The Way

the way you blink, slowly
the way you laugh, at me, at yourself
the way we can understand each other, from a glance
you showed me how to laugh when i was sad,
weeping wounds on my side,
you took the knife away,
said, you're okay.

the way you move, gently, graceful
the way you kiss, sweetly,
the way you light me up, afire, ablaze
you gave me a new outlook,
opened my eyes, wiped the tears away,
kissed me better,
now i really am okay.




(c) 2013

Snow

falls down, pretty, white
settles in your hair, featherlike
melts into tiny pinpricks, droplets
on your skin, glimmering
in the half light, you're shining

how many angels on the head of a pin
how many snowflakes will collect on your skin
let me breathe you in
let me breathe you in

snowy silence closing in, breathless, cold
moonlight glowing vright as day,
wind-tossed handfuls, laughing, playful
tiny footprints in the snow, mine, yours,
side by side.


(c) 2013

Frozen

there, far down, below the stars
given form, breath of cold
frozen hard and feather soft
brittle, broken with a sigh

rime on buds and petals
flowers burst to life on window panes
threads to weave a starry coat
glimmer in a candle's flame

scatter diamonds through the leaves
brush them with a finger, melt
touch them with a beam, light, glow
throbbing, tiny, stars on earth

shimmer, shimmer, ice and storm
fare thee well, cold, frozen stars
wake the sun
watch them fade



(c) 2013

Violation

it's not the chains that bind
not the dark as it envelops
not the screams behind the prison walls
nor the singing in the church

it's not the ever-present movement
of time and tide and lives
not the creaking of the stairs
not the shaking of your head
not the no, frozen on your lips
not the blood on the floor

it's not the finality of days
when night comes, and the dark presses in
not a violation of peace
not a thread of hope
not a dream

it's not the cries of the young
when revelation pours in
not the desolation
not the cruelty
not the lack of humanity

it's just a condition, a clause if you will
all that is done, done again
undone, unraveled, unpicked
left alive, left broken
it's the curse of mankind
it's inevitable


(c) 2013

The Wanderer

these times are running on
sadly spoken by a thousand tongues
have you lost your sense of time,
down there in the darkness?

summertime is come and gone
down by the banks
there's nothing to be done
there's a boundary
i know your soul was kissed away

don't tell me it's all done
the dawn is broken
everyone's gone
you're my savior

pawns on a lightless board,
travel on, travel, on,
hope to change with the tide
the ocean's dry

my religion got kissed away
i can't wait for the next time
you're real to me



(c) 2012

Veritas

in vino veritas
said the monk to the king
offered a goblet of dark red drink

in vino veritas
sang the spinster to her love
and sipped her last of the world above

in vino veritas
sighed the robber's bride
and breathed in slowly of the pale white in the barrel


(c) 2013

Suicide

the night
the night's hold softens,
the delicate curve of a blade
glimmering in the twilight,
sharpened steel - tiny dagger
hammer stroke and anvil
hot as a furnace, cooler than kiln
stroking light, the finger of a lover
separates gently, skin from skin

the day
the day warms sundered flesh
the seeping wounds of nighttime
blessed by the evening dewy cold,
scabbed over, still bleeding...
sluggish now,
life on concrete, spilling out
pouring over, blades and words
cutting deeper, deeper
sever life from bone


(c) 2013

Painted

all the days of life
and nights of eternity
spent alone or among
the endless rustle of insanity
useless, interred, gentled by nothingness
perhaps i'll wake up
wings clipped, i'll fly
mutilated by my own queen
and my songbird silent
did i tell you i was a ghost?
left painted on a mirror's glass
say my name,
say my name and end my night
spent alone, so alone
with the dead


(c) 2013

Mirage

a tiny prism on your lashes

blinked into oblivion 

like a tear the size of a spider’s footprint

throwing rainbows on your cheeks

won’t you tell me what you’re thinking of

perchance the tiny raindrops misting down

faces in the rain, laughing and killing 

the uneven streets tripping your feet

tiny prisms throwing shapes 

a hint of a hand, of a finger or foot 

I see them severed in the rain suspended, 

droplets like blood, breathtaking, beautiful, a wall of mirage 

won’t  you tell me what you’re thinking of 

thus, so, the clouds rain down upon our heads 

images of terror, seen in the night 

bared to the light of day 

and so the clouds bleed upon us,

a tiny prism in your lashes 

throwing rainbows on your cheek, 

smallest speck of imagined blood 

I should welcome you to my madness and yet, 

the clouds are bleeding for the both of us

(c) 2013

Always

i pour out my soul on paper
in words you've heard a thousand times
i want you to hear them
in a thousand different languages, sung to the sky
always for you
always for you
the years i've fled,
down the roads to hell
and the tears i've shed,
in remembrance of what i had
i've spent my years searching
always for you
always for you
it's not easy to explain,
but i'll try my best
when i chase a memory
when i gaze off into the distance
proclaim i think of nothing
it's never anything bad,
it's always you
always you
i had a castle in the sky
where i could sit and dream
always of you
i fell through the clouds
trying to change
realizing you love me as i am
and my tears should dry
it's all for you
all for you


(c) 2013

Nothing

they say that nothing comes from nothing
but i had nothing
nothing given, nothing gotten
emptiness and incarnadine
what is now, what was then
and all the in-betweens
i've made a mistake, then another and more
i've left my harbor, made for your shore
i've given up my nothing,
all i want is dreaming
i've looked in all the wrong places
but now i have you

they say that nothing comes from nothing
and everything is something
but i've been less than nothing, and evermore
but now i have you
give me a purpose, a deal
give me a truth, proof, feel
give me your heart for mine
in this emptiness and incarnadine
but now i have you
and i want nothing more
it's easy to forget, but not to forget
the past grips too tightly
but now i have you.


(c) 2013

Mia Bella

i want to tell you something
a word, perhaps a monologue
i want to tell you a story, of the day i fell in love
i was sitting in a coffee shop
a tiny, gorgeous coffee shop
waiting for an old friend i'd never met
a tall willow goddess, kissed by fire
i never thought i could, but hey i did
it just took a kiss, sitting on a ledge
over water and listening to a wish on the air
i could always breathe with you, i always can
in the morning, you sigh and smile like
it's your first day on earth
with you i can gentle my heart, when you make me wild
you give me my glory days
and i can only try to return them in kind
i was drinking nothing, too scared to sip
i saw your eyes, your blushing smile
i'd waited so long
all i wanted, in that second
was to kiss you on the first of may, with ribbons in your hair
you make me sing again, and dance in the rain
make my heart heal - i had too much pain
nowadays i don't remember
the terrors in the night, not when you're near me
i would spend the days of my life with you
the years of my heart's beating thrum
i've fallen, moth to a flame
gods above you give me a reason, a reason to live
days and nights sleepless, words and thousands of words
you know me better than i know myself
and i love the picture you've painted
i would give you the sweetest dreams, darling
until the day we fall into the cold, hard ground
and plant bloodred tulips on our grave


(c) 2013

Waves of...

there was no beginning
no ending near in sight, simple continuation
a road on and on until the completion
spaced evenly-the road signs
tell you stay, go, stop, no...
until they all fall down
a breath of what could be
if all the world could cry
tears like an ocean, or the ocean like tears
waves of sorrow
for the beginning's end
and what could never be


(c) 2013