in the same room
It’s not that I want something
Though it may seem like nothing
To me it would be everything
I don’t have to think of regret
And there is nothing of haste
Because what happened before
Is a faded line I can always retrace

I’m going back now
To a time called when
To a place called then
And today I think of it again
I can see it with my eyes closed
I can hear it in a song I compose
And though I bleed from thorns
Still, I can always smell the rose

It’s not the time to say goodbye
That is what we say every day
Within each mind’s eye we travel
Will it be the last thing they say
But to see a moment already played
Is to know how much it really meant
And while you wonder about me
I tell you that meaning is where I went

Void and formless
As we define it
Cold and lifeless
As we would find it
No sound from Earth
Only faint light
No hint of a soul
Eternal night
Does it really matter?
On Earth, fear becomes hope
Sorrow becomes joy
Near death
We experience life
Pluto drifts with a shrug
Sounds unheard
Emotions unfelt
Nothing grows
Nothing dies
Nothing
Is there something?
What is something?
Why is it something?
Who says?
Us?
You?
Why?
Why does it matter?
The struggles
The pain
The rights
The fear
The rain
On Pluto
History is not recorded
But the truth lives
On Earth
History is recorded
And the truth dies
We are nothing
We achieve nothing
Our death is meaningless
Life is meaningless
Our glory is measured against ourselves
Yet on Pluto
The quiet is unmoved
The distance swallows existence
There is nothing to contemplate
There are no worries
Nothing matters
We believe we matter
Why?
Who says?
Us?
We are the creation
And then we discover
Yet Pluto remains cold
Ice
Frozen
Locked
It means nothing
From a distance
Unless
It really does
The distance is so real
Our minds are so small
We only know what we know
We ignore the distance
It can't be real
It doesn't help us
So it doesn't exist
Why is it there?
It pulses in it's vastness
It means nothing
Why?
Who says?
We don't know why
We just accept it
Our past is primal
The only thing we know is our growth
It is the only thing that makes sense
We cannot touch God
We cannot see God
So, we have become God
We are progressive
We have evolved
It is necessary to think this way
This is why it matters
But... not on Pluto
Pluto is not impressed
Our evolution is swallowed by the distance
On Pluto, nothing matters
Not you
Not me
The further you go
The more help you need
The further you go
But where does it lead?
Back to Earth?
Back to you?
Who are you?
Who made you?
Who conceived you?
Who cares about you?
You?
Me?
Why are you here?
Pluto doesn't care
Should I?
Should you?
Should we?
Yes
Yes
Yes

It's her eyes that said so
It's mine that has to show
No matter how little she says
It's the pain I must risk I know

You're stronger than me
I know you're no longer bound
But you must rather die
Than make the first sound

Ok I'll go first
I can take it
If you say no
Then I will know
That the way I live
Is to love even if you don't

How long am I going to wait
I know the lines on you face
The one's you ignore
But they are the life I want to taste

I'm not that important
At least not enough to fear
But if I could love you like I do
Then you will tell me what I want to hear

Ok, I'll go first
I can take it
If you say no
Then I will know
That the way I live
Is to love even if you won't

How can I say this?

I love you

And you said I was a melting floating piece of ice carrying your soul like a polar bear randomly effected by whim selfishness ego and the inability to connect with anything because I was too cold to give and too temporary to care

But it doesn't mean I don't love you

I can't get you out of my mind

And you said that is because I haven't gotten over the fact that someone wouldn't prefer to live their life as a stranded beautiful example of a dying world solely to be remembered as the one I dragged to their ultimate demise rather than to find someone who knew how to love someone for who they were

So I continue to live alone

Without the people I care about the most

It’s alright my darling
If they don’t get me
You are more than that
What matters is you do

The way you welcome me
Everything I say is right
I only have to breathe
Your heart holds it in

I know you are waiting
Always believing in me
My mistakes don’t matter
You understand how life is

You make it so easy to love
The fear I once knew is gone
How can I not take the chance
When your smile only says yes

I’m ready to say I love you
But you already know it’s true
I’m not the first to look at you
With eyes soaking to the bone

I already know it’s worth it
The pain of losing someone
Is how my tears choose to live
Your memory is the way to die

When I look back
I know I was crazy
The things I did just to love you
Are things I can’t believe are true

I was climbing out of windows
And locking doors behind me
It was me escaping
But it was you I was chasing

Memory  Memory  Memory

If you can remember
Whatever you’ve found
Is not what I’m about
You’re walking ahead
Never looking back
But feeling my eyes
What your heart wants
Is what it felt with me
We took so many chances
And I’d do it again
We learned the hard way
Love wants a crazy life

Now I don’t have the key
But if you were a locked door
You once opened it willingly
Now I can't believe what you’re telling me

Going out on my own
Playing it back in my head
It’s just songs I’m hearing now
I once knew, now I don’t know how

If you can remember
Whatever you’ve found
Is not what I’m about
You’re walking ahead
Never looking back
But feeling my eyes

What your heart wants
Is what it felt with me
We took so many chances
And I’d do it again
We learned the hard way
Falling in love is a crazy life

What your heart wants
Is what it felt with me
We took so many chances
And I’d do it again
We learned the hard way
True love is a crazy life

Memory  Memory  Memory

Going to walk back through the darkness
Towards the light too afraid of me to shine
You know what you did to me
There’s no room for fault in your mind
You won’t admit it, not to me anyway

You said you were afraid this would happen
But that was when my kiss opened your eyes
I carried you through the sunny morning
You looked back and saw how darkness lies
Now you deny the things I heard you say

I wasn't afraid to lose
Not this time
I believed in you
Now I can't believe in someone new

I don’t need to tell you these things
You played love for a fool but not me
I know who I am and it’s not yours
I was a rental and now just a memory
But it waits at night where you lay

I wasn't afraid to lose
Now I am
I can't believe in me
Who would love someone who's not free?

lo que sea quiere
yo quiero
igualmente
usted y yo
lo mismo
antes
ahora
despues
todas las dias
por que mi amor
su vida esta mi vida

Alright, alright, alright... so yesterday my boss says, "Your hair's getting kinda long." Now, he's a very cool dude and it don't confront him at all but he said, "People are talking." Of course I go, "What are they saying?" He said oh you know, "Is Mark having a mid-life crisis? Stuff like that..." So I got ticked and said, "They WISH they were me...." Ha... cocky Mark. By the way I've posted a follow-up to this entitled "Don't Put That Sign On Me." Anyway here's the inevitable poem that always happens:

They say
There's a crisis
Really? Whose?
Mine?
Or yours?
Yeah my hair is longer
Yeah the girls seem younger
Yeah the words are stronger
Yeah the struts in my wander
Yeah... yeah
That's what they say
But... I hadn't noticed
Maybe... just maybe
That's because
It's not my crisis
Maybe
It's yours
But
Like I said
I hadn't noticed
But
You sure did
Why is that?

I'll tell you what
Yeah
I'll tell you
I'll tell you what I've noticed
I've noticed my honesty grow
To match your bank account
With every deposit
Your true self dies
They bought you
Your brain
Your personality
Your heart
Your soul
But I guess
You hadn't noticed
That's because
You are in a crisis
But it's normal for you
You see life from inside
The flames
It's as if everything
And everyone
Is on fire
But one who steps out
From the flames
Is not
In crisis

You locked yourself in
I freed myself
And in freedom
I live
In *******
You die
But you don't want to die
Alone
So you bring me down
Don't bring me down
Just because you locked the door
On your own
Don't bring me into it
That was your choice
Leave my choice to me
When did my choices become painful
To you?
You don't notice me
I won't notice you
Unless you need help
With your crisis
Then I'm here
Otherwise
Don't invent one
For me

There are men who stoop low
While their pain builds slow
And their women clean homes
Full of dreams and wistful rooms
But still they live this hard life
Because their God told them so

He stared at a sunset nailed to a wall
Scraps of inspiration were in his hands
The envelope was white and empty
He had sent the money to foreign lands

There’s a way to survive
Even if you’re dying inside
There’s things that you know
And things that make you grow
But you will never begin
If you let someone tell you no

He never had a conversation with her
When it seemed she thought him her equal
When she was young she wanted someone else
Now she thinks she’s starring in the sequel

There was a time to remember
The bullet was in the chamber
But he didn’t take the opportunity
Though he was angry about inequality
It was why he lost her love
She could only think of him with pity

He was separated from her brown skin
And the one who once carried his son
They all had dreams of a different life
But they learned to live apart from their own

now (i) look into his eyes; can he hear us
(i) have seen no visions; only a movie
no matter; it is enough for (my) soul to stir
the simmering *** is where the truth may be

where to start; humility has bound (my) veins
(i) read the words of a bitter man; justified
somehow (i) accepted responsibility for his trials
(i) confessed though (my) white skin never lied

(i’m) trying to decide how to describe (myself)
it’s better to sit in a shadowed corner of a room
you can never prove what you would have done
but he knows (my) fears; they ensured his doom

holy water washed his ribs clean
we have filled our cups yet it remains dry
we cannot believe he is risen nor our evil ways
so (i) listen to horn blasts from man; not the sky

I watched the serenity, alone
Reflections of a mountain sky
I thought of skipping rocks
But it wasn’t my right
It would be unpleasing to the eye
So my stones did not fly
For upon still calm waters, to atone
Is to accept peace in its natural state
And not as something that I own

I watched the war, alone
Failure of the human spirit
I thought about the legacy of man
But what of my right
Is it something that I inherit
Or earn by merit
For upon rippled waters, to atone
Is to know a past life is not the fate
That must cast its dominion upon my own

It never ends It never changes
But we do
The clouds And the moon
Reflections
So Bright But so needy
Just Like us

Above it all For once in my life
but nervous
not Like a Fish in the ocean
Floating
Deep But always so alone
just like Me

Nothing can be done Nothing at all
But wait
a mirror extended End to end
Silent
But So true So hurtful So real
Just like you

He said he would no longer toy with her
But there could be no promise
Take the chance or not
She loved him enough to say yes to life together
But he only wanted her pride in him
There was never a woman who thought him perfect
An imperfect house, every wall crooked
A leaky roof, the carpet stained
on and on and on
Yet what did they see when they walked by?
Why did they knock on the door?
Did they know what was on the inside?
They would tell him once, then paint the walls
It was smile, his courtesy, they could see
how he felt about them
Yet,
fearful of his own passion
He assumed too much
Their fidelity, their chasteness
Could this woman want a crude man
Throwing her on the floor, violently mating
No, how could that be?
Instead,
it became a canvas to paint delicately
But he could not decide which color
Or how many
Should he lay the canvas on the floor
And pour the paint upon it’s expectation?
Her impatience became like a bird
upon the updraft of its calling
She flew away to the island mountains
The rivers had risen
It’s feet shuffling to a liquid dance
Subsuming the rocks and valleys
But it was no matter to her
She could fly
He wondered if she would come back
She deserved everything
She could fly
She deserved his promise
And her criticism
He had to be able to take it
He was just a man
But he was a man
He had to take it
And she was there for him to love her
That was what he thought anyway
Did he ever really know a woman?
Each one a fantasy
But he could not lift them up that far
Only in his mind
He wondered
So many children
So many unhappy women
They would give life
Then they would suffer through it
He never understood
Screaming at him
But staying night after night
Was that love?
Was that a woman?
It was as if her life was a miscarriage
It was so close
It was alive
It was happiness
And then she thought
I should have been there for you
For you
My baby
My life
And he thought about this
He regretted thinking of her as an angel
It was too much for her
She just wanted loyalty
He watered her garden
He dusted her pictures
There was so much to lose
He couldn’t ignore it again
He was a skeleton
He wanted his skin back
He wanted his organs
He wanted his life back
To breathe
To eat
To feel the inside of a woman
Through her eyes
So he waited for her answer
He knew what it would be
Loyalty does not compromise
She was a woman
It was not a game

You entered my life walking through my eyes
But when you left it was through my heart
I didn’t think anything was more than myself
Until you said I never made you feel more than less

You became every girl that I see kiss
A man that I knew that they loved
I never knew you when you weren’t coming for me
Or leaving just to get away

I didn’t know how
To let you be who you are
We never had a chance
Because I thought I was doing you a favor
I knew you felt that way
But only for a year maybe more
Then one day you realized
You were stronger without me

You entered my life swimming through my tears
But when you drowned I couldn’t save you
I needed you for an instant
And for a moment I was the love you always wanted

I am every man who looks at you
A girl they want to possess
You never knew a time when you weren’t my night
Or a day that I felt might be our last

I didn’t know how
To let you be who you are
We never had a chance
Because I thought you were the lucky one
I knew you felt that way
But only for a year maybe less
Then one day you realized
I was weaker without you

We all live with our mistakes; it may take a long time to overcome but the mistake we refuse to pay is the one that becomes who we are.

You've made bad mistakes
So have I
The only ones that matter
Are the ones that kept me from you
I'm not feeling like a bad person
It's only a lost feeling
How can it be so clear
And be so far instead of near
Maybe I wasn't ready for you
You were rising like hot summer air
And I was falling through every bump
The turbulence was not what I asked for
That's how we fly our planes
Gliding, thrusting into the air
And you were all I wanted there
I must have passed you on the way to nowhere