Penny for Your Promise

Penny for Your Promise

It doesn't take
All the riches in the world
It just takes one

One penny

One penny from up off the ground
Picked up and given
In kindness

One penny

One penny to prove
That you've a heart
Made of gold

One penny

One penny to take a thought
And turn it into memory
Never forgotten

One penny

To buy my heart

Last Words

Last Words

The depressed are not broken
The depressed are not needy
The depressed are not annoying

The depressed have been told
Far too many times
(Considering that once is more than should be heard)
That they are
Broken
Needy
Annoying

The depressed were searching
The depressed were wanting
The depressed were asking

The depressed were hoping to find
A willing hand to pick them up
To embrace them with open arms
With an open mind
Compassionate heart
Loving soul
And patient kindness

They were

When they said their last words

Longing for a return to happiness
Torn from them
By despair's indiscriminate claws

Now, however, with their last words spoken

They will be remembered
Until the memory hurts too much

Then they will be mourned
Until the mourning takes too much

Then they simply
Will have been

Burning the Candle

Burning the Candle

Who are you?

Who are you
When there's no one around to ask?
No one to hear the answer?

Who are you
When you don't know?
Haven't known for so long?

Who are you
When you have your chips on the table?
Cards down?

Who are you
When there are no chips and cards?
No game?

Who are you
When it's not about you?
But the others don't know?

Who are you
When the others don't care?
When the others don't even know
That they don't care?

Who are you
When the question is too much
And your answer is not enough?

Who are you?

Oh, for life's sake!

Who?
Are?
You?

The longer your time to answer

The less of the candle is left
To burn

Dis

Dis

They say the drink
Disinhibits

And is therefore
Dishonest

Clouded thoughts
Unchallenged

As if that challenge
Is true
Is right
Is the real, genuine
Reality

We the poets
Artists
Musicians

We who escape
Our minds

For us, the drink,
Whatever it may be

Can be the key

The key that
Disengages

From an unaccepting reality

For us
The challenge is not truth
It is a challenge
And only a challenge

Challenges are cages
And cages are to be opened

Disengage the lock

And release

But don't let go

Please

Don't let go

Together

Together

I sit alone
I am alone

I stand alone
I am alone

I walk alone
I am alone

I cry
Smile
Laugh
Break
And regain

Alone

I am you
You are me

We are alone

Categorized

Categorized

I am from my past,
But I am not trapped by it

I am present,
But I am not one to stand still
To stay here forever

I am for their future
And I am not enough for my own

I am, for some, their first smile of the day
And for others, their only encouragement

However, I am not to be mistaken
As a man made of sunshine and smiles

I am a man with pain
With fear of isolation and personal ineptitude

I am not to be categorized as anything
Anything
Anything, other than
The second best version of myself.

Coliseum Crowns

Coliseum Crowns

Televised monotony
Pseudo-celebrity
Coliseum crowns
Placed upon the heads
Of our modern gladiators

We laugh
The laughing fools

While our comedic targets
Live in enslaved freedom

Owning our time and thoughts
But never the truth

We would gladly follow
Away from the truth
Of individuality,
Intellect,
Emotion,
And experience

Microwaved diets
And short-circuited minds

Zombified attachment

No legacy to leave behind

Not if it can't be posted,
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