bind me. unwind me. curl me up and find me.
hold me close and set me free.
tie me down but let me be.
breathe alone but be with me.
hold a match and light me.

fight me. delight me. lure me in and bite me.
hold my gaze and trick my eye.
tie my tongue and walk on by.
breathe my dreams and learn to fly.
hold me close and free my mind.

my mind, unwinds, unbound by you who saw me.
freed, relieved, i lost the lies that tied me.
braved, saved, i ran to arms that hold me.
cold, gone, i've found the warmth that knows me.

bonded

lines connect us.
spreading spider webs
of emotion. devotion.
separation causes them to twist
and unfurl.
to tighten and stretch
to coil and vibrate.
will they break?
will they burn?
will they bind themselves
into thick cord
that ties us, ankle to ankle
wrist to wrist
heart to heart.
are they bonds that tie us down
or make us free?
if i am tied to you, am i less myself?
or maybe, after all, my loss in you is more to me
than ever i could be before.

create existence

i want to create.
i want to make.
so when the world
dissolves beneath my feet
like cracks in an earthqake-
i am still there.

i want to create.
i want to evoke.
so when the world's illusory
reality is shattered,
so when the smoke that hazes eyes has cleared -
i still exist. somewhere. anywhere. everywhere.

i am?

i am who i am. Not who i could be. Not who i want to be. Is it nature or nurture? The world or myself? Do i take blame or lay blame? Do i ask or do i act?

depravity

alcoholic elixir floods the tongue
and depraves the senses.
opens the gate, turns out the light and unlocks the fences.
let you in. let me in. let us in and we'll swim together.
touch my skin. soft and thin. don't you think we could dance forever?

blackbirds

he falls, my father
he falls so deep
down where the black birds fly

he falls my father
the fall so steep
down where the black birds fly

it's lonely there
where now he sleeps
it's lonely where he lies,

but fast he's held
held by himself
down where the black birds fly.

if only he would look above
look up into his sky
there he'd see the family
who weep for him, who cry.

instead he stays, stays by himself
down where the black birds fly.

shadows

the dead are my shadows
and they walk with me in the silence of the night.
silent, but watchful, they are my truest companions.

the dead are my shadows
and they cry with me in the softness of the dawn.
they hold me true, when I am lost,
they are my silent salvation.

the dead are gone, and gone the dead must be
yet never will they truly go
til faded from my memory.
and so I swear to hold them close
and let them breathe a breath with me,

the dead are gone and gone must be
yet ever will they walk with me.