I’ve been wandering
In the city of monuments
Where everything is grand
And old and new
And presents a promise
Of great deeds

I’ve been inspired
By the masters of old
Who dedicated their lives
To art and thought
And brought us closer
To a passionate force

I’ve been humbled
By the grandness of eternity
The beauty of tranquility
The artistic infinity
A stark contrast
With my own humility

Rome, my Utopia
Where God and man alike
Wander in awe
Dreaming of a time
Where time was relative
And dreams came true

Rome, my Utopia
Where I wandered in awe
Inspiration by my side
Admiration in my mind
Dedication in my heart
And Rome all around me

Most say that Narcissus
Was punished by the Gods
The moment he fell in love
With the man in the water
Yet I don’t feel pity
But gnawing jealousy
Knowing that he
Can control the subject of his love

When I look into the mirror
I see a skull smirking back at me
Dead end eyes
Infinite gaze
A handsome wreck

I seek the company of other skeletons
Set on fire by the moon
Morbid waltzes
Vivid sadness
A charming mess

I seek the company of mirrors
To end the sense of loneliness
The lesser evil
The greater good
The perfect company

As I’m standing in the spotlight
I see look-alikes swiftly passing by
But none of them pull off
That red dress like you do

And I follow very thorough
Each and every one in my mind
But all roads lead to home
Where rooms are filled with memories

You’ve always had me caught
Between the fire and your vicious sensuality
Playful debauchery
I’d never would have thought
That everything would end up in this way

As you take me by the hand
And lead me down memory lane
A love in black and white
With hints of perfume in the air

You hold on to the leading role
Despite the fact that you’re long gone
But no-one would be able
To replace this femme fatale anyway

With passion and despair
You always lured me into petty ambiguity
Mental disparity
If only I had said
That life would stop being the same

Have a look at the parade of clowns
Copycats
Copying emptiness
Copying lazy sentiments
Copying spiteful opinions
Tantrum after tantrum
Rant after rant
Idiot after idiot
This is what the world has become
Mainstream muckiness
Dreams of something special
Broken by modern day mentality
Minimal input, maximal output
All aboard the hype train
All behind the laptop
Digital drama democratized
As avant-garde lags behind

The army of halfwits
Celebrating
Celebrating uniqueness
Celebrating false individualism
Celebrating blissful ignorance
Lie after lie
Mask after mask
Actor after actor
This is it
The world’s a stage
The play is badly cast
The words are meaningless
Uttered in vanity
All brain, no heart
All play, no work
All for nothing

But with the clowns to the left of me
And the halfwits to the right
I’m taking a stance against it
Against the copying
The celebration of nothingness
The false individuality
I  won’t utter my words
I won’t play my part
I will embrace the heart
I will take of my mask
And let everyone know
I won’t settle for this
I will come, see and conquer
And then lose it all
But I’ll pick sincere decline
Over false stagnation any day

Since the longing never stops
I decided to prolong
The loathsome silence between us
And let love prolong this lockdown
Of heart and soul
Mind and matter
Fact and fiction

Since home is where the heart is
I decided to hide
From the harshness of our silence
And hide my hopelessness
From you
Just you
Always you

Strangers looking in my direction
Because I am strange to them
Their hawkish hostility
Meets with my awkward awareness

I clutch on to my pride
One of the few possessions I have left
My dignity is long gone
I feel bare on the road to nowhere

My feelings of hope
Have been pushed aside by hunger
The never ending guilt
And the gloomy sense of senselessness

We used to be alike
United in our pursuit of happiness
Once a human being, now a beggar
Bound to be a burden

From citizen to refugee
I washed up on these shores
Once a human being, now a stranger
To my hawkish, hostile hosts