The Road More Traveled

I bought a calendar/ to help me keep track/ I crossed off the days/ pretending X's could subtract/ all the previous moments I no longer wanted to possess/ But each marking only emphasized the pain that I wished to forget

Better sleep when you are gone/ is not a sign of moving on/ but a failure to face the days without you/ All the edges start to blur/ Memories of who we were/ are flashes of a dream you can't hold onto

So hold on before the feeling's gone/ Letting go is just a road less traveled upon/ Once you let it slip right through/ there's nothing you can do to get it back/ You can't turn around/ You can't recover your tracks/ So hold on before the feeling's gone

I bought a comforter/ to help me keep warm/ I reshaped the structure of the bed and its contours/ Different sheets, a different mattress/ A silver screen, a better actress/ What more could I ask for? A shorter road without the atlas/ A distant world without the axis/ A room without a door

Dim the lights, unload your gun/ Shut your eyes, black out the sun/ Nothing burns, no, nothing stirs, no more/ Faith aside, I lost all hope/ Curtains fall without the rope/ Take a bow, and take it all, why don't you?

Because nothing is the same/ when memories remain/ Well, pack 'em in/ We'll pack 'em in and drive/ further down the road/ We'll drive further down that road/ so when you turn around there's nothing left behind/ but you're nothing without the passengers inside

So hold on before the feeling's gone/ Letting go is just a road less traveled upon/ Once you let it slip right through/ there's no nothing you can do to get it back/ You can't turn around/ You can't recover your tracks/ So hold on before the feeling's gone

Beside A Pale Horse and Regiment

Bear your arms; prepare to take cover.
Forty-one through four are years marked for murder.
Suddenly, our poverty is greater than our blood.
Aim your gun at the head of another.

You're caught in a war,
So make sure your chambers are full.
Aim low, because you're in peril
When in sight of your foe.

Walk amongst the dead, and charge into battle.
The ground beneath the barracks starts to rattle.
The infantry and the calvary are barely raging on.
Sight your time, and pray to your God.

You're caught in a war,
So make sure your chambers are full.
Aim low, because you're in peril
When in sight of your foe.

Death can be fun, can it not?

Stab and kill.
Trample the dead.
Cut throats of your fellow man.
Show no remorse.
Shed no tears
Or mercy at all.
Stab and smile.
Laugh as they fall.
Murder we must.
Murder is just.

circa January 2006

tree limbs

i'm like a tree
with outstretched branches
reaching for the heavens.
my head in the clouds,
my roots in the ground,
and when i reach my end,
i will not ascend,
but be cut down.

mirror move

my leg is broken, being dragged across the uneven pavement
i'm a tortured sole
to let it breathe would be stifling
i'd choke on that freedom
i'd hide in open spaces
biding my time as time erases
the act of treason
i'd plead guilty before the hammer falls
before it's even risen
no need to stand
or lift your hand
i'll keep mine folded in
mirror like movements
anticipated and fraudulent
keep it folded in
tucked away in your jacket pocket
never to be picked
held tight to your breast
keep it folded in
fabricated and adjacent
mirror like movements
before the thought's conceived
you'd plead innocent before the mouth bleeds
the act of treason
biding your time as time erases
you'd hide in darker places
you'd choke on that suspicion
to give release would be trifling
you're a tortured soul
my leg is broken, being dragged across the pavement

it's even now

The Grass is Always Greener

i fertilized the soil
with what was left of you,
and as i raked up the leaves
last fall
i couldn't recall
which remnants were from the trees
or from that of a man,
so i dispensed them
into the same steel can,
and it made no difference
at all.

the grass has never looked so green.

- afm