{Set I: Brandon}
The sky is bleeding in lethargy
Winter gives a sharp howl at me
Leaves rippled, rusty, blown into the wind
I cry as the guitar writes with its acoustic pen
Your ship may have taken damage
At your lowest points you had to ravage
Everyone pictures red like a Spanish bull
A hurricane's destruction can leave you null
I remember, I was there
Stroking this gentle, thin, string
My melancholic melody echoes across the plane
But my survival, like yours, need not be the same
You will go through great struggles
But you don't have to overcome them alone
Don't ever let go
You will never know
How the power of friendship and support feels
I've seen the demonic eye that is a black hole
Sacrificing your life is not worth reclaiming what it stole
Woah-oh-oh; Venus help me restore such beauty
Give us the courage to walk through destruction happily
Because Pain is temporary, yes
While friendship is divine; everlasting
Let us ever last Pain

Life is so hard sometimes.

It pulls, taking the table cloth
along with it.
It strengthens, taking the tide
along with it.
It chides
talking the moon
out of its misery
wishing it were daybreak
but when day arrives,
the moon wishes it were night.
Round and round we go
on this roller coaster called life.
Hanging on is so difficult
with responsibilities tugging
at the mainframe
about to crumble apart like
break pads crumbling under
the weight of it all.
A pressurized catapult or
catalog explaining the width
it takes to squeeze through
the trash chute without
crushing anything of importance.
Holding our breath
as the bumps become clear
afraid of the coaster
slipping off the tracks
and plummeting into
the frigid unknown.
Luck is only heresy
in this world of uncertainty.
But cars can be fixed,
jobs can be taken,
and bodies can be satisfied
in ways unheard of in reality.

Life is so hard sometimes.

But looking at it with new eyes,
with a combative, stubborn grip
on the cold steel handle,
a roller coaster can be both exhausting and exhilarating

if you know what to look for.

This is hard

like yanking teeth

or rising up

from a warm bed

at the beginning of winter.

This is hard

like stepping out of

quicksand or thick mud

like pulling a sled

up a steep mountain

in the midst of

a hazardous blizzard.

This is hard

to lie and lie again

but instead of

shrugging off those lies

like locusts or pestilence

or bugs or mal intent

a sanction needs to be clear

and fully carried out.

My actions need to reflect

past words as rough and as raw

as a sore throat

swallowing cold water.

To persevere is to not give up

even when my mind is trapped

in the heaviest of slumber.



I have to do what needs to be done

even though I'd rather

slit my wrists or cut off my thumb.

I am surrounded
by people are can drink
all of their problems away.

And all I want to do,
is drink.

Because if they drink
all of their problems away,
why shouldn't I be allowed
to drink you away.

because you're always on my mind
but am I ever even on yours?

What's up brother, how have you been feeling?

I know it's been a while since we shared our true feelings.

I know that problems can stack and smash into a glass ceiling

And when glass breaks it's never too appealing.

we have to pick up the pieces

**** feels like a fishing pole that keeps reeling

But on the real, if the damage was in a deck of cards would you keep dealing?

This is coming from a kid who barely speaks but keeps listening

******* doesn't shine when it walks it glistens

Then attracts people by the pieces it has missing

We fill in the gaps, by doing some of this, some of that.

Not because we want to, but because we want to adapt From the feelings that lack and haunt us from the past.

I'm truly sorry that your dad passed away, I'm sure things get harder every single day. But there's just one thing that I want to say, I know he wants to see you with a smile on your face, I know he loved you in every single way, I know this because people who love each other think the same.

And as long as you're here I will never stay away, always stay awake, our past will never fade away.

I remember when we use to play, games on the Nintendo, that controller was made of glue because we never let go. Bomber man, Mortal Kombat, Duck Hunter & all that! Always causing a commotion on the games we would focus...little kids watching toons watching moving a like hocus pocus.

Animorphs was the ****, so was tales of the crypt, I remember you did that move on my neck like the Xena chick. In 10 seconds I would be dead, then you turned It off like a switch.

Every move I would twitch, you were just well equipped with punches and super kicks, all your moves were simply ****, bomb-diggity-bomb I mean lethal. You were a ninja mastermind Who had killed million people.

Then you would sit back and act like you didn't do ****

But when mom and ***** came around that was it.

Super belts for the whoopin, rice & beans they were cookin, rice & beans in a napkin then pocket, when they weren't looking.

Not saying there cooking was bad.
That's all we every had.
And **** I'm really glad that's not all they every gave use

Good lessons were taught, we learned them a little later. And If I could go back in time, I wouldn't change our behavior, past moments or memories, because then we would never see that I'm a part of you and are a part me.

Not necessarily a picture perfect family but **** the picture if all it speaks vanity.

Where both in a family tree but your  branch to me is important.

You have been an inspiration for me to go forth with.

All this technology, honestly when I saw you working with computers I wanted to be. Apart from what you where doing even when we where doing different things and just moving.

Trying to find our identities, reckless teen, I can see that what you where doing was never seen. In trouble by seventeen. I thank you for keeping me away from the streets.

Always living inside a lesson learning from your mistakes will soon bring progression. I know I haven't been that expressive, but please take this a compliment not an insult to contend with. Even if we head off into our own directions I know that we will always be connected.