Hold those thoughts forever and be brave,
Give me peace for a minute: the words I knew back then,
Let me take them to my grave.

When you are not here, darling, to grief I am no more than a slave.
But I had to do this even then:
Hold those thoughts forever and be brave.

Each night I daydream asking you, "What's left of us to save?"
In my mind, I see, we are broken men.
Let me take them to my grave.

Though I shine light into all of me, the shadows in my mind never behave;
Strangers tell me again and again:
Hold those thoughts forever and be brave.

Once mourning has consumed me completely, swept me up in a monstrous wave,
All the tears I've shed, all past my pen:
Let me take them to my grave.

Because the path that we walk will never now be what I crave,
Dear Memory, never tell me these words again:
"Hold those thoughts forever and be brave."
Let me take them to my grave.

a breath catches on my teeth
as it tries to escape, and it snarls
as it claws at freedom.

my teeth are a prison's gates;
my duty is to maintain the silence.

while the confinement holds,
my words die, discontent;
the scratches on the wall continue to wait.

when i think about how things are now,
i simply see

fog pouring in from the sky
and a shapeless jaw yawning

i guess things are, in a way, simpler

or maybe it is simpler because i forget

The world must be good at drawing
What scares me most;
The slightest stroke fills me with dread.

If I fall into a single line
of forever, no breadth, and no incline,
When on Earth will I be dead?

Don't force me into your queues,
Leave me out of your parades.
If I give you an inch of my hair, you'll take my entire head.

My darling, my ocean,
Stars in the silver sea.
Dream of light a little:
That's what you are to me.

Though I know not of love,
This joy is just as rare;
All that warmth I have now,
I'll cherish it, I swear.

i am sorry. i had feared that
you were someone cruel like me;
i had worried about your eyes,
wondered just how much they could see.

the exit could have been a scythe—
so afraid i was you'd use it.
the threat of that death hung over
everything. challenging, taunting.

i am sorry, i am. to have felt
no regret for cutting myself
upon that sharp blade, to have left
memories of sunlight behind.

to have made that vile decision,
to have made that sad admission.
i know no one, not even you;
not even you, i'll hold on to.

I have often been found drifting, unmoored,
Into the deepness, and out into sea;
While youthful sailors passing would be lured
to end and break on the rocks, three by three:
By sweet hymns to gems lost under the waves.
How rich a man would be, to go under!
Come see, the water sings, and fill your graves
To the brim with hills of pearls and plunder!
But too often have I dreamt of your smile
To want for duller treasures; No more songs
Nor jewels can make a semblance worthwhile.
I pray, leave me be! Lest I make new wrongs,
And find my ship against diamond cracking,
With my heart studded but still so lacking.

Perish not, fire of my soul; you know
This much: art is worthy that makes you feel
More than any other (that you are whole).
Take a few moments to dream an ideal.

This you extol, and write with zeal.

I am you, imprecisely.
Took in your quirks,

Words,
Actions,
So I am you, though you're not me.

I am of your hands, your
Nose, eyes, heart, soul, bones, breath, teeth.

Maybe, your dreams and vision
Are the ambition I can't find in me.
Reaching out,
Breathing in,
Longing for
Experience, not longevity.

Teach me humanity, I begged,
Hold my hand;
And in between the ribs in my chest and the strands of my hair,
Tell me:

Your story, more lies than reason.
Of love and pain and
Utmost regret.

Find me, searching for the father I was supposed to own,
Over and
Under the sea.
New fish, bright fins, every single
Day, too beautiful for you to stay with me.

My father,
Eaten by the tides.