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
As the days become shorter
And the sun beams grow flaccid
The quieting forest
Make the days feel so placid
The bare boned trees
Stately and gaunt
And the glow of the moon
Through the clouds as they haunt
The bitterest winds
Seem to lacerate
But the snow that may fall
Like a freshly washed plate
Drab disappears
‘Neath a glistening white
Amplifying the peace
Of a cold winter’s night
We boil ourselves intently
To peel away the skin
So others can then see
The artistry within
A tapestry of trials
An ever forming story
And millions though there be
Much fewer end in glory
And still the work continues
Tireless and daunting
Until the smallest boons
Are memories left haunting
But something works within us
And if we give it mind
It will punish yet propel us
‘Til we’re spent down to the rind
Each moment a button to sound the alarm
Each corner potential for danger and harm
Each verbal exchange potential for ruin
Each day a towel that should have been threw in
Each night full of hours replaying my day
What did I do what did I say?
Did I exile myself from all that I know
Is tomorrow a bomb just waiting to blow
What if they find out I don’t know what I’m doing
What if my next move is catastrophe brewing
How can I sleep knowing what may be coming
What gives it the power to which I’m succumbing
I cannot control it, ‘cause it controls me
I want more than anything just to be free
Not to worry or ruminate on my mistakes
Not to panic ‘til driven to sweating and shakes
No way to be clear on just what I feel
Some don’t even think these feelings are real
That they are excuses for sitting at home
That I’m lazy not that I feel trapped in a gloam
Please be patient with me, I’m trying my best
It’s so hard with this weight that lives in my chest
If I reach out just try to lend me a hand
And if I don’t, I hope that you understand
The Mewriginal 