I could tell you a tale of a princess
But that would be wasting your time
These sad stories and love songs
Are empty promises I've come to find.
You can tell me a story of adventure
Where the superhero is an underdog
They came up from the back roads of nothing
Nothing like 'The Princess and the Frog'.
That's got an adventure, of course, it's a shame
Don't worry, I've thought it through
But they all end with happily ever after
Nothing like me and you.
I guess you could have an ending like that
If you lived forever inside
With a bubble, in silence, no talking or games
You can't always be happy if you tried.
So continue to tell me a tale of normalcy
A tale sort of true to my life
Tell me a tale of excitement
A gun battle, a hero with a knife.
I'm not looking for violence, no
Just something other than a dress
Princesses here don't go walking around
In nothing other than their best.
We don't ever get carriages
The princes don't come crawling back
We fall in love on our own time
Get out, just cut us some slack.
Society makes us to be porcelain dolls
Just replica Barbie and Ken's
Perfection doesn't come in a box anymore
Perfection is a group of brave men.
So tell me a story of those heroes
The ones that have been though it all
Don't tell me the story of a girl and 7 boys
Tell me a tale of the ones who stand tall.
Take me on an adventure into real life
Help me with the brunt of everything
Show me a princess and prince that has fought
Not the ones who just sit around and sing.

She wakes up in the morning, undignified
The night before, she closed her eyes,
Hoping not to see light again
Wishing the future would all just end.
Apparently she's trash- been told that all her life
Burying her thoughts, layered with stress and strife
She goes unnamed because nobody asked
Wishing again she could change the past.
Throughout her life it's problem after another
Only true best friends being her dog and her brother
Even then, she was certain, they did not care
She was changing her clothes and fixing her hair.
The little girl with dolls and pink in her room
Changed into a teenager- the workings in bloom
Had to grow up too fast and learn way too much
She quivers at the thought of wanting to be touched.
Her mind has evolved into ways we cannot see
Feeling like unwanted is less than she wants to be.
She's expected to be great, given jobs, another goal
No longer independent, it begins to take a toll
Her style grows more darker, her music takes a blow
Poems, art, and music tell you more than she can show.
Imagine going swimming, strap some weights on to your thighs
Put cement blocks on your ankles, sink quicker than you realize
Carry the whole world on your shoulders
Weigh your arms down with some boulders.
Now imagine trekking to the deep and the water inching up
You're in the real world now, not swimming in the bath tub
And now you're there, eye level, staring at Death's door
Turn back around to see that there's people on the shore.
Yell and scream and shout and them, "Hey, come rescue me!"
Acknowledging your presence is all it'll ever be
They look you in the eye and turn around and laugh,
The water in your eyes is tears (at least, more than half).
Pulled farther into the ocean, crying- punch and kick
They've got to come and save you- it's just one cruel trick
But soon enough you get it, they're not coming anymore
They'll leave you standing on the porch and Death's door.
This metaphor is her own, a story that she told
And now we know she'll preach it until she's growing old
Right now she doesn't get it, no, she cannot truly see
She's stood at the porch for a while but never got the key.
Easily she'd go in, if she'd just search real quick
Barge in his door with one easy flick
Right here she is not ready, there's brightness up ahead
Slowly her arms are emptying less and less with lead.
Even when she was drowning and nobody helped her through
She swam back up to live it, to live for me and you
She swam back up for the future and artist or writer
She swam back up because up above,
instead of darkness- it was brighter.

I'm coming on back to raise the dead
I watch in the corners and under the bed
I travel by day and hide at night
Simple things drive me to the light.
You'd think that I'd love darkness, no,
You humans put on a fantastic show
And you really think that I'd miss out?
Come on, it's too funny to see you pout.
I really enjoy your tantrums, too,
If only you saw I've been studying you
You sit there and study your books
I don't make a sound so you don't turn to look.
And every time you do the simplest thing
Like laughing with friends or start to sing
I record it down in my little notebook
I will start my recipe, with humans to cook.
I'm not physically cooking, don't you worry now, dear
My full intentions are remaining unclear
I'm studying your works, every piece of your mind
Your feelings and thoughts I've got yet to find.
You're making it hard, oh, why is that so?
No harm, no foul, so far- you know
I'm still far away, I've got a while to wait
It'll take me long touch you, at this rate.
Anyway, here's my story, so listen right now
I've got more to this than I've, so far, allowed
I come out in the day so I can get closer
Follow you to work, the kitchen, even the grocer.
With every little move, I inch closer right then
And with every action, I move closer again
Cracking your knuckles or kicking a ball
I get nearer and nearer with every new fall.
I can't get you when sleeping, no, that wouldn't be fair
Attacking at your innocence is cruelty I can't bare
So I sit during the night and I watch all your dreams
Your conscience is far more complex, it seems.
Then when you wake up, I'm closer once more
On your coat tail as you run out the door
Drinking your coffee and driving to work
Hearing you sing is just an added perk.
I'm the thing the dog barks at when no one's around
They see me even though I do not make a sound
I'm that blur that is moving out of the corner of your eye
The thing that watches you break down and cry.
And when you feel watched, but know you're 'alone'
Just know that I'm with you, but cannot be shown
With every little movement, I get closer, I dare
The only thing between us now is little slivers of air.

I've been slowly coming to senses
About life and all its ways
Death and darkness, mortality
I will see the end of my days.
With this realization, see,
I'm seeing more and more
In life I've got to do nothing
But if not, it'd be a bore.
There is one thing that we all got
It's inescapable
You can fight and cry all you want
Eluding is incapable.
Someday we'll lay down six feet under
Dressed up for worms and dirt
Peaceful sleeping, no more worry
For a while your family will hurt.
There's only one thing we have to do
That's dying, there, you see,
The only thing we have to do
Is live, then cease to be.

You're the wind the blows the treetops
It rustles through my hair
The hand that touches my shoulder
Quietly, you are there.
You're the story left unfinished
A poem left untouched
For 20 years you fought alone
20 years escaped Death's clutch.
For 14 years you held me
Through plays and concerts all
You filled up puzzles and read the books
Alone, you stood so tall.
You told me all the stories
Answered that question many times
Why I never did see Grampa,
Why I never saw you cry.
You showed me all the pictures
Played Santa on Christmas morn'
We made fruit salad on holidays
You've loved me since I was born.
Not once did I say goodbye to you
See you later, kiss goodnight
I'd see you in the morning
Bananas and donuts under the counter light.
You were a genius in your own way
But never flaunted it so
You taught me games I'd not thought of
You loved me more than you could show.
We offered you a guard dog
A cat to spend your days
You never were an animal person
Dependence is not your ways.
You got home from bingo one night
Laid down to rest your head
Your sister woke to call you
Somehow, you weren't out of bed.
From then on you hid your voice from us
Never to be heard again
Tests and cards and flowers, too
Not one, not two- more than ten!
Leading up to then, you'd had enough
Enough for a lifetime, I suppose,
Because one night you took your final breath
Your cheeks lost the color of rose.
I've never been the hugging type,
And I handle sadness on my own
Crying in front of others
Is something I've never been shown.
The next week had been quite tough
But your sister was always there
Your sister, my Nana, the only one
She told us she would always care.
We said goodbye, a final one,
I tried my hardest not to cry
I'd only said goodnight my life
Not once have I said goodbye.
Sometimes I wish we got you the dog
Maybe we'd share another morn'
I love you for the rest of my life,
The one I miss and adore.
It was the night you'd not return
None of us know why
But now we know you're happy
Playing bingo with Grampa in the sky.

They're scarier than the monsters
In closets and under beds
They're more terrifying than aliens
It's the demons in your head.
They go by names, they live through masks
Come out to say hello
And no matter what drugs you take or ways to leave
They'll never truly go.
They stick around to start some fun
They're college kids at heart
Pranks are pulled, and heartstrings too
They'll push you back to start.
They hide behind emotions
Grab at the locks put on the door
Open up to raid your thoughts
Scream and cry for more.
Loneliness kicks like a child
If you put him in timeout
Anger punches if you look at him
He's set up to knock you out.
Jealousy seduces every single little thought
But looks best with lingerie
Envy kisses the tips of your nose
To set your happiness astray.
Greed just covers up possessions
He carries blindness all the time
Sadness fills you up with grey
Sits down and makes you cry.
Fear plays in dark, dank corners
Her dress has cloaks of black
Her dress spins, and with colors- twirls
Until she's ready to attack.
They've got different names and synonyms
Actually, they're all the same
Doctors call it something else
So they don't take the blame.
Just stick it to the demons
That take refuge in our minds
Call them out, evict them now
Your sanity is running out of time.
Don't worry, darling, you're not alone
They've got a hold on all us too
Kick them out and lock the door
Don't answer when they yell 'boo'.