Dear *,

Try to understand glass wounds from
broken beer bottles and bitter secrets
of scattered memories whispered
almost delicately from lace like
dancing shadows waiting on the beaches
in Venice for innocent passers by
to miss and muse from

aren't always so easy to take. And
remember how you promised to wake
me up from the creases between sleep
and death when everything was fixed
again, but you didn't so it shouldn't matter
that I'm gone now.

You had your chance to save me,
you did nothing. Now's your chance to
grieve, please don't cry for me.
This was not my doing as I always
intended it to be.

Try to understand that ghosts can only
wander so far before they linger
back home and stories can only live
so long as they are still told to eager
listeners moments away from being
tucked safely into bed as dreams make
their way into the room

awaiting the innocent bliss of a child's
sound slumber. Yes, I know its a bad
comparison for you, but it's all I've got,
I will return, so please just

try to understand.

I know you were already here,
that I missed you by minutes
and maybe a second or two.

The words are said so easily,
so much that they don't seem
to mean anything now.

But just in case the cliche's
and corny messages make
you smile the way they used to:

Be mine, you have my heart
I love you, I miss you, hug me,
kiss me, and know that I...

I am always thinking of you,
because as it implied by the day's
commercial theme, I LOVE YOU.

Happy birthday,

May your smile outshine
the beautifully dancing
sun in the perfect blue skies

today.

What's it like?

To be another year older
and finally free as the birds
we used to watch from the

open field?

I wonder if

you have plans with the girl
of your dreams or tickets to
the concert down town of

your favorite band.

But whatever

the day holds for you
I hope it is amazing,
happy birthday my love.

Our adventure started in 2011
with paper, pen, and an open mind
there were so many possibilities
and we started over again and again.

We had the world at our fingers
and anything we'd ever be able
to need. So we set off playing with
color that aroused too much emotion
and lines too bold to fade along
side stories too deep to write.

Time went by swiftly each draft
improving just a touch and the
ink blurred perfectly with the skin
and bloodied sweat that created
our prize winning formula.

Somehow we ended up here,
three years and a million pages
later with a work of Avarice as
the only thing we could proudly
display for the world to see.

So if these words find their way
to you, I just want you to know
that the beauty we became, the
artistry we created, and the way
we moved at every little bump in
the road shaped us. Molded us.

Resurrected us.

In a loving

ink drawing.

Sometimes
I fell I know how much
. . . you love me. . .

I feel like
sometimes you miss me
. . . . . . . and that hurts you. . .

Now
I am a monster
. . . . . . for scaring you away. . .

Sometimes
I want to love you
. . . but I can't. . .

Sometimes.

Smile for me my darling,
smile pretty.
Show your joy to the world
and keep doing what you love.

Come on, look this way,
pick your head up ***,
pretend you don't worry
and dry your eyes once more,
show us why we live.

Smile for me my darling,
smile pretty.
Pour your heart out
remind us what beauty is.

We want to see you,
to know you the way
your tongue knows your teeth.
Smile for the camera Babe,
look this way

and

smile pretty.

I will not break on your shore
but I will rise with the tide.

And I will be there
everyday
only I won't be there
ever.

You can have my soul
just not my heart
because soul break is less
likely than heart break
and even though it hurts
so much more it kills you
taking you away
from
everything.

And right now
that sounds good
to me.

It's not that I
won't love you
or that I can't
trust you,

I'm just not
going to hurt

anymore.

For anyone.

Ever.