pt 2: them
we make dreams
we chase peace.
we get lost
and drift away,
come together
to find some kind
of fatal harmony.
someone makes me fly
let’s me smile, let’s me cry
guides me,
listens,
but doesn’t come thru
unless it’s most
convenient.
another steps in
always leading the way,
resilient,
so strong,
and so much like me.
maybe that’s why i turn away.
he lets go so easily
cause he thinks it’s right
he tries,
but he hides
keeps himself in the background.
the other never backs down
even when it’s not his fight
he’ll take every hit
just so i remain all right
both are good intentions
but can’t be compared
each has his own,
and both sides stay fair.
one would take a bullet for me
one would knock the gun away.
one would always come back,
but one wouldn’t leave my side.
i’d die for both of them
give everything i have
they both want me here
but for who am i to live?
if i could hold both hands
i swear that i would.
my heart can be divided
but only for someone good
and i’d shout it from the roof
that i’ve never met anyone as worthy
as either of these two
so how can i choose?
both are beside me.
both make my stomach turn,
each has their own powers..
our relationships are vastly different
but only we know what’s ours.
i cant describe the things i feel,
for him it only takes a glance to see
if i’m not okay or overthinking;
he needs to be told
he notices but doesn’t know
and when i can’t explain to one,
the other isn’t around
of course i need both
i’m independent but reliant
and truth be desperately told
i’m too attached,
love can’t describe it.
i back off when things get good
i know i don’t deserve it
can’t accept when i should.
so even when i’m scared
even when i shut you out
i’ll never let go,
but i can’t help but doubt
that we’re gonna be stolen
someone else will come
and take my part.
i can be replaced
then there’s nowhere else for me to stay,
so let me stay in your heart
with all those feelings
all of our fear
hold us tight
keep me close.
don’t leave me, no matter what
i need you, even if it’s not
exactly what you’d want.
i can’t hurt you,
can’t break your heart again.
for some i can’t be friends,
for others that’s how the story ends.
where we began
is what defined it all
now we’re stuck reliving,
playing pretend
as if our roles are permanent
like this is what destiny is
maybe fate is unknown
our futures are still untold
but as we are
here and now
is enough
has to be enough
or we’ll never find out
how to be satisfied.
I love you, you know?
In a complicated way
In a powerful way
In a pure and genuine and real way
In a movie kind of way
In a way I can’t share
Not even a fraction
So if anything changes
And my secret gets out
Everything crumbles
And the lights go down.
you know how i feel
(but)
please accept how we are
what we have is real —
for
you’re both so important
and i’m not a big deal.
pt 1: him
we can never be
more than what we are;
what’s ours
is too precious
too fragile
any risk could
(so easily) break it apart.
no one else would understand.
no one can get past
the defenses i’ve built
but you’ve broken in.
if i could turn back time?
i wouldn’t create us differently
we make galaxies
while any other friendship
can hardly reach the stars
you turn life into poems;
you make the air feel soft
and quiet the noise —
you make breathing less of a chore
and smiling feels so natural.
how could i trade
the peace between us
for anything less?
what we have is happiness
and the longing is only temporary.
the loneliness is only a figment.
more would be a tragedy.
we don’t have to try
together to be perfect,
but if we started to try
to fit an image
to please ourselves
perfect would be impossible.
maybe we have to hide
the glances, the brief touches
the connection between
our helpless hearts
but isn’t it worth it, still
as long as we still have it?
hello?
am i here?
am i real?
tell me if you see me
or hear me calling
i don’t think i can feel my own breathing
chest rises and it falls
but i don’t register the movements
my skin feels cold
inside is hollow
and i’ve begun to imagine myself
the way others treat me—
as if i don’t exist.
it’s okay here
in this state
this empty room
empty head and empty heart.
it means nothing hurts inside
but i’m aching everywhere.
easier this way
if you don’t care
and i don’t wanna care
but i do
too much.
so if you don’t see me
i have to pretend
that i don’t either
and i fade away
till i can’t reach anymore
and there’s nothing to hold onto
i’m not here
i’m not real
i am a figment
of some far-away, long lost
memory.
imagination.
let’s start over...
can you imagine me?
chains
chains
are breaking
and it’s so hard to believe
because
for so many months,
over a year
i couldn’t walk
and i couldn’t breathe
your strength
diminishes
every time he
offers a smile
or shows me the stars
because he knows
how to love me
he knows how to care
and it proves
over and over
that you were never real.
and you never
ever
knew me at all
if i look away
he jumps for my gaze
and when my heart
starts to
hurt
he wraps it up
and keeps it safe
images emerge,
flashbacks replay,
but he clouds them
shields me
and we wash
your pain, your name
down
the drain
i don’t have to
try so hard
to fit this perfect image,
to be what he wants
because i already am
and now i have to learn.
it was never about
helping
there was no
happy ending
whatever i worked for,
towards,
was only figmented
by my own sense of hope
but everything you gave me
was so fake
it was never even there.
do you know
how the sunshine
can be such a lie?
how it promises warmth,
and light.
it’s so much
like you
because it always runs away
and only when it’s colder,
when the loneliness arrives,
does the moon swoop in
to show the truth
and save me.
you had your hold
abused your power
destroyed a pretty soul
left her wandering
defenseless
and completely
devoid
of
everything.
maybe you won
i was so trapped,
so blind
by fantasies
that i couldn’t
escape your
control
now it’s so funny
that i thought you could
be good
because i didn’t really know
what that word meant
until i saw blue again,
felt a new embrace
and everything was
so desperately clear
that you would never change
and i had to run away
breaking
letting go
moving on
healing
they all have new meanings to me now
a short time ago
they all
meant
the worst
and i can surely
proudly
confidently say
that i am alive
i survived.
because you were right,
like the devil,
you’re a demon.
and you killed me
so many times.
INSIDE
i don’t wanna try anymore
don’t really wanna keep this up
i fell into a hopeless cycle
so dark and devoid of love
lost hold of who i am
no faith in what i used to value
i’m only hanging - by the thinnest thread
no one knows the truth
because i’m okay
but i don’t want to be
it’s taken so much time, pain and energy
to create this new, fake me
do you know what i mean?
well, no, of course not. you couldn’t.
“how i feel” and “what i think” are so minor
believing in them isn’t worth it
every minute passes so slowly
as i’m consumed with (bitter) nothingness
my pulse becomes a slight throb
numbing me to silence
i can try to paint you a picture
with hollow, empty words
but once i start, i lose my will
and forcing anything just hurts
i smile so brightly
i share my compassion
i glow on the outside
while inwardly fading faster
it doesn’t hurt to be happy
but it doesn’t seem real
i’m not even sad
just can’t seem to feel
i lie so much, only to myself
i know that it’s wrong, so wrong
but i take these blows, let them break me down
yet continue to say that i’m strong
fighting the same in & out battles
only means i’m trained
i’ve learned to reject the affects
so there’s nothing lost, maybe, but never anything gained
truth
the dreams of a happy ever after
haunt you every night
you stare at the sky
waiting for your prince to rescue you
it’ll tear you apart
like all the letters you’d written for him
left in tattered, meaningless shreds
until you’re as empty as the bottles
thrown on the floor
you’ll start to think that maybe it’s all for nothing
the crying, the screaming
the missed calls and ignored texts
you wonder why he even mattered in the first place
he didn’t.
you created fantasies in your head
a storyline only your own thoughts could play out
leaving you lost and broken
by the mere idea of a boy
you wish you’d gotten to know
fairytales won’t come
you’ll wake up and realize
people are as disappointing as the shows that
end the wrong way
expectation will eat you
and you end up blaming yourself
for being naive
for having hope
but the only real monsters
are those who reject the love
generosity won’t kill you
it’ll be the false faith
precedented by the biggest frauds of all
who let you wonder and ache
and laughed while you writhed
love isn’t the crime
it’s convincing yourself that you were the dumb one
guided by light-
the path for your heart to set sail on,
as if cherishing moments is foolish
and fiction is based on fact
nonsensical.
a prince will never save you
those stories are ungodly lies
partners are never found
they are stumbled across
in the streets
of lost or lonely souls
who all aspire to be the same thing
a common thread:
in love for life
also
I smile when the storm starts
it makes me feel some type of “safe”
the way I did when you held me
or when you looked at me and it felt like home
maybe it’s because
love
is as unpredictable as the weather
or because the thunder
sounds the way my heart always did
the rain drowns out the silence
numbing the hollow feeling
of your
absence
I’ll watch the storms forever
thank them for keeping me company
they revive all the memories
and remind me
that somewhere
you are watching them too
boy?
losing my mind cause im so god damn alone
a single person to turn to and nowhere to call “home”
what the hell brought you here?
i never let my heart get too far away
but i love too hard for the ones who only take
take me for granted, leave when they’re done because im the fucking toy,
i never was a person
how could you let me rely on you?
never trusted me but made me trust you
you’re unstable, you’re reckless. . .
to be fair, i always knew you’d never care.
i attract the ones who love abuse.
fuck with my head till my mind feels loose
knowing that i wear my heart on my sleeve,
you made it seem like you were afraid i’d be the one to leave
turned my own emotions into a game of torment.
what if i don’t want to play?
if i didn’t want it, i wouldn’t beg you to stay
im only here for your amusement
you pull me in and hold me close
when i open my eyes you’ve let me go.
it’s only a fucking fantasy
love’s just a dream
im so (so so so) good enough
but you’ll never get to see
you’ll never let me be
me
blame me for the drug problem
tell me it was all my fault
let your words tear me apart
it won’t hurt
your hands
left
burning scars
don’t look at me with lust
you can’t have my body
as many times as you took it,
it was never yours
that’s why
im the bad guy.
tell me i cause his suicidal wishes
tell me he can’t do what you did
god, i hope not.
i don’t wanna cry because hates me.
i don’t want to feel like a waste.
that is all that you gave me.
have fun getting fucked up
pretending for the world that you’re not hurt
you hide because you’re afraid
im on top
i beat you at your own motherfucking game.
maybe i feel too much
it makes me blind
but my walls are up, ive had enough
you get the wounds this time.
anyway
ships will crash, stories always end
tell them anyway
the dark will grow
hold the light anyway
you will fear so much
please brave life anyway
mistrust will rule. everything.
open your mind anyway.
there will be days without faith
without hope and strength and love
and you must live anyway
he’s going to break your heart. she’s going to lie. to your face. over and over.
forgive anyway
life will throw rocks at your window.
the walls around your heart will collapse. your pride will be bruised,
your will damaged,
your thoughts rampant.
you will fall.
you will be torn.
perhaps apart.
but by god,
stay vulnerable anyway.
counting
it’s always been fact
known to every ignorant man
that time was limited
and now
now we know its true extent
seven days
is “all” we have left
but that’s more than enough.
do you know how simple it is
to let go of everything
when your hold was never
strong enough to begin with?
do you know
how painful it is
to wake up
seven days in a row
wishing you hadn’t
because all you feel
is an empty
aching
heavy numbness
and yet you feel nothing.
when you’ve fallen into a hole
with no visible light
hope
or escape
and you’ve lost track of time
friends
and yourself,
seven days becomes three months.
the minutes tick away
agonizingly slowly
and your most difficult task
is breathing.
most are sad
that we’ve only got a week
and maybe i should be, too
because there’s so much left to do
but it doesn’t really matter, does it?
live for the moment
the present is a gift
we’ve only got now
tomorrow is light years away
and all that other bullshit.
only now humanity ignores it
finds a new philosophy
because suddenly
their world is turned upside down
ending
and there’s nothing you can do...
but panic
a frenzied chaos
yet here i am
sitting in the sun
and focusing on the breeze
with a smile.
when you feel your existence
is already painful misery,
the ending isn’t as scary.
i’m not intimidated.
i’m not afraid.
i have lived fully
in my few years
i have felt too much.
experienced too much.
cried too much.
lost too much.
seen too much.
everything has always been
and always will be
too much.
so i will drink my coffee,
read my books,
write my poems,
count my seconds,
take my breaths,
fight my tears,
and lose my battles
all the same.
the same as i did yesterday
and will do
for the next 168 hours.
nothing will change
between now and then.
so don’t be hypocritical,
don’t say you’ve got regrets,
don’t say there’s so much you’ve yet to get done.
none of it is true.
if you wanted something,
you should’ve gotten it.
that’s the truth.
now you can’t, so you bask in pity
but let me remind you
you’re the fool
who let your time go to waste
and all the kids who are sad
like me
are the ones who feel their time is much too used
we never get a moment of silence
never any peace
until now
when we know it’ll all be over
the sadness will finally leave
and we can be
happy.
just seven more days.