rookie Dalmatian foot
hamper estuary
congress bulb toddler

Today was the day I died
Left for dead, at dead of night
Truck stop ride, then dropped roadside
Four lanes wide, now walking as I cry
Asked god why, just give me wings I'll fly
Bashful, and I'm shy, no one would pick up a guy.
Still was gonna try, so I  held my thumb up high
Cars flew right by, as they laughed waving goodbye
Long winded sigh, before deciding to retry
One second bone dry, next a monsoon from the sky
Wonder what did it signify, as the rain intensified
Couldn't believe my eyes, when a car stopped with a slide
A Rabi and a man sporting a spotted neck tie
Said that I could hop inside, then shifted into drive.
Little did I know how quickly things would go awry
They didn't care to specify, they didn't clarify
Behind me peoccupied, was a man wielding a knife.
Grabbed me by the neck and told me to comply
Completely horrified when I saw the bloodlust in their eyes.
It was three against I, in no position to defy
Bound my hands with zip ties as they talked of alibis
Made a turn nearby, road I couldnt identify
They then pry me out the car said it was time to purify
Told me to abide in exchange I'd keep my life
In an attempt to pacify, all my urges nullified
Entered a modified house, it was heavily fortified
Completely terrified when my suspicions were verified
Number of people had multiplied, all so satisfied
All here to glorify, the ritual sacrifice
Hoping they would be deified, not knowing they would be denied.
My plan was then solidified, "I'll run before crucified
Get far away then hide, notify the FBI and then I'll testify"
Then i let out battle cry, turned to run, stabbed in the thigh
Fell to the ground petrified,  25 times siliced till no longer alive
I wondered why while my soul arises and watched my body ossify
This indeed is how I died, by means of homicide

-Ajm

A maiden lost before her time,
Her dying light casts a shadow upon a man's face
Revealing the monster that has always existed.

A fool reaches forward to grasp an illusion,
A friend who is nothing but the mirror of a mirage
Always avoiding the truth in the reflection.

Welcome back to the island, friends,
For it has been so long since then,
When we wandered these shores in childish wonder
And played these games in the shadows of absent stars.

I:
I stopped for breath;
It was earthy, the soil
Was putrid to the touch:
Death oozed out of the cracks
Of the river, bubbling unnaturally.
Life was naught where I roamed.
Squeezing the last drops out of the bottle,
My cracked lips groaned, the silence strangled my memory
Only the weak were erased that day.
Four years ago I think
She ruled herself with a spring in her step
Before the sludge, the acid sludge
Wiped her dreams away
And ushered in the sun of winter
To never see summer again.

II:
Speckled with dust I carried onward;
The terrain flashed with familiarity
As I stepped into the darkness of her home
If you can even call it that anymore;
Her smile is a deep crimson, the blood of the many
Line her barren wasteland. Sometimes I face the winds
Instead of hiding; but they bring those hollow, pale spirits
Ever closer. They only stop
To torment; their whispers perfectly pierce
And destroy the hope I once had.

III:
They tell me sweet nothings and extend their hands of absence;
I cower in the darkness to stop their screams.
The scimitar of radiant light cuts through the night
As I prepare to face the wasteland again.

Swallows, sloes and willows; gone are the days where
They lined the earth and made it smell whole again.
Now we lay motionless in dreams long lost
Lonesome as I was, the ghosts haunt where I once were.

IIII:
The path in front of me winds endlessly;
Shattered and incomplete, it beckons me
To wherever it decides to take me.
For I am naught in the wasteland;
I will wait for her to come back
But the sands of time are not on my side.

Juxtaposed screams rain from the clock tower.
     Internal fire, external relief.
Oozing through the crevice I sit and stare.
     Lavishing every ounce of passion.
Desire cracking through to the mantle.
    Off-setting the pain, replaced with a burn.
Immediately grasping at the straws.
    Volumes aborted to the spit-fire.
Embers the final proof of their love.
    Enchanted I call to the heart of it all.

You.