The Battle of Waterloo

Your face is drained
Your limbs stick to the sides
You want everything to burn
You want it all to burn away
You smell the perfume
You can feel her in your arms
You fit together so neatly
You can imagine it in your mind
You move together behind your eyes
You leave through the side door
You're so afraid to make a scene
You're so afraid to catch a glance
You want it all to be yours
You want to lose yourself for a while
You know it's all one big ruse
You know it's the perfect distraction
You know that you will take it in stride
You look like you've seen a ghost
You are done with who you were
You are not the person who entered the room
You are leaving and you're not going home
You are leaving and you're leaving alone

The Night Before

The sun had just warmed the morning sky on a new day
When I discovered a stray hair that found its way to my pillow.
I already knew the origin of that strand of silk,
It was property of the beautiful girl who slept there the night before.

I had carefully watched her eyes moved beneath naked lids
And I counted the lashes on her child-like face.
I saw the arc of her chest in its peak
And I heard the air escape only to begin the journey all over again.

I remember exactly how she stood in my doorway — so open, so plain —
With the moonlight cascading down her face.
I thought about how she moved across the empty dance floor in bare feet
And how I laughed as she smiled back at me.

I thought about how nothing could compare to the melody in her heartbeat
Or how no piece of art could document what I saw in the smile spread on her lips.
I was amazed by the strength she held my hand with.
Now it made sense how she could carry all those things she kept in.

Finally she opened her eyes showing a color I hadn't seen.
They matched the morning in its optimism and naivety.
She managed to flood me with so much compassion and hope
That all of the love coming out of her caught back up with me.

But now she's not here anymore and there's just a hole in my bed.
Long gone is the warmth from where she had lain her head.
The day passed like grains of sand through a clinched fist
And the only thing I have left is the night before.

The Guns of August

It's over the top
In this war of attrition,
As waves of men throw themselves
At an unseen enemy.

Now's the time to lose life and limb,
We're all fodder for the cannons.
Inside no man's land,
This gas mask is the face of death.

A general, somewhere behind my head,
Challenges all his faithful troops —
"Come on you bastards,
You don't want to live forever, do you?"

"Leave the fallen behind,
Leave them where they lie,"
Inside a crater, tangled up in wire,
Or stuck behind enemy lines.

"We take no prisoners,"
When we're ducking for cover,
Ignoring white flags
Where salvation is surrender.

"We're all brothers in arms,"
Using the same bayonets,
Fielding each others' bullets,
And bearing the same scars.

We're the sons and daughters of this cold war,
A strip of land less than a mile keeps apart.
Forced to live in these trenches,
We hold the grenades close to our hearts.

As the General's voice fades under the screams,
The stench of death surrounds me.
Now this battle has become a mass funeral,
Except we none of us will receive a burial.

Dancing With Skeletons

The stars shine brightly tonight, reaching down towards Earth
The ages-old rays reflect off a broken picture frame
Illuminating the shards with light that took a million years to get here,
Underscoring a situation where no one's to blame.

The last remaining light is eclipsed by the planet's churn.
This gloaming casts a shadow, turning the horizon blue.
As the sun burns out, I feel the exhaustion of another day hanging on
And we held on for so long that the ache became all we knew.

As Mars flashes his warrior's glow off the car's hood,
A ghost makes its way through the mist and woods.
All sorts of creatures mingle in the thickets of my mind,
while midnight dawns, clouding up my eyes.

A crescent moon marks that the heavens have already moved on.
Its phases have crawled by so slow that I'm still dancing with skeletons.
Tonight, it's reflection off the lake seems extra pale
And I pray that the morning rain will wash away your smell.

The High Art of Killing Your Friends

A hand comes down
Into this deep, dark hole.
Clawing at the ground
I try to take hold.
Earth sticks under my nails,
Soil fills my mouth and nose.
Whoever put me in this hell
Didn't go deep enough.
I haven't seen the sun so long
That its radiance is painful.
I can't see the savior,
The Samaritan's kind soul.
All I know is that hand,
The blessed lifeline,
Has dirt under its nails
And is as soiled as mine.

How Young Lovers Die

It's getting colder outside.
White flakes fall all around,
Covering everything in white,
Making us look like brides.

We share one last embrace.
I feel the heat on your cheeks.
The tears still freeze on your face
But I won't let it ruin this day.

Just don't leave me all alone,
Give me somewhere to call home.
Keep a place out for me,
Somewhere only we know.

If only this snow would disappear
And turn into a churning river,
We could sink to the bottom
And stay this way forever.

The Wedding Album

They stood frozen to the spot
Bound by duty and shock
With their hands on the smalls
Of each other's backs.

A glaze pools in their eyes
From the flashbulbs
Whiting out the lines
Wrapping around their faces.

She's trying to look her best
In a second-hand wedding dress
As her makeup withers in the heat
And the beating won't stop in her chest.

"She got rid of so many of them,
Why should I be different?"
He says inside his head
And fidgets with the ring on his hand.

Standing so close together
No one could have guessed
This was the moment
They started pulling apart.

I Sleep With A Gun Under My Pillow

Her lips are on fire.
Tonight is an exercise
In laying waste and leaving
No one in the wake.
The room full of life
Is relegated to spectators
Caught in the crossfire
Of innuendo and sultry looks.

Her soul screams —
A monster chained,
Aching to be free
From the prison within.
Tearing at the walls,
Passion floods the floor
Twisting with bodies
As they move to the beat.

Her blood curdles
And lust lines the veins.
There's no more running away,
Because there's no safe haven.
Her mane covers my face
The scent is full of pheromones.
From this new paramour,
It's a smell I will take back home.

Her tongue has soured,
Spitting the sweetest venom
Anyone has ever tasted
In a God-forsaken place like this.
Pulling her willing victim closer,
Assuming the position,
They exhale, breathe deep
And move in for the kill.

Blood & Orchids

Several mourners gather in a line,
Their fingers stained with colored dye
From the paper flowers they put at my side
As their way of saying goodbye.
Then the earth will take me home
To the place from where I came
And this elaborate procession
Will be nothing more than a grave.
Soon the rain will turn the reds and greens blank,
Weeds will frame the headstone,
The wind will blow the little faux roses away,
And the vines of memory will become overgrown.
The recollections will blur and bleed into one
So that the picture is out of focus.
Where everyone will have their interpretation,
And have its own unique coat of gloss.
After years they will get their own set of flowers,
Taking the story of our lives into the night.
But the wild orchids that grew from my burial
Will keep on growing in the sunlight.