me in your boots (2011)

and i will kiss you wearing sneakers
those casual kisses in public that everyone notices
but not beyond a glance and perhaps a sigh
and for once it won't be me who's the jealous one
and i will kiss you wearing nothing but heels
and i will feel completely comfortable in my own skin for the first time
because your skin will be right there next to mine
making it feel different and new and so very sweaty
and one day i will kiss you wearing your boots
and you'll tell me to take them off but the way you say it
i'll know you don't really mean it so i'll keep them on and kiss you again
knowing that you like it, that you like this feeling
this me-in-your-boots feeling

savior (2011)

A holy man behind the wheel
A sinner in the back
He's crying for salvation from
his second heart attack

He always said he didn't need
a doctor or a pill
He never trusted medicine
He doesn't trust it still

His daughter fin'ly made the call
They got there just in time
A siren-laden savior to
redeem him from his crime

The paramedics set to work
to keep this man alive
The treatment wasn't easy
but he managed to survive

They asked him if he wished to live
He numbly nodded yes
Three surgeons hurried in and pulled
his heart out of his chest

There was no anesthesia
No morphine for the pain
They rinsed it off and put it back
Without a single stain

Shaking and exhausted
with stitches in his skin
He finally let go of pride
and let his Savior in

the spaces inbetween (2011)

I thought about those mysteries
That you can't help but keep
The patterns of your fingerprints
Your whispers while you sleep

The little voice inside your head
That tells you right from wrong
The memories that fill the words
Of all your favorite songs

The intricacies of your eyes
And all the things they've seen
Your calloused hands, your fingers
And the spaces inbetween

The scars you hide, the lies you've told
The words you never spoke
The heartache that you suffered through
And all the hearts you broke

The yesterdays you've left behind
The nows that became thens
The things you thought you'd never lose
The enemies, the friends

I numbered these enigmas, but
I saw right from the start
More simply could I count the stars
Than secrets of your heart

justice (2011)

She's got dreams but they're all dead
Shot to pieces in her head
"They deserved to die," she said
And she made sure they bled

Righteous blood on guilty hands
I don't think she understands
She should've died, instead

dante's inferno (2011)

Virgil, Virgil, rescue me
Read, perhaps, some poetry
Anything to make these horrid
creatures let me be

Virgil, banished am I
Lost in darkness, I rely
on you, please lead me far away
from where I'll surely die

I must ask that you not stray
Florence is the other way
Virgil, take me back at once
Turn around, I say!

Where, then, have you taken me?
Virgil, please, I cannot see
I'll admit that I'm afraid
as you must surely be

Do you see what's carved up there?
"Abandon all hope", this I swear
Virgil, if I'm not mistaken
those words mean 'beware'

Who are these unfortunates
sealed within the fiery gates?
Must I join them, Virgil, or
am I to test the fates?

Virgil, see where Charon stands?
Surely you and he are friends
He doesn't want me crossing here
so here, my journey ends

Now I really must protest
I am not at all impressed
Virgil, you and you alone
caused him to acquiesce

Please, dear Virgil, I feel weak
I'm shaking and it's hard to speak
What is happening to me?
It's growing dark and then--

I shriek! The storm grows louder still
I've woken on a lonely hill
Virgil! Take me back at once
I've taken in my fill

But Virgil would not let me leave
And I admit, I was naive
I knew nothing then of pain that
I could not conceive

What happened next, I cannot tell
Such horrors in that pit doth dwell
But I can say, in every sense
that I have been to Hell.

regrets (2011)

Now it seems I've kissed you,
I've held you and I've missed you
I fell in love and this, too
was my mistake, I know.