There are nights like these
Where I get so lonely that I can’t sleep
So I spend my dreams out here by the street
Or in the damp grass beneath the trees
Looking for something I’ll never see.
But it feels so warm in these memories,
I don’t ever want to leave.
Like marble carved and cracked into seams
The statue finds in place in me
Though I should never rest like stone.
I am just a shadow bound below
Damned to spin yet never to go
Anywhere that light may be.
This may be just an open field
But you should see the people here:
Their joy’s so loud it almost sounds near.
And these feelings fall like scrawling leaves
I just can’t tell if it’s them or me
Who’s stuck in this ink.
I’ve been treading this ocean of people drowning around me
Their empty cavities making a mockery of my soul.
And though I’m straining my eyes, I know that I can barely see
This washed-out world as it’s burnt by that star the sky,
Once, the shadows of life seemed to dance around their faces
And now as far I can see, they’re just mountains of ashes.
Their placid smiles wrapped in plastic on their mouths,
I wish I could tear them all out,
What used to be there beneath,
An honesty without doubt,
But they’re just laughing at me
As I try to salvage any little meaning;
But there’s just emptiness, only emptiness.
The waves crash above as my fingers break the surface,
And with every salt filled breath, I forget more of my purpose or
Whatever I lied to myself to keep my eyes open,
But sleep is beckoning, yes it’s calling me.
Oh, how easy it’d be if If I just let myself drown
And I’d forget all the days that I spent running over this town
Looking for something to hold onto,
Keep me pinned to the ground,
As I’m floating awry with only seconds left
To watch the years go by and bring me closer to death
As if by kind of joke I’d actually find rest.
I’ll try to grit my teeth and send myself to the streets,
To where I littered my truth and all the relics of my youth,
As man in the gutters tries to reach out and touch me,
Finding nothing but the cold air to keep him company
As he succumbed to his decisions that lead him out of his home,
Calling out to a broken, blackened desolate world “Have you watched yourselves lately, have you seen how you’ve died?”
I only thought to myself of the reaping in my eyes,
I witnessed it almost every single fucking day,
How memories, feelings, meanings seemed to wither away
Until we’re left with our scars and our humble regrets,
Dying alone in the streets, just like the way we had lived.
All the hearts now that are just whored for greed,
Can you feel their tears, or does it fill you glee?
I think I’ll close my eyes, forget this world that I’ve seen…
Somewhere in sleep, somewhere for whatever is left of me…
(Source: ajoutezen)
Another anomaly has stricken me, and I couldn’t help but think of You. (Yes, I know, I return to these ruins lead-like apologies). It was a crowd this time … it performed the strangest feat …
When strolling past these bodies, it became apparent to me that it was less a matter of remembering faces and names and more of something else, something different. It was no longer the summation of arbitrary sounds ascribed some bastardized fragment of thought and character, nor the facade that I was taught to cherish in my picture-book. No, it was truly beneath that. For every curve, line, brow, jaw, smile, scar, blemish, freckle and callous that built that person sparked into a furious flurry of sight and sound. Every sentiment hit the flame like sodium, projecting their cores unto me. It was their laughter and tears that danced like apparitions in the shade, summoning every thought that lied beneath. Every word she spoke and dagger she pointed, they were all birthed anew. Every coy remark and snide comment, dangerous smirk and gentle sigh, imagined anger and selfish cry … they surfaced like corpses on a shore. For every word of consolation and outburst of relief he offered, the fires continued their dance. Slowly the connections cultivated themselves in the caverns of my mind as I sat by the daze of the performances. It was more than remembering. What remained in the coals of the fire was the fuel what they were—are. It was the epiphany of stumbling upon the fragments of myself in those who encompassed me. Each pebble carried its parable of my granite-like soul as I sifted through the earth they had become. These were lives I passed by, littering my careless glances. These were the composites of weaknesses compressing themselves into diamonds, shimmering in speculation, as they shined onto my very core.
And the fires were all but extinguished.
The years that stretched over the single second of two eyes locking polluted my head with a tenacious smog, clinging to every nervous thought dared admit its kinship. In this shroud I shuffled on, suffering as a witch before the faces around me…
As for You,I leave this gentle flame ‘til once again I bear my name. May its warmth remind You of our compounded identities.
What?
Where would there be fun in depicting Your flame?
Besides, as far as I can see You’re little more than a haze.
It’s hard to ride your horse with broken leg,
When you’ve already loaded your gun.
And here I am, scraping by
For my final run.
Every single thing you have done,
Here in hell—my soul you’ve think you won.
But you cannot break what you don’t own.
But you cannot break what you don’t own,
This here my heart, is my home
My heart, yeah, it’s my home.
So into the gutters and forsaken, filthy streets.
With every bit of indecency that I will meet.
Now do whatever you want with me,
And the reason I still smile
Is something you’ll never truly know, oh.
But you cannot break what you don’t own.
You cannot break what you don’t own,
You cannot break what you don’t own.
You cannot break this—-
And though this time, You see,
Your bullet in my eye,
But I will not bleed beneath your feet. [x2]
Man;
Through his courageous endeavors,
He desperately tried to change his past, exploit his present, and control his future,
And without intent, he placed himself on a contorted stage.
Thus, he damned himself to long life
Full of short days.
Ultimately it depends
Upon where you place your beginning and end,
But in this play I stand at climax,
The flag hanging at half-mast
For the fortune I have lost.
So let me bring your head to this;
A gamble against will and wits.
Oh, Fate you smirk when I cringe,
Laying down as many cards ‘til you break this bridge;
But go ahead and build your house on sand
And we will see who suffers from a poorly dealt hand.
It is in this state
That I begin to relate
To those who begin to bar the gate
And drone along the listless days.
Where is release where there is no rest?
And where is the pride when given one’s best?
It seems that I must ferment and repent.
I wonder what it’s like to be you;
To suffer a life in such a view
Of what horrors the mind can do.
Oh, what tragedies you’ve seen:
Empty hearts that are trying to seam
The crevice they tore with neglect,
Conforming, contorting, combating,
Clinging to some sort of identity.
Some try to lie in the shade,
Wishing but to mesh.
Some die to live in the sun,
Marring mind for flesh.
Some cry out to the world,
Just for thrill of offense.
Some buy themselves a reason,
For they have found nothing left.
You’ve witnessed the worst of affront,
Whether morals can be professed
Or in exploit they are dispensed;
The acts always change,
But the sentiments never relent.
You’ve encountered every attempt,
To mend the mind with flesh,
To mince the body with soul,
To mitigate the heart from guilt.
The efforts are endearing,
Yet every instance yeilds
Beneath the tyranny of folly.
Your substance, scent, size, spectrum;
It always tends to change,
Yet you, yourself, you remain.
I wonder, yes, truly what is your pain.
Eve again to the moon’s full reign
And what it is that defiles your brain
Is nothing more than what you cannot control,
But nevertheless, targets your soul.
Yes, what ails you now
My meticulous, meager mount
Of incarnated, pithy self-pity,
Is no less than what you hardly
Notice, if at all, you’d briefly know this:
What beats and breathes will lead
Into what appears to be
A sporadic routine of self-critical means—
To what ends you forever attempt to appease.
Debate to yourself that you are alone,
I doubt not you’d be argued into an empty throne;
To a kingdom you fail to rule,
Instead you prefer to lay it in rue.
Are you blind?
Is it empty there, in your mind?
Though you do indeed see
Vast precipices that lay between
All of those who may be within your vicinity;
Have you not the will to construct a bridge?
Or has fire left those constructive hands burnt?
What once was shouldn’t burden
What exists now, and still…
Long ago that shipwreck was discovered,
Long ago that isle was reached,
Long ago that mute was given speech,
Yet forever more you fall to grief.
Where’s your fire?
And where’s your smoke?
Ah…where is that raft on which you once tried to float?
Two friends, one night, affronted
With the pernicious need
To watch each other bleed,
Began regrets with morals stunted.
A fervent hypocrite with ignorant inquiries,
A didactic wretch with snide remarks.
Beginning with the former,
“Why is it you listen no longer?
You’ve grown so wary
Of opinions, I see.”
As beliefs seem to beg
A degree of self-conviction.
And as the latter warned,
“I’m growing short of nice things
To say, I promise my voice will sting
Worse than nettle if you carry on this way.”
“Oh but what fouls and wrecks
Your professed finesse
In open-mindedness;
My belief is supreme in this.”
“Foul? Wreck?
You draw your blade at yourself!
Begrudged, belittled, betrayed
By your worship of a figure
Who forgets you on a dresser.
Belief? Hah! Believe in this:
If you’re going to point
Your words at me,
It’s best to bring a sharper knife,
For the daggers I speak will bring
You to an inch of your life.”
Victim was played
By the one without shame,
Nor thought nor compassion;
Only blame.
And soon, the latter cried:
“You tear at your own eyes!
Have you no regard for once what was?
Or should ruin be the sanctuary
For all that you waste”
All to no avail.
Narcissus found a blade
Through his reflection,
And into his chest,
With room for another
At any moment.
A concerned, once-friend
Lied hunch over in the dark,
Blade in back with no where to start.
Shadows surrounded,
Discontent remained.
The latter bled by himself,
With his words to accuse.
The former passed
With his folly to peruse,
Written in blood,
Yet nothing to do.
They say deceit’s stench is like rotting flesh
in the nostrils;
They say treachery walks on whispering toes
that screams in your ears;
They say that our world is completely fouled,
and you must accept their route;
They say these words that dig at your heart,
but they cringe beneath your brain;
They say that you’re free to believe anything
once you’ve been put in your chains;
They say that friendship is jewel that hasn’t a problem
shattering the strengths of diamond;
They said all they could, whether or not they knew
If any of their words were true.
With a desperate heart, a pleading mind, a fleeting desire, and a burning agony
I listened closely and heard nothing.
Deceit’s rott went undetected,
And treachery’s paradox was surreptitious.
The hypocrisy was demented,
And the fallacies were malicious.
The tryanny was implemented—
The fascism quite precious
To entrails laid strewn across the floor
From a naive heart once whored.
The friendship was fragile,
And only a sadist remained.
They fed me full of lies,
My life fell to shame.
To believe all that’s heard,
To accept all that is seen,
To bite into every single lure—
That is the tragedy.
That is what they made of me.
If they laugh, if they rage, if they fight
Because their sound-sleep of night
Has been broken by the lonely soul
That does not dream,
He only sees
That they’re all sleep-walking into a hole;
Then let them fall.
But the one who is awake
Will just walk in the shadows,
Wade in the Lethe lakes,
And search for something—
Just to dream!
To at least in some way
Feel as if they’ll say
That he is finally welcome,
That they can perish together.
No.
He will scream
And try his
Best to save
Whatever is left
Of those who
Are drawn into
The pleasing Abyss
And he will face the fact that he is alone.
Oh, what legacy I left within
That sand that flew with the wind;
To refine a decade the surgeon’s hand,
Just to form the glove that he who had
But a single barber’s experience.
And I, I know, we dipped our hearts in gold;
And yes, I know, what little worth we sold.
It’s at times such as these
That my frailty exceeds
That of fiberglass leaves,
Draped with sullen eyes,
And a hollowed core;
Perceptual, but nothing more.
Frantically attempting to appease
Those inhabiting my company,
If any help that there could be,
Reliance rests not on me.
I wish to be your only tool
Yet I drown like any fool.
Direct me, Command me,
Exploit me, Abuse me,
Consume me, waste me,
or humiliate me profusely;
But keep me not within that corner,
For I’ll decay before you can discover
What worth, if any, I’m yet to have.
Strength should be the aspiration,
and Thought to be a trusted companion,
Yet these withered bones
Are truly alone
Alongside the hilt
Of a fire who consumed itself.
Have I sense? I think not;
No, this heart is too easy to rot
And this faceless crowd is
much like belledonne.
Am I mad? Has something in me lost its hold and I’m now spiraling into a decay merely North-Northwest of my life? I suppose its fit for one so lost in himself that he cannot attend what his flesh may. My heart protests nearly every effort to stand, yet my conscience knows all too well of Melancholy’s fallacy. I have no reason to feel this way, or to doubt myself with such intensity, yet the aches persist. I’m becoming more detached, and it’s not even intentional. Perhaps we hold this innate desire to rue in self-pity and pessimism? I sure revel in it. My rationality wants to secure myself that I can become something, and that these worries are but frivolous contemplation of neurosis. However, I know better than to accept my own authority…I’ve been rousing that rebellion my whole life. It’s at times like these that I wish I could hear you speak, perhaps then I’d escape this quicksand of a feeling. Then again, in my shoes, could you keep your head afloat? What of I to you? I could just as well lull myself in clothing anchored to the sinking blue. But avast ye digression! Who am I to blame if my doubts prevail (for as a poison, I’ve known them well; quicksilver lacks fervor in such comparisons!) and I make it no further than the front door? I suspect my murder follows me into the mirror…
My endless, unrelated, unconscious, and at times unrelenting absurdity compelled itself to formulate such a future. No matter what the base may be raised to, the line will eventually meet a point, and all else behind led to it. Then this, itself, can be a battle yet won. (Determinism sits in my stomach with about as much comfort as father’s discovery of unwrapped condoms in his daughter’s shower) Yet I know the target of this arrow has distance to cover. I destine myself to change this world, to impact it, yet I bite my own ankle. Thus, this battle in my head, its something I have anticipated—begged. A quarrel so rich and challenging that I may stay entertained a while longer.
And all blows aside, I’m still intrigued: am I crazy? Have I lost sight of what they see and what I act? I search the ruins of discourse and only find frustration in loneliness. Though, not by eradication do the fields turn hallow, but by a pestilent laziness. Is that asking to much? Is it beyond reason to wish for passion and commitment in progressing modes of knowledge? Aye, and what an ass am I to swim such rivers of pedantry to be angered by such a sight! To hark at a void of wasted potential, thinking that I’m fit enough to escape it. But does that secure my insanity? Surely, in a blind world, the man with capable eyes is anything but sane..but should I be ever so lucky? Nay. I bleed no less than the man next to me, but why must I feel the way I do? It is as if I desire impossibilities, and double the heart-ache for being so naive. Alas! I forgot! You! I’m certain that you’ve seen, haven’t you? Perhaps we are not blind, and perhaps there is hope. Despondency held it’s own in the keeping of demise of that plane. But if you are able, this does not qualify myself. I can only indulge in faith towards in a mirror, hoping that any precedent alone can eventually flutter to us all.
In conclusion, what restraints have these jackets to my mind? And of the horror that defeats the rest? None. Perhaps another day I can best myself further, and continue to excel, but where would I be without moments like these? Surely, the world needs gadflies. In simpler words: What is sweet with out any sense sour? Naught.
