You know,
Sometimes words are overrated —
After all, did I not tell you
How much
It meant to me?

Rocks without the sheen,
Gold without the gleam,
Fire without the heat —
Burned up and washed out.
Mirror, tell me that's not me.

Throwaway morals,
Rooted in I —
Kindness, a quality
Unaffordable.

Go on, hit the gas
And drive that train
Straight off the tracks —
I but hold back
The self-destructive ones I love,
And I brought popcorn.

I'd hold on,
But there's holes in me,
And through them
Leaks the world.

Let go, release —
Cracked burdens
Spill relief.

Arguing in one dimension —
Anger killed
Any chance of depth.

Convictions made of sand —
Like how the shoreline
Breaks the ocean,
It matters where you
Make your stand.

Mental constructs, inclinations,
We are caught, but not in cages,
Prisoners of the parts we play —
Accused, judge, and jury,
Predator and prey.
Inmate, guard, and warden
Simultaneously,
Any fucking day.

Without worry,
What is there to think about?
And without thought
We would not live like this.

No other —
Imagined, encountered,
Past, present, or future —
Could ever elicit
The feelings I lost,
Losing you.

Love, affection,
Bought to care for.
Loneliness in golden frames —
Without you my empty life
Would not have been the same.

No shortcut's worthwhile —
All I admire
Came the long way.

The lie collapsed
Mid-happiness.
Half life crisis,
Cracked pink glasses —
Gray, unrelenting,
Floods back in.

A human invention,
Success is a construct,
A feedback-looped
Closed circle jerk —
Gather round,
Pat your neighbor on the back
Until the hive mind
Shares but one intention.

Black and white,
Day and night,
Dark and light —
For good, for bad,
We're hardwired to be
A pattern-seeking species.

Little signals,
Biting, guiding,
Giving voice to what's inside —
Undervalued, feared, and hated,
Monitoring our precious lives.

Chasing the premium,
Deluxe and supreme —
Craving the comfort,
The good life
Exclusive to VIPs.

From the crypt
Not the heart —
Buried love,
Words spit in pain,
Again.
Irreconcilably apart.

I recall the melody
But can no longer
Sing along the cheerful,
Long forgotten song
Hummed by the little lost boy
Procrastinating
In the far corner of my psyche —
But the happiness, simplicity
Elude me.