Thick Skin

In my soul was a slow burning ember A glow that when stirred Would send sparks cascading into the night Shedding light For short bursts at a time But somehow never started a fire And then you came Along with your flame Striking matches in the dark You are to blame in the best way For my heart Caught a spark And it burns in my eyes when I look at you Circles of fiery blue A flickering reflection of you And I will not move I will reach for your hand, interlock our fingers tongue and groove And revel in the heat As the ground turns to ash beneath my feet As my fears are stripped away And I know I am here to stay When sunny days are long forgotten As the air fades from summer to autumn And the leaves drift from the trees As the rains come and anger tumultuous seas I will be burning still For you Through the fall and through winter chill Through spring and through summer all over again I have been awoken By you, and I will never be the same You are to blame...

Your face against the backdrop of streetlights Pouring in through white Curtains Is there anything more perfect In this world than this? To hear you breathing deeply To watch your chest rise and fall And watch your eyelids grow heavy With each labored blink Your blue eyes peek out from underneath And then disappear again - I can't help but think That I am hanging onto seconds between Waiting for them to open again To leave me breathless like they always do And my arms are wrapped around you Your skin is warm and pressed against me And you kiss me on the cheek so sweetly I know there is no rush But sometimes in the quiet hush In the swing of dusk I hold onto the twilight When your eyes light the night With the fire I've been waiting all my life To see burning bright Sometimes it's hard To safeguard These words left unsaid In these moments that feel so perfect

Wrap me in a denim jacket That smells like you Beneath a meteor shower That we can't even see Drowned in street lights And cityscapes And somewhere above us the sky is falling  - And it's not the only thing - When I sit across from you I forget about all the people The streets The lights All I see is you In vivid color As everything else fades to black and white I hear only your voice Dancing through the air Your words rolling off of velvet lips And you will revel In the lavender scented sidewalks You will sweep your hands through it And bring it your face And you will bring it to mine So I can share in every charming delight This world has to offer You see the beauty in everything And I can't help but think you're just reflecting Onto the world around us The wondrous Way that you are And as I think of every falling star Streaming through the night above There's nothing more beautiful that I can think of Than you, smiling at me On a...

Under string lights in the heat of summer I stand in awe of you and wonder If you feel the magic that you emanate Perhaps even these lights were illuminated By the surge of electricity when you passed by wide eyed like a child And you taught me how to dance Your hand was in my hand And looking into your eyes Nothing has ever felt more right To me Living out the romantic fantasies Of my youth dreaming in my bedroom Of a woman like you That I might give my heart away to These words feel small When stacked against the grandeur of it all Of all these memories That I hold so close to me I wish sometimes You could see you through my eyes Just to know how incredible you are All I have are These hands, these eyes, these words That I hope have stirred You in some way  It is rare that I stop to pray But I pray that you find what you need I pray that you feel free 

I came upon my heart ache slowly Like I stumbled upon it on the path And it wreaked havoc on me intently  With a wild, tempestuous wrath Like lightning in a bottle Ready to strike and burn To preach to me the unwanted gospel Round each unexpected turn And my heart was barely beating then Barely felt a thing at all My soul steadily depleting when I hid behind an insurmountable wall Brick by brick I laid the path I walked And it took me years to build And somehow along the way I forgot It was myself that I had willed To pave over my own heart To ignore what I knew was best  And I tore the forest floor apart Because I couldn’t let it rest And then one day I found That all the things in me I adored Were muffled by the sound Of a never settled score So I set myself free Stepped off the path I paved And ventured into the trees Sometimes it’s yourself you save

I am from the dirt beneath my fingernails I am from caterpillars in bitter brush From dust like chalk in my mouth Running barefoot through the woods, stick in hand I am the keeper of the june bugs My tight blonde curls a matted mess Wild and unbroken I am from Lannegan, Loiselle, and Conditt From outlaws and bronc riders From fishermen and fallers  From “Egads and little fishhooks” From the soil beneath the river beds In pursuit of prosperity The pathway paved with obstacles  I am from “dirty little rotters” Bent over board games and Yahtzee I am from the back roads and scraped up knees From blackberry picking in the summer heat The smell of old grease still in the pan The sound of ambers crackling at 3 a.m. Built up from Paul Bunyan’s hands I am from the carpenter’s eye Level and precise, but creative too In my hands is an old guitar, And in my throat is a voice borrowed From generations that came before me I am from yea...

Sometimes when you look at me I think I can feel the earth spinning beneath my feet And I wonder why I feel dizzy... The birds are singing sweetly And I guess they always were But every time I hear a bird chirp I hear your voice And this world whispers To me all the time The memory of your words Singing songs of hope in the way of birds Lifted up by your own wings And wind or storm may bring You to the ground But it can’t hold you down For long For your wings are strong And your song Is an important one I pray you always find the breath That you need Before you open your mouth to speak Because the world would be wise To listen to the sunrise As your light makes way For a new day On a path paved in gold May you always know the power you hold