Macrocosm

I address the darkness of the soul

I know you well, your every shadow

I live within your alcoves, your black holes

Who draw in all that surrounds them

And expel nothing, I wonder

What might exist outside your borders

Chance a date with the stars distant

Those strong enough to provide resistance

To your hungry depths, those who expose

The heavens, for the infinite spaces between us

That they have become, I seek not the peace of solitude

But the chaos of love, where all its forms address

The burning in my chest, the turning of these worlds

Of dead weight, 'til life springs forth upon

Their dusty palates, I can taste you in those burgeoning moments

In the melting ice of our poles, the spinning of our straw hopes

Into gold, I approach the heat of your years

With the beating in my chest, the violence that storms my surfaces

In response to your question, I am not dead yet

As the soul spans all existence, so too can I taste

The molecules of your breath, the expectant whisper

Against my neck, the collection of expulsions that erupt

When our electrons cross path

I address the darkness of your soul

I know you well, your every shadow

I live within you, around you

And everywhere you've dreamt

Into existence

In response to your dissertation

On the meaning of our existence

The reason we keep living

Come close, feel the warmth

That emanates from every movement

We are not dead yet.

Climb

Maybe I'll die of this

Determination to reach the highest peaks

Yet what I seek is not to be found

In these valleys

I can barely breathe the air up here

Still I climb higher than my fear

Still I find lighter, my steps each year

And maybe there's nothing waiting

For the moment I can see the world around me

Save the knowledge I am free and

That's enough for me

To keep moving, keep improving

Against the weight of those who prayed

They'd slew me

Cause maybe I'll live like this

A feeling I take on my faith exists

That what I dream is sure to be seen

From beyond what clouds me

I can barely see what lies before me

Still I know that what's for me

Is not the stillness of sleep

So I'll give in to heaven

One more dance with progression

That what I've sworn is mine to hold

Might surface above the snow

I can live no more without my soul

So I press on through wind and cold

So I dig my fingers into the stone

To that I know, may leave me alone

That I know, will lead me home.

A Drink for Ariadne

She's a tall drink of water

And I'm a long sip of scotch

She's a hell of a lover

And I'm paradise lost

Her lips are cherry red and

Her dress is snow, fresh-fallen

And I'm a shade too dark for

The sunset on her skin

She's the mortar in my bones

That keeps me standing through the storm

She's the end of all I hoped

I had never borne

Her steps are hypnotic and

Her movements heaven incarnate

And I'm all left feet and

Poems clumsily recited

She's the foreword of a book

I wish I had wrote

She's the verse before the hook

In every song I've known

Her eyes are miles deep and

Her smile the sweetest poison

And I'm the salt of the sea and

The chaos of the open ocean

She's the fall of every man who'd touch her

And I can't turn my eyes away

She's the call of the siren to the sailor

And my ship is begging to break

Against her waves and rocky fate

Against the way she looks my way

Just long enough to say

An eternity awaits

She's a spark to the inferno

And I'm the treeline calling

She's a life lived at the brink

And I'm already falling.

Closer to Closure

Pray that the day

Might come to a close

That the weight on your shoulders

Ceases to grow

Swear that your fate

Is greater than they know

That the work at your fingers

Has worn them to bone

And tell that cruelest winter

You're ready to go

Dispel the fear that addressing her

Is undressing the unknown

Live for the stains

That riddle your hopes

And remember the strength

They have imbued to your soul

That when they see the blood on your clothes

When they hear the crack of your bones

When they see where your hours have gone

They'll know those moments are yours to hold

I have died

A thousand times

And maybe I like the feeling

I have cried

For lives gone by

And maybe they have left me reeling

But I am here

To stand astride

The demons who swore they'd kill me

I have no fear

To hide behind

So I'll face the weight of the sun setting

And pray that the day

Might come to a close

That the face of my lover

Will follow me home

Swear that our fates

Are inextricably bound

That the words on my lips

Are finally found

And tell that coldest winter

To leave her shoes in the hall

Draw closer to the fire

That kept her warm through the fall.

Angel Lust

The devil's in his workshop again

Penning the lyrics to keep you

Pinned to your bed

Trapped in your head

Wondering between breaths when

You fell for the sins of the flesh

Well worn are his tricks and yet

Still you come screaming

Still he's got you dreaming

Of returning to the evening

The devil's in his workshop again

Hell bent on your deliverance

And he's swept you off your feet again

Spinning eloquence into the taste

Of his hands on your hips

Succumbing to the fate of

The king's hand

You'll lose your head

And find something different

This space between earthly desire and

Fiery temptation

So well-written is his sentence

That you're fighting your better judgment

And losing to the primal urge

To say yes, to forget the war that wages

Outside your window

And open your heart just enough

To let him in

The devil's in your bed again

Here to fight through

Your trenches

Here to get to know your

Every uninhibited movement

That I may show you

How close the gates of hell lie

To the borders of Heaven.

Impulse

Do not fear the detritus along the borders of my soul

It is hard-earned, I do not wish to let it go

That it muddies all your photographs of me

Is the art of it, the worldly within the dream

She would smile, tell me I drink too much and

Think too much, and sink too much when

I fall in love, do not fear the death on screen

I'm still here, behind my scenes, performing for an audience

I can't see.

Do not hasten to ease the pain for me

They are bittersweet, whose tastes remind me to breathe

That it leaves you choking back tears and cross words

Is the part of bliss, that leads to rebirth

She would sigh, tell me I care too much and

Not enough, and all's fair when

Love meets lust, do not fear for broken trust

I'm still here, defining dreams for nights and queens

Of which there is only one

I wish to see.

A Hidden Beauty

The world is wearing a mask today

She's all dressed up in anxiety and paint

I'm sitting, waiting for the rain

To wash the mind away

And maybe in darkness there's a beauty

Maybe the kind that doesn't fade

And maybe with light comes the duty

To burn 'til the last eyes turn away

But my muse is hiding her face today

She's disguised in the tides that obey cruel fate

Who simply recede, with their fingers at the nape

Of her neck, I confess, there's something forgotten

Something long lost that

Still resides, right where we misplaced it

The sky echoes the sentiment

Thick and thunderous with discontent

Blindingly screaming at split-seconds

Where we trafficked our dreams across these sands

I was there when the fire was lit

Bare and waiting for you to notice

The space in this world where we might fit

A thousand poems into a moment unspoken

I'm still writing them

Still deciphering the impact

Where the sand is glassed and cratered

And charged with your scent

Where my heart was steady and sure

Even if my eyes couldn't see it

But the world is wearing a mask today

Something's somehow different

And I can feel the last few waves

Encroaching upon my skin

And I know in this night, there's beauty

I've tasted it, been regaled with tales

Of how so many have wasted it

I refuse to be the sum of them

Refuse to let the world sink in

I'll be the waves that crash on the rocks

Before I'll be the current running from them

I'll be the rain that frees you from the thought

That any dream should remain hidden

I'll wash away your mask today, show your face

That you'll know you never needed to go

And paint over it.

In the End, Ariadne was the Ocean

I swim in your depths

They stay on the coast

They kiss your lips

And I swallow you whole

I live in your breath

They hold their own

I wake you from death

They cover you with stones

And here on this pier

Where I draw you near

The world still holds on to

Erasers

So don't fear, let's be clear

When they call you home

It's to destroy what is dear

To your heart and your bones

But I'll teach you to lie

When they ask if you're calm

Give you the sky

As they extend dirt-filled palms

I'll keep you, my ocean

Through your storms and your faults

And you'll never feel hopeless and

Never be lost.

Footfalls

I heard her before I saw

Thought I was prepared to fall, turns out

I wasn't prepared at all

And when I turned and watched her walk

Away, I'd close my eyes and

Disguise myself in the day

She was mine, a motive

Without a crime, an alibi

For my time spent

In someone else's eyes

A devil in her black dress

An angel in her pale skin

And I'm a criminal standing trial against

Heaven, and I've no defense

When she sways her hips

Turns to me, and blows a kiss

She said, Baby I hate to see you

Go down like this

I'd love to see you

Someplace less

Blue, couldn't you

Let go a little bit, cause the world stops just short

Of the truth, and I'm just not yours

To lose

I saw her before I heard

The door, now she's walking out

And I doubt

She'll be coming back for more

Cause once you've tasted poison

And woke up the next morning

A little less than dead

The sun bears down

On hollow ground

The trust wears out

And you're left to drown

Beneath every little thing they said

Don't do this

Don't give in

She'll leave you blistered

By her touch again

And another 3am seems

To come and go without me

Cause I'm at the door allowing

The devil one more moment

And the angel one last dance

Don't do thisDon't give in

She'll leave you twisted

Round her finger again

And a lover's 3am seems

To sense the liqour on your breath

Another night without her and

This memory is all that's left.

Miles from Moments

She made a mile out of moments

While I spent the night on her lips

A quiet word and long kiss

Goodbye, but I'll

See her again

In awhile, we file away

Memories beneath this bed

Thoughts of her hips

The way they move against

My defenses

With such artful precision

I make my decision to leave

A thousand times

Without moving

I trade control for

The perfection in her

This deception endures

For miles and moments as we're

Driving down the coast and

Lying on the cool sand

Between destinations

We're always somewhere between

Reality and this

Love-induced hallucination

We made miles into moments when

We were always leaving

Always grieving

The death of our close friend

Sanity, while we drank away the days

Just to get closer to the night

Just to go and never know

Why, we would die

All the time, and come back in the morning

To our corpses

We made the miles into moments

Left our graves at every place we slept

To remind us we could nev

Everpresence

When the skies cleared

And the blinding Sun pierced the air with a thousand swords of Light

The Shadows quivered and fled

The Rain lay dried up and dead and gave up one last curse to the Heavens

And when the Earth undressed

Spread her wondrous legs as roots across the dirt

And a magnificent Tree climbed higher every second

'Til those who saw swore it would reach Forever

As the streams became Rivers

And coursed swiftly between cliffs higher than the eye could see

The Devil lie down on his bed with a sickness of the head

And he witnessed to the overbearing Gods in his torment

You are doomed, I swear it, you'll soon share my vision

For the Sun will collapse upon itself, entrapping all that is Light and beautiful

The Shadows will stand strong until they encompass all Existence

The Rain will flood your heart, 'til you're overflowing with tears shed

The Earth will wrap herself in plague blankets

A disease born by her promiscuous groping

And the roots of the Tree of Life shall wither and die

The Rivers will run free from their prisons

And in the drowning desolation, I will rise again

And in the desperate flailing of Creation, Death will stake his claim

Of this I am certain, for it is echoed in my Name

For all that has Lived is of me, a Devil stained in sin

A reflection of my intentions

And then the Skies cleared, til I could feel her warm kiss on my back

And then my Shadow disappeared

And the damp air of a cold Rain parted from my skin

And then the Earth undressed, and welcomed me to her flesh

And in a magnificent Tree, I climbed ever higher

'Til I could hear the Angel calling

And she Said in a voice that resonated across the Land

You are the Father and the Son, you are Light and Darkness

You are the Water and the Earth, you are Life and Death

For there is no difference

And I am God and the Devil, lying resplendent in Heaven and sickly in Hell's grip

This is Our Land, we are the Children and the Aged

We are whole only when we are a part of this

Lovers destined to die in a single poisoned kiss, and to live Forever in payment

For the only debt left to settle, is the End, the Apocalypse

The Rapture, the Great Rending of Hope from scarlet lips

And the only payment we are left with is the Life we give and have been Given

We are Beginning and End, this is Our Home, that we may Live and Die for it.

Watercolor

Painting this portrait of my mind

Perfectly down to the last

Little autobiographical detail

Of colored thoughts

And the wonders wrought

By every sweeping stroke

Of the brush

Of sunset loves and morning revolutionaries

Of midnight's desperation and midday's hesitation

This is my dream displayed

In every shade

From blue to green

And back again

And given to all takers

The mystery buried deep within

The scent of paints fills the air with mourning

The outside cold keeping you in mine

There was a time when you adored me

A time we swore the paints would never dry.

On The Horizon She Weeps

Single shade sky

An overcast light

Granting no hope

For an end to the night

The moon still sits high

On a course

Not unlike mine

The silent observer of

A trillion lies and lives

Dignified yet

Tired trembling trees

Pointing your bony fingers

Beyond visible horizons

A curtain of cotton candy clouds

Who, given no conclusion

Of the sky

Can do nothing

But move about aimleesly

Now

I pity you my single shaded sky

Such a dissatisfying bore

Hung over and emotionless

From yesterday's storm

I pity you my beautiful moon

Such a shamelss whore

Brandishing a light

That was never yours

I pity you my tired trembling trees

Such a thankless task

Pointing us to a tomorrow

That will never come to pass

I pity you my cotton candy clouds

Such a sorrowful mask

Blinding us to the heavens

Never granted a day's rest

Single shaded sky

Beautiful moon

Tired trembling trees

Cotton candy clouds

I pity you all if only

For sharing my faults.

In a Dream, In a Day

Were we memories buried in last night's dreams?

Were we promises married to tomorrow's breath?

Where are the angels that sang at our funeral?

Where are the strangers who came to see us off?

All taken away

In a dream, in a day

All faded to grey

The gift of color gone to waste

Were we left to be nothing in the annals of history?

Not a scratch on the backs of the books you read

Where are the journalists that promised me infamy?

Not scratching my back when it's my face that bleeds

It's all taken away

In a dream, in a day

All faded and gray

The gift of a lover gone to waste

We were memories that never existed

We were promises that could never be kept

Drunks like the angels that sang at our funeral

Strangers to all those who came to see us go

And love above all else remains

In a dream, in a day

The color that never stains or stays

The gift of a moment gone to waste.

Flight

You were the first name

To cross into my airspace

This morning

The last thought

To leave my runway

Tonight

And I'm taking planes

And making my way

To space

I'm taking wing

Braking dreams

For one last scene

With you.

The Ash and the Ember

The lines we swallow

A chance to follow

The end, round the bend

Now I see tomorrow

In pools we wallow

Our own sorrow

And what we all know

Is dead, now we're left

In these quiet hollows

And here upon the highest shelf

A painting for you and no one else

An empty bottle of a prison cell

Beneath the oils we've canvassed hell

She said, where've you been

I've been waiting here, with him

And gestured a finger

At Lucifer

Who looked at her and grinned

Somewhere else, where lives might end

And with them the lies

That kept us breathing

Kept hearts beating

Against these brittle cages

Where Heaven dressed so strangely

We'd never welcome her in

And the nights I called home

Were the nights I lost hope

And the dead held their heads

And said don't we all know

But when my voice broke

The tiny machine froze

Aligning with the devil

He said, don't forget

Where you are when you go home

Here behind a wall of glass

A thousand tapes and photographs

Line the walls all dressed in black

To ask

Is it better to be the first to show

Or the last to go

Is it better to hold on to hope

Or to keep your feet planted firmly at home

She said

Don't forget

And I never did

She said

Don't regret

I always have

And the devil placed his bet

And I put everything I had

On Death

Against this

Somewhere

We must've meant this

But here

We're different

Here, we're something

Something

We have never been.