When I Arrive

In the words that you said,

there were lines that I wrote;

if I can't sleep in your bed

may I pass you this note?

You're my captain who led,

but won't leave his sinking boat.
I'm in over my head, 
but you're keeping my afloat.

And this is our fable

or whimsical tale

in which we're both able

to patch up our sails.

Toss me that cable

and hear the winds wail,

but keep your heart stable 

and leave me a trail.

The waves will drag me under,

but you'll lift me toward the clouds.

We'll beat the roaring thunder

whose laughter is so loud.

The seas pull us asunder, 

but we made ourselves a vow

that any slip or blunder,

we will suffer poised and proud.

But then the skies are blue once more

and we are still alive.

Yours is the hand I'm breathing for,

whose passion makes me thrive

and I'm the one to whom you swore

you'd do more than just survive.

So, here it is: end to our lore

and you're my home when I arrive.

*****************************************************

Quiet Romance

I dreamed us in

a silent movie.

I touched your skin;

I felt you truly.

A simpler stage

in black and white,

let’s turn this page.

There’s nothing quite

like what you said

inside our score.

The words you read,

you wanted more.

You take my hand:

a brilliant dance.

This wasn’t planned,

quiet romance.

The white moon rises

revealing sins,

showing disguises,

pulling our strings,

but this song plays on

as you hold me near.

Until the dawn,

hold tight, my dear.

****************************

"I have become a silent movie. The hero killed the clown. Can't make a sound, Can't make a sound. Can't make a sound.” Elliott Smith Can’t Make a Sound

“So, this is strange. Our sidestepping has come to be a brilliant dance where nobody leads at all...where nobody leads at all.” Dashboard Confessional The Brilliant Dance

Stop the Clock

My head is on fire.

We're walking on a wire.

Look down and you'll fall,

but it's entirely your call.

Stick me back on your shelf.

I know I'm not myself

and I think that the moon lies.

She can see into your eyes.

Your voice sounds the same

as it breathes through my flames

and I think I should be bigger,

but your finger's on my trigger.

Fuck the fault lines and the fences

and all of your past tenses;

figure future in a wine glass;

pile up mistakes en masse

because nothing else feels quite like this

and now I need to taste your kiss.

So, stop the clock,

the tick and the tock,

and tell me one more time

how you just want to be mine.

***************************************

"She walks along the edge of where the ocean meets the land just like she's walking on a wire in the circus." Counting Crows 'Round Here

"And I guess I could be bigger, but I'd rather make you pay." - Pedro the Lion Rehearsal

"I'm looking at you through a wine glass. I'm watching the light play games with your face. I'm tracing your mouth with my fingers. I'm trying to pick up your taste. And will you dance for me?" Kevin Devine Fingerprints And Photographs

Safe from the Sound

There are things that I 

should say to you

that you should never 

have to know.

They could slip out

in my sleep

and slither into

your subconscious.

They could crawl inside

your beating heart

and wrap it up

warm and tight.

They could offer hands

you'll never hold.

They could tell you truths

best left untold.

So, I'll bite my tongue 

or choke on my breath

to keep your ears

safe from the sound.

****************************************

"Don't, don't, don't, don't, don’t, don't say you don't love me. My beat, beat, beat, beat, beat, beating heart could stop. This hemisphere in your company for forever or for now.” Maritime Don’t Say You Don't

"You're just holding my hand if I hold you.” Good Old War Looking for Shelter

"I fear the sound and the silence that we've found.” Hot Rod Circuit Fear the Sound

At My Worst

You feel the pounding

of my head

in yours.

You sweat with each

hard beat of my heart.

I know I've warned,

but you've never heeded

and I'm looking more 

and more

defeated.

Don't know whether 

it's you or I

who's truly cursed.

You always get me 

at my worst. 

(I'm sorry.)

************************************

"I hope for the best, but nothing changes. I'm sorry." Radical Face Glory

Work Backward

Sometimes, I start

at the end 

and work backward

trying to see

how I got here,

how I got to you.

Arms don't reach

as far as they need to

and voices can't

touch the clouds,

but I can see 

the stars glimmer.

They shine in my eyes,

but I want to see 

their glow

in yours too.

**********************************

"I been working on my backwards walk. There's nowhere else for me to go except back to you just one last time. Say yes before I change my mind." Frightened Rabbit Backwards Walk

"Your breathing is quickening. Take my lungs; I owe you. Lost and cold now, there’s a place in my arms I can keep you. A billion stars and here we are, the same bit of dirt holding our weight." Copeland I Can Make You Feel Young Again

Sewed

Asleep in a corner
and didn’t even know
until hands that were warmer,
showed me where to go.
Out of chaos comes order.
From the darkness, a glow.
I thought I was a goner
until I heard you singing low.

A haughty, hasty haunting,
a life caught in between.
I think you heard me calling
from deep within my dream.
You knew that I was falling.
I let out quite a scream.
You shook me from my mourning.
You sewed me at my seam. 

You felt my heart was lonely.
You knew my brain was glum.
You said let's walk on boldly,
let's see what we've become.
You are my savior solely,
only chord I'll ever strum.
I think you'll be the only
tune I'll ever hum.

********************************************

"So will you come back to my corner? Spent too long alone tonight. Would you come brighten my corner? A lit torch to the woodpile." Frightened Rabbit Woodpile

"All my nightmares escape my head. Bar the door, please don't let them in. You were never supposed to leave. Now my head's splitting at the seams and I don't know if I can." Radical Face Welcome Home

Tired Veins

We all have scars from

mistakes that we've made.
You think that you’re numb

because you let yours fade,

pressed them under your thumb.

Didn’t work, I’m afraid.

You tell me it’s not,

but I watch your head spin.

You may shut the sun out,

but you have to let me in.

You are my only thought,

got you under my skin.

You told me you’re scarred.

I already knew.

You’re always on guard.

I am too.

But my blood pumps hard

in tired veins for you.

******************************************

"Cover up the sun. Let the river run. I pray the water come and wash me away. Color in the sky. Make that diesel fly. Oh, just lay me down to die and just take me away.” Counting Crows Cover Up the Sun

"My brother's blood boils in my arms. It balls my fingers into fists. It bubbles, blisters, burns my palms. It floods with fury, fights, and fits.” Kevin Devine My Brother’s Blood

Impractical Poetry

I wrote you a letter 
that I never sent. 
It wouldn't make it better, 
didn't say what I meant. 
Guilty grammar hides 
the truth I tried to say. 
Noises from all sides 
are getting in the way. 
I’m the hypnotizing haze 
of impractical poetry, 
but you are the hours, the days, 
the beauty, the symmetry. 
There are no lonesome hearts, 
only lonesome moments. 
I am the sum of your parts, 
so we’ll never be broken. 
And I want you to hear - 
no, I need you to know - 
that I'll always be here 
inside the moon's glow.

**********************************************

"Pouring over photographs, I'm living in your letters. Breathe deeply from this envelope. It smells like you and I can't be without that scent. It's filling me with all you mean to me.” Dashboard Confessional Living in Your Letters

"Hell is the west wind gasping for breath. Hell is a bare page black ink infection. Hell is the inadequate alphabet: a work-worn device to communicate with.” Aeroplane, 1929 Hound at Heels

"I been dreaming again of a lonesome road where I'm lost and I've got no friends, just the rocks and the trees and my lonesome dreams and a road that'll never end.” Lord Huron Lonesome Dreams

A Sweeter Rhyme

I think I'm saying something serious.

I think I'd like to let you know,

but I'm a little bit delirious

and I'm hoping it won't show.

You see, I know your song

and it's stuck inside my head.

It's been there for so long

and it's kind of like you read

my mind or know be better

than I think I know myself.

So, I'm writing you this letter,

hope it finds you in good heath.

I know I stutter and I hesitate

and I falter and I cry

and I do not mean to tempt our fate

and I never meant to lie,

but I think I now know who you are

and I'm trying not to shout.

Even from so very far,

I do not have a doubt. 

Let me see your face this time

and let me say your name.

Let me write a sweeter rhyme

that sings us both the same.

*******************************************

"You remind me of a song I used to love." JamisonParker Your Song

"I'm gonna write you a letter. I'm gonna write you a book. I wanna see your reaction. I wanna see how it looks." Guster Amsterdam

"When I say, 'No one talks to me like you.' She says, 'They don't know you like I do.'"  Kevin Devine She Can See Me

Don't Think

Take my hand

and stay right here.

Don't think

or we'll disappear.

It's just a dream.

It's where we landed.

In your eyes,

I saw

everything.

But I want to hear

your heart sing

its love song.

****************************************

"And come morning, I am disappeared. Just an imprint on the bedsheets." Frank Turner I Am Disappeared

"She took me up to her higher wall. She took me up there just to let me fall and I'll sing you another love song, another love song." The Frames Another Love Song

Know the Taste

Breathe in the air

of your ancestors

and cherish every drop

of rain that falls

and let the soft autumn sun

seep into your pores.

Feel each blade of grass

tickle your palms

and smell the salty

ocean waves

and kiss the earth

on which we dance.

See every star that glimmers

in your night sky

and live all your minutes

to their brims

and know the taste

of a lover who's true.

**********************************************

"Breathe with me. We all just inhaled about 100 million molecules that once passed through the lungs of  everyone who ever lived before us. Think of it: this kind of atomic reincarnation is another link to our distant  ancestors, including those who first launched us on our explorations of the unseen universes." Neil deGrasse Tyson Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey "Deeper, Deeper, Deeper Still"