Wake to sleep And take my sleeping slow Trudge through snow And feet don't slow When I hear the draw Of the string of bow I can't tell if my shadow follows me Or if I follow it But I do know where the poppies grow And the wise raven does sit Construing sadness with a blunt pencil And a frayed brush I talked to the monster living under my bed He told me he stays fed when I stay hushed So I shout from the mountaintop Though I sleep in slade We are ambassadors of our thoughts conveyed I promenade In the shade provided By the dour clouds and the pendulum blade Youth, was a, mundane prison My mind, was the, warden Now that, I have, seen through, prism Fear not east of Eden Won't cry When my wings do melt 'Cause I can swim In abyss quite well Bear scars That tell a haunting tale Are wounds ballast Or tears in the sail Shudder when I think That I'll wake tomorrow Toeing line once more For a course of sorrow Ofttimes, I hold in a scream While I beg my hands to work My mind wanders to where dreams are ripe And toward alluring cave, where nightmares lurk But I shan't gripe Even nights now Shine brighter than my days afore I ne'er implore, days of yore My flesh is raiment Some days loosely fitting, some days tight Wondering if others spot, when I'm untucked Or if truth of garments Doesn't show in daylight It's unsettling, knowing that the right path Can be walked in the wrong direction Reassuring that the Spirit makes intercession For our silent groanings And our tacit supplication Pain, my tongue did taste But I was reluctant to clean my palate I clung to the flavor Cold, in a warm embrace Now with my sins effaced Love, I can savor I prayed for stones, to build foundation But neglected to ask, for the strength, to carry Sought with ink to cage, my tribulation But confined myself instead, unwary Ennui, is the mind's, hunger I, give it brine, to consume Walked, home And peeled back sheets, of my tomb