Shade

here you are

the broken shadow

of the child you once were

and you look so deeply

to try and see your reflection

but there’s nothing there

but broken glass

your breathing gets out of control

and the tears start to flow

down your cheeks and into your mouth

but they taste so bitter

as bitter as the needle

pale and alone

you are nothing

but the broken shadow

of the child you once were

but that child is now lost

and stumbles around with her eyes gouged out

now you’re bleeding on the floor

and you pray to the blade

pray for it to kill you

but you are god-forsaken

and the crucifix around your neck

starts to fade away

How I Became A Madman

You ask me how I became a madman. It happened thus: One day, long before many gods were born, I woke from a deep sleep and found all my masks were stolen -- the seven masks I have fashioned and worn in seven lives -- I ran maskless through the crowded streets shouting, "Thieves, thieves, the cursed thieves."

Men and women laughed at me and some ran to their houses in fear of me.

And when I reached the market place, a youth standing on a house-top cried, "He is a madman." I looked up to behold him; the sun kissed my own naked face for the first time. For the first time the sun kissed my own naked face and my soul was inflamed with love for the sun, and I wanted my masks no more. And as if in a trance I cried, "Blessed,

blessed are the thieves who stole my masks."

Thus I became a madman.

And I have found both freedom and safety in my madness; the freedom of loneliness and the safety from being understood, for those who understand us enslave something in us.

But let me not be too proud of my safety. Even a Thief in a jail is safe from another thief

the end with no beginning

you tell me
the beginning of your music
has no end

you tell me
your music is eternal

I tell you
the end of my music
has no beginning

I must tell you
my music ended
when yours began
my music ends
when yours begins
my music will end
definitely and decidedly
and elegiacally
when your music will begin

your heart is already singing
a sweet love song with no end
eternal bliss
while my song ends
before it begins