The Quiet

The Quiet

It's peaceful in the quiet,
the calm before the storm;
the eye is where we riot,
where we coalesce, and form

Whisky trails swirl around,
whirling from the past;
echoes of the friends we've found,
the ripples that they cast

On fringes of dark water,
on the eddies, on the tides;
breaking where they ought to,
where it's steady... strange things hide

Swirling in our own space,
hoping to be found;
hoping, praying for a face,
the right card to be crowned

A coronation called for,
impromptu to the plan;
the Kings and Queens we fall for
... the time their reign does span

Handshakes over dealings,
pots it's cost, and played;
collections of crossed feelings,
connections lost and made

Lost within a cold charade,
the straws we grasp and clutch;
connections made with hearts betrayed,
expecting far too much

Looking out with eyes, rose clad,
an optimistic gleam;
a glance at what you could've had,
... at what you might've been

Wanting... needing, oh so bad,
that first... that final kiss;
something that you never had,
... someone that you miss

Burning low, with hopes held high,
a touch so far from deft;
but when denial runs through dry,
there's not whole lot left

that breath of fire, absent... slipped,
such tongues of flame I've lost;
extinguished, cold and misspent... tripped,
I never marked the cost

Crumpled on such cold hard ground,
flew too close to the sun;
took too long to come around,
for wax to warm, and run

with suns swung low, set out of sight,
and dreamt up night-time trysts;
stars that haven't shined too bright,
... some stars that have been missed

Lost angels fell from heaven, sent,
leave demons where they've been;
'midst silence that can deafen... spent,
and light that shines unseen

A star that's drawn and distant... lit,
revered from afar;
a soul set forged, resistant, split,
a heart scored deep with scars

Within us, beats, as skies fall down,
such stars go out tonight;
moons burn out as night calls drown
... and sun's set out of sight

With lanterns on the water, hushed,
sat brightly in the night;
reflecting as they ought to, rushed,
a mirrored surface, light

whilst underneath... we lumber, trawl,
a looking glass refrain;
we paint a sky by numbers, shawled,
... we pray it keeps us sane

Feigning we could care less, awed,
we navigate the ring;
sprawled out on the canvas, floored,
punch drunk on other things

it's only when we're sober, straight,
we sift through win and loss;
the greatest dreams 'midst whims of fate,
... a dream that never was

A dream played out in silence, drawn,
a sophist, scribe of one;
thunder rolls, nihilist, fawned,
in hindsight, lightning runs

A rumble that rolls round the black,
in mumbled, muted sparks;
subdued we tumble, nerves frought, wracked,
we stumble in the dark

We fumble in the light's dim glow,
when all we see are ghosts;
hiding in the shadows, low,
from things we want the most

Guarded long in linage, strained,
praying to be found;
waiting for the signage, pained,
we hide in common ground

Overlooking common threads,
in awe of perfect forms,
massing slowly overhead,
a great and perfect storm

A storm I tried to chase down,
an image hard to frame;
a storm that's hard to pin down,
a tempest hard to tame

I tried to test my mettle,
turned out rusty, blunt and strained;
took time, too long to settle,
talked myself out of the game

Second guessing things I did
... things I should have done;
a swirl of guilty needs I hid,
midst wants that didn't run

Folding through the barricades,
with borrowed time, we play;
holding onto balustrades,
through sorrowed rhymes we stray

Locked in place, as time folds in,
collapsing in round you;
shellshocked as the beats rolled in,
too perfect to be true

with luck displayed beyond compare,
the stages, where it ran;
never thought I would be there,
... was never in the plan

A night subdued in humid air,
a vacuum where I fell;
too afraid and too aware,
afraid to break the spell

Just waiting for the glimmer,
an echo of a glance;
with dreams set low to simmer,
just aching for the chance

A weekend of a lifetime,
a period of grace;
an offer of a life line,
an image burnt in place

A sun ignored, so woeful,
a moon reflecting, stark;
a butterfly, so social,
a moth lost in the dark

Lead wings inset, with grim regret,
stuck, stapled to the hasp;
when someone you could never get,
lies too far out your grasp

Too brilliant, too amazing,
too hot to hold... too high;
a star born bright and blazing,
now long absent from the sky

A final sunset, getting low,
polished, to the touch;
torn between just letting go,
and wanting it too much

How we wish we could forget,
still memories remain;
waiting for that sun to set,
and never rise again

A pained refrain, a perfect farce,
a wound in silence, bleeds;
a tiger forged of cool, cut glass,
... so crystaline a need

Spun so plain, apparent,
taunting, turning in the light;
a wild cat transparent,
just hiding in plain sight

In my head its clear, smooth,
sand blasted, shaped and formed;
but in the heart there's fear, truths,
when light refracts at dawn

with embers hot... concerning,
more than we might confess;
homefires low, slow burning,
... still burning non the less

such burns mark deep, a third degree,
now winter holds the courts;
a pool of dirty memories,
a whirl of fervent thoughts

Collected by curators,
a place where hopes are pinned;
an unspent force of nature,
a feral on the wind

I trust that star still shines there,
for now I cannot see;
to know that light burns bright, somewhere,
that's good enough for me

Part grounded for a time now,
so near... yet so far;
the ones who got there somehow,
... know how fortunate you are

In some worlds, rules just shatter,
your game, I tried to play;
some people, they just matter
... that's all there is to say

as storms still round me riot,
and suns still set and rise;
there's peace within the quiet,
I imagine in your eyes