I want to go exploring in the deep green woods
Where the leaves shuffle past on your feet, on your toes
Where the yellow streetlights and the red ones fade
Deer graze in the cracks at Kensington Station
Birds nest between the wheels of the dead railway

I want your lips against mine in the silence
In these hollow spaces, the reclaimed world
Bark peeling, sprouts, on the wood house beams
Colour of rust and liveliness, womb of ours, heart of ours
Greenboro metal on the slatted tracks

The howling wind gently pushed her along the dirt path,
her cloak lightly brushing against scattered pebbles,
into the forest that is known by little.
Perhaps in the hopes that no one could find her there,
nor remember her name when they do.
Most do not recognise this place.
Some who do know may say that the ones who enter are 'foolish'
She, like most, fears pain and hurt.
And thus, she enters.
There's no going back.
Foolish or not, she's made her choice.
She clenched the rims of her cloak
as she walks away, out of their lives, forever

I tried to start a forest fire so bright
But it burned my house last night
Now that my trees have all died
I can not see you

We're livin' in a forest we can't explore
In a lifetime we try to ignore
And I wanna see the whole world
The way that you do

But I need to know if you are real
Cause baby I don't know how to feel
And I cannot control my mind
I scratched out the line
And erased my past

We're livin in a blue-black world.
And you're just a red-orange girl.
We're trying not to be T-E-R-R-I-F-I-E-D.
And you are just trying
To hide in plain sight.

Cause we're livin' in a red-orange sea.
And I wish you were blue-black like me.
And I can not even swim,
so I'll just be sinkin in
To deep to see you.

I wanna know now if this is real.
I wish that somehow they could heal us.
We cannot be sugary sweet.
It's only you and me
Against all the odds.

So please just hold me tight.
(Hold me tight!)
Maybe even spend the night.
(Spend the night!)
You take my mind off the constant fight and
I can't lose you.

Cause we're livin in a red-orange world.
And I'm just a blue-black girl.
We're trying not to be T-E-R-R-I-F-I-E-D.
And you are just trying
To hide in plain sight.

Cause we're livin' in a red-orange sea.
And I wish you were blue-black like me.
And I can not even swim,
so I'll just be sinkin in
To deep to see you.

And I know you made a stupid mistake.
They thought I wasn't real and our love was fake.
I tried to stop what I knew would go down.
Now all of our colors mixed around
In the air that we breath.

Because the trees they didn't light themselves.
You held a match up and your candle fell.
There was no reason for you to doubt me.
I was too late though.
My love, I'm so sorry.

We were just livin in a blue-black world.
And you were my red-orange girl.
We were trying not to be so T-E-R-R-I-F-I-E-D.
And you were trying
To hide in plain sight.

Cause we're livin' in a red-orange sea.
And I wish you were blue-black like me.
(Blue-black like me!)
And I can not even swim,
so I'll just be sinkin in
To deep to see you.

We're livin in a blue-black world.
And you're just a red-orange girl.
(Red-orange girl!)
We're trying not to be T-E-R-R-I-F-I-E-D.
And you are just trying
To hide in plain sight.

Cause we're livin' in a red-orange sea.
(Red-orange sea!)
And I wish you were blue-black like me.
And I can not even swim,
so I'll just be sinkin in
To deep to see you.

We're living in a colorless world.
Now you're just my plain grey girl.
I tried to stop being so T-E-R-R-I-F-I-E-D.
And you're just laying in the box where you died.

You'll never know if we were real.
But baby now I know how you feel.
Time has passed, but I won't be alright.
Cause I lost you to the constant fight.

Cause we're livin' in a colorless sea.
And I wish you were still red-orange like me.
You float but I still can not seem to swim.
So I'll just be sinking in
Deep just to see you.

It's ok
To be sad
Or mad
Or not know who you are
It's ok
To get lost
In the forest
Of eyes
You don't need
To pretend
Everything's alright
It's ok
If you're queer
Or different from the others
Coming up with new words
To describe who you are
It's ok
No matter what
The sun will rise
And then come down
At least you have
One constant
In your life

There the floating scholar of green lines read,
There the shading peasant of sun-fields plowed,
There the fleeing empress of coral red gowns,
There the graying knight of frost-broken vows.
A tree is a haunted ruin of bare limbs and rooms.

But thought scurries around like a five-lined skink
With its tail shimmering blue as oil floating on water.

I hear you hum,
from the crispy leaves
and mellow rivers,
the gentle breeze
and the arboreal creatures,
breathing the calm,
exhaling the fear,
listening to lush greens,
embracing the forest within

A pain, that I cannot explain. It doesn't hurt in the physical way that we all can relate.
A sensation, shooting through my chest, crying out for rest. Please just rest. I'm so tired.
Exhaustion, it hits you when you're moving faster than you thought you could. "Nothing can stop me now" I said. I believed truly that nothing would.
A sadness, that lingers even while you sleep. It waves in the bleachers of your dreams. Everything you care for it takes, and then greets you again when once you wake.

It's this constant reminder, ringing in your skull and it sings you to sleep, so you never drift off.

I've been crying out. I've been trying to show the world.
Is this something we are all battling?
Tell me because I need to know.
In order to cope, I have to understand when this emotional flight will land, and if my feet will hit the ground before my head.

Rooting into my safe soil. Making myself at home. I'll do it on my own.
Sleeping through the storms, I thought I'd feel grounded from the rain, instead I'm just vulnerable to the pain.
Shut my eyes so I can't see, the storm clouds nearing me. I can hide from the lightening but I'm just one tree. I watched the forest flee, and they reached for me, but I was rooted in too deep.

Alan laughed through his cigar
released the bow string
the arrow shot into the clouds
and vanished.

Without surprise
he returned to the fire
letting the bow dangle
from his finger.

   The sound of water boiling reminded him
        of a morning in Berlin
the kitchen
      bread, cheese, jam
by the window
       Judith making coffee on the hob
patterns of blue wool
        about her waist.

Somehow coffee had always tasted like burnt almonds since
   though Miho sent him enough green tea from Japan
   to last several lifetimes.

Green tea in a green forest.
Alan shut his eyes, let the breeze touch his cheeks
and smiled.

“I’ve a question.”
“Yes?”
“Will you marry me?
“No.”
“Why not?”
“You’re too young. And I’m God.”