by C Churchill
    
    
    
   When I lay you down to sleep
   I pray the night your love will keep
   For darkness plagues
   The minds that wander
   And I watch your breath
   Under a new moon squander
   Looking for a timbre
   To lead me home
   In love sweet love
   It is all unknown
   For the reaper comes
   At every glance
   Telling my heart
   It has no chance
    
    
   unknown
    
    
    
    
    
   I wish I could stop seeing you in the night
   And start seeing me.
    
   blinded by memory
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
   In the darkest hour
   Birds still
   On branches
   Resting for a song
   Night hunters
   Had their kill
   Now sleep with bellies full
   I was born just before dawn
   In the darkest hour
   While the world
   Was asleep
   No coos
   No cries
   Just silence
   I learned to wake
   While the birds are still
   I learned to wake
   While hunters are asleep from fill
   I learned the loneliness that comes before dawn
   Not a peep from the darkness
   Just shadows lay upon shadows
   No songs
   No kill
   Stark and barren
   But the silence has a comfort
   And the lonely as well
   I often wonder why I still search for a reason behind this hell
   And continue to sift through
   The loneliness in the darkest hour
   When all I have known Is silence
    
   darkest hour
    
    
   I lost another night of sleep
   As if I would sleep anyway
   The dark season has been here awhile
   I doubt the sun even recalls my name
   Although my laughter
   Is logged in memory
   And the sun begs a smile daily
   This will be a season I remember
   When tears tattooed my pillow
   And sleep forgot to come home
    
   forgotten sleep
    
    
   My demons curled tightly
   Around my thirst
   Begging to be quenched
   In my tranquil desert
   But the stars, oh the stars
   They shined in rain
   Shined so brightly
   Upon this pain
   Thirsty I was
   Amidst the flood
   Amidst the life
   I lost in love
   But still I sat
   Among the pain
   Among the stars
   Among the rain
   For I knew
   My wishes may come true
   If the stars could find the moon
   Behind clouds of blue
    
   clouds of blue
    
   I hate the nights
   When I sit
   Pondering
   What was
   What could have been
   Searching a never-ending sky
   As if it will tell me why
   But I still do
   I think we all do
   Especially those nights
   When the stars have sunken deep behind clouds
   When the moon has left us only with tides
   It won’t come back
   That life
   The one we search for
   The one the stars hide from
   The one where our sky has turned to black
   Where memories flood
   Of a life that seemed complete
   A life we were strangely now worthy of
   Suddenly
   When our canvas is blank?
   And the world is as open as it can get
   We still ponder
   On what was
   When the moon has hidden
   Giving us the gift of
   New
    
   fresh start
    
   I bathe in the night
   Hoping to wash the darkness
   Back to the sky
   That has given it to me
   Scrub hard
   Then harder
   Trying to release my shadows
   But they grasp tightly
   To my core
   And smile
   Laughing at my dimwitted hands
   That travel my darkness
   Because I don’t even know where to wash
   I don’t even know
   Where or how far the darkness has gone
    
   my darkness
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
   Crescent
    
    
    
    
    
   I have learned to see in the dark
   I have learned to love my sadness
    
   take the time
    
    
    
    
   I walked away from the day
   Held hands with the sky
   Watched clouds dance with stars
   No longer wondering why
   I let it go
   Let it all out
   Tear soaked pillows
   With a side of hope
    
   starting to dream
    
    
    
    
   My spirit swallowed the shadows
   Kissed death like lilies
   On a summer breeze
   I had no fear of the villain
   I had no fear of the monster
   I had no fear
   At all
   A strangeness arose
   In my sublimity
   While the shadows filled vacancies
   Where friends used to dwell
   Dark alleys were no longer pin drop quiet
   But welcoming with the hum of possibility
   I relished in the completeness
   While memories faded into night
   Death becomes
   A grace we call upon
   Drinking in darkness
   Filling every hole
   No void left unnamed
   The shadow
   The monster
   An ally
   To drink from
   To eat from
   To live
   To become
   Possibly the most feared
   Villain of them all
    
   fearless
    
    
   Last nail in the coffin
   Last bridge to burn
   Cut them all down
   With a memory short term
   In anguish
   We see
   What life was really meant to be
   There are no fairy tales<
br />
   On this side of the tracks
   Knowing coffins aren’t nailed
   And burned bridges can’t come back
   Play that hand wisely
   And you too shall see
   It’s all a game of chess
   And you can be Queen
    
   winning
    
    
    
    
   They held me back
   Like a lap dog
   Feeding me scraps in tandem
   Confused
   Running in circles
   As the bits fell to the ground
   I couldn’t find my way
   So, I stayed
   In circles
   For scraps
   To survive
   But god dammit
   I was still starving
   Under the bravado of love
   Until I became a cannibal
    
   cannibal
    
    
    
    
    
    
   Fierce, oh no
   Never fierce
   Just sweetness
   With a side of survival
    
   Survivor
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
   I sat under the night
   This time with
   Fresh eyes
   Not waiting
   But wanting
   A realization occurred
   Between tried and true
   Those who become wolf
   Are only controlled by the moon
    
   control
    
    
    
    
    
    
   With a heart as black as death
   His midnight lashes
   Grazed me bare
   I was slick
   But not as he
   I was thirsty, he was sin
   And by god
   I never let them in
   But this stranger
   A bottle service
   Sent by the night
   And relentless
   For my taste
   Just one sip
   Just one little sip
   Then he could go
   But those lashes
   Told a different story
   One where I was no longer in control
   When the table flips
   And the tail spin begins
   Oil and water
   Fight to get in
   A myriad of lust, power and fruition
   Is no easy task when you are on a mission
   But sometimes the task is worth the reward
   In a kill or be killed world
    
   killers
    
   Place those roses
   On frozen ground
   Be sure to wipe your feet
   It’s never as it seems in your dreams
   Now is it?
   We battle. We score
   We soak in sorrows
   Nevermore
   But still we believe
   In love you see
   On travelers
   Passing in the night
   Biding time
   When the feeling is right
   No not them
   They are place keepers
   Peace keepers
   Grooming us for the real thing
   Saving our madness for shoes
   By the door of tomorrow
    
   doors of tomorrow
    
   If I asked you to sleep with my demons
   Would you say yes?
    
   baggage always included
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
   Are we not wilted by the sun?
   Are we not just visitors in this life?
   Where we take refuge
   We take our sorrow
   And bury it in the night
   Where flesh is ripped by teeth
   And we bite for more
   Because our pain is never full
   Of the constant escape we seek
    
   escape
    
    
    
    
   A black cat crossed my path
   While the umbrella spread open
   I let him in
   Under the ladder
   Filling all my superstitions
   On the 13th floor
   The one just above
   Happily, ever after
   I made peace
   With darkness
    
   superstition
    
    
    
   I tend to watch the sky
   Look for the changes
    
   Where will Orion greet me tonight?
   Will it be at my side
   Or above?
   Has the North Star decided?
   If I am worthy
   Or I am blind?
    
   I tend to watch the sky
   Look for the changes
    
   Some nights I tire
   Rest my head on bricks
   Let my fingers trail
   The empty bed space
   Not searching, just feeling
    
   I tend to watch the sky
   Look for the changes
   Observe all I know
   All I have learned
   And all I have lost
   Seeking meaning in the now warm side of the bed
    
   I tend to watch the sky
   Look for the changes
    
   As the universe shines down
   With every answer
   Behind the lips of the moon
   And I contemplate
   And I tire
   Blowing a kiss till tomorrow
    
   blowing a kiss
    
    
   I wrote the roses love songs
   And watered them in grief
   My heart lay under
   Next to muddy shoes
   Such a mess I made
   For the roses that wilted
   As soon as they touched my hands
   I wrote love songs
   And sacrificed tears
   But forgot my heart wasn’t even there
    
   underneath love
    
    
   My darling
   If you could only see
   What wonder could be made
   From a few pieces of torn heartstrings
   And a locket on a broken chain
   My darling
   If you could only see
   There is still love
   In these remains
    
   remains
    
    
    
   I have played the fiddle
   The piper
   The priest
   I have seen the devil flown
   A flock of geese
   I have wearied a traveler
   I have bedded a monk
   I have been there and back
   Stilled breath in lungs
   Caused hearts to beat
   Caused hearts to weep
   Never lost but a night of sleep
   For they say
   Who buys the cow?
   When the milk is free
   But my debt isn’t to you
   Them or me.
   It’s to grief.
   And I am not sure
   That has a payback<
br />
   For this heart
   Lost all worth
   When it hit the floor
   And now is still
   Trying to climb
   Beyond closed doors
   Lock and key
   My tears hold strong
   For a debt
   I am trying to pay back
   With a shitty love song
    
   shitty love songs
    
    
    
   I am looking for a dreamer
   One to hold my sin
   Look at my pieces
   Like they got a win
   Instead I find paupers
   Playing a fool’s game
   Scraping my love
   Off someone else’s name
   I am looking for a dreamer
   In a house of cards
   Where one breath stolen
   Could cause the fall
    
   falling for you
    
    
    
    
    
    
   If I greet you with a smile
   Look at my eyes
   They always tell the truth
    
   the truth lies within
    
    
    
   I have been there naked
   Starving
   Waiting
   For a bus that will never come
   Watching the moon traverse the sky
   From dusk till dawn
   My feet have lost the urge to step further
   And the bench is no longer warm
   My thin bones beg for sleep
   Chilled in the path of darkness
   But I wait
   For the moon crosses
   In my sight
   On heavy lids
   A glow
   A strange glow
   Under this trance
   Naked and starving
   A high, in a low
   Why mystery exists
   And busses never come
   And thoughts lay with the moon
   But never the sun
   I wait
   For a bus that never existed
   In a trance
   Brought by the moon
   That has never left
    
   trance
    
    
   We all walk in pictures
   Of what we want to portray
   In a world where mistakes
   Can ruin more than a day
   Claiming ground
   Where sacred has lost meaning
   And truth has been shoved
   In the corner left bleeding
   For who are you?
   Is it for them?
   Have you told your truth
   To stop begging again
   Lashed it with lies
   Told it everything is fine
   A smile
   A filter