I lost, I broke, I burned to the ground,
Yet from my ashes, my crown unbound.
Through fire and fury, I carved my way,
Not for the world, but for the price I’d pay.

With sharpened mind and heart untamed,
I faced the void and felt no shame.
I reach for heights no soul has known,
Not for praise, but to claim my throne.

Where meaning blooms through love and pain,
Where every scar is gold to gain.
I’ll fall again—that truth I own,
But in each fall, my strength has grown.

I rise for me, for kin, for fire,
To light the path and take it higher.
Not for envy, nor for fame,
But for love, for will, for the name.

So let them watch, let them see,
What man can be when truly free,
When fire transforms to endless light,
When loss becomes the fuel for might.

Golden I rise, no crown I need,
The gold within is all I’ll heed.
I build, I climb, I break the chain—
For in my soul, the gold remains.

come one come all
to see the apathy
to witness tragedy
the fame and fortune
the game ends in june
the name died too soon

all those
olden titles
tales of the late
soft spoke mysteries
entitled histories
forgoten stories
because of you

burnt to the ground
yet your empire grew
you left behind a trail
how we never knew
your secrets spilt
your identites spew

gilded ashes
paved the way
you taught us to follw
not to stray
every command
every lie
we let it pass
let you get by

an unwritten song
never to be sung
your entire world
the peirced lung
your forgetting friends
youre forgotten

youre rotten.

There are days when the world is dim,
when the weight of time presses heavy,
and the sky whispers in muted grays—
but then, there is you.

You, with laughter spun like sunlight,
weaving warmth into my weary soul.
Your touch—soft as morning’s first glow—
turns the dust of days to gold.

Every smile you gift me, a coin of joy,
pressed into the treasury of my heart.
Every embrace, a gilded promise,
that even in the dark, we shine.

Time may steal the luster from youth,
may weather our hands with silver,
but the gold we share fades—
it deepens, it strengthens, it remains.

So if the world should turn to shadow,
if years should try to dim our light,
know this: I will always hold onto you,
for you are my gold—forever bright.

You want to know the poet?
You want to know the man?
You can call him Hardison,
He's going for the grand throne,
In that hall of fame.
There's nothing that will halt him,
Till his name's carved in the sky.

Did they call for you,
When you were low,
When you knew the dirt of ground?

No?
Then don't you dare answer in your house of gold,
They will only come to burn it down.

Joy is a little thing,
A warm luxury in the chill of winter's winds,
One sparkling treasure in the face of somber spring rains.
Happiness is a man,
Roaming the midnight city streets,
Tossing gold glitter all over the way as he skips along.
Pleasure, a soft blanket on your bed,
A perfectly placed pillow to rest your head,
A pencil that never runs out of pencil lead.
Everything is diamond when relief rears its head,
Assuring as the autumn breeze,
Pushing around stray sticks and leaves.

Lawrence Hall
[email protected]
Dispatches for the Colonial Office

                       Has All the Gold Been Stolen from Fort Knox?

                     Elon Musk encouraged to crack open Fort Knox
                     and audit the gold reserves

                           -New York Post, 16 February 2025

President Musk will now make an audit
Of the gold in Fort Knox, down to the dime
But all he will find (he may have already caught it)
Is the missing TP from the covid time!

Crystal tears,
Make up a diamond sea,
Where on the golden shores,
Glass roses grow.

But I picked the green weeds instead.

I craved for more for
As long as I remember
Tailor-made Italian suit
A brand new sports car
That penthouse with a
Postcard city view

So I sold my soul for it
Gave away my innocence
Scarred my mental health
Lost my very joie de vivre
In the process of chasing
Those shinny promises

But now that I got there
I realize that I fought for
No more than fool's gold
Useless junk that'll never
Fill the void that is to exist
Being a broken thing