You've held onto it tightly
Never let it go
As it has been your friend for life
Through all the highs and lows

Through all the winter storms
In all the summer rains
It has been the anchor which
Has held it all in place

Among the ups and downs
All the ins and outs
The many cares left unaware
With the here's and there abouts

You think it over when you're under
As it helps to calm the doubt
When there seems to be no other way
For you to walk the lonely mile

You may one day choose to let it loose
Where it can have its say
In hopes it helps another
Along their merry way

Until then...
You'll hold onto it tightly
Never let it go
As it has been your friend for life
Through all the highs and lows

Where do you go
In the wake of tomorrow
When the thoughts of today
Go up in flames
Will you hold tight
The cold hand of sorrow
As you try your best
To explain away life

Where is the hope
That you can cling to
The bitter sweet
That understands
Still holding tight
That cold hand of sorrow
As you reach out for
This moment to find

Guess I'm not much of a Magician
As would be my luck
The day I sawed our love in half
Inside our little box

You took your half and ran with it
Never too be seen again
As a matter of fact with that disappearing act
Maybe it's you who's the better Magician

You always see me smiling in pictures
But not behind the scenes
Because a photo can't tell the story
Of a man's wandering heart in need

The need for something different
Besides the dull everyday to day
The need for a new meaning
Without all these obstacles in the way

A change of plans with change of venue
Surroundings where I'm not so well known
Where the life I now have doesn't seep through
Not having to live up to what all I own

You can take all you want of your pictures
But don't expect to see the real me
Just because I'm smiling for the camera
There's another the story behind the scenes

As I read your poetry
I wonder if it's true
Do the demons that help in rhyme
Really have a hold of you

And is the one you say you love
Not returning you the favor
In the poems that you pen
Is this all your life's behavior

Does your father really raise his fist
While your mother screams
As alcohol flows freely in your life
Or is it just poetry

Are you on the verge of suicide
And do you truly cut yourself
Do you feel that worthless in your life
Is what you write a cry for help

As I read your poetry
It often sets me off to wonder
Do you write about yourself
Or do you write about another

his darkness became
tainted by my red

i burst like the sunrise
on the canvas of his skin,
raw and hot, red, red, red

i set flame to the somber
blues we'd once painted
our skin deep with.

kissing the echoes of
our past, but always
pulling away too soon.

i was too red, too vibrant.

he didn't like the taste
i left on his tongue
it was bitter like him,
it stung of the past he'd
tried to bury on my lips

my skin would ash
but he'd miss the flames.
my pulse would gallop
and intrude like
summer into his veins.

When most of what I see
I just don't understand
With back against the wall
Leaving little left
When the voices in the air
Tell me that I can't
Reminding me of the things
In this life I've said

When all four walls
Are closing in on me
Having a devil of a time
As he won't let me be
When all in front of me
Looks like impossibility

That is when I feel the need
To get down on my knees

When I think about
All that God has done
Thanking him for sending
His one and only Son
When I want to give back
A portion of his love
When He forgives out right
For my many wrongs

When I think about the fact
I have been set free
When I look upon the Cross
And what it means to me
As I am thankful for the call
And that I payed it heed

That is when I feel the need
To get down on my knees

When I gaze out at the world
And the shape it's in
Looking at it deeply
Into the sinful heart of man
When the flame of torment and sorrow
Is being continually fanned
As I see it setting fire
To a once great sovereign land

When I know the answer
But I need the strength
To shout it from the mountain tops
To the valleys deep
When looking for the answers
That keep eluding me

That is when I feel the need
To get down on my knees