I know why the caged bird sings she soars and she sighs through the marble halls it rings

between the light from sunrise she spies shadowy things still her voice gently flies

her feathers are all dull her time is past nigh yet the rooms are still full

white gold creases the sky then fades to black null it weeps at her cry

little bird long gone her bones cradled in ivy but her song carries on

one’s time is never timely but from the gable to the lawn her voice continues blithely

though to her it was just a coo from the courtyard it rang and into the wind it flew

up from her body a tempest sprang every hour the sound rattles someplace new i know why the caged bird sang

I love the rain it melts over dry rocks with grace it smells like stars

cold, earthy, and gorgeous it smells like the color green the clouds weep for freedom

they cannot touch the moon only ever fall down and get reused the sun burns them up for spite

thunder exhilarates me the sky booming its outrage wind and water too big for us fragile creatures

rain brings color sun heralds death lay me down in the dew

a perfect storm a steady heartbeat make me a coffin of dripping pine

I am guarded I live a dream and love a lie you are dangerous you talk so loud and hurt so sweet

you twist my words into brambles you weave sentences that smell of roses I fall apart every time you speak I cry quietly so you don’t hear

I need to let go I’m drowning in your sins you love me as much as you know how you don’t know me at all

you hide your face from the camera you’re sorry for your loss I’ve never seen you cry I feel like a piece of shit

I love you so much My heart is screaming you love me so much but you love yourself most

you are incapable of change and scared I’ll let go I’m scared to let go but you are killing me slowly

goodbye, father.

I still love you.

I just need a break.

sometimes it hurts to think the way I saw you before you left

for good

as time passed without you I grew into myself and out of your shoes finally putting you to test

and you failed

I always wanted to believe you’d always rescue me you let me believe

but now I’m drowning

you love to pretend make believe me a princess a marionette on silver strings

so you could be king

I loved you I admired you I still love you

though you misunderstand what love means

if you listened to me you wouldn’t recognize me you haven’t known me for years

I’ve played your game for so long

who can say if the person I admired ever existed or if that too was just show

I don’t want to leave you you love me as best you can I think

I hope

I miss you but you don’t get to fool me anymore you will always be family

but you have abandoned me as father

as I walked on the precipice between shadow and light stars dancing in the moonlit deep nothing felt more real than the crunch of my boots and the chill of the night

sparks swirled like petals crowned in red as the sky glimmered and glowed in a fitful sleep the sun dipped down underneath my feet, the moon tipping over my head

where the sky had no end and the earth seemed uncertain up seemed like down and both a cruel joke as if the void were a stage and rock just a curtain

in the golden hours when time hung by a thread as the moon whispered to the sun and the stars almost spoke I felt so alive I wondered if perhaps I was dead

candle smoke and sage wildflowers in barley apple skins and cherry blossoms ever higher the moon rises

pastel sands and frolicking seas sugar on the tongue and salt in the breeze raspberry clouds and violet stars petals float on the water

falcon cries and long sunbeams lush vines on the bones of your guardians white wings and crisp steel crimson snow crowns our peaks

golden rings and storms glittering eyes and lost time candle stubs on fresh graves

bury me face down this time