They speak to the madman,
Suppression, subversion, detraction,
A vocabulary of ‘less than’.

They speak to the madman,
To the loveless and the wounded,
The self-doubting ego.

They speak to the madman,
A consort of shadows,
Recurrent with paradox.

Until...uncertain as to the integrity of my own thoughts,
Understudied by self-censure and distrust,
I pause to listen in silence to the silence which listens back.

Shadows cross my path.
I rest myself in their shade.
Sit, linger with me.

I am dawn.
A rising sun, its rays barely lighting the horizon.
Gentle swaths of yellow illuminate blurry figures,
their shadows intertwined but their hands empty.

I am the day.
Golden hair cascades down like a waterfall, reflecting beams of light
filtering through rainbow-painted trees.
She wanders alone towards emerald fields still clothed with morning dew,
her only company the flaxen creature gently howling through the silence beside her.

I am dusk.
The sweet scent of roses mingles with the crisp air
as the last whispers of light fade from the sky.
Four people are silhouetted against the dying sun,
grass tickling their feet as their laughter fills the air
and sugar-sweet strawberries fill their mouths.

I am the night.
Light spills out an open window
and a small figure gazes up at the glittering sky.
"I wish..." she breathes so softly that her words are lost in the wind, "I wish."
Then the curtains draw closed and all that's left
is a handprint on the fogged-up glass
and the promise of tomorrow.

Staring at the ceiling in the dark
A new world comes to life

Dancing shadows
Like familiar silhouettes
From memories once so dear
Doing dips and pirouettes
Entangling then seperate
Few seeming so desperate
Whilst others only bid adieu
For not all is too
Far gone, far down
All things shall arise

Ribbons like smoke
Or regrets chains that choke
A serpent, slithering in the mind
Plotting to seize control

A figure of shadow
Creeping by the doorway
Moving soundlessly across the ground
To stop and stare
At the one who dare
Look back
Into the eyes of a darkness.

- Jay M
August 24th, 2020

The distorted utopia swallows
me in into the bed of ghosted souls
among the thorns of lies that
pile on with twisted smiles
and words of sugar.

The deserted lands that once saw
joy lay parched with fear of pain.
The permanent is the new flaw,
That drives the winds of pleasure away,
as I hide in my shadows.

Lost
       In your eyes,
                               Dreaming of darkness
                                            Again

I wish we just could
            ignite,
Burn away the tears
                         In the night

              But whenever we dream,
         You always just
                                  fly away again.

       Alone in the darkness,
          no feeling of light.
                                         Alone in the shadows
                                      With strength I can’t fight.

      I’m lost without you.
                                       I’m now without rules,
                   The feeling of sadness
                                                          Is making me cuel

    

                                       But I will thrive.
                                I will thrive without you.