The Narrow Path

Walking 'long the razor blade while watching for a fall.

It's the strangest kind of journey along an edge that's hard and tall.

Lined with crowds the path that stretches across the rusted edge

Their angry voices calling loud and raging for a pledge. 

Jackals dance and ponies prance upon green fields below

But oh how far the people are, the ones I claimed to know

While times still change and rearrange, depending on fortune's fall

Pray brighter days will rise from the haze of memory's faint recall

Too old to chase the shadows passed yet too young to chase the grave

I'm saddened as the heroes of once descend to errant knaves.

I seek out the message that may put these bitter hearts to rest

Yet all the while surrounds the guile that kindness cannot repress

Bleeding footprints along the path with no certain end in sight

With so many simply chasing one more peep or one more fight

Laughter will rise and with it the reprise as callers seek revenge

amongst gentle whispers of yesterdays that cannot find amends. 

Gossip is the magistrate and Jealous is the blade

Crossing fast and seeking solace before the light shall fade

Waiting till the time might come that echoes will finally silence

As words are made like cannonade repeating their ghastly violence.

Whilst I look unto the skies to bring mine eyes reprieve,

Silence comes like the blessed nuns walking forth to lament and grieve

Retreating from their castles now the angels shall merely observe

As the world rejects their words of wisdom to embrace the most absurd.

Thus logic is lost but at what cost and hatred reigns instead

Common Sense, which none repents, finds many tears to shed

So I continue 'long the razor blade into the misting clouds

And turn my eyes unto the skies, away from shadows' shrouds

Crowds follow the roads and stick true to the codes regardless of the price, 

For it matters not for what they fought so long as the stories entice

With truth erased and rewritten to replace the deeds they can't defend

So long as it fits, pray no one admits they have to smile and pretend

Amongst all these fears where are the ears that truly seek the sound?

For when all seek tales that ease the ails, reality won't be found.

Take the drugs and drink the suds, to deaden the doubt you feel

But do not be surprised, when all turns to lies, and the chaos becomes too real

Lies and rumors reverberate, and spread a bitter hate, yet no one  will repent

They just move on and dance along denying with each lament

The innocence retreats and repeatedly meets no refuge in the night

So the cycle revs up, as many drink from the cup ingesting hatred's might.

A call to the willing, amongst people milling and dancing down below

Walk along the path, or risk the wrath, of the Jealous blade's swift blow

No one's truth stands alone, with the casting of the stone will come a bitter fight

So choose your friends and play pretend, or walk the narrow path in fright.

The Egotist

People are not made for love but made to be my toys

I build them oh so carefully to rush unto my bidding

Like a vengeful God I smite and engage my minions in my ploys

The world it revolves around my name, and I am always winning

I tweak my little playthings and I program them with care

I am the worldly doctor, and as such, you must beware

Should you dare defy me, I will rip your world to shreds

Lock you up and run you down, drug you up with meds

I'll make you into a liar and I'll threaten you by proxy,

I'll stop at nothing to control your everything,

even till you're dead,

I'll run you up and run you down

I'll play you for a fool,

I'll rearrange your everything

You are nothing but my tool.

I am the worldly doctor,

I know so much more then you

If you're lucky you'll still be breathing

When my game is through.

I'll drag everyone that I can find into my twisted games

I'll lie until the sun goes down if it gets you labeled insane

I'll play against your little life every card I've found

I hope you're feeling paranoid, because soon we're starting rounds.

Corners of the Mind

Closer the walls and harder the task
Alone again, I scream at the glass

Closing in, the mocking faces

Here I am, in the same old places...

Running faster than I can think

Making choices between every blink

Into the fear and righteous anger

I'm from one into another danger

Where do I go when the last castle falls?

Where do I go when the goaler calls?

Where did I come from that I came to here?

What do I do when I'm lost in my fear?

The Space Between

Canyons and valleys

I can't reach you out there

With all the space between

Maybe life is suffering

But I thought there was more.

I've seen it here and there

Those other things I mentioned

It never lasts too long

And then I'm back again. 

I have to go away

In order to come back

I have to find a way

To find all that I lack.

Come find me in-between 

I'll save a place for you

We'll write our own brave story

And finally make it true.

Reflections

Your eyes looking back at me tell me everything you see

Your eyes tell me where I've been and the person I can't be

Your eyes tell me so much more then I could ever say

Your eyes come to me in dreams and then they run away.

My hopes float upon the wind like a gentle feather

They rise with every victory and sink with stormy weather

They fly so high when I am free of all my doubts and cares

They come to me to lift my goals with challenges and dares

My wisdom finds the meeting 'tween my goals and all my acts

My passions rising in the storm forever wane and wax

Until I find my soul's true counter forever will I roam

And if I never find her, I will find my way alone. 

Angels of Mercy

Together, and then apart, the pieces move in sync...

Gently striding forward through the ravages of time.

The Angels of their mercy come for my pain yet again

Soothing it with their salves and their words of gentle wisdom.

I knew my heroine long enough to know when she was strained.

I knew the task before me as long in time and short in its glory

I knew the Angels would be with me on my poor man's journey

I only hoped to make the fruits to be worth the bitter costs.

Ascending upon the mountaintop of my spiritual journey

Surveying all the wreckage of my life and what it was

Knowing that I'll never be the person that they sought

Forever bound to my fate as the rich man's poorest son.

I'll keep my pace upon my journey

I'll keep my eyes upon the prize

I'll prove myself unto my Angels

She'll earn her mercy before she dies. 

Shelter in Place

When my hands, they shake, and energy fails

When fear comes hard and fast

When my mind is lost in eternal space

I have no recourse, I shelter in place

When I cannot grasp the words that they say

When my efforts come to naught

When the safe harbor is lost to a serpent race

I have no recourse, I shelter in place

I hesitate to reach for my wrath

For there must be another answer

I search for the clues to find a new path

I cannot fail this time. 

Lost in the doubt and regret that I find

I gather my patience and shelter my mind

I know that I must give more effort and time

When I lack my answers, I shelter in place. 

I fear for the actions my mind commits

I fear for the words I don't say

I watch for the courage to come back in place

But regrettably, I shelter in place

I walk out of my shelter and scream at the sky

and although it does not answer my screams and my cries

When world loses temper and forgets its place

I cry out to God and shelter in place.

Medicine Men

She walked in silence, small and humble

amongst the glass and rocks...
Her barefoot feet somehow unmarred,

in contemplation of the costs.

She fled her ghosts and repelled their whispers

And walked the long way home.

She called her friends who would not answer

She ran from all that she had known

She ran from all her fears and frights

and watched the ghosts of yesteryears

As they laughed her demons to mockery...

while she shed only invisible tears.

She traveled the path they would not grant her

So stubborn and defiant in her anger and fear

She knelt before the angels and martyrs

and prayed for abatement of this nightmare.

She climbed again and kept her pace

and ignored the voices harassing

She ran to remember the kindest of men

and mourned their violent passing.

She chased the angels as they ascended

Wishing she was one

She left the heroes she had known

for in her sorrow, they now were none.

Tigre

Lithe and orange and furry beyond measure

kitnip and scratching posts among his pleasures

with stripes and whiskers to mark his feline form

playful and pestering is simply the norm.

agile and swift but vigilant too

loyal and willing to always stay true

cunning and graceful but patient as time

always remembering that he is only mine.

Blank

She called my heart the other day

And I knew not the words to say.

I tried honesty 

I told her about the yearning inside

All of the things that I'd tried to hide

The games that I played to enter her soul

So many games with only one goal.

Then I tried humor

I laughed about my helpless delight

At the moment she came into my sight

The way that she lit up that light in my eyes

The way that I hated each and every goodbye

Then I tried pleasing

I spoke of her beauty beyond all the others

The joy that her presence always uncovers

The smiles that I held in my heart just for her

The lies that I told as I held her in wonder

Then I tried pleading

Reminding that hearts cannot hold out forever

That sometimes they are meant to be together

That fading comes fast in the breath of denial

That falling becomes its own bitter trial.

In the end there was nothing but nothing to say

And after some time the time washed away.

Love

Love recalls and returns
Love surrenders its wants to meet needs.

Love bubbles and burns

Love rejects greed. 

Love has passion or it is not love

It has patience and forbearance.

It has repentance and humility.

Love is honest and forgiving.

Love looks forward and not past.

Love is open, yet restrained

It is reflective in absence

Love is wise and true

Because it is self-evident.

Love needs and requires no recognition

When unreturned, it is still love

When unrecognized, it is still love.

Love does not revert but only grows

Love transfers and ignites

When answered by hate,

it is the love that is remembered.

Conscious

All around me loud and fast the raging demons' voices echo

Confidence in shards and shatters and little of victory to know.

Patiently waiting for the chance to stake my name in fables

in the arena of the elders where legends are claimed by the abled.

With trepidation, I seek God's counsel in the lonely hour of my trial

In tribulation, I set forth to run for the denial of my descending doom

I wonder where these stored past passions can finally enjoin me

And all of the lectures of previous days will echo and return to warn me

While you Weren't

While you weren't listening
I started closing doors

I ran around the back

Then opened up some more

While you weren't listening

I changed a few ideas

I put away my fairy tales

I tried to face my fears.

You wanted me to change

You found and shaped a mold

You called upon your champions

To bring me back in fold.

You wanted to know everything

Perhaps I didn't learn

I chased the wrong directions

And failed to grow and earn. 

While you weren't watching

I found a different way

I found new things to do

I found new things to say.

While you weren't watching

I changed the way I am

I changed my view of the world

I learned to not pretend.

spidey

Dear Spidey,

Patients come and patients go,

but arachnids are special, we all know

we appreciate you even though

our appreciation may knot always show

you have a way with words, it's true

we never knew the core of you

you came here as a larva and grew

And the world shall see your heart anew!

don't give up your legged ways

for there shall come some brighter days!

- Elle

Defiant

Determination, it echoes against the winds of hate and denial
Higher rising the legend's banner that strife cannot defile
The currency of whispers speaks to resentment and regret
But further on the banner waves in the glimmer of sunset

She spoke of times I failed her in the trials of becoming men

Charging with our banners just to flee them once again

Smartly in the shadows we regain our strength and honor

To rise again in righteous defense of our burning manor.

Jealously, she spoke of triumphs snatched from jackal's jaw

And wounds of blood and anger that would ripen red and raw

Vengeful in our justice we become a certain type of man

Who struggles with the question of when to stay the hand.

Lucid now, we never fail to fight our fickle fate

Never turning from a horrid will to find our hate.

And so we turn and spirits burn with passion in our eye

To choose between our love and hate, the passions we defy.

Desire

Pools of blue and straw haired blonde

Lighting up my soul and beyond

Stars so bright shine in her eyes

And yet my heart her words deny

Drawing me inexorably towards

A kiss, a caress the highest reward

And when our eyes come forth to meet

Sparks will fly and hearts will beat

Truth it only runs from lies

At the sight my soul, it sighs

With the grace of an angel's flight

She returns my gaze with infinite sight.

Calm the Waters

Wind and rain and dust and flood

Hurricanes descend from above

And so an angel extends a hand

To save the last of hope and love.

Water churning in pools of denial

To cheer the empty hero

Calm the waters once again

And drop the anger down below

Where the feathers fly again across the lonely lands

I cannot find my hero now

He fled with all his plans.

When all the states hospitals and medicinemen

Cannot revive bipolar again

Where then dost thou cast the blame?

Reflect it back and find your shame.

Waiting

Hanging in the corner

From a silky thread

by the light of windows

with pen and paper spread

The dragonfly, it hovers,

In the room just down the hall

busy are the bees

from the comb the honey falls

And so, the bear creeps lowly

sniffing at the air

sneaking in so softly

to tackle what is there

He's bigger than the dragonfly

Though hungry, he is strong

He plots to steal some honey

Because right is never wrong

Unfortunately for bear (though spider plays along)

When they come in number, bees can be quite strong

Soon the door comes open, and queen bee has a friend

Blue bee joins the hive, in the room down at the end

To make bear's matters worse

another bee pops out

soon the first door opens

and bees are all about

Spider, do a favor...

Distract the dragonfly.

Knowing

Knowledge in the chaos Vortex

Rippling through like waves

Turning up the power brings

reverberating rage

Stepping back, the echoes fade

As knowledge builds my power

Whisperings of the doings past

Returning hour by hour

Whither from, the echo calls

And whence will it return?

'Cross the lonely path of which

Is leading us astern. 

Walking back and running forward

an agent of the chaos

Looking for an aiding ally

We're bearing up our cross.

So, what is it that we know now

And whither shall it lead us?

Can we find another way

Before the demons bleed us?

Berry nice arachnid...

Ebbybody gloves Molly...

Ebben when she is Folly...

And taking pills can be stupid,

Especially when less then totally lucid.

They had the war on drugs...

And the war on hugs...

But where's the war on pills?

I've surely had my fill.

When I think of going crawling...

I find the hospitals appalling...

There's a lack of fruits

Bodies comin outta chutes.

Then they want a quick fix

But it's too late for it.