Reprieve

everything I have to give isn't what people want, 
but how can that be
I'm just trying to live without these possessions
they're messing with me
six feet above where I feel
dragging my heels
forgetting I have a fifty foot wingspan 
an ability to leave this earth before they can
darkness settling in and its threatening to win
saying it won't leave
but this is race I started 
before that f****r could even breathe
but its reminding me that it's so relentlessly challenging
and I may give up before I try just like usually


maybe this time I'll pull through
it's possible I'll break free
no more sadness or monotony
a bright future ahead of me
but maybe the truth is that it doesn't exist
maybe it never did
maybe I'm destined to see the insides of my eyelids
before I even reach thirty


the struggle isn't just inside
it's trying to survive
in a world where people don't care who dies
(unless it's televised)
so focused on their lives in motion that they forget to open their eyes
to the pain, the suffering, the demise
the people who
didn't make the evening news
whose lives got taken too soon
who can't kiss their moms goodnight
can't wake up and see the sunrise
I guess it's too much to ask for them
to care about what they can't touch


people aren't listening
why am I even speaking
sometimes I think it's too late to save 
even those of us that seek it
if I allow myself to accept this
then maybe I'm no different
than the man that remains ignorant and petulant
the ones that never lose sleep over anything
who perpetuate and dedicate
their lives to an ever-escalating hatred
I need to elevate
rise above the surface and renovate
replicate the love that swells in a celebration of this nation
it's one love, it's always one love, it's universal
no dress rehearsal
this is coming straight from the heart
every creature, every person, every last night star
the grass and the sky and everywhere that you are


no matter where I'm going, I insist that I live
without boundaries, to coexist
and maybe I won't make it far, maybe I'll fall
maybe I'll let it get the best of me
and I'll try to have it all
but the truth is, maybe it does exist
maybe I'll figure out how to listen to the pulse in my wrist
steady rhythm
never too far from the heart
and I would die before I let this world cut off my arms
all I know is this
all I know is love
all I know is that I won't ever give up
chin up, hands unbound
listening to the sounds
of my words resonating
in the thunder clap of the clouds