Pen and Ink

I am here to comfort the broken, and break the comfortable.

[rhysianfish]

It’s a station of isolation

Born of self preservation

So there is no contamination

Or eternal damnation

No mental infestation

I’m sorry for my fixation

On this dark, dark creation

Sorry, was that a bad connotation?

I’m breaking

Shaking

Faking my way to the top.

I’m waking

Taking

Making you see what I’m not

I’m aching

Quaking

Raking my nails over my heart

[rhysianfish]

Midnight Fears

Cut the paper Draw on skin And I promise One day, we will win Cut the skin Bleed on paper These are tears We saved for later Hearts bleed out Cuts go deep Words leave wounds We cannot see Bleeding starts Banishing tears But it can’t do away With midnight fears.

[rhysianfish]

This isn’t like the rest of the stuff I’ve written. It’s angry and sad. That said. . .

Do you know the funny thing about heartbeats?

-

They come, and they go, and we don’t give them a second thought. Our hearts beat somewhere around eighty times a minute. That’s about 115,000 times a day, or 42 million times a year. And we don’t even notice it happening. Breathe in. Breathe out. That was about three heartbeats. Our hearts are what keep us alive, what keep the blood flowing.

-

But what happens when our hearts stop?

-

What happens if suddenly, they’re not pumping blood to our veins, but out of the slashes on our wrists? What if they’re poisoned, what if we tied a noose around them, slicing off all air, all light, all love? What then?

-

What happens when your mother walks into your room and sees you lying on the floor, blood pooled around your wrist? What happens, years later, when your sister graduates college and her tears fall like pain-borne stars because she can only think _I wish they were here to see me_. What about when your best friend gets their fist kiss, their book published, or their first night without terrors, but the bitterness of your absence taints it? Your brother’s heart will pound as he realizes. . . his sister isn’t ever coming back.

-

Stars fall every day, and we don’t notice. But when your blood falls to the ground, shimmering in the sun scorched light, the world pauses, because a little piece of it just died.

||—||—||

Heartbeats come, and heartbeats go

But no one ever truly knows

Of the pain you hide, don’t let it show

Your heart is dark, with no window.

. . .

Stay alive, stay alive, for me.

. . .

Heartbeats pound and heartbeats fade

But live to fight another day

Every night, I sit and pray

That you see another way

. . .

Friend, please.

. . .

Heartbeats falter, heartbeats fail

One decision leaves life derailed

I really hoped you would set sail

That the walls of your mind, you’d finally scale.

. . .

Stay alive, stay alive for me.

||—||—||

Do you know the funny thing about heartbeats?

No one notices them

Until they stop.

[rhysianfish]

Ode to Dreams

Icarus dreamed, his imagination on fire

He had always craved something much higher

Than the dark, dirty dungeon borne of mire

Little did he know, his psyche was a liar

•

Dreams are gold,

But deadman’s tales aren’t told

•

Icarus worked, his vision in mind

He toiled in turmoil, he’s running out of time

Little did he know, it would end up a mime

As the wind stole his scream while he fell to the brine

•

His dream took shape

As he raked it over coal

•

He strapped the dream on, prepared for flight

He soared to the air, intoxication giving might

He left life behind, his wrong made right

When the sun is up, we can’t imagine night

•

He was flying,

But dreams have a toll

•

Then right went wrong, and the tables were turned

If you dance with fire, you will be burned

So please, to whom it concerns,

Know that Icarus, his lesson learned

•

The sky was a blur

He had lost all control

•

The ocean grew nearer, Icarus was falling

Even for children, death comes calling

No longer was this vision so enthralling

And then, for a moment, time was crawling

•

And so the ocean claimed

This little dreamer’s soul

[rhysianfish]

A seed grows in silence

With hardly a sound

A tree falls like thunder

Shaking the ground.

•

Creation is quiet,

Few see it happen

Destruction is deafening

When the world’s collapsing

•

Heroes change nothing

They haven’t a say

But villains shake worlds

They create battles fray.

[rhysianfish]

Sleep child, and may your dreams be sweet,

For death is a game you cannot cheat.

Sleep child, and pray that you miss

The bittersweet touch of death’s soft kiss

Sleep child, and may you ne’er wake,

For your soul is laid bare for Death to take.

Sleep child, for the world is cruel

Death only waits for its time to rule.

[rhysianfish]

The Nature of Blood

Blood isn’t pretty, blood is just red.

Blood is the warriors, who now lay dead.

Blood doesn’t sparkle, blood isn’t kind;

Blood etches itself in innocent minds.

Blood isn’t roses, their petals so fair.

Blood comes from death to offer a dare.

Blood isn’t for poems, it isn’t for songs

Blood is what rings the battle’s-end gong.

Blood isn’t the color of your lovers round hips

Blood is the last breath that touches her lips

Blood isn’t love, blood isn’t hate

Blood is indifferent to all but fate.

[rhysianfish]

Take up your courage, take up your swords.

Pray for the mercy of the Merciless Lord.

The blood of your enemies, your duty to pour

For now is the time to settle the score.

Impatience and fear;

Anticipation draws near

In heat of battle, your courage will rise

You will never know that you’re fighting for lies.

Your strength and your courage, are but a guise

For deep in your chest swells fear of demise.

Adrenaline teeming

Swords screaming

Raise your eyes, raise your head

Hear the screams, see the dead

Your courage will crumble and leave only dread.

For you stained the snow with still-steaming red.

Regret and sorrow

And no love for tomorrow

[rhysianfish]

Heroes

The battle is coming, it shakes in the ground.

Our hopes and ambitions, soon will be drowned

By the blood that will spill on snow laden ground

If a child screams in silence, is there a sound?

Please, we’re not fighters,

And we’re not heroes.

Carve out your heart, carve out your lungs

The trumpet has blasted, the song is sung

The pure of soul are all on the run

The age of peace is over and done

But we are the fighters

And we are the heroes

Give up your soul, give up your mind

For battle is coming, and now is the time

We’ve lost our voice, the world’s a mime

We wish we could say we’re biding our time

So God save the fighters

And God save the heroes

[rhysianfish]

Time to Choose

Die, little girl, put a knife in your heart, Twas what you were made for, right from the start. Die, little girl, put a bullet in your head, They’ll only start listening once you’re dead. Die, little girl, put a slash on your wrist; Do you honestly think that you’ll be missed? Yes, little fighter, they will all wish That you hadn’t been reaped by death’s cruel kiss. So put down your gun, put down your knife. Little warrior, it’s time for you to choose life.