From behind the screen
Behind the façade
They smile at you

Their eyes tell stories
Once upon a time
Or those yet to come

Prophetic in their work
They see the tragedies
They see the ugly hand of fate

Turning the page, they smile
Blank as always, they write
Of foreign days and starlit nights

Of damning fire or of eternal fright
Bright blessed day, dark sacred night
What a sight

What goes through their head
Why do they see
This curse of sight, a blight

It troubles them to know
But it doesn't bother them
They write nonetheless

Looking down at that page
They smirk and chuckle
Blank, just how they like it

Another vision to come
Another secret revealed
Another tragedy unfolds

The rose wilts as all life does
Withers and fades away
Graceful and attractive
Thorned

It cuts deep as all love does
A knife to the heart
Twisted in the open wound
Elegant

It is innocuous as all demons are
Fallen angels stained with hatred
Viscous and sadistic
Abusive

It is unknown as all malevolence is
Lurking in the shadows, stalking
Unyielding and horrific
Insidious

It is vile as all faith is
Believing it never was as bad
Forgiving or forgetting
Remorseless

It is done as all hatred is
With no regret or remorse
With none reciprocated either
Stolen

It is stained as all art is
Your work laid bare before me
For me to tear to shreds
Cathartic

It is broken as I am
Shattered and left beaten and used
But out of the ashes I return
Remade

Frozen in time
Overwhelmed by my mind
Lost in translation
Trapped by the grind

But you're there for me

Hazy and unresponsive
Not a part of this world
Gone... Gone...
A victim of this twisting reality

And still, you're there

Frozen... Fractured...
Unyielding torment overwhelms me
Losing myself... Losing you
Losing all I ever saw in you

And yet, you're there

Missing in action
Faded away into aeons gone by
Gone... Gone...
A victim of a maelstrom of lies

But forever, you're there

Broken, though not beyond repair
The shards we are—
Those who chose to share
Who they are

"In time—"
I cut myself off, recalling
Yet another fragment—
Another moment given light to shine

They were me— are me
It's hard to explain sometimes—
Hard to comprehend
The Shards

Memory is fickle—
Fleeting and ephemeral
Like a warm spring breeze
Lost in eternity with us

Us— the Shards; Fragments
Pieces of a whole— Me
Fragments of a Shattered Mind
Scarred and broken, but mended

Mended as I am though
I still bear those scars
And the Shards who pierced the mind
Pierced the soul

With mirrored clarity I see them
I see myself— One in the same
With clinical precision they cut
Fragmenting me— Us...

These golden wings carry me high
Though far too brittle they are
Just the lightest tap and they'll shatter

And just like that, I hang in mid air
A momentary pause in time
A respite to reflect on what matters

But what does matter if not my heart
Brittle like those golden wings, now shrapnel
And here I am, broken and battered

And just like that, the moment's gone
The illusion of time, restored
I would never realize what was the matter

Falling, plummeting; writhing in pain
Golden shards of glasslike shrapnel
Shreds, scars, and lascerates

I bleed and bleed, though not a tear shed
I am strong, though not strong enough it seems
May my soul this land consecrate

Terminal velocity, how apropos a phrase
Not terminal for Earth, but for me
My mind, not even these wings could sate

My final seconds are swift, not a single delay
Hitting the ground with force
And those golden shards rain down their hate

That smile on your face; the glimmer in your eye
Not stricken by the hand of fate
Never wavering from its cause; its purpose

You bring me hope; promises of a better time
The inevitable summer sunrise
Leading us forward; Persephone our guide

The divine in me shines through your eyes
Lighting the path on my darkest nights
My mind stuck racing; fight or flight

Your hope brings me faith; brighter days will be
My wings are strong to carry our love
Ascension; rising high in the clouds above

Parting the clouds; sun beams shine through
Our path is now lit once more
And with these golden wings, I soar

I drift away to lands of blight
A dream to come; I'm cursed with sight
Looking up, then left, then right
Midday sky; black as night

My mind aflutter; lost in a haze
A gentle cloud; of black and gray
Upon a hill of grass I lay
Under the black-as-void sky's gaze

I'm carried into the nightmare unbound
Knowing not if I'll ever be found
Farther and farther from the ground
It seems for now that I might drown

Although it resides within my head
It fills me still with fear and dread
A fear that I'll never shed
Even as I awake safe in bed