Tides

In all the sands susurrating beneath my feet

In all the hissing shore

Shall we find where thought begins

Shall we be left wanting more

With all of life left to go

And all that’s come before

Out amidst the crashing waves

Out in the undertow

Can we keep our footing

Find a way to not let go

Without emptying of air

Or all we used to know

In another lifetime lost to chance

In the sun’s unyielding glare

Will we build up palaces

Made up of dreams and air

With all the land and all the sea

And perpetual scrupulous care

Out with the tide for a moment

Out of place and memory

May we release our trepidation 

Succumb to the rolling sea

Without pining for anything more

Or less than reality 

Night Air

In the darkness, half asleep 

How my thoughts do stray 

Passed memories and fantasies 

Through all the things that weigh 

Brush them aside with just a breath -

Scatter them beneath my bed

To sink into the carpet

And right out of my head 

I'll fill back up with night air

And the softness on my skin

The twinkling of stars 

And the world's unending spin 

Filling with every breath -

Every exhale filling you

We'll empty out of daylight

Keeping only what is true

In the morning, half awake

How the world does sway

I'll gather all of my thoughts

And fill once more with day 

Seeds

In time, what will matter -

With time, what has changed

Instances just scatter

Long hours all estranged 

Left gathering all that isn’t here

Like the hair behind my ear -

One more year to tuck away

Vigilantly, though I know

Each hour will always show

Years compile in every day

One more time, let us find what matters -

Undertake impossible tasks

Life is full of all that shatters

Indeed, both hearts and masks

Kept putting them back together

Evading such stormy weather 

Try to unlearn all these things -

How to live just to appease 

Eat your heart out, drink the breeze

Pull and cut these worn out strings

All this time, this is what mattered -

Scattering seeds to watch them grow

Softly repairing all that’s tattered 

I’ll stop to watch the sky glow 

Not to fret over time we waste

Gazing at things we never faced

Time continues either way -

I'll gather it here around me

Marching on to twenty-three

Eternity compiling every day

Gray

It's all an endless gray

That much I finally understand

All the emotions swelled and roared 

And then spilled out of my hand

With overwhelming pressure 

It crashed down around me

And with the smallest of drops -

So small they couldn't see

In the end it all runs dry

Voices flowing til they're hoarse 

In the past it's been replenished 

But we've bled the very source 

Now there's nothing left

And nothing left to say

All the color drained from the world

And turned to endless gray

Clarity

In this hollow feeling we find

Wondering and lost

Instances of clarity 

Let us ask - has it been worth the cost?

Linger here a moment

Bring it all to a staggering halt

Adjust all of the lenses 

Swear once more - we're all equally at fault

Kill all of the doubts

In cold blood, watch them bleed

No courage left to face them 

Still insisting - this is what we need

Undone as we are

New and old mingling in our mind

Letting the scars overlap 

In the end - what do we find?

Growth stunted, for the sunlight is tainted -

How we wish it weren't this way

The bitterness sunk in deep  

And corrupted every golden ray

Now it's turned this blood red color

Dashes of yellow all but gone

Still each night we stand shivering

Holding out hope until the dawn

In the tainted light of day

Verily mourning what we've lost

Etching these scars deeper 

Realize - it's never been worth the cost