When clouds conquer the sky
The disposed Texan sun shines through in shades of grey
The air turns thick before the heavens explode

Pedestrian cars disappear from roads
Winged animals huddle in shelter
As the clouds weep sheets of warm happy tears
They make rivers of abandoned streets

Then come the children in bare feet
Blinded by heavy rain
Laughing, drinking, cheering, dancing
Lost in joy, absorbed by natural wonder

The clouds applaud in lighting and thunder
Driving the dancers indoors for warm towels
And Doritos chips, burgers, and video games

From up here

One slip is all it would take:
If I hit the ground I will splatter, and bones would break
As the wind buffets my body I feel alive and I grin
With death poking at me I feel joy and adrenaline
I feel joy and adrenaline
I feel joy, adrenaline
I need to do this again
I need to feel adrenaline
I need to feel
I need to do this again

With burning breath
Watch the scarlet sunrise chase away Orion and Taurus
Ecstatic freedom is paid for with euphoric agony

Colors bleed in this wonderful unreality
Wind drowns out other sounds
Blood has boiled away

It is liquid pain in these veins
And still the run can't stop
The race against the phantom youth is being lost

Wind-borne tears, sweat and snot
Are wiped away or ignored
The race is being lost

Until the finishing line is crossed
Now feel life affirming agony
Taste sweet pain, delicious air

An hour later a soul crushing hell  
Back to the grind, the soul hides
Living as an angry shadow

The boy,
Too young to drink a beer at home
Painted his friends in a lovely red that leaked from the holes in
His face and neck
And died on that beautiful morning

The boy,
Too young to sit at a bar at home
Rested on a olive-drab sled as he leaked a lovely shade of red that leaked out of
His face and neck
And died in time for lunch

I love you, heart and soul
Please, just disappear
I laugh at death, but a life of separation from you is my greatest fear

Can't imagine an existence without you, and wish you ceased to be
Though it sounds cliche, it doesn't feel that way, it's for you that my heart bleeds
Can't eat, sleep, or think through all this pain
After inexplicable joy of our first meeting
Separation has left me maimed

You deserve iridescent sunsets, realized dreams, all the best
Why won't you just fade into the grey mass of human strangers like the rest?

I wish you didn't need me too
I hate that I hate to love you

Two meals and one long night have past since last we ate hot food.
Sore and sleep deprived, we're in a fire-breathing mood.
A line of chatty fobbits and fat civilians stretches long.
In this line to chow we, warriors in a war zone, do not feel like we belong.
The mortar alarms' warbling screech fills the air.
The lanky, and the blubbery run with for bunkers, motivated by the scare.
We stand defiant, sore, and hungry in the open ground.
Tempting unlikely, unlucky death.  We ignore the sound.
The alarm shuts off.  An amplified, embarrassed voice says, "Ehh...false alarm."
Dear sweet idiot:  Thank you!  There's no harm
In clearing out the line.  We waste no time laughing and running to the front of the line.
Your inattentive idiocy almost cost lives before in this war.  But you are forgiven this time.

Boom!  Boom!
Shock waves shake the ground
Annoyed
I push my pillow into my ears to muffle-up the sound

Air sirens shriek long after the rockets/mortars cease to fall
Irritated
I shout to let them know I'm safe- accounted-when my name is read at roll call

I lay down, pull my bed sheets up to my chin
Relieved
Roll over, and go back to sleep again