Fear is setting concrete and We are writing our initials In the sidewalk So passerbys can smile at a memory Perhaps they, too, Can laugh at the vandalism Created by a boy and girl With two fingers full of hope

I would rather walk alone than search this land forever only to hold hands with hesitant suitors and unwilling grooms. So I travel this well-worn road and stop to chat with fellow travelers, but my goodness... I am tired. My feet hurt. My heart is sore. What will it take to say "I do" again?

I wish I could write the way it sounds when a heart breaks But I'm so busy screaming that it drowned in the wake When my voice is lost and the sun goes down Will I be able to survive the silence and its deafening sound?

Tell me it's safe here Tell me I can exhale and rest my weary feet Tell me it's okay to hold you And never fear that my arms may be empty Tell me what it means to hope Tell me everything you want to know And all that you hold dear Whatever you tell me, Tell me the truth

Something is breaking Unfolding Unwrapping I tucked it away Undercover Underneath And here you are Unnerving Unapologetic This is joy Unbound Unyielding

All of the love I have for you Now has nowhere to go So I'll whisper your name when I'm sleeping And hold the memory of your face when awake And the scent of your skin And the light in your eyes Will never leave my mind Because the love that I have Will never die

I breathe your name into the wind Like a penitent praying for salvation It tastes like warm milk and honey And fills my mouth with desire I wish it could bring you to me At a moment's notice So I can scream it into the darkness Under the weight of your body And the strength of your hands

I will toil in the garden of life To make the world soft for you So you may grow and thrive As you deserve, Free from the weeds of despair

I just walked backwards From technicolor to grayscale As if the scent of something familiar Suddenly became rancid And the creature comforts Surround me like an iron maiden Your presence makes life more vibrant Your laugh like warm, rolling thunder And here I am without them Wayward and homeless

I have never wanted to fall apart More completely or entirely Than I do right now And you aren't here to sweep up the pieces Or glue me back together With wry placation Through squinted eyes And unspoken adoration So I lie scattered Waiting for your hand to find me again

Black-rimmed eyes Lips lined in tiramisu Both betrayed by tears And choked goodbyes

So much work to do in so little time. To begin to mend the tattered, Glue the broken, Smooth the rigid. This house is worth saving. Get my hands dirty Maybe cut myself a bit All good and well When the lights begin to flicker.

"I don't know what you see in me." Galaxies, my love. Worlds where everything and nothing converge. Black holes Blue waters The uninhabitable And the unknown To study you is to explore the expanse of the universe itself. Astronomers would marvel at the beauty inside you.

Here we stand On the precipice of firsts Kiss, touch, love made I count each grain in the hourglass, Wondering why they take so long to fall Blessed be the hands of the Sandman For he draws us closer with every second

Soon, my love! Soon! You will take respite in my arms. Shut out the noise of what was And shelter in what is. What will be is not for us to know. We hold fast to one simple truth Love Remains Always

At times, the only words I can form are I love you. And at times, that says all I ever wanted to say.

Moon of my night and light of my life, Let me shout my adoration from the tallest mountain peak, So the world may know of my love for you! Far be it from me to question how I will get there Having no prior practice or skill. It simply must be and so it shall.

I fall asleep holding your photos In hopes that your face follows me Into my dreams For what are dreams but wishes and Manifestations of longing Both conscious and otherwise Keeping you close to me While the world slumbers

Today was hard I missed you so But how do you miss What you've never held?

Quaking knees and trembling hands An inhale forgotten in total surrender I feel the pavement slide in place Awaiting my collapse Yet here you are Steady Stabilizing Lost in your eyes, my body releases Any whisper of trepidation

You're the nightlight in the hallway And the lighthouse of my life

I think I want to tell you I think I want to keep you I think I want I think I need I think I know I think I'm yours

Countdown But from what? From the time my heart stops Slamming into my chest With elation? From the realization That you're mine? Until the day I say - ? No. Always counting down To a miniscule implosion Whether real or otherwise Far from you But only for now

Trembling limbs and weakened knees I shudder with every inhale "It was only a kiss..." The meeting of lips that has yet to occur Except only in whispers to misshapen pillows Is it fear or longing that fuels these racing thoughts? 1/2

My only wish is to love you my whole life I also wish You knew

How impossibly does word and Vision and song Express the blooming of Adoration and longing! Not for lust or fleeting Gratification But for the eyeshine of hope In our intertwined twilight A labyrinth of possibilities Risks taken in the name of Palpitations Still I try For you are worthy Of devotion

oh to be a woman running through a foggy cemetery in the middle of the night barefoot in a ghostly nightgown

I made a mistake today I went searching for the truth While it did set me free, Why was the price so high?

Spells invoking fire White hot and ravenous Incantations typed in rapture Honey on the breeze Sight unseen May they reach you May they envelope you Find me when they do

i wish that the darkness of humanity was not in our hearts. i wish it could be otherwise. i wish there was a pill you could give people to make them vomit up the knotted, tangled mass of rage and hate that festers in their guts and poisons their souls, and leave them better, kinder beings.

Words float between choking and a whisper Can they still be heard as the light Fades from the last syllable? If I could write your name with Ink crafted from my tears Would it summon you? How can I beseech the moon To carry my visage to your door Like a specter of desire?

I am so Envious Of the stardust That made you Particles That understand Perfection Personified

I never understood songs and poetry Pining for long lost lovers turned friends or enemies I never understood quaint similes and prose Describing rose-scented heartstrings A prick of the finger on the spinning wheel of romance And all I never understood became hoarse cries and fated happenstance 1/

You cook, I'll clean And we can live that dream That I've had since I can remember And if I write your name repeatedly On a tattered piece of paper Just know I'm trying to manifest us Hand in hand in autumn weather 1/2