Stria

Rebuking lines
Bent toward a spent path
Well-beaten
We grasped sovereignty
In soft, open palms

Side by side

Clasped in risk
Inset with uncertain sparkles
We spoke
Of things unsaid
With hushed, sideways smiles

Side by side

And, to the unsuspecting
A banner sewed of patchwork
We raised
With intrepid dreams
Against gale force life

Side by side

Drunk on hope
Of a distant vintage
We stood
Like newly birthed fawns
In an open field of predators

Side by side

Facing upward
Expressions unfolded
We were
Like flowers blooming
Flushed red with new warmth

Side by side

A bizarre spectacle
Of magic and mystery
We appeared
As practicing wizards
In a land of unlawful spells

Side by side

Drawing mobs
Pressed by presumption
We fell
Beneath the onslaught
Of small thought eyes

Side by side

But I prefer
The amenities of my liberty
In cells
Built to conceal
The possibilities of being

Side by side

Our hearts knit
May never beat in close proximity
Yet we are
Forever made of cords
Unbroken from despair

Side by side

Asking nothing
But the grace we engraved
Inside our skin
To heal our stripes
Disproportionate to our crimes

Side by side

And will be forever alive
If only at heart
Together
Recklessly unashamed
To have been

Side by side

When paths are drawn
Unbeaten before me
I vow
No fear to show
And on them we will go

Side by side

Taking your thought
And a love we all conceived
I know
The deepest magic comes
To those who walk

Side by side

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Love Never Sleeps

Close your eyes and pretend
You have been lifted high on the wind
With the tired world beneath your wings

Let your body succumb
Release your pain and allow it to numb
Wave goodbye to the tops of the trees

Lay your head in my hands
Take a breath and descend
Into oceans of crystal blue

We can go anywhere
Feel the wind in your hair
I will stay here next to you

Sleep next to me
Rest in my love
You can stop moving
But love never does

Dream in my arms
Safe in my keep
Know that I love you
And love never sleeps

Drink the rain with a smile
We can be free and alive for a while
There’s no time that you have to leave

Until the day breaks the dawn
We can lie tangled here all night long
And I’ll try to make you believe

Sleep next to me
Rest and don’t stir
I can be with you
You can be sure

Dream in my arms
Safe in my keep
Know that I love you
And love never sleeps

Oh God, the Blood

So delicate
This skin we pull
So tight to hide ourselves within
It isn’t much
For us to cut and drain
With but a simple touch

So delicate
These sentiments
So fragile in their infancy
It isn’t hard
To break apart the trappings
Of a weakened heart

The smell of smoke
Nicotine ghosts
In structures emptied long ago
On the better side of the worst side of town

At last she spoke
“I made my choice”
A whisper quivered like her voice
While traffic passed but it never heard the sound

Oh God, the blood
The stains are deep
A river cut
Into the streets
Oh God, the blood
My hands, unclean
Have testified
Of things we’ve seen

Oh God
The massacres we make
Of ones we crave
With sharp mistakes
Oh God, the blood
Is crimson red
From tender love
We left for dead

Are You?

Aside from the rise and fall
Of breath I see no sign at all
That you are less than perfect
Even human like the dirt that I am
Aside from gentle beats
Of pulse I cannot force belief
That you could be so flawless
Lying here within my arms–in my hands

Are you real?
Because the colors of your cheek
The vivid semmetry
Of your every little curve
Makes me feel
That you must have been a dream
Or a fragile figurine
Not a mortal, but an angel
Are you real?

Just Because

For all things there must be purpose
Science for each form of knowing
For each mystery a theory
For each man a point of query
And an explanation, surely

Problems have a way of solving
Circles have a place of meeting
All resolved and summed in order
Neatly closed within a border
Kept by rules in kind and sorted

You, however–you are something
I cannot explain or reason
Far beyond the calculation
Real but without explanation
True but not by my equations

When you ask me how and why
I cannot form an answer well
If God cannot be proved or judged
And love is God and God is love
Then I must love you just because

How I came to be enchanted
Why I choose to take this passage
Science gives me no assistance
I have no immune resistance
I cannot maintain my distance

But in truth the statement stated
Fails to speak the secrets guarded
Deep within my questions, jaded
Fools my head but not my heart
If I must defend my thinking
If I’m asked to answer plainly

How I came to know this love
I will tell them “just because”
And no one can remove the knowledge
No one can disprove or lessen
Any part of how I love
I need no reasons–just because

Well-Behaved But Faintly Desperate

Sensory like Armageddon
Bended nerves and thin expressions
Thrown across this weary canvas
Lent to give a false impression
Spent to keep the censors guessing

Biding time for convalescence
Hidden lines and long confessions
Packed within these casual glances
Locked behind our fragile essence
Well-behaved but faintly desperate

Ghost In Me

Shutters closed so tightly
Everything is hidden out of view
Rooms adorned and waiting quietly
Behind these curtains that I drew

The fire burning brightly
Music fills these empty halls
With me she visits nightly
The vaults echo her call

The paths are overgrown
No one tends the garden anymore
Symphonies performed unknown
Memories from distant shores

Buried in the courtyard
Tapestries of dead desires
Wakened under new stars
Burning like a funeral pyre

She haunts my heart
She knows all the secret parts
Walks through my doors
Like I never even closed them

She haunts my dreams
She knows all my deepest things
Opens my thoughts
Like I never even closed them

Heretic

Lash it on, lash them tight
Light the darkness tonight
With the kerosene of flesh
From the hands of heretics

Bring them out, bring them down
To the center of town
Tie them up without a sound
Burn the wicked to the ground

God, I feel the singe on my skin
And the ropes around my wrists
Where is the evidence for this?
There is no evidence for this

God, I feel them breathing down my neck
As they set us all on fire
Take my spirit if you must
But I will not be a liar

Oh, the truth shall set you free
Free in flames; free in flames
But they see no fault in me
Unashamed; I’m unashamed
Spread my ashes to the wind
Tell them I would not repent
I will suffer for the crowd
But I am not a heretic

How can everyone who knows me
Think that I would be so ugly?
How can even those who love me
Think that I am so unholy?
Will these ashes bring redemption
If the crimes are your invention?
Prove me guilty here, I dare you
There is nothing to confess to

God, I feel the smoke attack my lungs
And their words upon my back
Would you leave me so unarmed?
So unready for attack

God, I know you led me to this place
If you leave me for the flame
I will stand beside my choice
I will not repent for pain

The truth shall set you free
Free in flames; free in flames
But they see no fault in me
Unashamed; I’m unashamed
Spread my ashes to the wind
Tell them I would not repent
I will suffer for the crowd
But I am not a heretic

Core

Turn the earth
My fingers catch the cracks
I know below the skin there must be more
Move the dirt
To peel the layers back
I’m looking for the warmth within the core

Fire keeps the axis turning
Friction far below my feet
Somewhere there a heart is burning
I would dig to find your heat
We can sense your deep disturbance
I can feel the way you move
As we dance along your surface
I have not forgotten you

Turn the earth
My fingers underneath
I feel your heartbeat pulsing through my palm
I know your worth
You are a part of me
And I will be with you when I am gone