He sat on his seat patiently till the audience cleared themselves out. The curtain had fallen after the final scene, and he was brimming with excited commentary that was waiting to roll out his tongue.
As the seats began to clear, he grabbed his jacket and made his way towards the stage. Actors and stage crew were now starting to appear and gather props and belongings. He stood patiently by the grand wooden structure, not registering his palms beginning to sweat.
A moment later, she appeared through the massive red curtain. His face broke into a smile at the sight of the person he was excited to see.
“Hey! Sorry if I kept you waiting,” she jumped down from the stage to face him.
“Hi, not at all!” He replied, “that was beautiful. It was a work of art really, you’re truly gifted.”
She smiled shyly at his comment, the colour rushing to her cheeks. “Thank you so much, it meant so much to me- writing and directing this play. It was a dream come true to see it come to life on stage today.”
He couldn’t stop himself from admiring the happiness that radiated from her eyes. “Thank you for inviting me, it was truly a pleasure to watch it.” He looked at the empty audience, “so this is what it must feel like to be on stage...”
“It’s a feeling I’d give anything for...”
“The theatre company is lucky to have you. Tonight’s audience was crazy!”
She grinned, “yes! My heart is so full right now, I can’t believe I did it.”
“If you’re stomach isn’t full right now, maybe we can take this conversation somewhere more private?”
She bit her lip giddily, and nodded. “My stomach craves food as much as my mind craves good conversation.”
“Please do delight me with that mind of yours.” He replied with a smile.
The world will burn.
Burn away the sadness The suffering and pain Stop it shall not Till all darkness is slain
Burn in flames of colours That could ever exist A never-ending rainbow Burning through the mist
The world will burn.
With poetry and song Art and literature Passion and freedom Where all beings truly belong
No emptiness shall remain And human connection binds us all Expression and emotional We shall hear them call
The world will burn.
High above the city I sit and look down The city doesn’t look up at me And it’s nice to once be The one who’s observing it all
High above the city My worries matter no more I float in the air And watch the winds go
High above the city I watch Life go by Cut away from all the binds me I can finally sit and sigh
High above the city It’s quiet and it’s nice I could get used to this view And leave what’s below What used to be my Life
It was the City of the Bridges, until it was not. The Disease snaked along the uneven cobble stones and crept up the vine covered walls, a ravenously unforgiving force in search of every man, woman and child. We traded milk and bread, until we traded sickness and death. Bodies dropped like leaves in autumn and anguish swam over the city. All along the watchtower the soldiers witnessed unspeakable inhumanity. The fathers and mothers wailed till dawn, the husbands and wives waited for death to do them part, the children cried and crawled in pain as The Disease sliced their every vein. Everywhere I turned, putrid air impaled my nostrils; death and decay and life going into death. Helpless cries filled the air as the apothecaries trudged through masses of the dying begging for help.
Bread and milk were no more- the marketplace was abandoned and all alone. The Disease knocked from door to door- and then invited itself in, the dying gasps of those infected were all I heard. It was appalling. Everyday was a fight against The Disease and a fight for survival. The rotting bodies piled up on the cobble stones invited vermin and darkness- a very hospitable atmosphere it was. The City of Bridges was in the hands of the horseman every man feared. The bridges were burnt down and the city was abandoned. For weeks we lived like rats, trying to escape the horror and ghosts of the past while in search of our daily bread and milk. Every new day was a new challenge as we made our way out of the city- the city we lived and breathed, which was now the epitome of hell, or even beyond.
We came down to I, The Disease told us it would not leave anyone behind. But it left me, it granted me salvation, it delivered me from death and horror. As I gathered the shredded hem of my dress and jump on to the dusty, broken and newly dismantled end of the bridge, I hear it. I hear the booming cry of the bell in the City of Death reverberate behind me. It cuts through the air as soft as velvet on skin. I turn around to take one last glance at the home I left behind. In the distance, in the misty dark aura blanketing the city I once lived and breathed, a figure rings the bell and stares back at me. It’s the Archdeacon of the church, or so it seemed to be. His deathly pale face and Disease shrouded body wrapped in shrivelled rags bids me farewell, as I cross the bridge that now separated the death and dying from the alive and living.
Away from these restraints Broken and free I long to be with the artists and poets And where the dreamers dream
Away from this world so rigid And full of lost hope False promises in the air Love isn’t alive, and nobody cares
Away from the chaos in myself I long to set it all free Drowned in literature and petals of poetry A place where I could just be Me
Away from this world so corrupt Where everything is black or white There is no room for us sentimentalists here Who pass the day to make love to the night
Freedom Let me taste it Let me breathe it I’ve never known before
Freedom Take me with you Take me to you Take me away where they all long to go
Freedom Where finally I can feel my feet Firm on the ground And holding me In the place I’ve dreamed The place I have always Longed to be
Wait for me, my Love Where the hills kiss the seas Untold beauty and secrets await And they would bring you to your knees
Wait for me, beloved one Where the mountains call your name In caves it echoes and streams it swims Till I find you here, just a name’s call away
Wait for me, my darling On your loyal and noble steed See the water fall to the stream The sight of you would only make my heart beam
Wait for me, my Love Like you’ve waited before Our time is short for our lives so free Swallow me in your embrace, with a kiss before you go
What do I see oh, what do I want to see My true self or the human I strive to be
What do I wish to see oh, what do I hope to see The demons within or the Angel smiling
What do they say oh, what do they whisper Are mirrors windows to the soul or mere things of reflection
What do stare in to oh, what do I hold my gaze with A being of joy and life or the misery laced within
What do I see in the mirror oh, what does my reflection say Am I the beauty they celebrate wholly or the hypocrite they keep away
What do I see, who do I see ‘Tis more than a reflection of me I see rage and pain, I see inferno in ashes I see a person of sublime honesty, I see a villain of serpentine smiles
Reflection Reflection! Stop haunting me
I’m scared of what’s to come because I know what happened. And I knew what happened because I was scared of what was to come. I never knew what happened, and I never longed to know, but it found me and came to me like a meteor. I feel like a naked hand imprisoned inside four walls of thorns- every direction I turn to in search of answers hurts me with the answers.
