Seems I like dark deception
and the odd manipulative game,
I question quality of reflection
as each shares the same.
And it seemed like love
until I’ve finally had enough.

I tie up my own two feet
and put my hands straight to shackle,
and while the imprisonment is sweet
there’s too much bitterness to tackle.
And it seemed like love
until the rose tint got scuffed.

She shook the flowers from her hair
and my fingers were cut from the thorns of the tangles.
I thought there were a million clear signs there
I took the time to find each direction, possibilities and angles.
Did I demonize a saint?
or did I give a monster wings?
The image is up for perception, not the paint,
and the same song is different depending on who sings.

Seems I attract words of blades
and metaphorical slaps in the face,
deciphering shadows into different shades
and ranking them last to first place.
And I wanted it to be love,
but it was lower when I thought it above.

I see false inflated importance
or I see nothing at all.
With black and white I took a grey stance,
but my planted feet kept me from standing tall.
An empty home with a closing wall.

Seems I like dark deception
and the odd manipulative game,
I convince myself it’s forms of affection,
so it’s only I to blame.
And it seemed like love,
but I chose the noose instead of my glove.

Triumphantly raised colorful flagpole insignia dynasties
of this country and that country and other country
destroying each other territorial
like rabid animals and house pets.  
Atomic bomb cat food will feed us full
in fallout by the end!
Meeeee-oww!

The child screams as the beast draws near,
unable to run frozen in fear.
Pinning the boy to the ground with one claw,
then ripping him open he begins to maw.
A girl so fragile yet so brave,
draws the beasts attention with one small wave.
The beast lashes out with fiery breath
The girl cries out with the pain of death
People flee without success,
from the dragons murderous breath.
Soon there is nothing left to ****,
the village lays quiet desolate and still.
The beast waists nothing of his prey
He feeds until the end of day.
The rest he takes back to his weyr,
To feed his hatchlings waiting there.

© Crystal Erickson 1999

I feel the warm sun upon my skin
As it penetrates and enfolds
The stark early morning cold.

And I remember how I have loved you
When my love was still unafraid,
And my hope the only flame in me.

I kept it burning high, so high;
I did not even have the faintest glow
Inside my body when it died.

Howling power comes at me,
the shock wave of energy quick,
leaving little time to think,
death is imminent,

soon everything around me,
will be gone,
completely destroyed,
by the monster we created,

I don’t know who sent it,
only that in seconds,
I’ll be decimated,
I take a last breath,

there is nothing,
to feel or do,
just time to die,

I feel sorry,
for those we leave behind,
in the dust and rubble,
they will rise burdened,
and survive,