On Validation

I am not living for you
And your narrow shades of beauty.

My heart doesn't lie
In your slippery hands.

Set me free from your hopeless visions.

Lord, I hold my head high
And I will see myself as beautiful.

I don't need you to tell me that.
I just need to feel it,
And it will be real.

Thanks for letting me see that.

Hero

I saw you in a dream last night
The one I've wanted all my life
Calloused hands, honest eyes
I couldn't believe
You were mine
After all that I've endured
After endless heartbreak storms
I'll wait for you
Each night and day
My love,
My hero
And my strength.

Stand

Nothing can break me
Unless I let it
Open the gates and
Bring on the rain...
I.
Will.
Stand.

Storm Drain

I hate that I've lost you
Because you think you know
What I'm thinking
And you think that I
Am judging, condemning
When I'm not
I'm just angry and
I want to scream out
And tell you
That I thought the world of you-
I still do
And I always believed
You would pick yourself up
After the fall

I grieve our friendship
Which now remains
Just fallen change
In a forgotten storm drain
In quarters, dimes
And a silver nickel

I've lost you
Even though I believe
I believed in you more than anyone
And you would know that
If you'd taken the time
To actually know me.

Unravelled

I'm afraid
If I let myself
Love you
It would rip me apart
And unravel my nerves
Twisting me into
A dark, stained shadow

I'm afraid of you
Stealing
The light I have found

Please,
Please
Don't capture my heart
Please
Don't make me fall apart.

Who You Could Be

Tear down the drywall
And step out of the shadows
Strip back the layers
Like paint into piles
Of mirages of images
Of who you thought you should be
Oh, please, my dear
See
Those pictures are really and truly
Horrific

I see who you could be
With preconceived notions removed
Like curtains covering a hole in the wall
Pouring emotions like a current, unstoppable
That could be you.
Honest and raw
I see the possibility
I see you there and
You were afraid of me because
I saw into your heart's soul
But in the end
You came around and
Wrapped up in me because
You can see, too,
How incredible you could be.

A Song For Winter

I hold this cup of tea to my chest;
Warm my heart, my dear
As I look up through
Snow-covered branches
I see angels
Gentle and fragile
Yet strong as steel
Hovering over
Broken hearts in the snow;
Fall to your knees, my love
And let winter bless you
With a frosty kiss
Let the cold of the wind
Match the breaks in your heart
And like fire,
Like cider
We will warm up together
And re-arrange time
Until you are by my side.
Winter,
Let your fragile breaths of frost
Open us into
A people who let pain
Heal into something better
For are we not Spring,
With living Hope
In every heartbeat?