-

           Let's write our names in the sand
and build a dam against the tide

They tell me to light the flame inside,
When it’s the reason I run and hide.
Much like the force of a rushing tide.

Forceful pleasure leads to forceful pain
Leaving upon the soul a stain
One of colors red and black,
Of a time never to be brought back.

The flame burns bright
Though sometimes only a candlelight.
We all face our fears in time
For peace, we all must fight.

We could run and hide,
But we should light the flame inside.
Because even the tide gets weary sometimes.

In the name of the Zenith,
the Nadir, and the Meridian.
I’ll follow Vivienne
to the waters of oblivion.

© Matthew Harlovic

Days begin
somewhere under
the height of
the sinking moon

and the tides that dance in and out
with it; I drift among
the crests—resting among them—
wondering how to catch a fish—
how to catch myself.

The ride of the tide,
A change in its shape,
It's soft glow in the dark...

It seeks the blackness
*And consumes it.

Why do you think Conversations run shallow in age
and in more age deeper?
Do we hate to feel and then want to feel again?
The endless cycle of passive self awareness
This charged energy who wants to share,
wants to be heard yet hides in a place waiting
to be let out by someone else.

After so many years of nothing
I will let them out on their own again.
Play in the pool and splash around a bit.
I don't know why it took me until now to let
myself get wet again
Marco....

A resurgence of emotion, you are an ocean.
Wrath of the sea proves powerful over me,
And spits my seashell fragments ashore,
broken and soft.


Your force will hold no boat aloft,
Unforgiving waves push them away and I have nothing to say.
A thousand times you’ve crashed down on me, a thousand little pieces
have created this beach.

But like when the moon waxes and wanes
Or the storms roll in and it rains-
Your surge is anticipated, your receding so late
Leaves my sand fragments so jaded
I regret to say every tide I’ve awaited.

you wake,
my mistake,
make me dry my eyes.
When it takes you
break, make me realize
seasons change
and summer fades
If you sway then so shall I
I will rise, and I will fall
Be the moon and I'll be your tide

We try so hard - never get so far
on our aging wings and our growing scars.
We cry in vain to our heart shaped chains,
they look back,
whisper
the same.

Medicate my mistakes
from these places in my mind
while I make my escape;
my exodus from pride.
When it comes, when it goes,
if you stay then so shall I.
I will rise, I will set
I'll be the moon you be my tide

We try so hard but never get so far
as our tattered wings fade into scars.
We sing in vain to our heart shaped cage
And these walls
echo back
our refrain.

make me a space
where I can place my hand.
Then fake , and save face
I can understand.
When it comes and winter goes
if you melt then so shall I.
I will rise,
and subside

You're my moon
You're my tide


-Mitch Paradise

She weeps not for the shore
As distance creates a shadow
She embraces the current
Becoming the wave
And gently pushes her sea home

She chases not the sun
As the day is put to rest
She is the moonlight
That cradles the stars
Tightly to her *******

She yearns not
Her pain-streaked tears
That fall below her feet
She is the soil beneath her toes
Her pain now colors the tree

She worries not
The flowers' bloom
Or the leaves that fall like rain
She is the wind
That will kiss the ground
And sweep it all away