Lifespan.

In the beginning, we were like little children

experiencing blowing bubbles for the very first time. 

Our innocence was endearing,

as we discovered what it meant to feel alive. 

Every breath contained the promise of adventure,

and every conversation revealed hidden treasures. 

I was so foolish, in retrospect, to believe that we could not run out of pleasure.

You found me, and it was like our hearts had always beaten as one,

I could’ve sworn we shared a pulse, our days were filled with endless fun.

Soon, we would finish one another’s sentences,

and knew each other inside out. 

I could name all of your favourite songs,

and retell stories of your childhood without getting any details wrong.

We were accomplished lovers, and communicated with great skill.

There was no need for roller coasters, you already filled me with such thrill.

Our friends would often refer to us as a pair,

and whenever I needed you, I’d turn and you were already there.

We were as natural as the birds and the bees,
made as much sense as music on MTV.

You were the only one who had ever made me feel this way,
as my days were filled with visions of the children we would raise.

But all good things come to an end, they say,

perhaps I should’ve listened more.

Our laughter was quickly silenced by the injustices of war.

I would look your way, searching for the kind eyes that made me fall in love,

only to be met with fine lines that spoke volumes about exhaustion and mistrust.

I know I am not easy to love, I told you from the very start,

yet somehow you still wanted to capture my fickle heart.

It was due time you told me you were unhappy,

with tears streaming down your cheeks that summer day.

You said, “We need to talk,” and I started to dig my own grave.

I thought that you were everything, but it turned out you did not feel the same.

As we let go of one another’s hands, and went our own separate ways.

In the aftermath of us, colours hardly seem as bright.

Although there is still electricity, there is not much light.

It took me ages to accept that you were gone,

I would’ve easier made peace with losing one of my arms.

My mind will not seem to let go of your relentless memory,

each one terrorizes me, as they replay in my head incessantly.

I was jaded for a while, but now my head is raised way up high once again.

I stand tall, now that I’ve remembered all the love I once had for myself.

Strong enough to appreciate our shared experience,

wiser now that I have been reminded of my resilience.

I am happy that we lived it, and wish you nothing short of the best.

It turns out I was not missing you, but the man I was before we met.

Missing.

I sifted through white sands in coastal cities, longingly searching for an
answer; explored every cave, and even sailed all over the Atlantic.
Asked every soul that I encountered, but it was all in vain,
there was no single solution that would soothe my pain.

Shared stories of my travels with priests in churches, and in temples,
traded secrets of my findings, with my fellow weary-eyed wanderers.
I picked up every pebble, and peeled through blades of grass,
climbed ancient trees silently hoping my sadness would not last.

Tribes indigenous to Africa taught me how to be free,
through them I learned that life could be just as peaceful for me.
Ventured to the corners of the world to no avail,
escaping from the truth could not change the fact that we failed.

I meandered through the Sahara, without a caravan,
then risked everything as I narrowly evaded death in Iran.
There is nothing that compares to the deafening silence underwater,
but even there I was unable to swim away from my problems.

I closely examined the faces of everyone that I met,
looking for something that reminded me of you, so I would not forget.
I pored through the pages of ancient manuscripts and texts,
for divine guidance on the steps I should take next.

There was no cure in the Amazon, nor did I locate it in Peru,
the Andes mountains only intensified my longing for you.
I left no stone unturned on my quest,
yet I was still unable to dislodge our love from my chest.

Restlessness prevails without an end in sight,
you will remain lost, another casualty of life.
This vagabond heart of mine rages to let go,
alas, it seems there is no remedy for missing you.

Current Events.

Society is in decline, the blind are leading the blind;
fear ignites the masses, then sends the least evolved among us into frenzied states of havoc. 
History is repeating itself, as certain lives are still worth more than others,
in two millennia we have not accepted that we are all brothers. 

Race was created to divide us, then the class system created larger rifts,
and somehow we cannot agree on what the damage really is. 
Unnecessary evil is broadcast into our homes,
as the media controls so many of us who hang on to its every word. 

Incited by bigots that are hiding in plain sight,
we have lost the ability to distinguish between wrong and right. 
Their hateful politics are the same ones future generations will condemn,
unless the world continues on its fall from grace into mayhem. 

Tricked into believing that democracy exists,
the enlightened need to revolt to save us from this infernal abyss.
Truth is such a rarity now, that it may as well be obsolete;
we survive on a diet of lies, and for dessert we eat deceit.

All of this corruption and chaos are a socially transmitted disease,
caused by counterproductive us vs. them ideologies.
When you treat the privileged equally they think they are being oppressed,
anarchy would even be more structured than this mess.

It’s no wonder why many turn to their faith for guidance,
in this age where human lives cost less than diamonds.
Despite looking out the window and viewing all the widespread decay,
we are still being brainwashed into thinking that everything is okay.

The very definition of insanity is repeating your mistakes,
then somehow expecting different outcomes, on different days.
Disillusionment has drowned us, we have become desensitized to war,
thousands of civilian deaths are worthless because a terrorist in the west killed two of our own.

Is this the world we want to leave for future generations,
whose innocence had no part in creating this desecration?
It is time to break the cycle, so that we can remove these chains
that bind us to our past failures. We must finally learn how to be humane.

Some Friends Have Scales.

Your words were like pages torn from a novel and left out in the rain,
without any context, they would never make sense again.
Confusion was all around you, hurricanes followed you wherever you went,
with blind faith, I saw right past it all and still claimed you as a friend.

Eventually, it became too much to bear,
you tried to break my spirit several times and expected me not to care.
Rarely there when I needed you, where were you when I was destroyed?
Stupidly, we would always reunite, like my integrity was just a toy.

I wanted to slander you, hit you where it hurt,
worsen your tarnished reputation, and drag you through the dirt.
Instead, I chose to rise above; I know your wits are no match for my intellect.
You already lead a simple life, filled with cocaine and regret.

I thought that lightning never struck the same spot twice,
but somehow I kept getting hit, because I ignored sound advice.
You were a snake, and I was immune to your bites,
like a city of sin, you lured me in with flashing lights.

You told me what others thought of me, though you knew I was immune,
yet you continued on like a broken record, kept spinning the same played out tune.
You refused to play by the same rules you set for everyone you knew,
which is why you preyed on the insecure, like young, dumb blondes without a clue.

Nobody enjoys being the perpetual victim of domestic abuse,
not even the most naïve would be so obtuse.
Sooner or later they all smarten up and leave you in the past where you belong,
as you sit and chain-smoke your cigarettes, refusing to ever admit your wrongs.

Your apathy is no longer edgy, but you’re too dense to be anything but numb;
more vile than your violence, you should know by now that you are scum.
Count your blessings while they last, for soon you will have none.
Laugh it off though you're slowly dying on the inside now that we're over and done.