hope

streets covered in winter, frozen missteps treading to every shadow,
the dark has it's own splendor, to hide crying eyes
and dilute a loving gaze to simple streaks of faded highlights
too thick for the tight irises of those shuffling by
begging that their every step will bring back a small sample of heat
to a world which has robbed their appreciation....

glamour is just the mask layed out in smears on the insecure flesh
which shivers and cracks
in the forbidden occurrence of being exposed to judgment....
doubt plants it's sour seeds in every hope and dream
and trickles its way down to every root
crippled nostalgia that spins in captive orbits,
an obsessive dance
and in the shadows fade the lives of the succumbed
and give-ups and preys to despair,

never let them see you cry; never let them see you care;

.......you tried, mayhaps,
lit the wick and let the flame burn it black,
risking the core to harden until the spirit grows unyielding...
what was once unwilling decays into unable,
what cares, but is afraid to show it, eventually just doesn't;

you tried to escape the cold by desensitizing your ability to feel,
saw the colors of a brilliant waxen candle, felt the pain of longing its vision brought you,
and thus, tried to burn it away;
and your spirit was true-strong, stirring and stirring.....
too much time to live through so much nothing,
and such a powerful mind for dreaming creates war with a reality
where dreams only awaken to die.....

yet the hope that will not yield nor sway
is the hope for the ability to hope again........