My feet hurt
I have been walking for weeks
Barefoot
Through ashes, eggshells and mud
Away from the cursed place.
I try not to look
At the stakes aligning the road

But I hear the dripping
Of blood from their mutilated limbs
Onto the ground
Like ink
I smell weapons piercing organs
Slashing veins
Quills puncturing eyeballs
And bloated egos
The sweet smell of iron
In my nostrils
I taste it, the blood
The deceit
Every breath makes me sick

But I continue my journey
Tattered wings dragging
Leaving ****** trails
On every leaf
Although exhausted
And ruined
I walk on
With him by my side
Knowing that what I did
Mattered

He found me
Lost on a page
Among shadows
Slightly broken

He read me
In my words
And showed me
Another world
With his

He amazed me
With every syllable
With every rhyme
The wealth
In his world
Of language
And artful
Imagery

He invited me
Trusted me
To take a look
Beyond
His fabulous rhymes
Beyond
His paper self
Beyond surface
And mask

I still get lost
In paper worlds
But I fear not
For I have a guide
A paper friend
Better than me
This time

We all return to dust
Even if God we trust
We will fertile this soil
When we no longer toil

Yet we fight and we bleed
We'll take more than we need
Go to war preaching peace
Treat humanity like a disease

So we all turn to ash
we will die with a flash
Even if we are kings
All our money will not buy us wings

Well,  I promised somebody to write
About air so I thought that I might
Try to write with a beat
Maybe shake off this heat
Flapping beats in the air I take flight

I use heatwaves as lifts to the sky
Upon gentle warm winds I fly high
I don't need any wings
Don't need any helpful things
I get upwinds from you when you sigh

With letters equipped
And grammar as our harness
We set out to explore
Through linguistic playfulness

Intrepid explorers we are
In the realm of language
Seeking beauty and outlets for pain
Finding use for the worst kinds of baggage

On lofty expressions we climb
With masks of rhymes to lend air
And we endlessly seek new frontiers
Be they haiku or tanka we'll go there

For to dare venture into adventure
Using only your pen and your mind
Letting others read into your soul
Isn't that intrepid defined

in the dark
a heart is pleading
mistress, have mercy!

On a day like this
so beautiful
happiness is
a fluffy pillow
into which I sink
and suffocate
unless
I **** something
or watch someone
inflict pain
in theory
to balance
my perfect
reality