“Is there a word for one step further than fear?

When fear breaks through the walls

A machete swinging

While you sit glazed over in the rubble”

“I’ve collected my tears today

and given each of them a name”

“It's strange and extraordinary

To stand here looking over the waterfall

Closer to the end sooner than I expected

Feeling the threat of death spray my face”

“There is a single firefly

flashing in the field tonight

Blinking slow and steady,

watching for an answer back”

“Bullet holes and bruises And some kind of story

Some kind of miracle

Some kind of bird that sang through the night”

“The trees are sleeping, no kindling to be gathered

All we have is what we have built when the days were long

And they have shortened their answer

To only an exhale”

“If my spirit could make a sound

It would crumble freeway bridges

It would shake the clouds so violently

That they would forget how to be clouds

Just like l've forgotten what it feels like To be whole”

“He strapped me down and spoon-fed me

Injustice, confusion, and rage

Until I was too full to move.

He told me this is all there is.”

“We don't get to choose in this life whether or not we suffer

But we do get to choose what we are willing to suffer for”

“They borrow my blood

And put it in a category

It's a passionate burgundy

But it's still in the vial

And I am still sitting here

Exactly as I shouldn't be”