Life is a landscape
A river that flows and
A forest that goes
On and on and on
It is a song with infinite notes
Hate, love and hope
Yet how fragile the ropes
That hold us together so
Never must you ever lose
Or confuse the presence and
Power of faith or her flowers

And water, without which we
Would not exist, so relish
And savor every drop on your lips

Within the landscape of mine
A place with no time
The water wells up from a soul
Just so ripe, and intent is a
Pipe that directs and converts this essence
Of life

There was once a man who
Had flooded his land with
Ethanol spirit distilled by
His hand
As he floats in the center
He demands all who enter
Dominion of bottles to be poured
Into gentler lips will not speak
Will not bellow from peaks of
Despair. Breathe fumes from
The air, in this inner climate
Hope's flowers grow scarce

There was once a woman
Who loved this man so
But the depths of his lake
She never could know
And the closer she moves
The more darkness will grow
Until her inner world
Grew murky and sodden
A whole meadow of flowers
To become the downtrodden
Promise of a future so peaceful
And tranquil. Unknowing
How long the dark and the
Dank will infect her mind
Indirectly or not, she drinks
From the lake and the
Man's inward rot

We all know how hard
It can be to change, stop
Misplacing the blame and a
Life rearranged
If your insides are toxic, then
Your world is too
You can choose to be poison
Or create something new
But despite best intentions
The force of life kills
Nothing is eternal, no power
No will or no flower overcomes
What worlds yet may be, what
Light or what sun to reveal
Things unseen

This woman had children, a
Sister and brother dipped toes in
This lake and their inner worlds
Smothered while navigating
The stress, confrontations
For years normalcy was a drowning
Sensation
One rotten day brought a
Butterfly face to the girl
A wolf made it's place inside her
Inner world, what was once
Metaphorical became a stark
Truth, phantasmagorical was
No longer a proof, the wolf grew deplorable
Made a feast of her health
Stole her inner wealth, leaving
The girl with a maimed sense of
Self and with each hospital
Visit and new medication, the wolf
Drank from the lake. An abomination
For sure, yet the girl is so loved
And the hope will endure

If I could take it from you
Little sister, god ****** I would
Nobody should live this
******* NOBODY SHOULD
I've asked god to do more, just
******* open the door between
Our two worlds and lure the predator
In

I am the boy with lizards for skin
Cracking and bleeding
And slithering in and around the
Stones of this garden I've built to
Preserve those flowers, I cant let them
Wilt while I fight my own health, my demons
Afloat in my own lake
It's hard not to give in, but for my own sake
I will keep farming these flowers
Even when I sink like a stone
The dark is not my home, no
Matter what my mind thinks
And sometimes I still drink, but
When I do, **** right I savor
Every last drop, because I'm still alive
And I will never stop
Surviving and thriving
One day at a time