If you fight fire with fire, we all get burnt. I laugh manically at the stray thought, and the sweat pouring down my face falls into my mouth. The flames surround me, colors intertwined in their vicious dance. I relish the beauty, the searing pain. Sparks pop and houses fall, but all living things left this barren place long ago. Almost all, that is. The demons remain, stalking me in the dark. The demons, mouths dripping with acid. The demons, eyes made of hot coals. Claw and bite and gaze, all designed to burn. But not for long, no, not for long. It's their time to burn. As their inhuman shrieks rise through the flaming world, I smile. Because when I fight fire with fire, I'm no longer the only one burning.

The demons never leave

Their angry fire will never cease

And as they scream their lies

All else is lost to time

Their war rages on

The battlefield takes a toll

But land not a hit

Does any demon on another

And when hope is lost

And everything's aflame

The havoc halts as a new light shines

An angel beaming down

To raise the Earth anew

From her voice the demons run

From her embrace the ground heals

And as her eyes fall upon

The few living things

Their fear abates

And life begins again

You're my disease

Infecting

Every inch, every

Single inch of my

Scarred body, scarred

Heart, scarred mind

You're bacteria

Festering

In my wounds, flowing through

My blood, my

Veins, my heart

You're a virus

Never leaving, never

Going to heal, going

To go away, to

Let me free, let

Me out, let me

Heal

Not the greatest, but I realized at about "...scarred/ Hearts, scarred mind" that the first words were making a sentence so I went with it. Hope you guys enjoy!

Fantasy monsters are scary, sure. The real monsters, though? The real monsters are people. They can hide in plain sight, they could be anywhere you look. Is the guy doing schoolwork in the cafe just another student? Or does he thrive off the pain of his abused girlfriend? You can't tell, no one can tell. Is that woman walking down the street just another shopper? Or did she put her twelve year old son on the street for having a crush on a boy at school? Is the man in a tailored tuxedo able to afford it through honest work? Or is he underpaying and overworking employees? The people you see every day could be the monsters of your nightmares, and you'll never know.

I tasted death last night

It was strawberry flavored

And vegetarian

It can trap me in my nightmares

Or stop me from ever hurting again

The taste of death

The taste of freedom

The taste of fear

They’re all the same

Aren’t they?

I tasted death last year

She tasted like

Off brand chapstick

And artificial cinnamon

Death never did taste

All that good to me

The taste of death

The taste of freedom

The taste of fear

Can’t have without the other

Right?

I tasted freedom once

Many years ago

Don’t quite remember

The flavor

Every time since then

It’s been coupled with death

The taste of death

The taste of freedom

The taste of fear

Maybe someday I can

Separate them again

I taste fear

Every day

Drowning me

In its stench

I don’t know what

It tastes like

Beyond repulsive

The taste of death

The taste of freedom

The taste of fear

I wish I never had

To taste

Again

#death #fear #freedom #taste #flavor #challenge #poetry

Living a life

In black and white

Looking for just

A hint of color

I found the beauty

I craved

In the petals of a rose

I admired her

Slowly drifting closer

I went to pick

The only thing of beauty

And hesitated

For just a second

And if only I'd

Thought just a little longer

For I fell

And the thorns of the rosebush

They ripped me to shreds

The only color left

Was that of my blood

But even that faded

Until I was no longer

Living in a black

And white world

For my tears

Clouded my eyes

Far too much to see

#rose #poetry #pain #love #color

The long-lost innocence

Of a child

When pain was

Just a scraped knee

When tears only ever fell

Because it was too early

To go to bed

When broken meant

A toy had lost a leg

Before pain was

Heartbreak

Before tears were

Constant

Before broken meant my

Crushed

Shattered

Destroyed

Soul

Why did I

Ever want to grow up?

Why did I have to lose

That beautiful innocence?

I wish

I could turn back

The clock

And treasure every moment

Instead of wishing

The future

Was then

I lie here and I wonder

Which event

I should write about

Each and every moment

Seems to bring

More pain

Red on white

Rose petals against a wedding dress?

If only

It was that

Instead of another drop of blood

Falling from one more

Innocent

Victim

Onto a shower floor

Flowing water

A mountain stream?

If only

It was that

Instead of tears on the face of a child

Hiding away in a

Dark

Cold

Room

Rather than risk one more person

Belittle their pain

A fire in someone's eyes

Passion? Love?

If only

It was that

Instead of fearful anger

Masking the

Deep

Pain

Felt by one more victim

Robbed of their carefree innocence

You say to make

My pain beautiful

But pain is still pain

No matter how sweet

The coating

For pain is no art

But overcoming it

Is

#poetry #challenge #pain #beauty

There I sat

In a shroud of cold and dark

In your eyes I thought I saw

The light and warmth I needed

To find my way out

I clawed my way through

The wall of fear I built

To reach the safety

I thought you held

I was willing to do anything

To remove my cloak of darkness

And yet that cloak

Was the only thing

You didn’t remove

I finally reached that light

That warmth

But instead of safety

It was hellfire

The heat scorched my skin

The light seared my eyes

But still I stayed

Perhaps I could tame it

Calm it

How much worse

Could fire be?

@LEBass #Challenge

She's all the stars in the sky to me, lighting up my darkness, warming up and filling the cold emptiness of my soul. She brings life to otherwise lifeless places, both near and far. But as I write this, I know she's trying not to fall. Her gravity is all that's stopping my endless spiral, but I'd spiral forever to keep her in the sky. Everybody knows a falling star burns up, and I can't let that happen. Losing her would plunge the universe into a dense, cold, darkness that would never end, never let us free. So I don't fall, because I know she'd follow. Even if her life, her love, wouldn't affect the world, I'd still do anything to protect her, because I can't let her burn. I can't let her suffer. She makes up my world, her elements in everything I see, running through my veins, filling my lungs, dancing in my eyes. I love her, I always will. So please don't fall, my love, please don't fall.