nymph

i know a girl. she is like the sea.

she follows the moon wherever it leads

one day i pray it leads her to me

i knew a girl she was like the sea.

she came down on me like a tidal wave

and swept me away

into her natural element

and then swept away leaving me gasping

for the first thing that felt like air

to me in this long world

i lie upon the sand

waiting for the hated sun to take me

but if i should survive

i shall crawl back towards the sea

and hope to be set free

i knew a girl. she was like the sea.

she followed the moon wherever it led.

i pray that she will come back to me.

she stole my heart and left me for dead.

If it fits. we call it quits.

clap.clap.

blink if you're guilty.

snap. snap.

blink if you're guilty.

hey baby look me in the eye

no i'm not here to cry.

hey baby,

blink if you're guilty.

This is all i want to know

my last question before i go

one thing left to see

hey baby-

blink if you're guilty.

snap. snap.

this is the end of my rope

here is where you choke.

clap. clap.

you put on such a show.

but i have what i need to know.

hey baby,

blink if you're guilty.

blink if you love me.

Warning. No diving.

they say no

don't do it

not headfirst

and when i failed

they shook their old heads

you are so headstrong

and in my heart i know i always will

thats the way they carry you away

when i am at last still at last broken

they will put me on that hard board

(because who will feel it and why waste

what little life has of this soft touch

on one whose skin is shining)

and they'll push me through the doors

feet first feet first

my bare feet bare and blistered

from the thousand streets i've run

to get away from you to know what i am

through and through

so through with you 

and i talked my way free

tore my skin from your cold skin

and let the scraps to scar

to scare away the others if they dared

i'll always dive in headfirst

they said i was headstrong

turns out you were shallow

which makes it so much worse

they pulled me out feet first.

reject.

my future grows tired of you

grows sick of your figure

wreathed in the old fogs

the old befuddling fear and love

it wishes to throw you off 

to send you spiraling down where you demand to be

to, in damning you, set itself free

you must stop it says

reaching with your skeletal hands

to grasp at me

unclean unclean

stay where you belong

and i would take you further

it would throw you into the past

i would cast you farther

back and back again

till you fall beyond my wavering timeline

teetering on the dot that marks

my beginning, my grand entrance

and are lost forever in the sporadic numbers

that blur into the unknowable infinite

and i would never see you again.

My future wishes to restrain you to the past.

My present wishes you never were.

Let him Live.

broken child in my broken arms

i cannot carry you for crying

you, the one i might have known

if God had granted me that boon

and now you are so far away

in your broken world

he is young, he is afraid

let him rest, let him be blessed

take from him these keys

he uses to lock himself in

take from him the eyes

that weigh him down with their heavy gaze

take me instead

but take this from him

dear its turned so cold

dear its past your time

the night has gone away 

the dawn rises to meet you 

no longer lie here against my shoulder

rise to take your day

throw away these old lies

and claim these names that you deserve

leave the bitter root away

and let this light echo ring in your ear

loved and loving

grown and growing

the hope is at hand 

and in these hands are hope

dare to dream.

dear one.

the answers i don't want. the questions i won't ask.

i'll fold up this photograph

into sharp creases with wide space

disconnect the scrawls on the back

that tell you when and where

but not why

never why

i'll never know why you took

this photograph

what you were thinking with your eyes so far away

and with your hand so close to mine

and i with my head against your shoulder

my eyes closed in the shadow of your arm

and my feet still for once

against the leaf strewn sidewalk

i wasn't going anywhere

your eyes though

looking for the horizon saw things

dreams in which you breathed

and blew out like smoke in the morning

while i ran my finger through the fog

you made on the glass

and erased it till we saw the world 

through my elementary heart shapes

and you laughed

with the sound of leaves falling

or rather how they look falling

your laugh like small streaks of colour

rising and falling in the wind

and then skidding along my skin 

and i keep my feet still

because i never want to leave this moment

i'm folding this photo

giving it creases and wings

and when fall comes i'll send it in the storm

to follow the leaves

i never thought that you would leave

i know the when and where

but not the why, never the why

of where you went to follow your eyes.

Vive la Heroine

i'm so familiar with these streets

with these roads of revolution

and they say that if you love

do it the french way

with all your heart and none of your soul

use your face 

as both shield and sword

flash those burning eyes

and conceal the embers of what

that wound left behind

so i'll throw myself in this ring

and i'm too wise to hope

for that golden ring

but i'm hungry enough for your whole heart

for your whole  soul

i'm starving for a slice of life

and i want it from no hand but yours

so i'll be your feet

i'll be your mouth

carrying words that cut like poison

carefully for you to her

because it draws me for a second to your side

and now i'll steal this moment

sing this show down and they'll remember me

crying out "oh, vive la heroine Eponine"