Shade 67: Smoke and Mirrors

Don’t sit near this fence and persist on peaking through
Just cause curiosity lures you with its gleam
For on this side there is anything that you could ever want
And the pastures there aren’t as lush as they may seem
Oh I know you won’t believe me and eventually you’ll cross
But I feel that it is something must be said
There’s nothing over there that’s any better than right here
Any difference perceived is in your head
But go ahead ignore my words and do whate’re you will
For you are young and green but you will grow
And then you’ll see some idiot who is sitting at the fence
But your wisdom will not sway him from the errs that he will know

Shade 66: The Ballad of Madam Willow

Weep for me O willow tree
Within the forest glen
Spin a song where lovers long
Of times forgotten when

So here I’ll sit while hours flit
A guest of madam willow
And she regales a lurid tale
When love and spring were mellow

And when I try to flee or fly
I’m drawn back to this clearing
And so I guess I’ll stay and rest
While she entreats my hearing

Rapt with fire as the moon jumps higher
And gentle night doth creep
‘Ere my return I’ve come to learn
Why madam willow weeps

Shade 65: First Drop of the Thaw

And from the stony tomb where Earth itself lay frozen still
Beneath an azure shell like flaking skin of long deceased men
Her ever beating heart spreads warmth always below
And slowly she will rise up from this tomb to live again

Shade 64: Dilemma

You have a pretty face
With a temperament mean and severe
And an attitude sharp and appalling
Your voice is a shrieking siren to hear
Your scent sets my skin all a-crawling
You’re dull of wit and slow of mind
Not the girl I would embrace
You sag a bit when I look from behind
But… you have a pretty face

Shade 63: Sun-dried Shrivel

I recall the fading bronze of Autumn
I recall the red and golden leaves
Blowing flakes of dried decay across the now-empty streets
Like memories across a barren sea

I recall the voices and the laughter
Being replaced by the ashen shriek of wind
The bleakness hits the bones though the chill is but skin deep
And Nature’s spin is speeding towards the end

Shade 62: Dealing with Change

The weather changes
And a storm kicks up
And dust and wind devastate the terrain
The landscape is bruised
The ground becomes volatile
And chaos is given free reign
Though endless it seems
Where the world is in bedlam
There is no sign stability will regain
As quickly as it starts
The storm dies away
But the now-battered landscape remains

Shade 61: Shouting from Olympus

Silence sounds different here
No wind no water no trees
It’s so imposing to the ears
So much so you won’t believe
I want to yell but I’m afraid
That if I try no noise I’d make
Maybe this is what deaf sounds like
Where the silence never breaks

Shade 60: Hall of Doors

Where did yesterday go?
And when did it become today?
Nothing has changed, has begun or has ceased
So what does my calendar say?
I’ve been working here hard and I do not recall
Ever being away
I swear it was yesterday last time I checked
So when did it become today?