Hey There, Friend
Hey there, friend
See anything different today?
One less exclamation mark
On the end of my sentence
One less degree
Of brightness in my smile
One less carefree sparkle
In the eyes you see so much
Hey there, friend
Do I seem the same?
One more line
Of stress on my face
One more inch
Of slump to my shoulders
One more step
That’s dragging against the ground
Hey there, friend
Is there nothing you see?
Do you not notice?
Or do you just not care?
Do you choose to ignore?
Or are you even there?
Does it matter to you
That there’s things I need to share?
I know that somewhere in your heart
You truly want to know
But you let things take you away
Leaving me alone
You run off to things
That you yourself know don’t matter
Instead of taking me by the hand
And looking me in the eyes
And saying, “I understand”
See anything different today?
One less exclamation mark
On the end of my sentence
One less degree
Of brightness in my smile
One less carefree sparkle
In the eyes you see so much
Hey there, friend
Do I seem the same?
One more line
Of stress on my face
One more inch
Of slump to my shoulders
One more step
That’s dragging against the ground
Hey there, friend
Is there nothing you see?
Do you not notice?
Or do you just not care?
Do you choose to ignore?
Or are you even there?
Does it matter to you
That there’s things I need to share?
I know that somewhere in your heart
You truly want to know
But you let things take you away
Leaving me alone
You run off to things
That you yourself know don’t matter
Instead of taking me by the hand
And looking me in the eyes
And saying, “I understand”
If Only I Could...
Break away from the quicksand
Fly free from the things doomed to die
Stay above the swirling darkness I see
Make sure I see the sky
Move across the ocean
Not ever look down below
All I’ll see is what I’ve escaped
And the things I think I know
Hold close to my heart the song
That I’ve heard for a long time humming
Close my eyes to the pointless pain
And relish the joy that’s coming
Fly free from the things doomed to die
Stay above the swirling darkness I see
Make sure I see the sky
Move across the ocean
Not ever look down below
All I’ll see is what I’ve escaped
And the things I think I know
Hold close to my heart the song
That I’ve heard for a long time humming
Close my eyes to the pointless pain
And relish the joy that’s coming
Isolation
Isolation from the world
And all things mundane
Stupidity and selfishness
Frustration and pain
Elevate to the clear
Unpopulated sky
Not bothering to wave
To the Earth passing by
And all things mundane
Stupidity and selfishness
Frustration and pain
Elevate to the clear
Unpopulated sky
Not bothering to wave
To the Earth passing by
A Life of Basket Weaving
We all struggle with the knots we tie with ourselves in the midst of it all
Tangled irreversibly with the life we've made on our own, for our own
We can never remember the steps we took as we weaved those threads
The complex network of strings that is our lives unwinding on the spool
The tighter the strings are pulled, the stronger the knot becomes, and small
Sometimes so tiny that we don't even realize it lives out its existence
Until that one pivotal moment when all the strings choke on the tension
And we frantically scramble to undo what will never be done
A sharp edge biting, our perfect alibi for what never happened
One brush against the taut thread that trembles with regret
SNAP
The line of thought is broken but the frayed ends still remain
Tangled irreversibly with the life we've made on our own, for our own
We can never remember the steps we took as we weaved those threads
The complex network of strings that is our lives unwinding on the spool
The tighter the strings are pulled, the stronger the knot becomes, and small
Sometimes so tiny that we don't even realize it lives out its existence
Until that one pivotal moment when all the strings choke on the tension
And we frantically scramble to undo what will never be done
A sharp edge biting, our perfect alibi for what never happened
One brush against the taut thread that trembles with regret
SNAP
The line of thought is broken but the frayed ends still remain
Lost
We think that we find what we’re searching for
In the first human being that walks through the door
We lose ourselves in what we justify with speed
And so we fail to see what we really need
A heart with a mind is a dangerous thing
But it’s aware of what to which it clings
A steadfast love, don’t let it go yet
How can you love someone you’ve just met?
Getting caught in the whirlwind with a change of pace
Seeing past nothing with a pretty face
Blinded by your sight, you can’t handle
The dark even if you’re given a candle
You don’t have to run away from the fall
It’s not better to love wrong than to not love at all
In the first human being that walks through the door
We lose ourselves in what we justify with speed
And so we fail to see what we really need
A heart with a mind is a dangerous thing
But it’s aware of what to which it clings
A steadfast love, don’t let it go yet
How can you love someone you’ve just met?
Getting caught in the whirlwind with a change of pace
Seeing past nothing with a pretty face
Blinded by your sight, you can’t handle
The dark even if you’re given a candle
You don’t have to run away from the fall
It’s not better to love wrong than to not love at all
manuscript
the pages of my heart are scribbled with your name
you leak beyond the endings of the chapters
the theme of love and grace of God has pooled between each word
but still you’re present in the punctuation
still you’re present in the punctuation
the paper crinkles when I grasp its edges
the corners bent and worn with introspection
too often I go back to read beginnings
for there is where your name is written down
there is where your name is written down
the messy syntax of my life does wonders
when I look at the places I’ve misstepped
this book cannot be edited in hindsight
but it’s been written by a holy author
it’s been written by a holy author
so take these words and know that I am grateful
for the blots of ink you left behind
you can be found within the very binding
and I believe there’s more of you to find
I believe there’s more of you to find
my fingers run across the beaten cover
when I close up the book to look ahead
as yet it has no title to define me
but nonetheless I’m waiting for the end
nonetheless I’m waiting for the end
you leak beyond the endings of the chapters
the theme of love and grace of God has pooled between each word
but still you’re present in the punctuation
still you’re present in the punctuation
the paper crinkles when I grasp its edges
the corners bent and worn with introspection
too often I go back to read beginnings
for there is where your name is written down
there is where your name is written down
the messy syntax of my life does wonders
when I look at the places I’ve misstepped
this book cannot be edited in hindsight
but it’s been written by a holy author
it’s been written by a holy author
so take these words and know that I am grateful
for the blots of ink you left behind
you can be found within the very binding
and I believe there’s more of you to find
I believe there’s more of you to find
my fingers run across the beaten cover
when I close up the book to look ahead
as yet it has no title to define me
but nonetheless I’m waiting for the end
nonetheless I’m waiting for the end
Murder
With such an unhealthy pallor
A pale, lifeless, blameless face
Sinks slowly underwater with care
A gentle fan of waving hair
Killed with the smile of a mind
Never fear, it can't destroy another
One more deed done with a single claw
A dagger, silver bright, by nature's law
The beauty as it slid in without notice
Graceful, serene, deadly with bliss
Not known to all who are not a part
A pierce to the unsuspecting heart
Who better to kill than a worthy friend?
It's at his hand a soul ever meets its end
A pale, lifeless, blameless face
Sinks slowly underwater with care
A gentle fan of waving hair
Killed with the smile of a mind
Never fear, it can't destroy another
One more deed done with a single claw
A dagger, silver bright, by nature's law
The beauty as it slid in without notice
Graceful, serene, deadly with bliss
Not known to all who are not a part
A pierce to the unsuspecting heart
Who better to kill than a worthy friend?
It's at his hand a soul ever meets its end
My Box
I have this little box
Sitting here in my hand
I look inside it a lot
And I think it’s just grand
I carry it with me
Everywhere I go
Always peeking inside it
Because I love it so
But one day it turned vicious
It jumped out, teeth bared
And on that day I realized
I was judgmentally impaired
Sitting here in my hand
I look inside it a lot
And I think it’s just grand
I carry it with me
Everywhere I go
Always peeking inside it
Because I love it so
But one day it turned vicious
It jumped out, teeth bared
And on that day I realized
I was judgmentally impaired
O King
You’re a man no one wants to be
Your soul is vacant and diseased
Cobwebs draped around your doubt
The fire long ago put out
Remember, I knocked on your door
And waded into all that gore
You let me in across the moat
Gave me a place to hang my coat
No one’s been here for some time
The banquet table’s crowned with grime
And your posture as you sit
Says you’re king of all of it
Get off your throne of gilded pride
Your arrogance is glorified
Where are your subjects, O King?
They left without an offering
Throw out your chest like you’re in charge
Make sure your ego’s bright and large
It still can’t brighten this dark hollow
Or shrink mistakes that you can swallow
You stand proud amid the dust
That you let settle on your trust
Commanding spores of fear and hate
A prosp’rous reign of rage awaits
You scream to cold unfeeling walls
They merely echo every call
Where are your subjects, O King?
They left without an offering
Your soul is vacant and diseased
Cobwebs draped around your doubt
The fire long ago put out
Remember, I knocked on your door
And waded into all that gore
You let me in across the moat
Gave me a place to hang my coat
No one’s been here for some time
The banquet table’s crowned with grime
And your posture as you sit
Says you’re king of all of it
Get off your throne of gilded pride
Your arrogance is glorified
Where are your subjects, O King?
They left without an offering
Throw out your chest like you’re in charge
Make sure your ego’s bright and large
It still can’t brighten this dark hollow
Or shrink mistakes that you can swallow
You stand proud amid the dust
That you let settle on your trust
Commanding spores of fear and hate
A prosp’rous reign of rage awaits
You scream to cold unfeeling walls
They merely echo every call
Where are your subjects, O King?
They left without an offering
On A Roller Coaster Ride
On a roller coaster ride
Between my problems and my pride
My mind just won’t be quiet
Until it starts a riot
They tell me it’s not working
Can you see the doubt lurking?
My heart will not hear it
Though they say I should fear it
They call it not living
But they don’t know I am giving
All I’ve got
Cause it won’t stop
I’ve cast my lot
For the top
Of this life
Whether they like it or not
I’m told I should switch
Pull it out stitch by stitch
No matter if it’s damaged
Cause they think I can manage
My life without complications
Oh so many stipulations
Every choice I make is wrong
I guess I can’t belong
With the normal teeming masses
It’s like they’ve all taken classes
On how to deal
With how they feel
And what to steal
Let’s keep it real
Don’t let them know
Your heart is sealed
Always disappointed
By those I have anointed
My own mind betrays me
Will I learn? Maybe.
I always pray I get smart
So I can see my final part
How much of this is true
Can’t tell if skies are blue
By this thinking I am bound
By through this searching I’ve found
This new cry
I must always try
To see through every lie
Of all that must come by
Until truth comes through
Will I know it when I die?
Between my problems and my pride
My mind just won’t be quiet
Until it starts a riot
They tell me it’s not working
Can you see the doubt lurking?
My heart will not hear it
Though they say I should fear it
They call it not living
But they don’t know I am giving
All I’ve got
Cause it won’t stop
I’ve cast my lot
For the top
Of this life
Whether they like it or not
I’m told I should switch
Pull it out stitch by stitch
No matter if it’s damaged
Cause they think I can manage
My life without complications
Oh so many stipulations
Every choice I make is wrong
I guess I can’t belong
With the normal teeming masses
It’s like they’ve all taken classes
On how to deal
With how they feel
And what to steal
Let’s keep it real
Don’t let them know
Your heart is sealed
Always disappointed
By those I have anointed
My own mind betrays me
Will I learn? Maybe.
I always pray I get smart
So I can see my final part
How much of this is true
Can’t tell if skies are blue
By this thinking I am bound
By through this searching I’ve found
This new cry
I must always try
To see through every lie
Of all that must come by
Until truth comes through
Will I know it when I die?
The Place of Tempests and Fears
Broken windows on the rainy street
Fragments glittering like serpent eyes
No longer looked through into the night
A shroud haunts all things despised
Cracked stones and rubble underneath
Built upon lies that turned into faces
A slip or a stumble brings one to their knees
Victim to dripping, putrid places
A palm on the scarred surface of ice
Rough with open unshed tears
This is the place all thoughts meet their end
This is the place of tempests and fears
Fragments glittering like serpent eyes
No longer looked through into the night
A shroud haunts all things despised
Cracked stones and rubble underneath
Built upon lies that turned into faces
A slip or a stumble brings one to their knees
Victim to dripping, putrid places
A palm on the scarred surface of ice
Rough with open unshed tears
This is the place all thoughts meet their end
This is the place of tempests and fears
The Purging
The forest was a vine-tangled nightmare
Dark, gloomy, damp and cold
The leaves were so dense that the sun above
Could not bathe the ground in gold
Efforts at a fire were started
But it was too dripping wet
And the sparks were always extinguished
When they and the ground met
Then one day there was a fire so great
That it caught upon a treetop
The flames were bright and crimson red
You could hear it crack and pop
It devoured everything it touched
As a ravenous fiery beast
Leaves, ferns, shrubs and trees
They all became its feast
The night pattered on in fire
By dawn it burned all out
The once proud wood was now just ash
In gray winding rivers about
But now the sun could reach where
The desperate earth was pleading
Full triumphant rays struck the dead
And it was exactly what was needed
Vibrant shoots thrust up from the dirt
Amidst the ashy dust
Spikes of green dared to show their face
Their beauty exposed the lust
Delicate saplings did appear
Flourishing their limbs
When the flowers began to bloom
The ground was sprinkled with their gems
Anyone who knew the forest
Before the damage had been done
They would hardly recognize it-
Its beauty was second to none
Thriving trees stretched out their branches
But still let in the sunlight
And the wealth of color and life
Seemed to illuminate the night
Without the vicious roaring fire
The forest would have remained the same
But now it's free to become what it wants
And to make for it a name
Sometimes it takes fire and pain
To destroy what is there
So that it can start again to become
Something that cannot be compared
Dark, gloomy, damp and cold
The leaves were so dense that the sun above
Could not bathe the ground in gold
Efforts at a fire were started
But it was too dripping wet
And the sparks were always extinguished
When they and the ground met
Then one day there was a fire so great
That it caught upon a treetop
The flames were bright and crimson red
You could hear it crack and pop
It devoured everything it touched
As a ravenous fiery beast
Leaves, ferns, shrubs and trees
They all became its feast
The night pattered on in fire
By dawn it burned all out
The once proud wood was now just ash
In gray winding rivers about
But now the sun could reach where
The desperate earth was pleading
Full triumphant rays struck the dead
And it was exactly what was needed
Vibrant shoots thrust up from the dirt
Amidst the ashy dust
Spikes of green dared to show their face
Their beauty exposed the lust
Delicate saplings did appear
Flourishing their limbs
When the flowers began to bloom
The ground was sprinkled with their gems
Anyone who knew the forest
Before the damage had been done
They would hardly recognize it-
Its beauty was second to none
Thriving trees stretched out their branches
But still let in the sunlight
And the wealth of color and life
Seemed to illuminate the night
Without the vicious roaring fire
The forest would have remained the same
But now it's free to become what it wants
And to make for it a name
Sometimes it takes fire and pain
To destroy what is there
So that it can start again to become
Something that cannot be compared