Fragile porcelain case
Holding 5000 feelings
All screaming at the same
Volume
Head on the ceiling
Heart sometimes at your feet
Pick up again
Pick up again
And try hard
Don’t you always seem
To be at that same
Difficulty?
You think as you always do
“Maybe it’s me”
Brain consistent
And people?

Well... they’re people..

How do you compose yourself
In the midst of
Constant cracking?
Who’s your emotional backing?
Do they stick around
Or do the chorus
Of
5000
Scare them away?
Oh dear
Here
Are
Tears again today
Porcelain sheen
It fades
Blemishes show and
You are revealed
You are you
And the worst part of you
Is the part you hold
In a heart
That is
Picked up again
Picked up again
Dust on the ground
Pick it off
Pick it off

Lest it get on your soul
Seemingly less bold
Or maybe just seemingly less

Porcelain vase
Meat suitcase
Confines of a heart
Picked up again
Picked up again
As feelings trickle out
Spilling 5000 songs at once
Recycled
Never lost
And always
Seemingly
...losing

Dear, there are tears again
Where are your friends?
Are they chipped too?

As I am...
...here for you

Fragments of frozen rain
The falling snow
Graces your nose
Graces windowpanes
And there you are
As if pictures framed
A piece of scripture
So I know your God breathe’d
So in summer I feel your glow
Your warmth
The heat at 10 degrees
And you just try to push on
Which is so special to me
And you don’t belong to me
Yet you warm my soul, you see
Chicken soup to the malady
Of winter days
I’d wish you to stay always

Knowing you have to leave...
...you don’t belong to me

Faded glory
Prayers on slim fit jeans
Foreign to victory
Leading to second story pleas

Can you hear her?
Despairing with whispered screams
But tears don’t answer
The many questions they bring

Faded glory
$20 when on sale
See the story
Of the strongest of the frail

Can you see her?
Wishes to fly, though she barely crawls
There’s a glimmer
Prevailing amidst the falls

Faded glory
Well worn and stretched to fit
Constant weathering
Pushing on till something rips

Can you feel her?
Is there a choir that recognizes her song?
Are you a singer?
Are your jeans ripped but still on?

It was a parting word
And a kiss on the cheek
That proceeded
To teach
That sometime we
Are only what we are right now
And not what we’re growing to be
And not what we’re capable of being
And never what we intend to be
And she was
Is, and always will be
Sorrowfully more to me
I’m basking in the misery
Of her effervescent glow
One that I’ll know but never truly know
I tell her I love her
And she tells me to go home
I’d say it’s the final blow
But I know better
I’ll be the faithful knight
And act as if I’m all put together
Because of all I’ve weathered
Because deep down I’m fettered
Holding the key that’s binding me
In hopes I’ll be freed by her
And it’s never that easy
I say how I feel
And cover it with something cheesy
To mask the bold taste
And what I intended it to be
Because I know she’d easily let go of me
Reaching for the next crevice on this cliff
As the rocks move earnestly
And maybe I should leave
And I tell myself I could leave
And I know that I have to leave
But every time she says she needs me
I believe

My words echo
And float in the night
Till I’m not sure they’re mine
And there you stand
Apart from me
Each syllable slowing time

It’s a crap shoot
Because I’m far too proud
To claim words birthed from me
But to my surprise
I look at you
And I repeat

“Please don’t leave”

I’m a train wreck
Lack social grace
And a whirlwind of doubt
Why you stayed
So long in my arms
I can’t figure out

You are beautiful
I’ve said it before
I could stand to say it more
But you’ve come to this
And the fact are clear
Your hand’s at the door

So the walls break down
And the rivers run
My pride is all but drowned
My legs are weak
Buckling under me
Knees and tears hit the ground

I am not this man
And this is not the time
I know it hard to believe
But my love for you
Transcends my vanity
So stolen words form a plea

“Don’t leave...”

I am passionate
And it scares some
But it scare me most of all
I make my plans
Like a foolish man
And watch them as they fall

There’s not much here
I’m too much sometimes
Prices of passion through and through
I don’t act like this
For just anyone
But it pours out for you

Look me in the eye
I see what you see
Too much way too fast
You dictate to me
To speak my truths
As these moments may be our last

And my sword is words
And my shield my art
Vocation I so easily weave
But choking back tears
Floating words then fall
Etched in my heart

“Don’t leave me... please...”

Please.

My head is filled to the brim
Packed brainstems
Maybe that’s why I take you straight to heart
Truths whispered and held in cupped hands
Like butterflies, then released
See where they land and the clarity they impart
You words are vast galaxies
Mystical, colorful imagery
Like melted crayons pouring from the fount of your mouth
Dripping into molds making wax elephants
Heavy words trumpeting sentiments
That I may never ever truly figure out
Eyes that speak paragraphs upon chapters upon volumes
Upon libraries
And I am only a syllable in the commentary
Fill the empty crevices of a heart once on fire
Long since expired
And give this charred thing new life, incendiary
Make this full mind empty every bit but you
Clear the queue
So I might feast on more than these offerings of crumbs
Minds will always be filled and filling
And full
But the the choice of what’s ingested is the rule of thumb

Wonder-filled

You feel you are a stack of mortar and brick
I see you as a sailing ship
So funny how these things contradict
You think you’re still, I say you’re still moving

Shift with me, but standing against the waves
You’re not one for the newest craze
Traditional as you innovate
You and your wonderful “you-ness”

See each time you rise and fall
Ship to sea, not stagnant wall
Consistently moving, never to be stalled
Till your destination is reached

And until you sail again