It takes a village to raise a child.
Conversely, it takes a village
To destroy a child.
And that child
Whom the village
Does not embrace
Will burn it down
To feel its warmth

Anxiety is a cancer of the mind
One which manifests in kind
That begins as a seed within your head
A thistle **** while in your bed

Vines of doubt with acrid musk
Constricting around your hollowed husk
As it eats away from within
No longer knowing how long it's been

Like fungus that grows in the bleak
Fed by dank and dark lit rooms
Sapping victims till they're weak
Thorns that bind in anxious blooms

But as any learned gardener knows
Who has walked through fields of life
He who lets weeds overgrow
Shall surely be with strife

So prune and shape those chilling leaves
And let your garden breath again
But accept that life shall always have its weeds

But you're a gardener now, not who you were back then.

Fools rush in, where angels dare not tread
Physically or in your head

Be tempted not by easy gain
Do not get drunk on other's pain

Know when to turn your other cheek
Or when to act for the weak

Be justly brave when all alone
On the street or on your throne

Do not kick a man when he falls
Nor let arrogance build you paper walls

Detest pride when you can
Humility is what makes a man

Know that power is not a tool
To be wielded like a fool

Always admit when you are wrong
Allow truth to be your song

Enjoy the moment as you walk
And listen close when someone talks

Embrace those you love as if it were the last time you can
Some wish they could do it over again

Live not in fear of regret
Or else cage yourself in your fret

Speak kindly of those who are not there
Don't lower yourself like those who do not care

Mean what you say and what you do
No one trusts a two faced shrew

But in the end, it's just your choice
How you listen or use your voice

When you hug or punch or kneel
How you think and how you feel

Be free in your own thinking
Be liquid with your thought
Strive for growth and never shrinking
Don't force yourself to be what you are not.

Come closer, I must tell you
Something before this all ends

I see a despair that dances in your eyes
A weight that burdens your shoulders

It screams through your gaze
Yet your mouth stays shut.

Let me tell you something
About this pain

Pain comes in many forms
It comes as loss and betrayal

It comes as failure and sometimes pure accident

Sometimes, pain takes the form of you

And that kind of pain
Where you have convinced yourself
That you are the source



Can ****.

I peer out again
To the courtyard outside my window
Where I face the many neighbors
I never see

I see evidence of life
But never life itself

Sometimes, I wonder.
If I live in a vacant building
Alone amongst spirits
With a sunlit Courtyard
All for me

Puzzle pieces of fumbled assortment
A smell of cardboard chips
Bedlam ensues
When scattered and afraid

But a piece thinks it unselfish
To join hands with another neighbor
A myriad of frightened fragments
Can surely make for a beautiful picture

Have you ever stayed up
Wondering?
If they truly
Love you back?

We taught you lies

We taught you that strength to oppose tyranny is good and well
But only when you fight the wars we want you to

We taught you to speak up in the face of injustice
But we call you foolish and stupid when you do speak up

We taught you to learn about the living history around you
But only parts that made us look golden and bright

We convinced you of a system called the American Dream
Where hard work will get you your very own slice of the pie
But we failed to mention that hard work really only takes you so far

We lied to you
That this nation is the greatest in the world
When in fact we are the grim reaper

When in fact we have meddled in world affairs
Turned governments inside out in order to defend freedom abroad

I'm sorry we have taught you these things
I'm sorry we now turn on you

I'm sorry we now strip you of your voice and spit on your convictions

We teach you lies, because we know how twisted and disgusting this world is because of our fears and insecurities.

We have failed you.

And those living here, within this system, silently
We are to blame.

There is a sadness to the cheater
Whether he be a cheater of love
Or knowledge
Of ideas or simply looks.

Done maliciously,
A cheater can hurt
They can steal
And their conduct
Can sting.

But some cheaters,
Most cheaters,
Are afraid
Afraid of what
They do not have.

Corner cutters
And "good enough" types
Too afraid to give it their all
There is a battle of thought within them,
To take something else when they believe,
They can't meet expectations alone.

Pity the cheaters that act out of fear
Their hearts are made of paper
And their courage is held up with wire
Resorting to steal and lie because
They do not trust themselves.

Why would I run through the gale for you?
When all you do is make me cry?
After all that you have put me through
Sometimes I wonder if you try

Why would I soak myself?
Through the sheets of rain
As you put my heart up on the shelf
You stay dry while I'm damp with pain

There was a time I would run after you
When the harsh winds and showers mattered not
Long ago when your character was true
Before my heart began to rot

Before the mold ate away what was once there
Now sour tastes and bitter tang
Back when we were warm and fair
Now from the rafters my heart does hang

I do not think I would step outside today
While maelstroms crash and strain
I choke on these words but I must say
I would not run after you through that soaking rain.

Hatred is not evil
It is a spawn of evil
Born from it
Caused by it

Like a knife
It is wielded
By some who want peace
And others destruction

Do not hate hate
Grip it tightly
Master it
And let it set the fires

Within your soul

It is easy to stay silent
To watch intently from the quiet comfort of your home
Silence is an action
Taken either by those who hold their own tongues
Or silence is something forced upon others
Nonetheless, complete and utter silence results

But those who are silent, be not afraid
Your words and ideas are not trivial
For if you feel within your heart of hearts
The burning desire to break the silence
To scream and shout and ask "WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?"
Then you are steps away from breaking free

Silence is a choice
A choice made by those to escape
It is a quiet room where we have the privilege to stay safe
A choice made to stay away from arguments and confrontation

But hear this and hear well.
Silence kills
It killed the Native Americans,
It killed the slaves that built this country
It killed those seeking freedom
And it is actively killing those who need to be heard

Donate, go to marches, stand tall, and speak your heart
They will try to mock you for your words
And point fingers at you for your seeming inability to shut up
But if your words are so minuscule,
Then why do they wish for you to stay silent?

Speak up.
Or else silence kills us all.

When we are alone
We hear ringing in our ears
Unbound yet shackled in the lonesome
Many hate to be alone
Alone is where the wolves get us
Alone is where nasty thoughts ****** us
Alone we feel a loner’s crushing weight
All alone, nothing scares us

When we are alone
We wander
Sometimes we wander places
Alone in the fog
Alone in the brambles
A thousand thorns pricking you
Alone with trumpets
Alone

When we are alone
We wish for the opposite
But not really
Alone is limbo
Alone is the balance act
Alone is infinity
When we are alone we panic
When alone, we choke

Master the loneliness
Feed on it as it fed on you
Grow to love to be alone
Tame those wolves
Fend off those thoughts
Toss off that weight
Embrace the solitude, breathe

In solitude we are perfect
For though the sun is alone
Still it shines

There is something seductive about your words
Your ideas and thoughts
Your confidence
Are more seducing than
Anything you could wear

Your shadow may weigh
the same,
As if you weren't there
At all.

But your actions
Today,
are
paramount.

In our feeble existence as a waning empire
We have achieved more destruction
Than any life or prosperity we have created.

I care not for a nation, who stands for hope
To the suffering masses
When in fact, that very nation is the author of their pain
And a benefactor of their sufferings.

The days of national pride are myth and they always were
For pride in a country founded on the killing of others
Pride in a nation built by nameless souls, shackled into slavery?
Merely bygones of an age where cruelty was commonplace
As we now live a facade of a lie our grandfathers told

And I hear you
Why bite the hand that feeds you?
Why speak at all when you benefit from the very thing you detest?
Alas, here we are.

Two fools who both benefit from the death of others
Squabbling amongst ourselves, when we all have been deceived
Deceived to argue
To disagree

Because what better way to keep the channels running?
What better way to clog your thoughts and turn your heart?
Then to begin the age old battle between "Us v. Them"
But yet, we always fall for the same ploy

I no longer recognize this place anymore
And I feel hopeless to change it.

It takes a lifetime
To build the house you call yourself
Years of toiling through the times
To grow from the roots of an infant seed

And it takes only a second
To throw it away
No matter how long you sat growing it all
It takes only a second
For it all to be taken away

The longer I live and from atop the privileged pedestal
Life has fortuitously handed me
I realize just how easily it is
To use such exquisite balconies of wealth and opportunity
To rob the ones below you under the guise of necessary evils

Corruption takes the form of whatever benefits the bearer
A slurry of desires and wants, that taste like needs
But only for a bitter taste to be left in the end
An elixir of lies, mixed with truth,
Designed to acquire more, through meticulous maneuvering

All the while, those fed such a potion
Taste the notes they desire, the notes they need
And such fears to lose those tastes
Were calculated to spurn just that,
Fabricated addiction.

Evil no longer wears the face of armies and war
Corruption no longer is a fat man in a small suit
With money bags surrounding his dinner table.
No.
Humanity's greatest enemies no longer openly walk the streets
But rather fester in the privacies our minds

We all have a single moment
In the infinity of time
To let our light shine across the stars

A lifetime is but a moment
Years are to time
As grains of sand are to a desert vast

But in our fleeting seconds of existence
We shine brightly to show the world
Who we are

And yes, of course we are afraid
But we are eager
To frame our seconds, our days, our years

As beautifully as we can.

There once was a story of a little bird
Who lived in a cage by the window
And everyday, the little bird would look outside
To see the sky sprawled as far as its little eyes could see

The little bird knew not was out in the skies above
But he knew,
And it burned within him
That someday,
Someday, he would make it into the open world

For many years, as it watched
It saw rain, and sunlight
Storms and tranquil nights
Always in love with it
Always yearning for that world

Finally, the day came when the bird made it outside
Finally on the other side of the window
Without bars or cages to stifle his flight
The Bird had the every and all direction
To fly into the endless horizon

But.
The Bird went nowhere
Despite the absence of the cage
Because now that he had his moment
He realized he was far too afraid
To decide for himself his own journey

So he waited
And waited
Until many years later
The Bird decided what he wanted most
But time had left him older and slow

And the Bird never left
Despite the open world around him
Because he feared
That his decisions
Could be wrong.

At the end, what do we all ask for?
What do we desire in the final moments of life?
Why is it that we call out to those whom we love?
Why do we reach out to those who give us warmth?
Is it because we know at the very end,
That nothing else matters,
But love?