Of Saints and Shadows

Only here above the world Can everything be forgotten Changed Stay, one more day So we might turn back the hand of time Overnight We make our wishes Shout them out And hope they're heard Tomorrow I will continue With these mistakes Watch as they make me weak Bringing me to my knees

Something changed It stayed the same You're here before me Awkward, beautiful Time dies--shifting Taking with it what was most important What it most wants You stand before me Naked in your vulnerability ask me You make the decision for both of us I've never seen you nervous Not quite yourself--as before

Time is moving In cyclical fashion Bending Twisting Spiralling upward Toward the ends And repeating mistakes We repeat the same mistakes Can we ever learn

It just is The difference between Never quite knowing And knowing a little too Intimately It's control Too much and not enough Need and want We're grasping at straws

Pose the question A familiar dynamic Common place territory Knowing the ins and outs Of every hidden passage Enter through the same door Here is something new Soft laughter ringing in this empty space Your nervousness dissipates Replaced with purpose Flooding in Control is overrated Sitting on the line Between chaos and danger Which is the lesser evil What once was safe Left forgotten at the door

There are pieces of you Tightly wrapped in coarse cotton Carried away under my arm Sacrificed to pay the cost to satisfy your fix I take them Without reserve Guilt is useless Impractical But you feel something, like it The consequence of the deed done Do you see a change?

Sacrifice The parts of you that matter most Now everything else To fit better with the demands of this world Think you know what we want But this isn't what I desire So where does this leave you Not who you were You can't say who you are It doesn't leave much room What's left isn't too valuable How much is left anyway?