Wearing her whitest wool
And a golden pin, pushed and pulled
Across her best blue coat
Until his darkness pulls it tight around Lucy's throat

Wearing his black mask
Rubbing the pearl between his grey claws
He held the corpse but still no one dared to ask
Just sent him on his way to bear an eternal flaw

They met in the center of their war
Dropping tears in their wake
And again held up the even score
Dissatisfied with the thirst eternity could not slake

To fill the emptiness with hollow things

To speak through our teeth only in whispers

To find remorse in the beautiful memories

To pour the milk ourselves

To walk away from that which we hold closest

To clog the drain with pebbles from our shoes

To hate those who love us

To hate those who cannot

To dog-ear the pages in borrowed novels

To hide lies beneath our skin

To lie thorns beneath the bedsheets

To forget to say hello

To forget to say good bye

the note would fall out of a book
published for her one true love
rarely ever opened,
hardly ever looked at
by the one she writes of....

the note was quite verbose
and spoken in the first verse

I never loved anyone last
You were forever my first.
So here shall sit this broken letter
trying to explain a tapestry past,
crazy stitched upon cheap fabric
bleeding upon the broken glass
that litters our yesteryear
which I continually crawl upon,
every word whispered on my body
beats a rhythm of our song.
Soul deep and penetrating
bleeding notes that lull like crack
and when the sweet torture
splits your veins apart,
there is nothing you'd take back.
So grant me this peace in misery,
read the words of the book
where you find the note
because I wonder how long
it would take you to find it,
I feel it should have been
the first place you looked

He never found the note
because he left the book closed.
Yet he continues to cut her
a single rose, from the bush
she planted years ago,
because he thinks
it will bring her back
If he'd only opened the book
he'd know that,
*She really said Good-bye

because when you told me
you had to leave for school
i knew that if it was me
i would skip it, just for you.

and then you were sleepy
so i let that happen, too
i knew that if it was me
i would stay awake, just for you.

after, you had to eat lunch
yeah, again, i let you go
i knew that if it was me
i would starve, just for you.

lastly
you told me
with simple words that showed no sorrow
that it was good bye
that you got tired of us
especially you got tired of me

i almost
didn't let you leave
because
i knew that if it was me
*i would never, ever go

Don't you understand that I am a poison?
I will take you down too.
So I dare you to bite me,
fight me,
I dare you,
because when you're enjoying your sweet victory,
i'll be swimming in your veins
slowly killing you
like you have killed me.
For I am your poison
and you are mine.

When you decided to stop smoking
you kept buying cigarettes,
still carried them around in the
pocket of your jeans
but told yourself that
every time you lit one
you'd have to put it out on your hand,
and so you savored every moment
that smoke rushed through your lungs,
let them all burn down to the ****
before you took a deep breath
and pressed it against your palm.
You still smoke.

Today I watched your
lungs turn inside out against themselves,
the air unsure of where to go so it just
hovered
in that middle space between coughs,
when you thought you'd caught your breath but
your voice hitched when you tried to talk and
you started choking again,

I saw
that today, your
eyes watering as you struggled to
remind your body how to sustain itself,
you cussed between fits and asked,
"isn't this supposed to happen on its own,"
you wheezed,
"shouldn't something so
instinctual
be easier than this?"

You didn't sound like you wanted an answer so I
kept my mouth shut,
brought you a glass of water.

Off in the distance
you could see the clouds forming
a blanket of white
on a canvas of blue
the wind was beginning
to give birth to some devils
and what was to come
only hardened men knew

"cut loose the horses"
let them run wild
we'll get them all later
when the storm
has passed through
they'll be safe in the canyon
the ones that aren't broken
the devil is coming
and the sky still showed blue

lock down the horse barns
and lock up the cattle
the wind is beginning
it'll be here real soon
out in the desert
when the wind starts to howling
it'll bring up the dust
and it'll block out the moon

The temperature dropped
and the sky had changed colour
the blue was now gone
it was now kind of grey
the clouds were still forming
you could see there behind them
a funnel of black
the devil at play

once it gets going
nothing can save you
get inside fast
and hunker down low
there's a silence so eerie
before the train rumble
that only the older
cowboys do know

put out the fire
get low and stay hidden
the devils at play
and he'll tear you apart
the wind is his plaything
and you'll be his victim
he'll skin you alive
and he'll rip out your heart

the horses run wild
some may not make it
others will live
as they make for the caves
those we have broken
are at the mercy of nature
we'll know once we're done
just how many we saved

the wall of sand hit hard
a black sheet of horror
you could hear it outside
as it ripped at the wall
back in the corner
the young cowboys were shaking
the old one's stood guard
against the devil's strong call

for hours it raged
and it tore at the building
sand getting in
where the building  gave way
nobody spoke
until early next morning
they just sat and watched
the devil at play

silence, just silence
meant the storm was now over
the door was thrown open
the devastation was seen
the corral was empty
but, for two wild turkeys
and there was a single dead horse
where the stable had been

the devil spoke loudly
he sent quite a message
the horses are mine
they run wild and run free
i'll keep the storms coming
this was the fourth in a decade
leave them to run
or you'll all deal with me

the old cowboys looked round
and they took in the damage
lit up a fire
and said thank god we're alive
we've made it through four
and we'll rebuild even stronger
if we ever can hope
to get through storm number five

the will of a cowboy
and the will of the devil
one is much stronger
it's as strong as the land
the devil will fight you
it's just in his nature
but, the cowboy will win
because he's part of the land