I cannot find you in your movies
In your books
In your posts
I cannot find you in your journals
In your ranting
In your clothes
I cannot find you in your texts
In your silence
In your space
I cannot find you
You have gone without a trace.
I cannot find you in your movies
In your books
In your posts
I cannot find you in your journals
In your ranting
In your clothes
I cannot find you in your texts
In your silence
In your space
I cannot find you
You have gone without a trace.
Sometimes I’m delicate
Not because we’re made of glass
But behind our walls
Lie golden doors
And treasures without price
Surrounded by years of traps.
I ache to feel the touch of morning rays
Across the hills of evergreen and red
Embraced by early Autumn’s timid gaze
Upon the leaves her lips, so soft, have bled
In hues of yellow orange and brown I weep
Until my time to flee this place so numb
I’ll out to pasture roam with stars like sheep
And wander through the night till overcome
The trees have whispered to their fingers “wait”
Our ears are closed and halt the shaking voice
Our minds to silence thoughts tangled with fate
Until they’re felled by axes of our choice
I ache to feel the touch of morning sun
But only after through the veil I’ve run
Like grass so green, his eyes capture my soul
And raven’s wing his heart a fleeting song
His mouth so sharp each word doth take its toll
And ne’er a plight I e’re held to for long
His skin, it shines so bright and cold and clear
Like midnight oil I grasp and hold in dark
Clutched to my breast like truth I hold so dear
And fan to flame once was a little spark
His fiery hands they burn inside my head
Like thoughts so warm and close they fall from grace
Each breath I hear my ears they feel so dead
And hope descends, like morning, to its place
I part my lips and speak his name like ash
And feel the waves, like agony, and crash
You are not to blame
When the weight of your pain
Decreases your will to give;
A collapsing star may burn more brightly,
But you, my dear, are more than dust.
You are more than fears,
You are more than hands
Outstretched and thinned
Reaching toward the helpless.
You are more than endless nights
With a heart and ears heavier that steel,
Breathing in the words
They heave upon your own.
You are not worth less,
Because they cannot hear you.
You are not worth less,
Because they refuse to.
You are not worth less,
Because they forgot to…
Because I forgot to…
You are not to blame
When the weight of your tongue
Leads you to silence
For that same voice that gives to rest
Must rest also receive.
I.
I swallow apologies like sand,
Because without the weight of change
They’ll float away in the wind,
Regardless of intent.
II.
I fill my lungs with mud
Trying to inhale peace,
Struggling to breathe
While words dribble down my chin.
III.
I sit in silence as a stone
Layered with years of regret
Culminating in several moments of muffled speech
I am awake, but I am not yet.
Was it a trick of the light
When I saw a reflection of my skin
Threads interwoven, pulled thin
Faded orange and green
With starlight dimmed in freckled eyes
And tear stained pillows
Disguised
As something in-between?
A mirror hanging loose
Attracts your fading lips
Takes a breath
And sighs into your hips,
As walls marked with fingerprints
Of yellow, blue and white
Trickle into shadow
And fade from sight.
A whispered windowed pane of glass
Fractures into snow
And falls through its home
Into a dream below,
Settled sleep measured out
And dropped soft like a kiss.
The days fell apart
Like eyelids and broken hearts
Opened wide and filled with dark
Inside a vacant home.
The nights were often long
Like rope and summer songs
Running fast and warm like rain
In the middle of a storm.
The oceans have since dried
Like sand and empty skies
Drained with bones inside
A once majestic space.
Her finger draws to close
A promise and a rose
Dressed in thorns and blooming slow
In a garden now erased.
I don’t do halfhearted.
I can’t do at arms-length.
You’re either here,
Or you’re gone;
There’s no in-between for me.
Leave the grays behind
For lesser things than love.
Love has to be clear, vibrant, and distinct,
Bright and in my face.
Love has to be grounded in today,
Not easily swayed by yesterday
Or the worries that wrinkle tomorrow’s face.
So leave your limp waves
And your false smiles outside
For they are not welcome
Within the walls of my heart
Or where my soul abides.
I have always woven silence
Into threads that tread upon my heart
Like choking back tears between notes
And filling the void with empty sparks.
I fumble the voice of reason
Into a crowded scene
Full of flashing lights
And undocumented dreams.
Where all are pointing fingers
Sharpened like tacks,
My soul a pin cushion
For days I’ll never get back.
Overnight never tasted so burnt before,
Intentions scrapped like scraps,
Like wilted lettuce and overripe tomatoes
Tossed into the trash.
I wait and wait and wait
But the weight is still the same
It’s pulling on my lips,
Overwhelming my veins.
Over time the silence dissipates
By then the damage has won
In a mere moment, I am broken
In a second, I am undone.