There's a man outside doing karate
While squawking children hang from rails in the bus
He looks as though he's dancing
Somewhat graceful in the fresh cold of the morning air
While we remain inside
Recycling stale breath
Trying to block out the loud shouts of
Small people
Who don't understand what it is to be human yet
Who haven't experienced enough life
To know what we do

There's a sense of certainty that hangs in this old air
We will leave at 9.15
The kids will be alright
The bus ride for them will be exciting
We will arrive at the train station
We will say thanks to the driver
Who made them pay three times the price
Because they paid in the wrong currency
And they don't know how else to get home
A man hums at the back of the bus
Waiting to get off
Dreaming of the other end of this island

The passport control said no photos
The armed police stood behind made it sure
The ferry on the horizon disappeared from view
Taking with it bad memories
Fourteen hours of bad sleep, card games and anger
Screaming into pillows
Kicking the walls
Throwing the coat hangers
Before slumping to the ground
Defeated
And reading ourselves to sleep
Voices hanging in the still air
Reminding us that we are still alive

We don't talk about what's happened;
That would be against the rules
We never talk about what we've done
Though it's hard to forget
Instead we quote others
Who've expressed better our sentiments
Talking in tongues we communicate more clearly than ever
Our laughs masking the pain inside
Our shouts covering the quiet voices inside
Who remind us of the bad in this world,
Who remind us of the choices we've made in this life.

Still, we remain undefeated.

I will never look
how I have always looked
My skin will fade
It will wilt
It will crumble.
Like a mountain
To the wrath of the sea
Time will engulf me
Shape me
Change me.
I will not love as I have loved;
Cautiously,
Unwittingly,
Untruthfully
I will not speak as I do now;
Freely-
As with youth comes great ignorance.
My mind will fill itself
With more life
Than I had ever imagined I'd live
Though it will remain open
Until the very moment
At which I draw my final breath
And let the tide sweep me away.

Ophelia I wish you'd come home
I wish you'd stop those wonders through the woods
Ophelia please step back from the river bank
You can't swim

Oh Ophelia they said it was so tragic
They thought you were so beautifully morose
Your hair flowing from under you
Like the pond **** dragged downstream

Oh Ophelia they thought you looked so lovely
Skin as pale and cold as the petals on those lily pads
Glittering like treasure on a bed of rocks in the freezing blue
Pale, still and passive

Oh Ophelia they said it was so poetic
That like the lady of the lake you would be preserved,
Mythical in their minds, decomposing in form
As the river dragged you further from home

Oh Ophelia they called me down at midday
The funeral was planned they said
A mythical theme they said
The colour scheme blue and green

Oh Ophelia they enjoyed the ceremony
There were girls dressed as mermaids singing siren songs
As they drank tea and pink lemonade
A party for Poseidon

Oh Ophelia I wish you'd come home
They turned your voice from truth to sugar
They turned your mind from pure to perfume
They're turning my life from reality to nightmare

Oh Ophelia I wish you'd said goodbye
I miss our talks in the moonlight under the gaze of a million stars
You saw the world so raw, so true
And they forced your mind away

Oh Ophelia I'm so sorry
I let them whisk you away from reality
I let you dance with the fairies
Even though you didn't belong in their dream

Oh Ophelia how I miss you
And wish that you could come home
I kept your books in a box in my closet
When if I'd wanted to help you I'd have buried that corset instead

Thoughts of an inconsequential nature
Don't actually listen
Or I'm afraid you'll really hear me
I just need to vent
And yours is the friendliest face
I can think of.

Please don't take them the wrong way.

We spent three months of our lives
Together almost everyday
In some formation
We formed our own family
Dysfunctional in all the usual ways
We're all young
And still in love with the world
But terrified of our own lives
It was a perfect mix

We spent car rides together
Squealing and singing, dancing and shouting
Watching flamingoes sleep on lake shores
And llamas grazing by the roadside
We saw condors swooping overhead
As we climbed what felt like mountains
Compared to us
Sleeping underneath more stars
Than we had imagined were in the sky

We got lost and found our ways back
We got happy, waiting on lay-bys
We got up
At 4am, awoken by the sound of
Out of tune harmonicas
And your shouting
We fell asleep
To the sound of each other's heavy breathing
Exhausted but satisfied

Now we're apart
But from our own bonds
Woven like siblings,
Like friends,
Some of us like lovers
And all we have left
Are the photos we took together
And the memories
That I hope will last my lifetime

a million cross roads
of the billions of lives
who will cross one another
backed up in traffic
there was a breakdown
on the lay-by.

exhaust fumes pumping
a thousand beats a second
horns harmonising
in the chaos and disarray
watches ticking and alarms beeping
as they wait for time to resume it's path.

traffic lights twinkle in the night like stars
and headlights glare white like the moon
overheating cars create steam
like the fog of a winter's night
it's been years since the traffic jam began
and they can't remember real life anymore.

new models will come and go
as generations proceed onwards
older ones are forgotten and left alone
bar the occasional 'retro' beetle
very few remain in fashion
they're the lucky ones.

i asked you not to forget me
and i hope you didn't
it's been too long now
since i left, got stuck in this queue
and i didn't want to go.
i still miss you.