The World Passes Me By

I sit down at my regular table, three chairs circle a round plain table, but I only take up one. The cafe faces the street. The only cover from the weather is the umbrella above my head, so the autumn air nips my cheeks. In... Out. I like the crisp air entering and exiting my lungs. It makes me nostalgic, recalling the suburban Chicago neighborhood where I occupied my childhood. In the colder months your breath would leave your lips in a cloud of steam, and you could see the normally transparent and ever adapting oxygen supply. I can't see my breath here in my new home in the city where the sun is always shining and rain is a blessing. New city, new people, and yet... Familiar. I suppose wherever you go, people and cities always have common threads. Cities grow, people bustle along the concrete streets. The common threads are comforting considering I was practically plucked out of my hometown and into a new and alien place. As I remember my home, I watch the people move along going in all sorts of directions. An uptown girl in designer boots and an air of confidence I know is false. I know she's full of it because I've practiced the half smile she wears in the mirror before. And old couple, the woman on the elderly man's right arm, his smile is full of adoration as he looks at her. I ponder their stories. Where they came from, their hopes, their secrets. The people on you brush on the streets you rarely think twice about. When they pass me, I never cross their thoughts twice, I'm sure. I am a number. Am I that insignificant?

Falling in love

I want to be in love. So badly. It's been a while since I've felt that way about someone. I miss biting my lip and my heart pumping a million miles a minute, and all I really want is someone who's willing to love me for me, even with my long laundry list of flaws. I miss the butterflies, and I miss smiling for no reason. But most of all, I miss making the choice to love someone unconditionally through thick or thin even though there's a large chance it won't last forever. I miss that heart wrenching leap of faith, and I miss him diving off the edge with me.

Angel of Darkness

In the wasteland of broken dreams,
And where common threads are cut,
The Shepard's crown lays shattered at his feet,
Dethroned by his own sheep when our Father never came to save.

The Beast is on his way, achingly slow, but his arrival is certain.
Fear and heartache strike us, a clock at midnight.
It was never the Almighty's hour to rule,
We knew that when our imperfect masses imploded.

The Angel of Darkness waits in the wing for his new victims,
We bury them in the dirt because we've always known,
Heaven was never meant for such broken creatures.
We should have seen the Beast was coming when he cast no shadow.