I am a hopeless romantic.
That isn't to say I don't believe in love
But rather I find myself perched high above
Looking down on it.
As if there's something wrong with it,
As if the siren's song has quit,
Has lost it's allure;
No longer demure, but somehow obscure,
I look down as if it's impure
and I'm unsure why
we've let love die.

As if the idea of forever
Was ripped from me
And all that's left
Are fleeting memories,
preconceived ideas of what constitutes the eternal bond of

Tracing eachother's dichotomy into your muscle memory
The shape of their face, the texture of their skin, the curve of their lips
Recalled by brushing fingertips

or

The promises made when two mouths meet
Chemicals called bliss, cut bittersweet
Because parting is such sweet sorrow
And so you sprint towards tomorrow
Hoping that as you race
You'll find that place
Where you're as breathless as before
As restless as before
To explore life

And you collapse on opposite ends of the world
Hurled to bed
Dreams don't dare disturb your head
Because reality is finally enough.

This irreverent flame
Has been replaced by fickle games

It all seems empty.

I feel like I'm going through the motions.
Adrift on some tide in the ocean
Intermittent waves of love, labor, loss,
Each one with compounded cost
Greater than the one before
And I just wish I could come ashore
And stop drowning.

People throw pennies into wells
And wish for their dreams
I throw a flame in the sea
And wish to for the reams
Of uncertainty to unfurl.

I don't want this love.
This consistent inconsistency

There's something about romance I can't help but be
Attracted to
And this **** isn't it.

It's not as if the experiences aren't real
But the substance isn't there
The idea to me is surreal:
Love without care.

I just can't do modern love.
It's as if you're caging a thousand doves
Asking them to sing
Clipping their wings
Then releasing them from a cliff
And asking them to fly
Then turn around
As you leave them to die;

A plummet towards the fish in the sea,
But as we plummet, we just might see
A few flames drifting idly past
Fading flickers fighting to last
And reignite our ideas of love
Ashes to life, Phoenixes from doves.

Always. Anytime anyone asks about always, but before brutish chance can coerce, clashing choices decide destiny. Everyone except the exceptional few feel flustered, frustrated, foolish, faint, and frankly, ******. God gives graciously, gestures gestating generosity. However, he has his intricate intelligence of intimate ideas and ideologies. In jest, jubilee, and joviality, a juncture. A joust for the jugular. Keen and kindling, kindred killing, keelhauling laughter and loitering love, mankind makes mistakes. Many mistakes. Mortality is... notorious. Openly obstinate, obfuscating perpetual pain with quick, quiet quarks of rotating rationale and regular, radical, senseless self sacrifice and sacrilege; Stop. Time turns tumultuously, ticking towards tomorrow. This thing, these things, take time. Understand. Ultimately, unhappiness vexes vivaciously. Without withdrawal, where would we wander? I wonder. Yearning for yore, zealots. Zephyrs on the wind.

It doesn't matter if you're wrong or right.
It only matters that people hear you.
It doesn't matter if you cower, or fight.
It only matters that people fear. Who
Are we to have an opinion? How dare
We voice our own thoughts and care
About matters that matter to more
Than our own life?

Strife runs rampant and the source is "unknown."
Every problem we face is unrealistically blown
Out of proportion. The right to free speech
has become "the right to blindly preach"
What we think is right to those we deem wrong
And everyone joins this cacophonous song.
We cannot hear their cries through our screams
We cannot hear their sorrow.

Though it seems
As if we are taking a stand
All I see is a contraband market where
People get off to the pain they inflict
Where individuality is slowly stripped away.

You're left, or you're right
You're right or you're wrong
There's only black or white
The grey area is gone
You're with me or against
Blind obedience is the best defense
Against the constant oppression
Like a Catholic in confession
We are down on our knees
Worshiping over their pleas.

And nobody's listening!

Two sides with no purpose
You're just another number
Not another person
And the numbers don't add up
No matter how much you know
And you look at all the data
It just goes to show we
Like share and comment
More than we
Might care to stop it
Our six seconds of fame
Matter more than the shame
We might bring to other parties
When we play our party games
Our brains are electronic
Our hearts made of stone
There's an ice in our veins
And a chill through our bones
We are a nation that doesn't care
About the lives of any other
We are a people who won't share
In anything but the belittlement of our brothers.
Divided in arms, United we stand.
Black white and red
Are the colors in this land.

So let's paint a mural.
Color this pain with epidural
colors and strains to color the gains
and not the losses.
Let's put down all these guns and crosses
The bullets, blood, and vindication
Let our voices and hearts
be the "Shot felt 'round the nation."
And not just one anesthetic *****
But an allergy test. Like the child so quick
To forgive the pain he's endured
When his gaze is lollipop-licorice lured
We have to grin and bear it if we want our reward.

This burden is ours, let's share it and move toward
A brighter future. A colorful tomorrow.
An energetic empathy to replace all of this sorrow.

There's blue for when you're sad
A purple tinge for melancholy
Scarlet, crimson mad
For all the times they said they'd call me

A bright-pink first kiss
Gently laced with gold
The silver tinge of wisdom
That comes when time has told
Your story to the world
Thrown your colors on display
Shown that who you are is compounded
Across a spectrum of yesterdays.

There's green for when you're sick,
Dark hues when you're alone
A white fog that falls so thick
When you don't know where to go.

There's the violet throes of passion
The infinite shades of art
The color that seems so quick to change:
The fickle human heart.

Let's condemn the colors we're supposed to be
And forget our indignation
Let's make a mosaic we're proud to see
Out of the true colors of this nation.

And when the rest of the world looks at this state
Let us show them we are United.
Our palette is a blend of every shade
And we will no more be divided.

People tell me I'm strong.
I'm not.
I'm strong willed.
I have a strong will, but there is no thrill.
I don't live, I survive.
I do not have a strong will to thrive
In my passion, my art, my career
But a strong will to survive
Without looking up to steer,
My eyes pinned to my feet
I don't know what to do
So first I take one step
Then I take two.

I'm so determined to keep my eyes on the ground
In part because I'm afraid of what's around
And as an artist I'm told to look within
And hear with-out sight, and never give in
And always move forward
Even if you're stepping on thin
Ice. Or thin air.
And if I look up, I'll see nothing's there
I'll be too scared to take that next step.

They tell me I'm wise beyond my years.
Because it appears I've conquered my fears.
I put on a smile, but it's just for show
I see people come and I hear when they go
And I wonder how many are feeling the same.

And just like my life
I know not where this goes
I rhyme without reason
I make the words flow
I walked a mile and a half tonight
(And of course I speak of the time which I write,)
And not once did I glance at the stars so bright
That used to fill my life with light
Because my soul and my heart and my eyes are weighted
I feel as if my existence is fated
To perpetually fail
I'm a boat with no sail
Oversized driftwood
Just wishing that he could
Stop moving.

But that I can't do.
So first I'll take one step.
Then I'll take two.

Silence is a song I know all the words to
And I will read your eyes like an open book
A single glance is all it took
To know you were in pain.
I now call you my brother.
This is due to two parts you
And two parts me
We share this same animosity
Where in our eyes there's sorrow and loss
And as our tears drip down and water the moss
Keeping us pinned as the world moves forward
We pray to god for some misdirection
Any rejection of our inner reflection
So at least that way it wouldn't be so bad.

Silence is a song you know all the words to,
And as I saw you smile that guise of a grin
It filled me with this disgusting chagrin
That I wasn't alone in my misery
The truth is, I loved the company
And I'd moan and whine and grovel and complain
But having someone helped the pain
To fade.

And though I've sung it for who knows how long, I'm done with silence's solitary song.

In the absence of time, I created space
Words from my mind to my fingers to the page
Emotions burst forth in a crescendo of rage
And I'd cry and I'd scream and I'd laugh and I'd toy
With the thoughts in my head and the fears in my mind
The toils and turmoils all bouncing in time
To this desolate orchestra I play with no help
Conducted by the faults I saw in myself.

In the absence of light, I found this void
This space without time where I tried to avoid
The feelings repressed underneath the sun's rays
Compounded and bolstered, god knows how many days
I'd ended with smiles, to come home in tears
I'd gone from crying in laughter, to facing my fears.

But there's another song  I see in your eyes
Hear in your voice,
Louder than the lies that echo inside as we're falling asleep
Each one a wolf we counted as a sheep.
And though we share this animosity
I look in the mirror and the thing I didn't see
Was a friend in sight. But... again, I was wrong.

Silence is a song I read on your lips
And as your smile slowly slips
I pray that you'll open with deafening sound
Send fault lines through the silence around
Chasms deepened with every note
A cacophonous joy from both our throats
A sudden duet like some Disney dream
A resplendent note piercing the  seams
Of the absence of noise
And the presence of fear
And amidst the chaos
I can finally hear
Your voice.

Silence is a song I know you sing.
Humming quietly as you think
You're alone.
But you're wrong, too.

Each outburst adds to the melody
So every person should sing with glee
Louder than the pursuing chorus
Sing so loud they can't ignore us
Silence is a song the world knows well
But it's our turn now so let's raise hell
And raise our voices to the heavens above
Fill the deafening silence with words of love
And as the walls around us begin to crumble
Slowly we'll begin to stumble
Free from this prison of our own minds
No longer fear what lies behind
Look all around and be at peace
For the truth will set us free.

Silence is a song that damages the soul
And only through noise can our lives be whole
The things we don't say never get said
The things we don't hear will never be read
In the eyes of another singing the song
Because without words they can't sing along
So make your own words, and play the notes wrong
Throw a cog in the workings of sweet siren song
Acknowledge the light and let others in
You've got the new lyrics already within;

Hope is a song we all know the words to.