It's the enervated hold
Which is the first to fold
A hand of jokers
And deuces
Sold to you as gold

One tries to will it true
This hand of gold anew
The power of will
Tides one through
Yet doubts unspoken grew

And grows the unsure strong
Leaps and bounds along
But one keeps it down
Looks away
Being strong is not to long

One does oft wonder though
How one got to be so
When the truth escapes
Through tiny holes
While Joker lies aglow

So one hopes that one can hold
This designated mould
Truth be dammed
Just look away
One's right is not to fold

He struts down the sidewalk
With a hint of a frown
His spoon swings beside him
Jaunty hat as his crown.

Childers peep with a gasp
As they watch him strut down
The musk that follows him
The stains on his gown.

There he goes, they whisper,
As the sun settles down
The Badass Chef, they say,
Of this Badass Town.

He pounds dough to a pulp
Whisking eggs beyond shape
Beets up on the salad
Stomping vatfulls of grape.

Skewers meat without thought
Chops neat through a bone
Flays sharks without care
Needs no sous, works alone

The Badass Chef
Of this Badass Town.

He hangs up his cleaver
At the end of the day
Dripping droplets of what
None have courage to say

He blows out his flambe
Spoon back at his side
Turns back to his war zone
Fists clenched with quiet pride

There he goes, they whisper,
As the sun settles down
The Badass Chef
Of this Badass Town.

I lie not awake
Yet unasleep
In those moments
Caught between
I think I see
But you see not
The Life that could
Have been.

The moon eclipsed
The flag half mast
The wick not
Yet aglow
All the beauty
At but half full
Accepted as enough.

It must be true
That one accept
The half as near
The whole.
For it does not help
To seek the truth,
It undoes
The beauty known.

Thus die the dreams untold.

Lashes the twister, belts around
Twirls and dances, thrashes the ground
Roots and foundations, tossed amuck
Both mighty and meek, rendered unstuck

Frenzy of flight through hurricane skies
Through chaos born transient ties
Each whirl of wind brings falling debris
Both drip and thump land fleetingly

But

The Eye sits, in the thick of the storm
Untouched unplussed, the formless form
Watching the gale through translucent lid
It lives without, while sitting amid

I am the Eye
That never does cry
Knowing all that is seen
Is a bewitching lie.

The hollow core
Hollowed out some more
By hollow thoughts of a
Hollow mind
A hollow being, a hollow find.

The hollow well
Donns a hollow shell
Wrapped in hollow garb with
Hollow walls
A hollow being, a hollow fall.

The hollow life
Lives through hollow strife
Hoarding close hollow joys
This hollow whole
A hollow being, with hollow goals.

All that's deployed
Pours into the void
Of this hollowed out life
Hollow fills
A heavy soul, sits heavier still.

Shimmers molten road
Still air squats, beads, on my brow
Summer road trip woes.

Seat turns to quick sand
Thighs stuck fast can move no more
Summer road trip woes.

Each breath sighs, heavy
Vapoured water chokes the air
Summer road trip woes.

No soul seen for miles
Gauge collapses on empty
Woeful road trip end.

Clacks the train on pre-made track
Taps she on and on all day
Wheel on rail, turns wheel on rail
Never wavering from laid out trail.

Clacks the train on pre-made track
Oft taking souls both to and fro
Alas unseen goes the weary rail
As metal cuts through the nestled nail.

Clacks the train on pre-made track
The unjoining joint harked too late
Souls on board feel blinding pain
As loco veers off its destined lane.

Clacks she no more on pre-made track
Unhinged, undone, has no path, no role
Bent beyond all blacksmith skill
Now left soulless, without way or will.

They waited in silence,
No questions they asked.
No demand to be noticed,
Though deadline neared fast.

They sat in quiet patience,
At attention they snoozed.
Hoping time would tick on,
When perchance they'll be used.

There are those who oft pray,
For these precious pearls rare.
Yet others throw reckless,
Lay 'em to waste with no care.

So when completing an essay,
With goals succinctly met,
Muse on this ode to the few,
Unused words of word limit.

Be strong, oh weathered anchor
Of a mind adrift at sea
Hold firm this home on murky depths
As familiar waves lap hungrily

Cry not, oh weathered anchor
Of a mind adrift at sea
As glimpses of a life once known
Ebbs and morphs deviously

Fear not, oh weathered anchor
Of a mind adrift at sea
The fight to grasp what once was known
Tattered image drips menacingly

Let go, dear weathered anchor
Of this mind adrift at sea
Slip gently asunder the past now lost
Unbound from memories, floating free.

The Dark mist, it beckons,
It curls its manicured tip.
I twist, no, I resist,
Pleas die softly on my lip.

I conjure my life's images,
Of decent well adjusted folks.
Crumpets, giggles and tea bags.
Pinks and yellows that it evokes.

But fragile as an egg shell,
The cracks they show some more.
Lust and desire bubble forth,
Crimson lies sprawled upon the floor.

I'm told that I'm the Good Girl
Of frocks, and poise, and grace.
Yet the cracks they draw me in,
Fingers touch velvet and lace.

The Good Girl she suffocates,
In deaf silence she screams.
Awake she hides the gaping cracks,
Plays freely in her dreams.

So, Good courtesies in the light,
Smiling pleasantries at the fore.
But with heads turned I come to life,
Filled by the Dark I fight no more.

Two lives I live in parallel,
Soft moan sneaks past my lip
I am the dark, I am home,
I curl my manicured tip....

Poor tip-ity tap-ity raindrops
Mapping out uncharted fields
Crystal buds take shape and flop
Cruising down my windshield

Mapping out uncharted fields
Drops stumble, slide, glide into place
Cruising down my windshield
Dance to their own song, own pace

Drops stumble, slide, glide into place
While shimmering red turns to green
Dance to their own song, own pace
Brash wipers erase this playful scene

While shimmering red turns to green
Crystal buds take shape and flop
Brash wipers erase this playful scene
Poor tip-ity tap-ity raindrops.

Cumulonimbus
Growls above menacingly
Snarls at the terrene

Impaled by lightning
Howls in anguish, pierced and split
Bleeds thick drops of rain

The topography of my mind
Maps the beach at changing tide.

From low to high it's all washed clean
Footprints, castles and trails alike
Unetched slate of flat leveled sand
Grains aligned by blessed wave strike.

From high to low it's all exposed
Fragments, jetsam, seaweed entwined
Littered, scattered on shore amuck
The sting of empty shells combined.

Yes, the topography of my mind
Maps the beach at changing tide
From low to high and high to low
A gloriously exhausting ride.

I could not tell you of where, when or how
Or why or whence or with whom
It began.
All I can speak of is what I perceive
My neurons oblivious of floor plan.

Gray matter confabulates my wisdom,
Muddles synaptic impulse.
Confused nerves,
Travel unsheathed in an unpatterned grid
Relay scrambled message with undue verve.

Concerto fifth, notes ripple through the air
I hear not this music rich
But I see
Colours of infinite depth ebb and flow
Sounds live in my eyes, lines swirl and flurry.

Waning sun kissing the horizon deep
I see not this beauty pure
But I smell
Warm scent of sweet cinnamon and jasmine
Pictures translated to redolent swell.

Olfactory bliss of soft infant kiss
I smell not this fragrance warm
But I feel
Velvet satin touch caressing my skin
Scents flow as mercury on fingers sealed.

Hypnotic pressure of pebbles underfoot
I feel not this kneading joy
But I taste
Caramelised coat cut by bold sour storm
Tactility morphs into scrumptious paste.

Palate aglow under five course repast
I taste not this saucy feast
But I hear
Melodious blend of pitch and cadence
Flavour unwrapped in acoustics of my ear.

My topsy-turvy world
Created
By my poor flummoxed nerves.
Never a listless moment
Dished up by
Crossing neurons as they swerve.

"Black then white are all I see in my infancy.
Red and yellow then came to be,
reaching out to me
lets me see there is so much more
and beckons me to look through to these
infinite possibilities.
As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn outside the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition leaving opportunities behind.

Feed my will to feel this moment urging me to cross the line.
Reaching out to embrace the random.
Reaching out to embrace whatever may come.

I embrace my desire to,
I embrace my desire
to feel the rhythm, to feel connected
enough to step aside and weep like a widow
to feel inspired, to fathom the power,
to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain,
to swing on the spiral, to swing on the spiral,
to swing on the spiral
of our divinity and still be a human."

Makeup caked face cover scars rotting with regret
Scarlet lips purse, forever frozen in a pouted grin
Always for the audience, always the next show
For the crowd to keep cheering, new tricks in store.

Heart laden with dreams unlived, a life unloved
Body twisting at whims of the gaping throng
Underneath cries a lost soul, begs to be set free
Forever stuck in clumsy shoes, dancing for money.

Removing blond wig, at blessed end of last hour
Shredded dignity held together by the will to go on
Smiling front cascades away and slips down
Such is the story of the sad party clown

The awful daring of a moment’s surrender
Which an age of prudence can never retract
By this, and this only, we have existed

- T.S.Eliot

Wandering words, evasive prose
Removed from my clutching mind
Incredulous laugh, they dodge and hide
Tiptoeing through my daily grind
Enters but briefly an image so clear
Rippling through my hungry thoughts
'twixt eager fingers awaits my pen
Shamelessly nebulous, I follow the dots

Bumbling through, I falter and fall
Lying face down in a pool of nouns
Organising verse to paint image ablur
Clumsily in finished verse I drown
Kindling gone, die these embers of rhyme...
...for prose to revisit, I await my time.

He was a rather special sort,
To those who knew him,
And knew him not.
Tingles ran through his finger tips,
A golden chalice,
Held to his lips.

This Midas had a curious touch,
That left him mighty,
Not wanting much.
Golden forms from his fingers dashed,
Enemies transformed,
Into piles of cash.

A merry man, he strut through town
An arms length clear zone,
Did him surround.
When a wondrous girl he saw, so bold
She walked right to him,
No fear of gold.

Such beauty never before had beamed
Eyes lowered down,
Hair bounced and gleamed
When she glided close enough to kiss,
She met his gaze...
he touched her cheek...
and the last thing they heard...
Was a chorused hiss.

So if you should walk down that street,
King Midas and
His love you'll meet.
King turned to stone, with outstretched hand
And with head of yellow snakes
A golden Medusa stands.

The spin of words
Spin my mind
I find I leave myself behind
In the spin of words
Spins my soul
Fills the gaps that make me whole
So spin the words
Spin them free
Show me music I can see
Oh spin your words
Spin them 'round
Taste the nectar of thoughts unbound

Stimulate and duplicate
Your potential to potentiate
Replicate your experiment
To educate, not adjudicate.

Be your master, emulate
Your idol, don't eliminate
Your need to feel, to resonate
To meditate, reverberate.

Don't incriminate, nor implicate
Make your mark, just radiate
Make them watch, eradicate
Terminate any doubt they state
That your life is one to celebrate.

A holy day it was
When the dark skinned gathered there
Under open skies unowned
On the land of their forebears
They met to offer forth their prayers

They entered the walled space
Through gated entrances five
Mixed mass of gender, age and creed
Unarmed they gathered, unarmed strived
Ruled by white Lords, to keep culture alive

From a raised bank, he watched
Fair general and his native troop
When the time was right, dropped his arm
Unleashing bullets on endless loop
Laying waste to unwary group

Swarming mass in open tomb
Clamour to protect all life and love
Mother crouched encasing child so soft
A man holding his wife, a flapping dove
None spared from cold end reigned from above

Hot metal darts indiscriminate
Sliced through humid burdened air
Muting wails of the sentenced helpless
Piercing flesh of the souls stripped bear
Earth wept with weight of blood spilled there

Thus ebbed the day of the massacre
Beaded sweat trickles down Generals brow
Blood and meat lay heaped at exits five
Shrouded in questions of the why and how
That such slaughter could one man and his arm allow.

I need to let go of you
You are caustic to my hold
I'm withdrawing, in pain
I need to detox, poultry cold

I have not much reserve
Not much strength to spare
I'm an addict, a seeker
Clutching you with despair

Your laugh it still entices
Your simple gestures excite
Your silence shrieks unbidden
Into my tiring mind in fight

I think I need a you patch
To mount up on my arm
A you gum, a filtered you,
Keeping my mind calm

My tale is that of a ******
My drugs varied in style
Depend, detox, withdraw
You're another in my file...
...and not the last, not for a while.

Shuffling along dusty banister
Skin flaking like ancient paint
Pointlessness of purpose forgotten
Blurred edges do crumbling memories taint

A struggling artist, a mother of two
A childless veteran, or a lost love
Time washes colours to pastel hues
Indistinguishable lives from up above

Strength of fleeting mind predetermined
To revel in memories, real or fake
Random muttering of wandering thoughts
Quivering banks of a brimming lake

Musings informed by a life fully lived
Regrets of life lost to indefinite wait
Unsifted are these thoughts to audience deaf
To dust, to ash, is assigned mortal fate

Make of this what you will and wish
Live the life of a hero or the deprived
The garden will grow to cover past truths
Same end awaits all those who survive.

clean snow
white wash the fields
magic powder gleams soft
gentle touch caress silent earth
all gone

rain drop
serene beauty
born of fierce, angry storm
glides, embracing hills tenderly
all gone

bright light
touch dark corners
spills forth golden nectar
conceal shades of opaque nature
all gone

sad end
snow, rain, light, goes
clean, serene, brightness, goes
but thread of the intangible
remains

Captured on film
A drop of rain
Bouncing off rail
Before it must trail
Back into earth
From whence it was born
But before its demise
Left one little prize
This picture so pure
Of drop soaring high
Gifted to him
One holding the film.

There lives a man on my left arm
I call him Tiny Dan
He shouts aloud my inner thoughts
I'm not his biggest fan.

"Nice to see you, lovely neighbors",
I purred as I saw them.
"She hates your intruding", shouts Dan
From there the feud did stem.

"The food was lovely, compliments",
I beamed at snooty cook.
"Overpriced and salted mush!"
I'm now blacklisted in their book.

"I'm doing well, and how are you?"
I say to stranger walking past.
"She sobbed herself to sleep again",
My mask is wrenched away so fast.

"I don't need a hand, I'm capable",
I assert to world at large.
"She's so alone, feels sorrow true",
I'm no longer the one in charge.

The worst of course is my mirrored self,
"I'm happy with who I am".
Dan laughs out loud, snorts into glass,
"You've lost yourself, you're ******".

So Dan sits there, oh all day long
I can't rid him away.
The only thing I know to do
Is hide from world and me all day.

Tiny Dan, I beg you please don't stay.

Twirling in my fingers
Spins a pen so black
The ink inside
Tries to hide
The rainbow in its pack.

Charcoal placed on ivory
Etchings tumble out
These words born
Freely adorn
Colored garlands and shout:

Look beyond this mere form
Beyond the letters scrawled
Make it live
Art that gives
Birth to entities tall

Each mark harbours a prism
Words filled with endless shades
A window to
Look inside you
Painted canvas that prose laid.

I saw her again today
Blankly staring ahead.
Hair blowing,
Roots showing,
Her eyes glazed, a puzzle of red.

I wonder what thoughts run
Behind that glassy look.
Try to guess,
With no success,
Judge her cover to know her book.

Is she musing about love
Warm home that travels with him.
Gushing thoughts,
Of happy sorts,
Eyes red thank life full to the brim.

Is she mourning a loss
Of freedom, hope or more.
Twisted fate,
Brings unasked date,
Eyes red farewell her dreams in store.

Is she running through task list
New box added on refresh.
One more tick,
Oh so slick,
Eyes red betray unrested flesh.

Is she setting out in search
Of new life, new mind, new soul.
Endless hunt,
Brave new stunt,
Eyes red find lost piece from her whole.

I take one last look at her
Into my mirror on bathroom shelf.
My red eyes,
Full of lies,
I am a stranger to my self.

Slowly I step away from the gate,
Gait unsteady, I stop and I wait
Weight of the moment sees me in a daze
Days ahead blur into a chilling haze.

She whispers her last from upon the kerb
Curb my fear, this I know I need to hear
Here and now is my only chance at peace
Piece together what happened to make this cease.

She said that I made her my fragile dear,
Deer caught in headlights, my ******,
Heroine to be rescued from all mist,
Missed the chance to know this girl I kissed.

She was done being made to feel weak,
Week after week she assembled her fort,
Fought all urge to let this issue slide by.
Bye, she murmured, I am now ready to fly.

So this is the sad end to my tale,
Tail tucked in between my legs I
Eye her walk away into the night
Knight I am no more, fade to white.

Honestly, I don't know what you're on about.
I watch your mouth move as though in a race.
I hear the words, nod an assent or two,
Then work out how to arrange my face.

Sixteen years on, I can bet my life
It's any of issues one to five
Perhaps disguised as new and bold
But countless times we've jived this jive.

It's either mother/sister/father in law
You don't spend enough time with me
I washed up last, it's your turn now
Money just doesn't grow on trees.

That's four, oh wait and last not least
It's the cherry atop our well known list:
Are you happy in our life right now,
If I was gone of sudden would I be missed?

Interrupted of course by the offspring two
Never a chance to talk about
The things that make us fight and kiss
Talking in code that's fraught with doubt.

Your voice sinks further from my conscious realm
Where the blurry words blur and blur some more
And somehow we arrive at this day's end
As a melody stuck on a repeating score.

I crawl to bed a respectful time after you
Touch your arm, cold, betrayed by sheet
I encircle your chest as it fills and droops
The familiar curve of your back I meet.

I know not what all of this is finally about
And that 'morrow brings with it new words ablur
The only thing I know is about you, my love
Without you I would not want tomorrow to occur.

Wounded wings of a bird of prey
Perched atop its nesting place
Flightless fear of the mighty proud
Does not betray its fearsome face.

Savage shrieks sustain from gritty beak
Lest the lowly prey start to suspect
The terror hidden by beady stare
Knows the wingless cannot life protect.

High up on tree top, talons grip tight
But to beseech is not to be a beast
The power owned by the bird of prey
Is to hover aloft its menial feast.

But treebound talons cannot the brute sustain
So tucking pride away it pleads for aid
The asymptotes connect but all too late
Unheard echoes of its last calls fade.

Glassy eyed, this mighty bird it falls
From once its coveted place of rest
That helpless wingless bird of prey
Lies now amidst common prey and pest.

It's the hope
That stings
That splinter in my thigh.

When the dark
It engulfs
The truth from well told lie.

The comfort
Cold silk
Of blackness wraps my being.

Inky home
My abode
The solice in not seeing.

But glimmer
Slight glimmer
It sparkles in my eye.

It distracts
Attracts
From my shell it does me pry.

Beaming soft
Penetrates
My wall I've built so strong.

Awakens
Illumines
Hope I've hidden so long.

Pupils large
Adjust now
I could get used to this.

Tiny shoot
Of delight
Is this what was amiss?

But wait now
Gentle touch
It leaves me without warn.

Betrays me
Disappears
Leaves shards of my world torn.

This hope is
Deadly sin
Back in the dark I lie.

It's the hope
That stings
That splinter in my thigh.

Yours is a space
Inside my heart
Kept safe
By you and just you

This realm has a door
Hidden from sight
Keyless
To those who're not you

Feel free to enter
As you see fit
But please
Let it be just you

Bring in some magic
And a bean bag
Make it
Just right for you

Snuggle up to
My ventricle
Feel it
Pump strong for you

Take a swim through
My aorta
Hear it
Pulse steady for you

Stop for a break
In my right lung
Know it
Fills with air for you

Cascade into
My atrium
Sense it
Keep rhythm for you

Yep, you are part of
My anatomy
Science just
Never had a clue.

Answer us true
How old are you?
Are you boy or girl?
Close your eyes.
Do you see a fire or a whirl-
wind? How much have you sinned?

Given a choice pick
red or blue?
Given a choice pick none or new?

Picture yourself in the woods.
Do you see a horse or a mare?
A rabbit or a hare?
Is it a half empty or half full barr-
el? Have you ever thought to ****?

Do your dreams end in flight
or fall?
Do you fight when held up
against a wall?
Do you stand up strong and tall?
Or hunch down,
make yourself small?
Do you like your peanuts sal-
ted? Do you like your coffee malted?

Do you fidget when you eat?
Tap to music with your feet?
Is your happiness fleet-
ing when your life has you beat?

Do you gaze directly at the sun?
Shade your love from
coming undone?
Do you largely have fun-
ctional relationships?

And last, not least, has come:
What do you think of your dear mum
and dad? Did they turn you good or bad?

Now we've collated your results.
You're [insert personality type here]
I hope now it's all so clear,
this box in which you fit best.
We've emailed you this score lest
you forget the results
of your Personality Test.

Plunging neckline
of mountains
studded with wooden pearls
and leaves.

silence broken
the words
are spoken
hidden rage
played up
on stage
fists now
clenched
no punch
held back
I'll attack
so pack
your bag
and make
a break
for it
I'll watch
you run
I'll stun
you with
my bite
my fight
I'm light
on my feet
you slacker
soul jacker
soul *******
shame stacker
fatal blow
I'll deliver
a show
so go
run for
your life
none knew
what you
could do
did do
so now
I'll let
you stew
before
I bid you
adieu

I watch you watch me gliding by
Your joy worn on your sleeve
You hold me close, meld into me
My frayed veins you deftly weave.

A creeping line across an egg
Your face cracks into a smile
As silver syrup of moonlight seeps
Beem from your eyes, beguile.

I watch you pour love into me
Drops wetting parched dry heart
Words of satin, silken smooth
Bathe my restless wounds in art.

I believe that you ache when I ache
Edge of your world starts crumpling in
But tall you stand, hands on my ears
Muting out my shrieking din.

I believe you when you say you'll stay
Through my journey fraught with blades
Strong grip steadies my perilous walk
Gnashing jaws 'neath tightrope fades.

You shield yourself with arms aflexed
Marked with scars of self defense
Yet you kiss my Jekyll and my Hyde
You bore through my vile pretence.

I know not how our tale will end
The greys fragment into more shades
Know that your marrow fills my bones
You're the reason my life still parades.

Too good to be true,
Your life.
They said.

Pull your head out of
Your ***.
They said

So why do you weep,
And why can't you sleep,
Your problem is just that you're spoilt.
They said.

I surely have had a
Good life.
I said.

Let me just paint you a
Picture.
I said.

It's like showing the blind,
A Monet that you find,
Asking "Why don't you smile at the beauty?"
I said.

How dare you compare to
The blind
They said.

This is all in your head,
That's not.
They said.

So why do you ache,
And why do you fake,
Your problem is just that your spoilt.
They said.

Let me try to explain
Again
I said.

Let me hum you a tune,
A rhyme
I said.

It's like playing the deaf,
A sonnet in F,
Asking "Why don't you dance to the beauty?"
I said.

How dare you compare
The deaf
They said.

You're trying to escape
From what!
They said.

So why do you fear,
And why don't you hear,
Your problem is just that you're spoilt.
They said.

I'm tired and I'm broken,
Inside.
I said.

It's raw and exposed,
My soul.
I said.

So all I shall say,
To wrap up this day,
I don't understand how to feel joy,
I said.

Dusty lies the earth,
Cracking under sin so strong,
Child don't cry for me.

Atop sleeps it still,
Whirling waters run below,
Punctured, sleeps no more.

Wind is screaming out,
Teasing the truth from inside,
Cover me up tight.

Ablaze be my shell,
Retching putrid flames of joy,
Shrieking in my eyes.

Trace of what once was:
Cinders bearing what will be.
Only faith is left.

A glimmer of a thought,
She thinks, she ponders
Of the meaning of life
And of what is to be.
And why it was and
How it is now.
Why is it now?

Who am I to be?
Can I feel actions through thoughts?
Thoughts through deed?
There lay the seed.
But not today, not today,
Too weary for thought today.
Maybe tomorrow.

Tomorrow is today, but not today
Too busy for thought today
Certainly tomorrow

So the blanket falls.
And try as she might,
She cannot remember the questions...
Was it
Who am I? What am I?
Or was it
Who am I to love?
What am I to wear?
And there ends her tale.
The End.

Tomorrow falls for tomorrow
Today is never a time
Hair, clothes,
She said,
He said,
Love found and lost.
They all said.
No, today is never a time.

The question lies unasked
Ascends from thoughts so noble
This one had potential, this one had a chance
But the question,
Flies unasked
Dries unasked
Dies unasked.

Silent serpent of length unknown
Eats at its tail, a hungry beast
Further enters the dark world grown,
Slithers into a deadly feast

Fooled, it judges itself so wise,
Insatiable satiated with deceit,
Broken and bent, relentless it tries
Wrenching pain as white and black meet

Proud smirk betrays its resting place
Exchanged terror resides with guile
Scything gleam of the hooded face
Swiftly rides past, a minute a mile

No snake lies where it had once been
Save an etch in thoughts of passers by
Many a struggle in this plane seen
Merge with elements that can not die.

"There's a shadow just behind me,
Shrouding every step I take,
Making every promise empty,
Pointing every finger at me.
Waiting like a stalking butler
Who upon the finger rests
****** now the path called must we
Just before the son has come."

"I am just a worthless liar
I am just an imbecile.
I will only complicate you
Trust in me and fall as well
I will find a center in you
I will chew it up and leave
I will work to elevate you
Just enough to bring you down."

Undertow

Oh cut-throat world,
What do you know?
Cut my throat,
'Nother one will grow.

So slash my wrists
You'll soon see
The pulse in my veins
Is wrist free.

Why chop my legs!
You won't believe,
I'll still run,
Isn't mine to grieve.

Do what you wish,
Hurt clear of mend.
You know what I am?
A start with no end.

Tick tock
Swings the pendulum clock
To and fro
And away we go.

Tick to the To
And the black appears blue
It's as the crystal so clear,
Why I love you my dear.

Tock to the Fro
To the base of the low
Where nothing made sense
Save deep sadness so dense.

Tick to the To
Such a beautiful view
The spark from your soul
That made us once whole.

Tock to the Fro
I feel blow after blow
Your finger pokes and points
To separate lives with no joins

Tick to the To
Remember from whence it once grew
The place without bounds, of security deep
You by my side, I dared to leap

Tick to the Fro
Now nowhere else to grow
Security a prison that here holds me tight
Dreamless, stuck in the darkness of night.

The To of the white
The Fro of the black
I leave that pendulum swinging
And I do not look back.

I have a special superpower
Shall I tell you what.

Let us make a game of this
I'll let you guess my lot.

When the night is ripe and freshly raw
You can brandish me about.

Throw me at your demons dark
And their presence you will doubt.

When the piercing light spills over hills
You can point me at the flame.

Watch the rise of steam unsheathed
None can beat me at my game.

Can you guess who I am now?
Or what I can do for you?

I'll bet you wish you had me now
But you haven't got a clue.

When your string of life drops all its beads
You can roll me on the floor.

Pick ones you choose from off my skin
Rest will meld into my core.

I can be your crutch when you limp unheld
A pillow when resting your dreams.

I can be your sword slashing unseen foes
Or cup filled from meandering streams.

When all is done and tucked in its place
Fling me far to sightless edge.

I won't intrude but hold onto hope
You'll remember where to dredge.

Do you know what my power is?
Do you have me figured out?

My power lies in your need for me
I transcend both hope and doubt.

With mercurial blood
I'm a formless form
I am what you need me to be.
Close your eyes and
Summon my being
I am exactly what you see.

A picture seen at a time past gone,
Clear as a drop at the end of a leaf,
Shatters in a moment under murky tar,
Lost to the eyes burdened with grief.

Swept aside to corners ever so dark,
Pieces afloat atop forgotten sands,
Sleep well dear my shattered love,
There will come time for nourishing hands.

The seer opens one eye and then the next,
Something lies somewhere in corners asleep,
A picture once seen as crystal bright,
Is forgotten and buried under the dark and deep.

The shattered picked up with trembling hands,
The worry that it is all too late,
Trying to conjure the picture once seen,
Fitting jigsaw pieces with edges so straight.

How does the seer bring it back together?
How does it all make sense again?
Struggling with pieces lost in space,
The picture left with a permanent stain.

A hand reaches out from the depths unseen,
Bringing the pieces together with a surety felt,
Rest now dear one, you are not alone,
Hold onto the hand that you have been dealt.

The picture unclear comes together slow,
Yet unknown lies the ending to fill,
Strive on, dear one, strive on and on,
And a new picture emerges on the horizon still.

Do you see your joy
Being wrenched from where it sleeps
Limb by limb
It's torn apart
Under dead weight the floorboard creaks

Do you hear your calm
Being muffled as it shrieks
Hand on mouth
Hilt to it's skin
Under dead weight the floorboard creaks

Do you feel your hope
Being smothered, already weak
Grip of steel
Around it's neck
Under dead weight the floorboards creak

Do you taste your dreams
Being chewed, the juices leak
No morsel spared
And then spat out
Under dead weight the floorboards creak

So let me be your vault
Pour your love in me
I'll keep it safe
And out of reach
And return it when you're free.
I'll protect it, you will see.