A strange face speaks a familiar name,
Wicked grin promising trouble, adventure.
We run through the streets like the devil
Chases us.
A strange face speaks familiar words,
Laughing eyes piercing through every lie.
We leave a trail of ice, searching
For the lost hand.
A strange face speaks a name,
Eyes grim and smile unsteady.
We see each other for the first time
And grasp hands, strangers no longer.
I sit alone, an island surrounded by half walls.
Voices stir the air: a raspy murmur, a tenor metronome.
Picture the bustling activity as they talk, as they walk—
As they act.
Space expands as I withdraw—
Inward, collapsing, an imminent supernova.
Does the danger haunt them?
No.
Do they imagine happiness?
Yes.
Complacency clouds even the sharpest mind,
Dulls it, deadens it, until one day—
You can only scramble to collect the sands.
I wait and watch,
Deriving a sickly pleasure from chaos unfolding.
And when the sands stop—
They will devour themselves,
Ouroboros come—
A timeless suspension of decay.
The road not taken, a most insidious thought:
A destiny more prosperous or more deadly?
We walk a path that changes on a whim—
A fork sprouting with each decision,
And only one can be chosen.
The most crushing blow: realizing a permanent past.
To meander the back roads in search of a familiar
Tree, home,
The you that once was—
Found only in the ashes of burnt husks.
An inky sky scorched by lightning,
Wind so loud like a wailing woman,
A sad night marked by ill omens—
Then suddenly!
A knock on the door, nearly muted,
Followed by a scraping against the wood.
“Please,” issues the soft plea,
A ghastly thunderclap following.
The rain pours in heavy sheets,
No soul outside tonight.
“Tomorrow. You can die tomorrow.”
The wailing never stops.
A child’s first impressions:
The world immense,
Strangers avoided,
Crayola crayons—all 96 colors!
Mother, distant and strong;
Father, warm and jovial;
Marriage, a contract ephemeral—
Fleeting happiness and chronic pain.
A child’s innocence fades with time.
Reality forges a different mold,
That a child wears uncertainly.
Adolescence, a state in flux.
An adult’s impressions:
The world a smaller place,
Strangers a potential friend,
Parents only human.
Mother, bitter and unbent;
Father, sad and unwilling;
Communication, an action stalled—
Fleeting words, chronic anger.
An adult’s indifference transforms.
Experience forges a new mold,
That an adult wears confidently.
Adulthood, a state seeking lost wonder.
Plead with hands folded like the Virgin,
Knees bent and sotto voce words.
Honeyed promises and tearful eyes—
Emotions that could make a statue weep.
Too late, my dear, the lies take root—
Deception so deep even you start to believe.
Cry, cry, cry until the well runs dry,
A gaze on you that will never fold.
I’ll pierce your heart like a cancer—
Slowly. Painfully. Deadly.
I’ll eat you to pieces like the way
You did me.
Describe to me a pain so deep,
That cuts to the core—hollowing out
—every drop of warmth once inhabited.
A smile masks unquenchable rage.
You kill me. I kill you.
Let’s destroy this world together.
Truth is in the eye of the beholder.
Fact is the monster lives inside us all.
Late winter, cold and brisk,
Breaths billowing like small clouds—
A cold gale snatches them away,
Like a covetous thief, hungry.
Bare trees stand skeletal and lonely,
Against a dirty suburban landscape.
A bough snaps like an electric crack,
Breaking under such frigid pressure.
The frost melts with time—
Even the most unyielding thaws.
Peace arrives in a green bud,
Flourishing on a single branch.
A Curious Hermit 