I got the news this morning
Not the way to start the day
Another friend had fallen
I now grieve for Johnny Ray

I can not hide my feelings
I'm not sure how to feel
I wait for him to phone me
This just does not feel real

Let's celebrate his life though
Not with prayer, let's sing and yell
We know that he will hear us
Up in heaven raising hell

When you lose a loved one
There's things they say to do
But, ***** that, let's get rowdy
Let's do something loud and new

Remember them through music
Do it loud so they can hear
Sing, shout, be vocal
They're gone but they're still near

Tonight we will remember
On the stage we'll sing and yell
So Johnny Ray can hear us
Up in heaven raising hell
Yep, Johnny will sure hear us
Up in heaven raising hell

I understand
Love to be the appreciation of
What you can give.

No, love is love for the sake of love.

But I see nothing innocent, just pure.
“I appreciate you for the way you make me feel”
A.k.A
“I appreciate you for what you give to me”
A.K.A
“I love you.”

Sure it’s a little sweet but
It’s the only time you don’t mind being
Positively manipulated,
Positively used.
And you balance the scales with:
“I love you too”.

I feed off of you,
As you feed off of me,
And we’ll call this relationship ‘healthy’
And here we are.
Bound by a verbal contract,
Constantly in contact.
And I am stuck in your orbit oblivious as
To where I am headed.
I don’t understand this.
I look for the exit,
Because you are hungry,
And I am poor.

Treasures, hidden under weeping willows
Growing where the air runs wild.
Their spirit roams free.

They are like gold.
Exquisite.

Through storms,
hustling through the winds,       surrounding me
they soften each gust.

My friends truly,
are are a work of art.

You know you can tell me,
all the troubles you encounter,
when the voices getting louder.

You know you can tell me,
when the wind is ripping on your sails,
and you just need to exhale.

You know you can tell me,
all you ever need,
so you can proceed.

A knife to the chest I could barely breathe,
You hit me when I was at my weakest,
You knocked me down when I was already on my knees,
I begged you to stop, I even said please,

You slammed my head into the wall,
You didn’t stop til I started to crawl,
Is this what makes you feel like a man?
Leaving a woman unable to stand?

You grabbed me by the shoulders and wouldn’t stop shaking me,
Another argument gone awry,
I gave you a taste of your own medicine,
Then you saw what it’s like to be hit,

I punched you in the face as hard as I could,
You saw stars and nearly blacked out,
I heard my own voice screaming,
“This is what you did to me,”

Pushing and pushing until I snapped,
You ***** me, you hit me, you verbally abused me,
It was about time I fought back,
Like a lion I started to attack,

Then one day I looked in the mirror,
Realizing I too had become an abuser,
You were my poison and much more,
I knew I had to push you out the door.

In the blink of an eye you were gone,
In another relationship immediately,
I knew exactly what you were up to,
When she reached out to me because you ***** her too,

I’ll never have justice for what you did,
What you put me through,
I’ll never know what it’s like to see you behind bars,
Even after all the beatings and scars,

It’s going to be so hard to say this,
But I forgive you for what you did,
I forgive myself for what I’ve done,
I’ve finally learned to put down the gun.
-SC

Don't speak directly to her--
you will melt the skin  off
     her bone-frame

Instead,  find parallel-words--

ones that will  float alongside her
as she walks,  so as she is able-
she can pluck them--  like
wild roses  alongside the highway

Sometimes, love takes a
   tremendous
amount of creativity--

the name of the game is
    its destination..
not  the control of its path

You.
You mean so much
to me,
to the world,
to my heart,
to everyone around us

so everytime we part…

I’m at a loss,
without you,
without the one I want to protect the most,
the one I feel with, not for,
because I feel it with my all,
like its my own,
with you,

like you are home.

I worry about us
I really do
because I put my all inside of you.

I do this a lot, I find-
with the women that get me in a bind.

but this is different,
because you are you,
you are male,
you are a best friend,

one with whom I just never want to see the end…

usually, I know it’s not far
I know I will last
reunited by the New Year’s star.

but this time is different,
because of you,
because I know you are hurting,
I know you are far,
I want to protect you,
and give you my all.

I’m scared of the time
the time to think on my own
to worry
and wonder

and miss my “You” home.

for now,
I will wait
I will see you again
but I can’t stop the hurting

I can’t not miss my friend.

If nobody has told you yet:
You are brave for doing what you did.
Everybody knows it.
I just thought it was about time you knew it too.