The Things That You Do
Ripping, tearing searing flesh,
a blotched, viscous puddle
of misguided blackness and pain
Pouring through my veins;
the bones of my right
Shattered and dismembered,
completely and wholly
Decimated under the gargantuan,
the suffocating force
of my own indignation.
Why did the tool pierce my flesh?
Why does torment seep through
into every pore, whether dead or fresh?
Every hallowed and hollow vein and strain of life?
Alive with the Glory of Love?
Hah, my heart’s beating now
with the wretched and the boundless;
with the pangs of the beast, the monster
the deplorable and lifeless,
the shallow and manipulative
creatures of foolhardy men
and of illustrious, crippling women.
One soul verb—a singular noun,
an exasperated laugh,
a friendly and familiar touch
Slithers into my psyche;
It seeps through every orifice
and dulls every sense.
All but one:
Pure, carnivorous resentment—an
undying desire to tear away
every barrier that stands in the way;
every hapless, shambling doubt of prosperity.
Compose yourself!
Keep calm, my dear boy!
Bandage the wound,
Taper your spirits,
Put on a smile,
Proceed habitually.
Speak carefully (to her),
but let fly your passions
Sparingly, dutifully.
Trace your blade ‘cross her skin;
Let her shake and shiver
but neither bleed nor scream;
Remind them: damage is recoiling
that defiance is repealed in the end.
Brood and bubble with a caustic burning and
Mask it beneath a bounding, joyous countenance;
Never mean harm, but mean an impact.
Insinuate change:
Inhibit and encourage it
but never demand it.
Dive downward into depression and listlessness
and she too shall follow, you shall see
For if she does not, care not.
But if she does:
Bury sadness,
Forget sorrows.
Live and breathe new life,
remove your shackles
and snap your chains.
Beat back the hulking mask,
crack open the malignant shell,
pry through with enthusiasm
with love and wholesome elegance.
Remind why life is livable—and share it:
Pour this revelation forth to her empty vessel
Yank free her from the same cell you’d presided.
Care not for shrewdness or miscalculations;
forget the palpable chances of downfalls.
Do not be appeased. Rise up and take charge
toward the one self-aggrandizing moment of glory
How the beating spotlight and declare:
“Here I am, and Here I shall stay.”
And then take this declaration to its bounds
Shatter the Stars; shatter Sirius, Betelgeux,
Shatter the moons and planets yet unknown.
Wipe clean all sense of inferiority.
Because you’re not and never will be.
Return now to your mortal soil.
Cast your eyes to the skies and take notice.
Should the clouds bother, dissipate them
and should the sun beat too strongly
divine the clouds back. Should she get parched
pour the waters of Eden free from the heavens
Should she wish for the beauty and innocence and light
Bring forth the snows, but wipe it clean quickly,
as snow is little more than frustration for too long.
Give forth all that may be given
and strike away all that is despised
Aim for the heavens and the clouds
and soar beyond the petty ceiling
With love like this, how could you possibly miss?
Never count yourself out of it
Never say there’s no use in it
Encourage, enlighten, and reproduce it
in all that you do and all that you love
and with it will come everything tenfold back
Never dismiss yourself—lest you never return.
