One

We slowly crawl
Onto the field.
Nervousness tracing
Every foggy breath.
Our eyes are shadowed
By the night
We stand and wait,
Together,
For the coming fight.

Our focus is singular,
It is everlasting and ever present,
It does not waver to the crowd,
Calling voices,
Friends and foes,
Princes, beggars, saints, and villains
Are all the same before us now.
Our focus is eternal,
Immortal like the artificial green
Beneath our matching black soles.

We wait for the call,
For the word,
We are restless,
We are anxious,
Yet not a muscle moves among all of us.
We are patient.
Our eyes are glued to those who await
The coming fight.

Sound is muffled,
Cold irrelevant fact
Pushed aside,
For our time
Is coming now.
She is there, before our eyes,
Across the field she glides.
She floats to her throne,
Upon it she stands,
Her hands at her sides.
We wait for them to rise.
We anticipate the word.
We dread it,
Yet it is all we want.
Our damnation and salvation in one.
Our hearts pound,
Our lungs expanded, lips wetted,
We remain statuesque.
We await the word.
Silence.
And then.

Detail, ten-hut.

And then we are One,
We are together,
The lines are drawn and weapons raised,
The audience cheers and our fears are razed.
We earn our glory, and make our name
We show the world how we play our game
On our battlefield
As One we fight,
We march as One this Friday night.

Can’t Do Nothin’

I cannot write
And I can’t do no right
I can’t do much, at all, tonight
I run in circles
And stand in the rain
Out of the faucet drips a story
Of people and of pain
And the Morse code splashes all wash down the drain
I can’t do a cartwheel
And I cannot tell a lie
All these feelings that I feel
Provide no method to deny.
I cannot block out flashes
I can’t wave off the smoke
The ashes and fumes
Pummel my mind, and I choke.
The tears drip from my eyes
They tell a story, they improvise
A brand new method, a brand new way,
To brand my flesh with scars from broken days.
So I run in circles, and I sit in the rain,
And I pray to God that one day, things will change
Cuz I can’t do nothin’
No I can’t do nothin’
Nothin but wait, and run in circles, hyperventilate,
I can’t do nothin’
But to wait
For you
And me
To be
Together
Again

Counting

I’ve kept count of all the days
We’ve been apart.
My broken heart
Forces more shed tears,
As months and years,
Just disappear.

It gets hard
Pressing on.
Moving on
Isn’t all its cut out to be.
Finding something to replace misery
Is not really all that easy.

I think of you most every day.
Unhappy thoughts are cast my way.
Miserable is just how I stay…
Counting minutes and hours away…

Wish I could call you on the phone.
Wish I was not here all alone.
Wish I could repent, of time poorly spent
But all my time is bent.
Doesn’t matter… Anyways…
I’ll keep counting away the days…
Wishing.. for you.. to come back home… Again.

Falling Into Love

My heart dances,
My body flies
My wings spread wide,
I glide
Over obstacle and misfortune
The horizon is in view.
Over the walls of insecurity
Past the white-tipped cliffs of misery
Away from a land of suffering
Into your arms, into your heart,
Into a forgiving brand new start.
I am gliding,
I am falling
Into love.
You are everything I dreamt of
In my shadowed state.
You tore prison bars away,
Shredded shackles, turned fear,
Burst into my fate
And you opened my eyes,
Opened my wings,
And took me in flight
To heaven above.
Now we are falling
Into love.

Immeasurable Grace (Picture it & write 16)

My opponent and I
Stand face to face
Under an empty sky

Her hands at her side,
Across the field
She seems to glide

My hands are shaking
My knees knock… knock.
Our eyes lock.

A blink and she’s here.
So fast I can not breath, I do not run
The end that forever I have dread is near.

She blinks and exhales,
I feel her warmth,
My defiance fails.

I cannot speak,
I cannot cry,
I am too weak,
I can’t deny
The itching
Clawing
Clutching
Cutting
Ripping
Breaking
Of my heart.

I can’t restart
I can not let go
But that she already knows.

I release my fate
Release my fists
I stare into Hell’s gate

I gaze into her face.

And we embrace.

Forgiveness is the impossible.
It is the only way.
There is nothing to say.

Tears stream down
My miserable cheeks
I am empty and weak

Each day and week,
The months that speak
Countless volumes of immeasurable decay
That has amounted every day
Without her here,
Disappears.

Guilt and pain wash over me
I whisper
I’m sorry.

She does not speak
She has her prey
And she touches its cheek.

The chains that have bound me
Are tighter yet
What I deserve I am bound to get.

Yet somehow…
That beautiful face
Conceals words of immeasurable grace.

I hear her say

It’s okay.

My shackles clink
Upon the floor.
We speak no more.

Woman in Blue

Oh woman in blue
Alone the meadow,
Why do you stand that way?
Head cocked,
Eyes locked
On something unknown
Hovering at the horizon.

Tears fall
From your eyes
And I’m chilled by the sight.
You don’t move,
You don’t blink,
But I think that you think.
I’m not sure if you know
That I am here,
Just watching.
I would offer a hand,
A word,
A thought or a prayer
To you
But even if I could,
I don’t think that you would
Accept what humble help I can give.

Garments of blue
Twisted by morning light
Are lovely and bright
Unlike you.
You are mournful,
And ever focused,
Breathlessly hopeless
Yet hopeful that what might lie
Past your horizon
Might put a spark in your eye.

I hope that one day, that might come true,
Yet selfishly, I know too,
That your suffering will remain,
And your beautiful frame
Will refrain from leaving my view.
You are mine forever, oh woman in blue.

Infirmary

Armless, hopeless, homeless people
Neatly canned and set in stacks,
Left by chance and circumstance,
Strangle the flame of public eye
And rot away until they die.
Left alone in dreadful awful mournful silence,
Their brains half splattered,
And bodies battered,
They climb their ladders and waste away.
To us, it matters little what little they say
With mouths sewn shut and eyes patched up
The legless, crutchless, wretched wretches
Suffer much, and know true pain,
But carry on in broken ways
To prove the truth that is quite plain:
Those in life that live in vain
Are those who sit and just complain.