Topsy-Turvy

 

When green springs love

and red swears envy,

when the tides roll away

and sands of time flow near.

When the air is tainted with fear,

and the grass is blue, saddened

by the topsy-turvy view

of a world torn in two,

the loss of hope in

anything true.

 

People cried that the sky was falling,

they said that time was coming

the end of the sentence, the lack of sense

in a lopsided existence,

the loss, to ignorance,

of a world of innocence.

But now the fat cats

are singing their screeching tune,

and it's all coming true. Yet you all sit

silently consumed in your own apathy.

 

And when the sky cries

in silver rage, and fire falls

instead of rain. When children

call out, dying in pain,

to a war they didn't inflame.

A war no one asked to fight.

When the teddy bears' picnic

outlives the meal of life,

then the world is flipped upside down.

 

Yet people don't shout,

they just keep on watching,

eyes glued wide to television lies.

 

And heaven can only frown

as the demons sing on the clouds,

and the people sit and watch

as the sun hides behind a silver moon,

and still, they are not moved.

They shout instead

that there are no more miracles,

but the life we breathe every day

is miracle enough, I say.

 

So put away the greed,

put away the bombs.

Flip the enemy

to become loved ones.

Turn down the envy,

the need to consume.

Turn away.

 

And live.

 

Live with every atom

in your soul.

Collective

 

And I hold the collective us

tightly in my arms, a hug

of hope and dreams.

A belief in the goodness in humanity,

when we cleanse

the dirt from our hands.

 

Then I take a slow walk

between each face,

every colour,

every race, every size, every shape,

every weighted soul,

clean or unclean.

Every dream you've ever tasted, liquid honey,

that I feel in mine.

 

And I say, I am we, we are me,

you are they, and we are love,

 

For I love me

and I love you unconditionally.

Like waves upon a sea, we merge as one.

An open ocean of our dreams and hopes,

our fears and our flaws, our highs

and our lows. A sea of sorrow and joy.

A fluid unity of humanity.

 

And our shorelines glow

with sands of hope and golden futures.

 

So, sink with me under the waves,

for there is still so much more depth to uncover.

Surface glare hides so many layers inside,

so come in, pull up a chair, let us discover

the hidden beauty under the stare of the moon.

 

You can breathe deeply under here.

You can see the truth circling,

like fish in the deep.

And you can feel the love held deep

in the currents that breathe through

every thought. Every seashell of honesty

sounds like waves of humanity.

 

And we won't ever be caught in nets,

for no one hunts.

And our peace is sailing on

the waves of strangers, as they

smile lips of grace.

 

And I am you, you are me, we are they,

and love sits in the waves.

Disassociating

 

Take all of the magic moments,

the hope that comes from first love,

the holidays in the sun,

the hug from a loved one,

the starlight sparkle of midnight,

the dazzle of the stage lights of life,

all the warmth, the love, the hope,

the dreams, the sunbeams

on your cheeks, the stolen seconds

of relief on days when it feels

the world is only rumbling underneath.

 

Because

it can hit like a brick,

the moments

when you feel alone.

Even though

you are surrounded

by those that you love.

The world still swallows

you up, and you feel like all is gone.

Every memory, every smile,

every happy teardrop. Just void.

Empty. Paranoid.

 

And for a second, you feel

every bead of sweat, every regret,

every ripped heartbeat, and every torn memory.

Your muscles feel leaden, heavy,

and you try to swallow the panic.

But it sticks in your chest like

a weighted hand grenade ready to go off,

 as you forget how to breathe,

and your heart sounds alarm bells

in irregular beats, and then nothing

but...

 

The grief, the guilt, the crumbling self-belief

that was beaming only moments ago.

I'm letting everyone down, I'm souring the mood,

it all thaws like snow

in the middle of a summer heatwave,

the happiness drains, in gurgled heartbeats.

Your gargling thoughts just bubble then pop,

leaving you empty.

Colour-blind and depleted of all energy.

 

Your legs don't move, your head

just sits in a darkened room,

you can't find a light

in the deepening gloom.

It's all just empty. Alone in a former war zone

that is now just debris-strewn wasteland,

with no landmarks to help

navigate through the wide-open maze,

all the invisible walls you have built in the way.

And you crash, and crash, and crash. And...

And...

And

 

Nothing. Just pain from panes of glass,

smeared with what used to be you.

The disassociation, like you are outside

viewing in, and the view is just distorting.

 

But those memories, those hopes

and dreams still sit somewhere

deep within you. So, dig and dig,

until you feel your fingertips sinking in,

find a single sliver of a morsel to cling to.

And you will come through this.

Smiling as wide as the horizon,

when the storm is through.