Many become somber
For this sanguine time of year
Be it money woes
Or mistletoes
There are many things to fear
Once the bells start jingling
And the gifts have been afforded
The baking smells
And family hells
Your mind can turn quite morbid
You plaster on a smile
And recite your season’s greetings
And the bits of joy
That do deploy
Are at best mild and fleeting
So add rum to the egg nog
And wrap those presents tight
And hope and pray
This special day
Won’t break into a fight
I see the subtle movement
In the corners of your mouth
if you’re not very careful
A mumble may spill out
I’ve been prying now for hours
Or at least for 5 whole minutes
But it’s terribly one-sided
I’m not sure you’re even in it
A nod if you could call it that
Escaped you once or twice
And then at last a grunt emits
Now see wasn’t that nice?
I know you thought that sitting here
Would keep you well occluded
But I’m one of those annoying types
Who insists are all included
Don’t get me wrong if you shut down
I’ll quickly say goodbye
But if you leave the door ajar
I’ll try and try and try
I don’t leave people all alone
‘Cause they don’t know where to start
I’d rather talk until I’m blue
Than to see you feel apart
So I’ll dig into my crazy facts
And my poor attempts at comedy
Jut to draw you in and pull you out
And create a little harmony
A gift among men
With his prominent jaw
It’s natural that
You are stricken with awe
With arms that no chisel
Could replicate
The swoon overtakes you
It just won’t abate
His eyes seem to set fire
To your deepest parts
He’s captured your soul
He’s conquered your heart
As you stand agape
All else nearby shrinks
For now he’s your God
Or so he thinks
Most cannot say from a fledgling age
To what they will aspire
All forms of art from harp to page
Could spark that ceaseless fire
The greatest growth that most will know
Is when their mind is open
Then an endless distance they will go
wounded, but unbroken
A hunger, nay, voraciousness
That in itself devours
A requisite audaciousness
Can help control its power
Driven nearly mad with it
Untethered at the seams
There comes a time to dash, not sit
In this pursuit of dreams
What puzzle lives
inside your brain
And keeps you up,
your thoughts unchained
What mystery keeps
your sleep at bay
As you lie awake
carried away
A path you walked
one thousand times
And still each trek
reveals a find
What knots are tied
within your head
That stone you’ve squeezed
until it bled
Your greatest friend
but for the toil
Each restful moment
tense and spoiled
Who is that ghost
what is its name
If it resolved
then what would change
Once hard work could shirk all of your worries
One job for a house and a car
Good benefits
The most modest of debts
Even pittance could get you quite far
But greed took the lead soon after
And twisted apart the old ways
Even good dividends
Won’t meet all your ends
And healthcare fades more every day
Now just wealth ensures health and a good life
despite all the effort that’s spent
still the deck keeps on stacking
against those who are lacking
and lawmakers care not who is rent
Enchanted by magic
No matter how mythical
Why must the world
Be only the physical
Reason still reigns
But also there’s dreams
A whole ‘nother world
‘Tween the crisp, sterile seams
Colors unseen
Beings unknown
The planes and the galaxies
They all call home
Perhaps it’s a beauty
We feel the world lacks
Or the narrative we need
When evil attacks
When we can’t wrap our heads
‘Round the cruelty men do
Is that sleeping within me?
That couldn’t be true
So we all slip away
To those places of whimsy
In the interest of comfort
Now matter how flimsy
Blown free of the world
Through trauma and pain
We still walk upon it
But it isn’t the same
Tears lock your doors
sadness pulls your shades
You randomly fracture
Alone and afraid
Like a ship with no gale
Just drifting and portless
Now time seems a burden
And each day a fortress
An impenetrable life
For which you have no use
The meaning is gone
The anguish profuse
Yet one day you’ll rise
And though shuddering still
Your mind leaves what was
And rejoins what will
Upon us spews the lava
Of a hateful culture risen
The magma slowly hardens
In these deepening divisions
Walls that form around us
Fashioned from the remnant rubble
Freshly toppled monuments
Of the Jim Crow bubble
Once our countrymen picked cotton
That’s now shoved in many ears
To shut out the guilt they’re feeling
From choosing not to hear
It’s easy to say past is past
It feels better to be blameless
The louder one shouts “not my fault”
The quicker they get famous
They insert words into rival mouths
And in their cohorts heads
So that any hopes of a peaceful end
are cruelly whipped instead
Don’t follow that thought
Just let it be
Let it evolve
Formless and free
Fear may advance
Don’t let it in
Good will overcome
If you let it win
If Emotions envelop
Like a terrible pall
Take root in love
It’s the strongest of all
The Mewriginal 