And the captives
In gilded cages
Filled with all their treasured things,
Dreamt of larger accommodations
Filled with different, more desired,
Equally trivial
Worthless shit.

Hey bitch,
Where's your off-switch?
You manipulative
Carpet bomb.

Low stoops temptation,
And deep cuts the guilt —
We are masks
Upon masks
Upon scared little souls.
All we know of what's right's
The divide between
All that is felt,
And the bullshit we're told.

Follow not
Who strive for glory —
Men nor gods —
For hollow is that crown.

Compromised reality,
Conformitized identity,
Blue collars,
Starched and bleached —
Catering insatiable elites.

Enduring the long walk,
Stuck, but too stubborn to stop —
Horizons unending,
With milestones too heavy
To carry along.

Heat of passion
Stalled my wit —
Minstrel, guide my tongue.

Lies, damn lies, statistics —
Organically rigged numbers games,
Pleasing the majority.

Some love gets lost
When desire
Takes the backseat —
True love evolves,
And finds peace.

Love in abuse,
Trust in politicians,
Art in darkness —
Causes damn near lost
With odds, deplorable,
Yet plausible,
So long we pay
The cost of hope.

Once upon
A moment gone —
Uncolored,
Ring the depths of song.

Cowardice, the fear of
Overcoming our shortcomings —
Perceived or not,
Biting
The hands we burned.

Assigned stations,
Scheduled hardship,
Allotted complications —
Suffering anything long enough,
Will let it start to feel
Like home.

No war knows more losers,
No battle's more cruel
Than the bedlam
Of soured love,
Run aground.

Indecision,
Hesitation,
Reservations —
Preludes to regret.

Seeking strength,
All I found were
Liquid reasons,
Slipping through my hands.

Gutter, stage, consolidated,
X-rayed lives, the social race —
Mindlessness over what matters,
Eyes on the praise.

Gratefulness an afterthought,
Basking in the radiance —
How wonderful to see you here,
And thank you for the love.

In blind pursuit of why —
Falling
In patterns,
In scales
Incomprehensible
To the naked I.

You and I walked this road before.
From once upon to ever after,
We learned what follows heartbreak —
Yet, stubbornly,
Resolutely,
Ultimately,
Always keep
Coming back for more.