The next best thing

Dark shadows hug the ceiling
Like so many helium balloons
Carelessly released by a child
Reaching for the next best thing

Eventually they will fall weary
Cascading in monochrome misery
Suffocating my empty world
In languishing latex and rubber

And I sit on the cold floor waiting
Staring above at my timely demise
Finally coming to the realization
I am not the next best thing

Place your hand upon my chest.
It reminds me how it feels when it's mended.
Then use it to cradle your head while you rest.
The worst of it, like the day, has ended.

~


When forests cling the atmosphere
and sorrow hits the beach
The moon will bleed a thousand tears
so far beyond our reach

As butterflies remove their wings
to show their heart is true
I know the pain of hurtful words
now cast upon the dew

These whispered foolish sentences
once spoken out of turn
Are thorny vines now clinging tight
this tattered skin to learn

When now I fall like pouring rain
to drown upon my knees
I beg for some forgiveness of
this self induced disease

So when you find the brittle earth,
another comes as brave
It matters not the steps you use
to dance upon my grave