i saw somewhere

the vagabonds are weary—
leave them, let them be
the demi-gods are dead—
like someday we shall be

all these paths are every way

we're all breathing in half-way
i saw somewhere far away
beneath your eyes was something gone away—
like the swallowed words you couldn't say

i'll fade from this flesh someday

the ground below is bending & bade—
like marionettes bound & born of decree

the waves & winds are waging some war

in the tumult, we'll fall to our knees
& this earth will swallow our pleas

eyes wide shut

i've looked inside their eyes & i could swear none do see
past the sale signs' petty pleas

a price for everything & everything for a price—
a man's an easy pawn to entice

i've looked inside their souls & i can't see at all
why love & lust must be such a bloody brawl
i can't stand apart & i can't see too
the monolith perils that stand in my view

i've looked on souls i cannot see
& listened for "please save me" pleas

a price for everyone & everyone for a price
man is not one or the other of virtue & vice

i look for more than i can see
i expect the worst of blood & brawl
i'm not as easy to please as i am to appease
& i would cut them down & make them small
sooner than gauge my inherent disease

rotting out in rhyme

a slippery fall away within
crafts a grin-gloved guise
i'm choking on nine wasted lives
& spent upon belate goodbyes

the light poured out
like siren-sounds of time
i'm gasping after air gone out
the left is rotting out in rhyme

i'll be bare before benign
she'll write the colors of my sin,
like tattoo scars, upon my skin—
a road map of the paths malign