You

You never loved me as I loved you
You say otherwise but I know it's true.
And when I start to think of you
I still can't help but smile.

I wonder if you think of me...
If you show a smile I'll never see...
I wonder if I'll ever be
Free of memories of you.

You've moved on and so have I,
But still it almost makes me cry
Knowing that, yes, love can die
If it's not carried right.

I really don't want to remember
Your skin so cold in cold December
Your eyes so bright like burning embers
So deep like the black night sky.

I know I'll never again see you
But I know what we had was true
And now, alone, we'll make it through
Life.

Goodbye Summer

The snow is falling all around you
You can see your breath
The night is growing ever colder
But you aren't scared of death.
The maples have long since shed their leaves
The branches brandish icy spears
You whisper "Why?" into the sky
But you know nobody hears.
The wind picks up and lightning flashes
Such a painful, blinding light
The world so bright for just an instant
Now falls into perpetual night.
You make it up onto the bluff
And look down on the city lights
Yellow orbs wind like a snake
Through the black and white.
You pull your scarf over your mouth
Pull up your hood and look away.
Summer your time is over now!
Winter is here to stay.

The Jasmine

The August breeze
So warm, so humid
Blows through the live oaks
So old, so tired
And dancing, crunching,
All the leaves
Scatter around me
Accross the yard.

I think off all the days
That pass me
All the days that've passed me
As I sat here
As I sit here among
The night-blooming jasmine
Smelling the blossoms, so sweet
While the cicadas cry.

I think of the days
When you were around
When you kept up the roses
And kept up the house
And I think of sharing
A glass of iced tea
With you by the jasmine
But now I'm so alone.

As the sky turns bright red
And then fades to black
I close my eyes, smell the flowers
And the memories come back.
I'll lie down alone tonight
This one last time.
In the morning
I'm coming home.

The Fire

The sand under my feet
It’s so hot it burns
But to see that blue water
My spirit yearns
The waves lap the shore
So gentle and clear
And I know I’ll never
Come back here.
What’s sad is it’s not
For lack of desire,
For lack of need
But there is a fire.
A fire so fierce
That can’t be seen
Will erase this paradise
Will erase this scene.
The water quickly
Turns to steam
The seagulls fly away
I scream
The sand melts into
Shiny glass
And I get stuck
While my memories pass
Before my eyes
My fading eyes
I look up one last time
To see the blue sky
But it’s blue no more
It’s bloody red
And all the peace I had
Is dead.

The Line

With time, I find
That I cross the line
When logic outweighs tradition
And thought outweighs "His" words.
And I can see
The powers that be
Using the ways of the past
As a foundation, a crutch.
But I know
The way things go
Change will come with time
And we'll frown on our history.
In the present tense,
It doesn't make sense
That the elected tell
The voters who to elect...
That logic is censored
By one bigoted religion...
That fear has become
A substitute for reason...
These things aren't hidden,
They are quite clear,
But the benighted ones, always,
will be the heard ones i fear.
If i could go to a place
Where knowledge was king...
If i could just get a taste
Of truly being free.
I wouldn't have to cross the line...
The line would cross me.

The Benefits of Religion

Oh divinity sitting up on high
With cardinals flying below and by
As you purport to be some sort of solace
Yet, you give no reason why.

And as the summer sun falls from the sky,
The benighted spirits drop and cry
Because they know a cold winter's coming
And they will surely die.

So, you claim to be a friend,
That there's a beginning in the end
Just pay respect and pay a tithe
So as not the heavens to offend.

Thus, they throw their earnings in a pail
and drown their yearnings with your ale.
You tell tails tricking them to trust you
So their fear, or "faith", won't fail.

But, eventually, they become aware
That non-believers everywhere
Are surviving without caring
On the product of their prayer!

So they wage wars to spread the love
Of some wise, hollow voice above,
And as the doubters bury bloody babies
They bury all they once dreamt of.

They now know knowledge is a great concern
And that to reach paradise, they mustn't learn.
Now, they can be happy and blind
While the world, the world will burn.