Luck of the Circle of Life

A baby bird. Spirals down beautifully, helplessly, to Earth. New life, new opportunity. She thinks she will again attempt flight, to the low branch of a nearby tree. She considers trying to find the nest she jumped from, or maybe even build a new one. She thinks maybe she should forage for food, in her first search for a satisfying meal. She hopes to eventually find a mate, lay eggs, and become a mother herself. She imagines winter, migrating someplace sunny and wonderful. With her whole life ahead of her, the possibilities seem endless. But in the blink of an eye, endlessness no longer applies. Hungry Feral Cat devours Helpless Baby Bird. Surprised? Don't be. Each life is narrated by unpredictability.

The Most Miserable Game

Motivation
By desperation
Surges through the body in a single stream
of hope
But the isolation
Is too much
This twisted game
A game of pain
A game of blame
Too much to take
Too much to fake
Hopelessness, now
Runs through the veins
Hopelessness
It always rains
This miserable game
Everyone loses
In some way or another
The brain goes insane
Everyone turns on each other
It's brutal
It's sick
Living in paranoia and fear
No escape here
Year after year
A frozen tear
No escape from this game
This game of pain
The most miserable game

In a Song

Sometimes my words come out terribly wrong
And sometimes I feel like I just don't belong
But in my heart and my mind I really am strong
Now I'll let these words come out in a song

Sometimes I trip on my very own feet
And sometimes I skip when I go down the street
But it's all of these things that make me complete
I march to my own drummer's beat

Sometimes I have opinions I cannot contain
And sometimes my ideas sound a little insane
But I can feel joy and I can feel pain
And when I think, I use my heart and my brain

Sometimes I laugh when someone gets hurt
And sometimes I play in the mud and the dirt
But I'm not a tease and I'm not a flirt
Life is uncertain, so first comes dessert

Sometimes I lead a surprise tickle attack
And sometimes I'm a ninja, and dress in all black
But I can sing the alphabet forwards and back
And I'm always willing to share my snack

Now you know who I am
I'm quirky and strange
I'm a klutz and a spaz
But I won't ever change

In my own crazy world
I'll always belong
So take it or leave it
I sing my own song

Smile to Smile

A smile. Slowly curving her mouth into a graceful arch, her pink lips dancing. Spreading to her eyes, lighting up like fireworks exploding into the night sky. Her cheeks are rosy, face on fire. Maybe she's excited or nervous or embarrassed. Maybe everything.
A smile. Rapidly spreading across his face, his features light up one by one. His bright eyes shine, deeper than the Pacific Ocean. One simple look, isn't so simple. Maybe he's scared or vulnerable or just happy. Maybe everything.
Laughter. Rumbles through her chest and out her mouth like a bubbling brook on a spring afternoon.
Laughter. Pours out of him purely like single string strummed on a guitar.
Tears. Will trickle down her face. Leaving sorry trails of entanglements strewn nakedly across her cheeks. Salty drops tasting of mistakes and lessons. Will he taste them? Will he care?
Tears. Will slide down his face, so many things so overwhelmingly out of his control. Tumbling down his fiery cheeks, tasting of resentment and regrets. Will she taste them? Will she care?
Smile to smile. Dancing lips meet. Laughter to laughter. Soak up the heat. Tears to tears. Two wild hearts beat.

A Reminder from the Past

History
Spinning out of control, spinning out my life.
Out of my life
Words like a knife
Tick
Tock
Time is overrated
Complicated
I just need a second
To catch my breath

Threads

The sighing wind above our heads
The brilliant sunset; golds and reds
The graceful twisting of our threads
The threads of you and me

My body is shaking
This feeling is new
My body's still shaking
Do you feel it too?

You can lean on me
When you're lonely and blue
And a trusting embrace
Is tested and true

Now whisper all the fears that you have held in
I will hold you near
Whisper all the secrets that you've kept in
You can keep them here

Your words slip out slowly
But your heartbeat is fast
Your eyes can tell stories
Let's make this last

Electricity radiates down my spine
A glance
A touch
I'm yours
You're mine
A heart
A beat
Our threads intertwine

The Tree

Her bare feet padded along the cool, hard earth as she sprinted to her weeping willow. Her hair blew into her face and stuck to her lip, and her arms pumped as she ran faster. The sun was high in the sky, yet the breeze still left her with small goosebumps on her arms. She passed the enchanting pond, the towering pines, and finally came to a sunny clearing. When her toes felt the soft moss below her, she new she had reached her tree. She flung herself around its massive trunk, and hoisted herself up onto a sturdy branch. Her tree meant everything. Her tree meant life. It's sad, draping vines twisted around her and made her small body feel secure. As the wind danced through the branches she tipped her head up toward the sky and simply thought. Her whole lifetime was only a moment compared to the tree's life of a thousand years. The tree had experienced everything, a silent observer in times of love and loss. She ran her fingers delicately over names and hearts carved into its trunk imagining every story the tree had encountered. She gently moved her hands over the long black gash she guessed was created by a strike of lightning long ago. The tree was scarred. Still the tree stood strong. The tree would continue to stand strong. The tree could handle anything. It watched over her, as it had a thousand times to a thousand others. The tree was kind and the tree was beautiful. She admired the tree the way another child may admire an athlete or celebrity and would continue to admire the tree as she grew into a young woman. Someday it would be her turn to carve a heart into the trunk, and someday the tree would offer support when she too had lost. But for now she simply embraced the magnificent weeping willow as the sun shone upon her back and she listened to singing of the forest. She smiled. And she wept.