Seven Billion

Seven billion people, and they all want the same thing. One thing.
Seven billion people with seven billion different hobbies, interests, dreams.
Seven billion.
Seven billion people with different lives. Some easy. Some hard. Some painful. Unbearable.
Seven billion people, most who've never met, all want one thing.
Seven billion.

Her eyes are waning

Her soft curls are thin 

Her wrinkled face, full of laughter

But away from conversation 

You see the tiredness

The life draining, slowly, out of her

It will not be long now

Not long at all

Until she leaves us

And we will cry and mourn for her

"One by one they were all becoming shades. Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade dismally with age." 

-James Joyce, "The Dead"

On the Water

I stepped out onto the water
The green leaves in the bay rustled to the tune carried on the wind
I looked out into the expanse of grey and dark blue
Tried to see below the surface there
But its face was too perplexed
Curious about this figure that peered into its depth
Nothing.
I saw nothing there.
This deep mysterious expanse of nothing.
I thought I would find redemption there
But I found instead that redemption is not something you can find
It is something to be received
It is grace poured out
I cannot find it within me
I cannot find it standing by the sea

You

After four years of loving you
And one night of telling you
I learned everything about you
And nothing was new
After one year without you
And a lifetime of tears for you
I think I can say to you
I'm stronger than you thought.

In The Yard

I was in the yard today
I thought I would stop by and make conversation
You are such a good listener
You lay there and do not say a word
The pleasant smile on your face is haunting
Only half of it is gone now


We, you and I, 
We are surrounded by so many others
And yet, there is not a soul around
I stare at the ground
Where I imagine your face would be
But I try not to linger my sight there
For when I do, I often think
Of all your decay
And then you, whom I love,
Scare me too much to stay.

Hearing Voices at Night

I heard three voices as I drove away
They were screaming for help from within their cave
Oppressed by the dark dampness around them
Climbing for air, but surrounded


Should I turn back? Should I help them?
Just children, it sounded like
Am I their hope? 
Am I the rope they need to be free?
And their voices grew fainter and fainter


But listen.
It was my voice.

Forgive Me

Sometimes the wind there in the yard
Carries a soft tone on the edge of the breeze
"Do not forget me"
I ask it why I must hold on
Why can I not let go
But then guilt sets in and brings back horrid memories
Images of red, deep and hollow
Then more guilt
"Why was I a burden?"
I am so terribly sorry!
But this is no propitiation
For the guilt of the burden
Of a deteriorating body
I am at fault to forget
No matter, I can never forget
And the saltwater seeps back onto my cheek
As I remember brushing you by
Why bother, I thought
And now that thought rips my soul into pieces
How was I so blind?!
Nothing can ease my mind
Forgive me, I cannot forget.
Forgive me, I did not know
You were a dying man.

I Cannot Get To You

I saw you in the market place
You were hiding behind a stand
I ran after you and called your name
But I could not get to you


I saw you in a parking lot
You were sitting in a black truck
I ran as fast as I could
But I could not get to you


I saw you in a crowd
You even turned around
Looked me in the eye,
Like some possessed thing
Hardly an expression on your face
But it penetrated so heavily
Still, I ran
But I could not get to you

An Obsession

Death consumes me
Though life is in my soul
I fear death and all his mysteries
I fear losing what I hold
So close to my heart

It eats away at my flesh
Not my flesh, my mind
Not my mind, my soul
It begins as a small ember
Tickling me inside
Until it grows into a fire
And then it burns
It gnaws
In the deep crevices of my brain
Until I've gone mad

Death
It screams in my face
Death
It whispers in my ear
Death
I see him everywhere
Death
Do not take away what I love
What I fear
Dear death

"Sigh No More"

These are some lyrics from the song "Sign No More" by Mumford and Sons. They are such beautiful lyrics that I decided to post them =)

Love will not betray you
Dismay or enslave you
It will set you free
Be more like the man you were made to be
There is a design
An alignment, a cry
Of my heart to see
The beauty of love as it was made to be

I walk on the verge of sleep
I write with tiredness in my fingers
Deprivation is twisting my vision
And my thoughts
I have found this new world
When the old world sleeps
It whispers things
It softly speaks
And then it shouts and screams
Color becomes all new
I cannot form comprehensive thoughts
Yet in this state it seems clear
That no one really begs to breach to edge
To test the limits
Where do you want to go?
Take me anywhere
How long will you be gone?
As long as my mind desires.

I Thought of Sleep

I thought of sleep
Then again
I clung to the daylight
Where the files in my mind
Are not pulled without permission
His words and thoughts
He shares them
And I am so enveloped 
In conversation
I don't see you
Until the hours have gone by
And the moonlight begins to break through
Soft golden clouds on the fading horizon
And then you walk towards me
Slowly
Unsurely
Until your hand meets mine
I thought of sleep
And then I woke

I am waist deep now
In your thoughts and words
I am drowning in the most glorious new air

Earth turns
Weather makes patterns
Predictable enough
Science and instruments
Media and news
Day planners must sell quickly
We are what we define
Ourselves to be
What our days will be like
We do not fear what the future holds
We fear the inexorable march of time.

Walking the Pavement

What words are these that we express
What thoughts are these that we provoke
What days are these that we let them pass by
Why, she asked, Why
Where have the people gone
No one is here
Only machines that walk the pavement
They run on command


What ever happened to wonder
Who gazes into the caverns that fill the skies
They billow and rumble
We pay no attention to their pleading cry
Where did our voice run and hide
And why


Will you explore this place with me
Will your eyes widen and here find
What every soul searched for
And no one could find
No.
I walk the pavement.
Was the machine's reply

Did You Ask Me a Question

Did you ask me a question?

No, I replied

Did you see me clearly?

Yes, last night

Do you fear me now?

No, not at all

Just the way you lay so calm.

What is the basis for your obsession with me?

I can't answer you

Do you love me?

No, I hate you

Do you know where I come from?

You come from below

You lay on a table, stiff and cold.

Did you ask me a question?

Yes, I did-

Why did you have to take them like this?

Why did you take them like this?

On a table, cold and stiff

You didn't have the decency to run

You closed their eyes and shut their lungs

Death Lay Awake On a Cold Steel Table

Death lay awake on a cold steel table

Blood from the veins in a vile on the counter

Nothing so glorious like portrayed for the heroes

Death, like a brute, steels away color

Pale and stiff, not like before

Death lies cold in the middle of the floor

Undisturbed bodies leave carbon copies

Etched in the mind of the love

Where is the sting if the soul is gone

Not for that one, that soul, it's gone

Where is the victory

There is no victory

Yet to bury the one whom you love

Leaves a mark on your soul, taints your memory

In shades of blue and red

Pale blue and crimson red

Death lay awake on a cold steel table