Thick Skin

I was born in the summer The season when everything is thriving  And so were you Stars aligning You were born when the blackberries are ripe Sweet and warm  I plucked you from the vine With delicate hands Knee deep in thorns Every step carefully planned This statement is sworn:  The work is always worth the berry When the days are long When my heart is wary The rewards are sweet And the sun is warm on my face I would gladly lay my heart at your feet For a simple smile Send me reeling Sprinting through the river wild Stone over stone, that summer feeling Will you take my hand? Will you run with me? Will you lay naked on the sand? Will you hold the honey bee? Always daring Ever growing Music blaring Wind blowing Through your golden hair Across the softest skin I can't help but stare Can't help but gently lift your chin And press my lips onto yours Taste the sweet fruit  I could spend hours  I could take root Right here next to you forever I think I will  A st...

My mind is a labyrinth To which I am a slave Wandering in my wonderland Exploring every unwalked path Trying to navigate Through passageways With dead ends Searching for answers For prayers For some peace of mind In a piece of my mind Some corner I’ve yet to find Some solution I’ve yet to seek Some thought I’ve yet to speak Where this mess makes more sense To me and everyone around me Can I still retreat to the silence And find myself at home there? Or will I always be a stranger to the solace From which I once came? The white noise fills my ears today And every day Surrounded by the grey buzzing Of television shows, of music, of cars driving past Some days I value the transparent nature of this sound Surrounding me, so I am never alone, so it is always around A constant consistent friend I can count on I used to live in silence, with words and numbness And then I sprinted into the fray, full of unwanted voices My dichotomy is sometimes my enemy Confusing the very heart of me Demanding...

There is magic about it The younger years when worry seemed fleeting And excitement hung in the air  Anticipation for all the things that have yet to come Running wild and naked through the dirt Splashing in pools of black Horizons disappearing into an infinite scheme of water and sky The sounds of cheering The cold lingering at my lips and being pushed away by the warmth of my breath My ears aching from the sounds of people talking And the chilling atmosphere that wrapped itself around me  I miss the smells Of a hallway freshly coated with wax The way the classrooms smelled of books Too many torn and tattered, but too many to be replaced So the smell remained Holding within them years of eager hands and youthful faces How many eyes have scanned those pages and breathed life into them I miss the anticipation of the bell ringing Counting down minutes and then seconds until I could burst into the hall Longing to catch a glimpse of someone I called a friend Dying to have a conver...

  Sometimes the weight of the world is far too heavy a mass And even the smallest things feel all too inconvenient a task It is a burden and a gift to feel so deeply To feel fear and disappointment, sadness and anxiety Because the parallel is joy and wonder, imagination and creativity And what a blessing those things are And what a blessing that I see them often in you Even when a darkness seems to descend over all of us Casting a shadow over all things that once held light And with all your might It is too much to pull back the veil on your own No matter how much light you conjure But in the eclipse of the worlds greatest defeat I am holding in my hands a candle Sitting atop this candle is a flame That I am always holding for you So you can find me when things are hazy When you can see no further than your fingertips A soft glow will show you the way back to me And I hope it will inspire the fireflies  To draw circles around your heart So I can find you too A perfect match A ...

  Your heart finds me like the river meets the sea Crashing in - two things become one So vast and so deep I have only one choice - learn to swim And I am overcome Consistently and effortlessly overcome by the soft touch of your hand By the sweeping sound of your voice Calling me to answer, calling me to be still And listen to the birds singing, to the rivers running And suddenly my feet too, running, running always toward you And you reach your hand back for me To walk along the path together, and we are free Free as those birds singing their sweet songs in the trees Just as sweet as the songs you sing for me in the morning You cast a smile in my direction and I turn to snow Melting in your precious hands I would cover everything as far as the eye could see As long as it meant that you would lay your body down on me The greatest vulnerability The highest compliment of intimacy I look at you and see a lifetime of love I can hear the longing whispers in the dark A little girl keepin...

  Looking up at the stars I have looked at all my life I see A familiar scene that has always made me feel at home Galaxies colliding far away and strings of stars hanging across the darkest nights The crickets singing and the sounds of pine needles drifting to the ground And crackling against the desert floor like sparks off of a fire I am home And you noticed the crickets singing Here in this new place And I found home in your voice and your face And to bring you to the woods that raised me To the mountains that made me Was everything I hoped for and more Where your body kept me warm at night And your smile graced me in the early morning light And in the reflection of the bluest lake I know Pink and purple clouds paint their way across the ripples in the water And I hope I am reflecting the best of you That I am giving you the love that you deserve How can the world be such a mess When there is such beauty as this Such calm and such stillness And for me, life is so much less comp...

  Your hand fits into mine like pieces into place They must be relative, time and space Because I’ve waited a long time to face The distance and cross the canyons and cliff sides Summit the great divides That may have existed once between you and I I will always wish I met you sooner I will wish that I could have shared every meaningful place Every cherished memory and all the moments missed But somehow you were right on time There is one fact I can’t refute That fate cannot dispute The way your hand fits in mine makes it worth the wait When we met I told you that you set my heart ablaze I was gold like the sun, basking in your rays Heart beating, crazed So in love that I craved Being by your side 10 months later and I know those feelings will never subside I will romp and play with you laugh all day with you I will be as loyal as they come Living in love that will never come to pass