Pain Pavilion

Forced with heated hands
to setup shop in the higher heart
I am left to wait
for the ticking
dry paper sounds
that tell me that its done
that love is sleeping
I hear words
and see voices that tell me
'you're alive'
or 'it could be worse'
but they dont live inside me
I have been torn from myself
and now i'm unknown to all
but the ground
(my bed)
where my skin invites mud
and sharp rocks
while I weep red ink
from all but my eyes
and I will walk the pain pavilion
one hundred days for every sigh
until loves alarm alights
and sends you home to me

other days

other days are the same
less rain
more sympathy and wind
but the trees seem unmoved
i pass the smiles and frowns
the garden variety city filler
the pain is a generic prescription
do they all hurt?
i was told that they care
they just don't know it
how do you live alone
and yet surround yourself
books don't tell you this
other days
they are cheering in the stands
praising their maker faker
but today
burning homes and hearts
are on the menu
their eyes fall further
the shame becomes real
and fills us up
other days hands are shaking
and love falls like snow
but today.....today
we are in the open
and lost
led by the hand to the end of the line
the happy trails now far away
any other day i would sing for us all
but not today