Charge

I see all of you-
The dead
Who do not know
That they have perished
And roam the streets
As if life has not
Ended.

You are
Rotten.
You are
Hollow.
You are loud
But voiceless.

I do not fear you.

I will bring you to
The light.

Better

The best way to end a breakdown
Is with a faint second line.
The best way to start tomorrow
Is to know you’ll probably die.

I know it sounds cavalier
Or “brave”
If you’re being condescending.
But that is how that day went
That end was the beginning.

I want to tell you it gets better,
Better in time
You just got to keep at it
Move to that shit in time.
I want to tell you it gets better,
Better in time.
You just got to keep at it
Move to that shit in time.

You have a habit of hoarding.
Obsessed with holding on.
You’re no stranger to things falling apart–
A gallery of catastrophes in motion.

You decorate your life with tragedies
Because the jagged edges cling more.
You’re a kaleidoscope of broken pieces
More beautiful than anything before.

I want to tell you it gets better,
Better in time
You just got to keep at it
Move to that shit in time.
I want to tell you it gets better,
Better in time.
You just got to keep at it
Move to that shit in time.

Who’s afraid of dying
When the real horror is being alone?
What’s so terrible about being lonely
When you can’t take anyone when you’re gone?

You fooled yourself into thinking
That joy is something you can hold
When you realize it’s fleeting
That’s when life begins to unfold.

I want to tell you it gets better,
Better in time
You just got to keep at it
Move to that shit in time.
I want to tell you it gets better,
Better in time.
You just got to keep at it
Move to that shit in time.

Time goes by and you’ll find
That all that chasing is for nothing
You’ll make it out in your mind
That life isn’t about taking.

Time does not heal all wounds
It just latches on to pain so you don’t have to carry it along.
Days are miles that just keep moving.
And before you know it, this pain is so far away it’s gone.

I want to tell you it gets better,
Better in time
You just got to keep at it
Move to that shit in time.
I want to tell you it gets better,
Better in time.
But I know that that’s a lie.
Because “it” doesn’t get better
“You” do.
You’re gonna be better
Better in time.

Call Her Name

They said a change was coming
The horde in red pulsated
Like a lava flow of hope:
Ignited.
Viscuous.
Ominous.
It set to fire every object
It came into contact.

It felt like the death that must come
Before a new world is born.

They didn’t mind that the core of this frenzy
Was blood and flesh;
The shattered bones
Of a form of justice
Doled out in drunken conversation-
That isn’t blind
But peers from the corners
Of its soulless eyes.

Ah, the music of anarchy
Was all too sweet.
The romance of a revolution
Was a tantalizing heat
That sucked you in
And shot you into the atmosphere
In an explosion
Of promises and ash.

Do you remember
How you call him “Father”?
How you craved the iron of his fist?
Because you deserved to be punished
You unruly, unworthy,
Unsuspecting son of a bitch.

He lies

Sleeping–
When he should be doing
What you hoped he would do.

And when he wakes,
Like a thief in the night,
Without care for your peaceful slumber,
He foams in the mouth
With a venom
That slowly erodes you from within.

The hope you thought you saw in him
Was not hope he was giving.
It was the hope he stole
The same way he steals from you now.

To set into fire
To burn like the pits of hell
To make deeper and wider his chambers
Until so much magma cannot be held within
He erupts again,
Spewing out evil and destruction,
Leaving behind a trail of death.

The earth shakes
Over and over
And the deafening sound
Of this unholy upheaval is only broken
By the voiceless cries:

The lady Freedom,
And her mother Truth,
Her sister Justice
And the child Peace.

Change did come after all.
But change is a trickster.
It is never what you think it is going to be.

So when next you put your hope on something,
Call out her name:

Liberty.

Let her lead the way.