A sour breath hangs over this city
Like the deep exhale after battle,
Gunpowder rots on my clothes,
Lamps sag overhead,
Casting halos in puddles on the sidewalk,
Leaves float by,
Collecting dust,
And the air is spiced with carelessness,
As I walk down the rain-soaked streets of my childhood.

Because the fog hasn't lifted since this morning,
Because the toaster burnt my toast,
Because toaster settings are never accurate,
Because I smiled at a woman on the bus,
Because she never even noticed me,
Because there's a fly on the window that wants out,
Because I got a promotion and still hate my job,
Because the apples I bought yesterday are already going bad,
Because
Because I need to eat better,
Because I still need to find my passion,
Because I never learned to fly,
Because most of the time I feel invisible,
Because I need to smile more,
Because I need to accept the world and its flaws,
Because I've sometimes been burned,
Because some days it's hard to see the good,
Because

The shadows from the towering buildings and twisting shapes up above fall
like mazes on the sidewalk that lead to nowhere,
so I choose not to follow them

I don't know down which street I should be going

I sense the woman on the sidewalk across from me -
the street opens up between us in a giant yawn, and I keep her in step -
it's the time of night and the type of dark that can put anyone on edge,
alone, downtown

The woman walks with purpose,
maybe it's just a mask to shake off the loneliness of night,
maybe it's a purpose she's never been able to find in the daylight -
I cross the street and close the gap between us, the gap between us

To her,  I'm just a shape to sidestep to avoid confrontation -
the stench of my breath wraps around her like a blanket on a hot summer night
until she wakes up in a sweat and kicks me off

We reach the next corner, and I turn the other direction -
as the gap between us grows, I hear her breathe again - the air around her more bearable
as she gets used to the stench

It's late, and I know I'll have to catch the last bus to make it home 

I've never had to wait for a bus my entire life,
but I guess you have to start somewhere

Birds are things unconvinced,
They fly because they fall -
Because they've tasted the sea

They rise, rise like persistent weeds
Pushing through cracks in the clouds,
And I wonder what they wonder.

I would be a bird, but flight leads to fall,
Just give me the wings,
That's all.

The fiery gates of moments past
Await our doomed entreat
To walk the steps long placed before
In shadow and in heat,
'Cause destiny has holds on men
That men shall never keep

And shores of blue and crystal skies
Shine brightest in the dead-man's eyes,
An inch from death and miles from breath,
Forgotten thoughts men have not kept

And so with skeletons they will keep,
Through tears of joy and bitter weep,
Through nights of endless, endless sleep,
Among the shadows and the heat

When shadows are frosted by dust on the wall,
The heavens haze over and birds turn to fall.
Some men never bother to notice the night,
As they claw across history, towards Eternity's light.

When land has an unrecognizable face,
A carpet of corpses who fight for their space,
A question that should have been solved with their deaths,
But defeated things seem to argue who's best.

A lifetime may pass under Scrutiny's war,
And light may dissolve into legends and lore,
And stories of children who once roamed the sea
Will soak in the sand where they lost what could be.

As time tides the trial of time taking life
Water will wash clean the blood of the knife
That once drowned a bird and ****** it in strife
Then cursed it for falling one warm, shadowed night.

The Universe lies end to end,
Or so I have been told,
Its corners edge 'round ev'ry bend
In Heaven's fathom fold.

Yet all that we will ever see,
A single puzzle piece -
The second-hand has hardly moved,
As Man paces 'round as Destiny's fool.

Some faraway universe promises gold,
Aside God's throne,
Or so I've been told.