ensconced in perpetual darkness, you sleep
restless dreams orbit your mind
yet comfort cannot be found
Pluto, the loneliest planet

not even the Sun can touch you
high school textbooks disregard you
the stars will never glimmer for you
Pluto, the loneliest planet

but have faith
dreamers and late night romantics understand you
god of the underworld exalts you, brother of darkness
New Horizons will arrive shortly, a friend for
Pluto, the loneliest planet

you make
red feather cardinals sing sweet lullabies
and tiger lilies bloom a cool spring morning

you make
grey wolves serenade a lonely Alaskan night
and wild horses thunder with renewed
vigor.

you make
long limb ballerinas pirouette on glossy marble floors
and sweet yellow fairies dance in the moonlight.

you make
the heart of my sweet beat (thud thud thud)
under a sugar kiss hypnosis.

so why do i even bother?

i would gather
all the shooting stars that
fall in my waiting palms
just to give them
to you.

i would swim
to the dark abyss of the sea
and gather all the sunken treasure
just to give it
to you.

what wouldn't i do for you?

i'm coming Home
& i know it's wrong,
but all i can think,
"will i run into you?"

our Love is unrequited,
& always will be.
you can't accept my God,
& i can't accept your gender,
or lack of one? i don't know.

i'm coming Home
& i will drive
through the hollers & the hills
of E.Ky, if only for the hope
of seeing you, even briefly.

i still recall the many nights
sharing music notes & secret dreams,
yearning to feel each other, to share
the same breath & the same mattress.

i'm coming Home
& i know i won't contact you,
but my only wish is that you
would read this & come find me.

please find me.

You called yourself an adventurer, a
pathfinder, one who like to take risks,
explore places no one else would brave.

You were young & curious,
but old enough to know,
old enough to stop.

You called yourself a friend, someone
to be trusted, but you took away the
cloth, stripped naked the ******, greedy
eyes and hands, slippery words, oiled
whispered consolations, assurances.

Your tongue took paths too raw,
journeyed to depths too young to
understand, but did you care for anything
but the sweet, almost corrupt taste?

Your fingers made of ice and lead,
delved deep into forbidden passages,
ripped through pink innocence,
now bloodied devil red.

You painted kisses on a tender, fledgling
canvas, murmured sweetly to soothe,
but you could not take back the knowing
that she would never again take back
the innocence you had
wickedly Chased.

i am Rapunzel.
captured behind a stone wall
slick with acid, coated with barbed wire.
i beat and i pound at the wall, until the flesh
is torn and my bones crumble.
i scream and i cry, until my voice cracks
and my throat bleeds.
i pray and i persevere, but no matter
how much i try, the wall will not budge.

i am Rapunzel.
captured behind a stone wall,
slick with acid, coated with barbed wire.
i cut my hair and dripped it out the window
like garland, but no one climbs through.
i sing a broken hallelujah, like a songbird
with a wish bone in her throat.
i search hi and lo for the key to my tower,
but there is only stone and a locked door.

i am Rapunzel.
captured behind a stone wall
slick with acid, coated with barbed wire.
i hold the fragments of my hope in my
****** palms, i water them with my tears.
some day my prince will come, perhaps
with a silver key in one hand, and
the Promise Land in his eyes.