People living in cardboard boxes ...
What are they doing there,
Are they there out of choice,
Or there in despair?

Are they there through their own fault,
Or is the blame society's at large,
Should you give them some free assistance,
Or have police put them on a charge?

Unlike the good samaritan,
You choose to walk on the other side,
Quite happy to debate lofty moral issues,
Until you meet reality, stumble and collide.

Cardboard City's inhabitants,
Are surely past redemption,
Would you really make that statement,
If in there, lived your son?

Shouldn't they help themselves more?
Perhaps they've already been trying,
All I know is they are fellow human beings,
And in the winter ... they are dying.

You want someone to fix your life,
Forget it, take some advice,
You have to fix it yourself,
Move your ownself,
Or it will rot on a shelf.
Be your own boss,
Earn your own money with no loss,
Have your own powers,
Don't be obligated or intimidated by others.
Don't turn to be validated by any one,
All these will happen,  
People will learn to respect you,
Your dear ones will be proud of you.

I kept you in my heart too long
knowing you were the perfect leech
parasites are meant to take over
especially, when you're already weak
You were the perfect distraction
but, you only gave me empty thrills
I needed you to be there for me
but turns out ghosts aren't real
I should have saw this coming
through your false sincerity
thought you had given me love
when all you gave me is pity
if my words are not verse,
then it is your name I shan't curse

Sometimes it feels as if I have no skin on.

Every blow of unfavorable wind
like thousands of needles
driven deep into exposed flesh.
Crowds of relentless, sandpaper-cloaked figures
tear off muscle, fiber by fiber
as they pass scraping by.
Gazes turn sunbeams into chisels
that carve fourth degree burns
into the sorry mess of these insides-turned-outsides.

Maybe I truly have no skin on. Maybe that's why they point at me.
Always with such pity, amusement
And disgust.

You told me I could never have the sky

It was not mine to take
Only there to be gazed upon but forever out of reach

Looking back and up right now i stretch out my hand
To touch the stars you gave to me
And love these ones instead

You clipped my wings and when I mourn somehow
It will forever be for you.
You have never known pure fascination
And for that I pity you

Better to have loved and lost
Than never flown at all.

The guilt kicks in
Tears run down these cheeks
Bedrooms dark,
thoughts become bleak
Haven't eaten for a week
All these feelings consuming me
Torture my heart, ripping it apart
All these drugs just aren't enough
To cleanse me of all my mistakes
Tried locking all the memories away
And nothing seems to be working for me
I'm pushing through each day
Looking for a reason to live
And everything I've tried to give
Hope has been stolen out of my pocket
I've been left an empty shell of nothing
Thought I was something
When I was with you
Truth is I'm nothing
unless I have you
To keep me grounded
You were the one
that reinvigorated my soul
You were the one that brought me up
When I was low
When you were around
I never felt alone
You were my safety, my home

©2017 Written By Benji James