Crumble
brothels sprout
flesh peddlers collect their fees
selling daughters
in twos and threes
Lopez or Diaz
lazy or defiant
escaped
in polluted lagoons
the virus spreads

Dancing with the dead
priests absolve the devils
in their mist
Pilar sold her virginity
for a few bars of gold
wrapped in an old ladies hatred
she murdered her vows

Mexico is a land of smiles
the knife only glints
in the Aztec sun
as they bury you
after eating your heart

don't cry because he didn't love you
nor because you sit alone
biding away
between meaningless breaks
in an endless day
not because they never saw
never looked
far enough
inside your mind

cry because they love too much
because every text and tweet
and shout in the hall
those whispers in you ear
had never known love
they abuse "love"
throw it around
like amateur middle-schoolers
playing catch

cry because you know
nothing other than this "love"
and too much to accept it

I saw her in my room
She was beautiful thief
And good at stealing

Her sparking eyes
Made my heart
Fly to the skies

Im closing my eyes
Feel her warm hands
Around my chest

I feel her warm breath
Around my neck
She started to blush

Her heart started to rush
And i said hush
Enjoy how I steal your heart.

Light
                                                inside
    ­                                                 defies

                                       a love that denies


                                           Flight
                                               height
                                                     petrifies

                                       a promise that lies


                                            Bright
       ­                                         delight
                ­                                      collide

                  ­                     with heartache in sight


                                           Provide
                                                subside
 ­                                                        hide


                                       Another stolen night

There is no space for you in this regime
I had thought once and for all that I might truly be queen
but now I am forced to share my throne with a beast

now only the silence meets my screams
it sits me down for a meal that I must eat
my throne at the end of the table no longer my seat

the hand of night seldom brings
the rest and beauty of the now lost dream
my mind is only sieged in sleep

nothing I say will bring me peace
saving, no longer, can be decreed
not as long as you can speak

and as I weep
for your feet are those of a thief
yet you are not the one to flee
you have made your story one to believe

no, no, you are not welcome in this regime
there is only one crown and only one queen

In my religion we're taught that every living thing, every leaf, every bird, is only alive because it contains the secret word for life. That's the only difference between us and a lump of clay. A word. Words are life, Liesel.

- Max to Liesel in Markus Zusak’s *The Book Thief

We cannot walk with Dostoyevsky as
Guards drag him chained before a firing squad
Comfort Saint Joan against the English flames
Or pray with good Saint Thomas in his cell

We cannot slosh through sodden trenches in France
With Lieutenant Lewis on his birthday
Argue with Akhmatova at The Stray Dog
Or with Frankl at Auschwitz bury dead friends

Unless we read, and then through words we see
The morning sun upon Byzantium

Gone,
Gone the man who came before,
Who knew to stay safe on the shore.
He went too deep into the surf,
And drifted away,
And now he’s hurt.

Gone,
Gone the creature who used to sing
Songs in the dark to a shadow bell’s ring.
Its melody’s gone sweetly stale.
Cold as night’s wind,
A truly sad tale.

Gone,
Gone the one who was the greatest.
The one who was saved by this the latest.
The latest of thieves to steal from the wrong.
But now they’re all gone.
Where have they gone?

Gone,
Gone the man who became the greatest creature.
Saved by thief’s song at the shore as a feature.
He knew what he was doing,
But he was wrong.
Now he’s all gone.