It was never about us —
Spotlights on the stage
To keep the audience
In darkness.

Evicted from my comfort zone,
Forced to turn the wheels of change —
Mournful, yet excited
What adventure comes my way.

History selective,
Cultural memory defective —
Ancestry, legacy, and heritage
Buried under edit black
Retconned to support
The forward thinking few.

Is there such a thing
As etiquette
Of letting go,
Of breaking up
Of moving on,
Treading on the shards
Of a once shared
And treasured past
Now dead and gone?

My feelings
Safely shielded
Behind a mirror —
I sympathize.
I didn't like
What you showed me
Either.

When I tell you
How it is,
That's no suggestion —
I'm afraid
I must insist.

Aware of who I am
And what I'm not
Without illusions,
From this point on
No choice unless
I chose it —
It is just me
And I'm done playing.
This is how we're gonna do it.

Through hell and high water,
For years, side by side
We traveled life’s highway
Together —
It took your recent
Sudden exit to realize
We were only ever
Parallel.

Falling sensations,
Not easier,
More distant —
The absence of reason
Once you have reached
The last degree of separation.

After years of trying,
I found out happiness
Lived just around the corner,
But none of it was mine.

Can't look into your head,
But can see straight into your heart,
And what I see isn't love —
It's short-term want.

Pain reshaped to melancholy,
Heartbreak drowned in melody —
Winds of change softly sing
You'll be alright,
Just keep up
And stay with me.

A people
Raised on lies
Won't be bothered
By a couple more.

Until you found
Your legs, for years,
I carried you,
And then you ran away —
Don't pretend
You did not use me.

Waiting for the sun,
Behind the clouds
Naught but blue.

Bleeding constants,
Lost our way —
Were it real
It would not ever
Change.

Warmer days
Post cold war —
Can you feel
The chill
Sink in again?

Out of bounds
Within expectations,
Sliding scales of
Acceptable deviation —
Outliers became
The new normal, somehow.

Clashing fates,
To hate and be hated,
To hurt and be hurt,
To lose and get lost —
Costs be damned,
We’ll see this through
Our way.
Righteous or not.

Scream into the silence,
That the pain we drag behind us,
The hardship that defined us,
May never rise again.