DROWNING

I dream of pools in deep dark trenches.

The place is festering with snakes and leaches.

The water surrounds me and pulls me down;

Six, maybe eight feet beneath the ground.

I'm writhing and thrashing, desperate for air,

But there's never anyone there.

Kicking and screaming sometimes wakes me,

But then sometimes the tide takes me.

Pulling me further down this hole,

So deep that my eyes begin to roll. 

CHILDREN

I remember the children.

With kite strings wrapped loosely around their fingers, and clouds in their eyes.

I can still see the skies.

The fields of grain trampled by storms of snow and hail.

And I think of the veil;

How it shielded your eyes, and that look of surprise when I pulled it back to touch you.

And I can't forget the way that I loved you,

And how much I miss you now. 

FODDER

Moving objectively through a dream.

Things are never as they seem.

There are creatures clawing behind the curtain.

Their intentions are never quite certain.

You try to run, but your feet fail you.

And then the claws begin to impale you.

With fury you strike in malevolence,

But your efforts bare no evidence.

The gaping maws consume you the moment you relinquish.

And in the end, there's nothing left of you to distinguish.

WISH 

When every empty prayer is echoed from your lung,

Like the song forever heard, but never sung,

You'll hear me.

When every beam of light will call,

Like leaves that blow, but never fall,

You'll see me.

When thunder rolls across the sky,

Like foam that lathers on the tide,

You'll feel me.

And when days that never seem to end,

Make you wish you had a friend,

You'll have me.

BEAUTIFUL AUDIENCE

A fist is wrapping a beat on the door,

Thumping until it's throbbing and sore.

An offbeat production is played with persistence,

Complete with a voice that displayed no resistance.

They brought the house down by the end of the night,

Finding me with my pants down, grinning with delight.

The pianist proceeds to pound at the keys,

Bringing the performance to a climax with me on my knees.

Falling down laughing and hitting the floor,

I find myself clapping and begging for more!

CONSTANT CHANGES

I can fall in love again.

But I can't pretend that everything remains the same while everything around me is always changing.

I shouldn't rely on past pretenses when my defenses are down and all around me is changing, and my name remains the same.

I can still see your hand pressed upon the glass, while you were watching the rain fall quietly as it tapped across the pane.

It still remains the same, when all else seems to change.

I don't know why I stood there so long.

My clothes soaked through for you.

I guess I hoped you'd see me there and call me out of the cold.

But after all, nothing can grow without rain.

SUNCHILD

I saw you though the trees.

You were crouched upon your knees,

Waiting for the sun to rise.

The evening seems to tantalize.

A church bell in the distance reminds you of man's persistence,

Bringing morning every day, and at night taking it away.

You're waiting for the sun to rise.

I can see that in your eyes.

The woods still call you into a dream.

The shadows are never what they seem.

Still you sit beneath the stars,

Your thoughts all straying very far;

Hitching a ride upon the breeze,

Dropping natures seed as it whips through the reeds.

And with your hands outstretched to the infinite skies,

You glow as the sun begins to rise. 

JUST A DREAM

One night, in a dream as I remember,

How creative I was in the middle of December.

I was cold and conflicted with an odd situation.

My body was being frozen for self preservation.

A disease had consumed my flesh it would seem.

But then I recalled it was still just a dream.

My limbs would ache like they were being pulled away.

I must have been sleeping in a really bad way.

The doctors told me to be calm and stay well,

They promised I wouldn't die or rot in Hell.

So I believed the men and women of science,

And I waited and froze to show my compliance.

So they stranded me here in a pillar of ice.

The cure they had was too high in price.

I forced myself not to let out a scream.

I almost forgot, this is all just a dream.

MOTHER NATURE

I'm venturing fearlessly through places unknown.

Mother Nature's been kind enough to leave me alone.

Everything in front of me is gleaming and glistening.

As my feet touch the ground, the Earth is listening.

The sun seems to touch all that is living.

Even in darkness the world is forgiving.

We awake to a new day, bright and delightful.

Only the heavy at heart could be spiteful.

FATHER TIME

I don't try to understand the filters we live in.

The knowledge we embrace flows like rivers from within.

I see a field of evergreen that rocks and sways before me.

Hiking up this rugged plain, while Father Time ignores me.

I don't care to walk this path I've trodden so many years ago.

There are new things ahead, things I need to learn and know.

A fresh world lies ahead, blowing in the leaves of Fall.

I long to know the meanings of things, but I haven't the time at all.

SAVIOR

I will decend from you.

Always defend for you.

hoping your word is true.

I will just fall from you.

Don't take it personal.

Your truth is virtual.

Our sins are your disgrace.

You died for our mistakes.

Bring us to your holy land.

We will follow your command.

There's no need to reprimand.

We will learn to understand.

NIGHT SWEATS

Please fetch me my wine.

I can't take this feeling anymore.

Something's taken all that's mine,

Under the table and across the floor.

A lighthouse strobes outside my window,

While smoke is swirling beneath my bed.

Elflings are licking between my toes,

While sugarplums dance inside my head.

The walls bleed on floorboards that tell tales,

While the cold night shivers and the banshee wails.

Angels and demons prepare for holy battles.

Inside my closet the boogie man rattles.

Snakes and spiders slither and crawl.

Towers and cathedrals crumble and fall.

And in the night I let out a sceam,

When I found that this was not a dream.

SPOTLIGHT

You were picked out of a croud with a voice so loud.

We knew it was you who would make us all proud.

You reflected an image we all want to see.

It was you that we all want to be.

You've affected our lives with all that you're worth.

We saw your whole life before your own birth.

You were given a chance in a world that adored you.

We got you on film and then we ignored you.

You were trampled by youth and love of addiction.

We all had to suffer through your conviction.

You knew it was you that we had to replace,

So you cut off your nose to spite your own face.

HOSPITALITY

I'm slightly inhaling a mist of grey swirls.

A story's unfolding and a dream unfurls.

I've tried to enhance my plausable perception.

You're welcome to join this luke warm reception.

Come inside and sit by the fire.

We will fulfill your every desire.

Hang your coat and make yourself at home.

We'll see to it that you're left alone.

Have a drink, and drink till you drop.

No one here will tell you to stop.

ME AND MYSELF, WITHOUT I

In the midst of a conversation with myself, I said,

"Is there any way I could get out of my head?"

The answer that came is not what I expected.

"How can I deny myself, and not be rejected?"

The idea of this notion is driving me insane.

If I leave myself behind, why do I remain?

There must be a way I can slip this skin.

Is it medication or therapy? Where do I begin?

This world is only big enough for one of me.

One of us has to go. Who should it be?

Two is company, but three is a crowd.

All of these voices is just too loud.

I wonder if I'll keep living after I die.

That would be like me and myself, without I.

PLAYING SECOND FIDDLE

You're catching glances across a low lit room.

What did you think they would assume?

It all points to freedom of speech.

Maybe there's an agreement you can reach.

"Why can't we just compromise a little?"

Says the man with the spoons and the fiddle.

He doesn't know, but he sure plays a tune.

Just like us, he's stuck in this room.

Isn't it funny how we all persist?

It's the small comforts we can't resist.

So you sit and listen to this tiny guitar.

Take a shot and nearly fall off the bar.

The noise in your head sounds just like the fiddle.

Now that in itself is a hell of a riddle.

Take a last look at the eyes that still roam.

Pick up your coat and find your way home.

Remember what the man with the fiddle said.

"All that liquor went straight to your head."

MY FRIEND

Have you seen my friend before?

He was just standing in the door.

I can't see him anymore.

There's his footprints on the floor.

Can you tell me what he said?

All the feelings in his head?

I just can't believe he's dead.

I think I'll just pretend instead.

I know this will all change.

Things never stay the same.

Are you sure you heard his name?

Or is this just a game?

Have you seen my friend before?

I thought I heard his name once more.

EMBEDDED FIELDS

Take a deep breath and let it all in.

The rest of your life is about to begin.

Open the door that enters your mind.

Now exhale and see what you find.

Pass through fields of tall stalks of grain.

Run over hills that run through your brain.

Drink from the streams and rivers that flow.

Follow them down to the willows that grow.

Take another breath and do it once more.

See all the things you missed before.

You've got a head start on the rest of your life.

Begin it with ease and end without strife.

Look back at the fields you're leaving behind.

Visit any time. I'ts all in your mind.

PHOTOS

It's a shock to see your face hanging in my hall.

Though I've seen you before, I hardly know you at all.

It's hard to paint a mental picture when you can't make out the lines.

So you shouldn't be insulted if your name's not on my mind.

My pictures lie torn and scattered on the floor.

If I see them again, I may recall more.

The details that I seek are there in black and white.

But my photos disappear in the stillness of the night.

FLUID

I walk in a land that has its own vision.

Each of my steps will land with precision.

Follow me close and watch where I go.

I want you to hear the sounds that I know.

Let the color of your sky be gold all around.

I hope that you find what I haven't found.

I can guide you across this fragmented land.

But it will soon be your turn to lead the band.

The rivers will flow like a chorus in your ears.

Carry it with you throughout the years.

When the final drip echoes in tune,

Recite what you've heard as you gaze at the moon.

Now it's my turn to hear what you've heard.

And my mind as a sponge will soak every word.