Too late to die young
too early to die

I always live through
stranger's eyes

Those which gaze
upon this maze called life

Clairvoyant
and pure
I surrender the choice

The poisons they see
they work swiftly

Constantly drowning in
the sea
and my body drifts
by currents
slowly

To beaches
To shores
found in oblivion

I'll stand up
dust off
and dive back again

Into riptides
That pull me far away
from here

To
Surrender the day
To
Surrender the year

View of mountains kissing
Clouds as they roll by
Green valley
Water turned to mist
Falling from high
Peaks and crevasses

Reflecting on what is real
What it means to be alive
What if this is the day
I die

It's easy to remind yourself
Of all the things you
Are not
Rather than what
You are

Too easy to see what's missing
And not see
What is there
In plain view

Too easy to give others
power
To control your happiness
When there is nobody
More important
than you

And your hopes
And dreams
And everything between
This earth
And the black void above

Music bleeds out of the 12th story window
The sidewalk is freckled
with old chewing gum
and stacks of cigarette butts
The urban equivalent of leaves on a forest floor

This side walk has been seen by many travelers
thousands have walked its
concrete skin
Buried underneath subway trains travel
like bullets
carrying the cramped masses of morning commuters

There's a man in a suit
Sunglasses shield the world from his eyes
Cellphone in one hand and a Starbucks cup in the other
Walking briskly in his Italian leather shoes
Not noticing the man in the burgundy hat reaching
deep within the trash can

Chirping birds have been replaced with the honking
of car horns and air brakes of city buses
Towering trees have been replaced with towering
condos, offices, and monuments of capitalism

We're told when to cross the street and
the rivers have been told where to drain
The birds have been told where to nest
We're told where we belong
Within its neighborhoods

Life can be a glass
of water
sitting out in the
hot sun
evaporating
slowly

Drop by
precious
drop

Take a drink.
Savor the taste.
We only have
one glass.

My cherished love
Don't add tears to this world
Over the loss of fragrant
Forests and
Comforting rock

We are not stuck
In this nightmarish
Place
We'll dive face first
Into a painting
Of picturesque
Landscapes

Pull the paint off our
Arms
And smear new colors
Onto canvass
Here
We'll merge with
Art and start
A new life
In a world
Of our creation

Be in control
Of our own
Destination

My thoughts lock onto
The days paths
As I travel amongst strange faces
With sounds from cars
Speeding past with a burst of wind
Going to unknown destinations

I walk to witness the flight
Of birds and the flowers
That bloom on the trees
Bright pedals of the moment

I try to figure out what it all means
But any meaning I
find
Is only meaning
I assigned

Stroll down this endless highway
Where nobody seems to be going
My way
Roads crumble and collapse
I'm falling through
Into a hole
Found within
myself

Wanting to be filled
With something
greater
Than what I find on top of
Crushed stone

Dandelions seeds
float with the breeze
travel to far off adventures
to grounds where they fall

Only to be treated
as unwelcome pest
where other flowers
are allowed
to bloom
and grow tall

Yellow pedals
only desire to stare
at the sky

As they're plucked
out of the ground
where
they reside

Some will say that
they're just a ****
but there's beauty
and grace
in drifting seeds

We are a collection
of fear
of what we will
regret
when we are no
longer able to
take in breath

Everyone fears
leaving a blank
journal
behind
For those
readers who
survive

In an instant
A non-believer
Can find God
Through spiritual connection

In an instant
The devoted
Can loose faith
Through personal enlightenment

In an instant
The healthy
Can be diagnosed

In an instant
The sick
Can be free of disease

In an instant
The poor
Can hold the winning ticket

In an instant
The rich
Can loose it all

In an instant
Your home
Stands strong in the wind

In an instant
Your home
Can be overcome by natures wrath

In an instant
The truth
Turns into a lie

In an instant
A lie
Is actually truth

In an instant
We are born

In an instant
We die

Who we are now
Is a stranger to the
Person
We woke up as

Who's to say who we are?

Does anyone truly understand
why flames dance?

Rhythmically burning
flicking and fluttering  
on the wick.

The more it burns
the closer the
flame approaches the
end

Perhaps this is why flames dance
better to burn out
in a state of rhythmic bliss
than to be snuffed out standing still

For most,
they fit the mold,
they sit neatly
within all the gaps,
morphing into
shapes society deems
worthy

I was another story

I failed the tests
I failed the assignments

My time was spent
not
trying to learn to be,
what,
I am not,
but who I wanted
to be

I wanted to discover
the forest from
the trees

I rejected their narratives
the so-called "model student"
I became myself

I became a life

I once met a man
and asked him what he saw
where he's been
he said he's been to every land
every space
and he's never been the same
again

he said what are you hoping
to find in the
end?

It's inevitable
he said and you will see
that you may walk through
the forest and touch the trees
and crunch the snow on the
mountains' caps

but you'll never live
the same way twice
you will change
and shed your skin

you will become the earth
and settle deep within the roots
love will come
love will go
there is no time capsule in
the world I know

that can preserve anything
forever