Your shoulders are deceivers.
They let me nestle in your lies.
And your breaths,
so soft and measured;
They conspire with your eyes.

Together they convince me
that what I see and feel is true.
But, these expressions,
so well-practiced,
keep the truth beyond my view.

I came to you for answers;
For you knew I could not see.
But, you told me not the truth.
Just what I knew could never be.

It was your lips that told me everything,
strange, their passion overheard.
They said "leave before you cannot",
though they never voiced a word.

Jaedan, please don't ride
your bike to the corner...
I saw you the last time;
You even went further.

I know that the next time
you'll go farther than that.
My heart's just not ready
for what comes after that.

Please, just stay out in front,
right where I can see you.
I know it gets boring,
but, if you agree to...

I'll help you build castles,
play games never-ending.
So long as you stay right here
while we are pretending.

You think I'm a giant
that makes every bugaboo flee.
But, the truth is I crumble
with every scrape of your knee.

I just am not ready to see you
ride off 'round the corner.
Won't you stay with me Jaedan,
just a few more years longer?

Here you stand blowing raspberries
at my phonemic skills.
Please close your lips. Just listen.
Learn of bilabial trills.

You may call me an animal
for my alveolar clicks,
for in America its only real use
is for catcalling chicks.

And not many understand
a velar implosive stop,
that the words are the gurgle
of a doughnut shop cop.

And yes,  my pharyngeal fricative
sounds like something's amiss.
But its not always contempt,
like some puppet show hiss.

So, if you just could excuse
my pulmonic ingressive,
I promise, If it feels like it hurts,
I will be singly expressive.

I guess all I can say
is that when you hear what I say,
remember, it more than just words
that I try to convey.

I stand here today
alone, brokenhearted,
to say
I do not understand Love.
No, not at all.
Its easy when new,
or newly unparted,
when the flame of desire outshines every flaw.

But, when seen through the eyes
of three decades behind us,
it doesn't seem all that thrilling,
that new
or that grand.
It wears like a harness with the weight of forever.
So tell me,
then why is it in so much demand?

I've been told,
while its true,
that your heart is a muscle;
it doesn't get stronger, but weaker from use.
I thought I knew better.
I thought I was Rustle.
But that granite presumption
she did disabuse.

The battle was imminent.
The forces were joined.
No longer was time standing idle.
Outnumber and ******
by 100 to 1,
the Spartans stood fervid and vital.

The Greeks were united,
though the Spartans alone
were the ones charged with their protection.
At Thermopylae pass,
300 men stood
together in imperfect perfection.

"Surrender your arms"
King Xerxes demanded,
"Surrender, and let the Persians betake them."
Leonidas replied "Molon Labe!" my foe,
**"If you want them, then you come and take them."

Forgive me father,
for I am Sin
and I am here
to take you in.

Its been thirty years
since my last confession,
but mere moments
since your last transgression.

and though you thought
all had gone unseen,
your hands and soul  
remain unclean.

You took
our Father's Sacred Trust,
and through it proclaimed
yourself as just.

And, while children,
yes, they will believe,
the eyes of mine
you can't deceive!

I know what you did
and you know to who,
and I'll not let you
draw the curtain through.

Your crimes,
these I will expose;
For my friend,
the victim no one knows.

No one knows him,
because he's dead.
because of you.
Because he bled.

You see,
he thought he
was just a boy.
Not some secret to destroy.

So,
it didn't make sense to him to live,
because of what you said
and what you did.

But, don't you ever believe
that Our Lord allows
men like you to break these vows,
and then disclaim
and then rebuke
a boy who dared to speak the truth.

You watched as a child sank and died
and to the Courts, how loudly you denied.

But,
don't believe that I am ever fooled,
and my vengeance will not be overruled.

For I am Sin,
and I don't care how much you cry.
**My Hell awaits the day you die.

i once was young and brave like you
and i had dreams of triumph too
this foolish son
then hurt someone
and i did run, but what in to

he was a shepherd on his way
to find a lamb then gone astray
and i intrigued
so well believed
the tale of need he did convey

but as we searched about the glen
a dreaded feeling pierced my skin
a stranger’s hands
and strange demands
to r’move the bands and take him in

i did not understand the lie
and so he looked me in the eye
to make me see
the friend that he
would be to me if i’d comply

I never had known things before
to be so backwards or so sore
but, i obeyed
and he repaid
my wish to aid by taking more

and that is how the world has been
so little left to make me grin
except to see
young man to be
and so shall he share my chagrin

so, here we stand, alone and frail
both victims of this telling tale
and I undone
and you my son
your time has come to now unveil

the beast from whom all men descend
will come today to bring an end
to the hedon who
has followed through
on his promise to deceive and wrend