Shade 84: Mountain

They all say that they always knew you'd make it
They all say they knew you would succeed
But the road was never easy
And the way was never clear
And you look around and wonder how you ever made it here
Their confidence was scary
Cause you never had your own
They say they were always with you, but you always felt alone

Now you stand atop the mountain, you should smile
You climbed its craggy face, you should exult
It was steep and it was sheer
And there was failure always near
But you stayed the course, and what was the result?
The times you almost gave up are your secret
The times it nearly broke you lock away
You want to climb another
For now you know you can
And you've earned the pride that you should feel today

Shade 83: Of This and That

Don’t think about your jealousy
It tears you like a beast
The thing you thought you passed in youth
Still clings to you to feast
It frays the fragile tapestry
You’ve weaved with wondrous care
And where you worked to earn your joy
You’re laden with despair
Push it back into the shadows
To the confides of its cage
And best the beast that bites at you
That turns your joy to rage
For your mind is your own country side
It’s up to you to keep it clear
Don’t think about your jealousy
And you can persevere

Shade 82: The First Task

Stand tall brave hero, your journey is not yet done
Your race has not yet ended, your battle not yet won.

You’ve seen just a little victory, but the challenge rages on
And though you think you’ve struggled now, you haven’t yet begun.

So raise your shield once more, wipe the blood from out your eyes
And do not fall prey to the comfort of these blue forgiving skies.

‘Tis but a calm between to storms that will rip and tear once more
So keep your strength and stand your ground, Oh mighty warrior.

Shade 81: Rule Seventy-Two

There are rules I know I know about
but can't bring myself to care
About when I can say what to you
And how or why or where
But if there's something that is plaguing
every thought that I possess
Do I not deserve the chance to simply
get it off my chest?
Can I not just speak my mind to you
because I think that you'll agree
Communication's easier when
it's not done so formally
I think if I just have it out
I feel that I may find
the things that have been plaguing me
are also on your mind
So let's just drop this silly game
of who has power and who not
and get it out we both agree
our sex is really hot

Shade 80: You-poison

A small sensation starts
In the recesses of your brain
A teeny tingle that at first
You know you can restrain

But it grows
Oh yes it grows
And it spreads through all your head
Filling up the parts of you
That you had thought were dead
But they wake
Oh yes they wake
Stirring swiftly to the fore
That restraint that you had banked upon
Has just run out the door
Now you're different
Yes you're different
And there's something else inside
This thing knows you and controls you
You may call it Edward Hyde
Yet you like it
Yes you like it
Cause you couldn't change on your own
And now when you least expect it
You find you're not alone

Shade 79: the Broken Compass

And suddenly you’re awake
To all the choices you didn’t make
Every personal mistake so far
So is it time to start again?
Should it be right now or when?
You can stay put but then it’s hard.
See, you’re miles from the route
That you always dreamt about
And the fear is crying loud, take heart.
Just take a single tread
Towards the image in your head
Of the life you want instead, now start.
There’s a freedom you will find
On the pictures in your mind
Though you’ve left them all behind, till now.
So go back where you began
Now’s the time to start again
It’s so hard but you can learn how.

Shade 78: Not I Love You

You don’t like that I say ‘I love you’
Cause I say it quite a lot
You say it loses meaning
But I know that it has not

I love you is not I love you when I come home from a long hard day
It means I took this job for you, but still it is ok
I love you is not I love you when we sit just you and me
It means you are more precious than the friends I do not see
I love you is not I love you when it’s late and I lie awake
It means that I am scared of all the chances I never got to take
I love you is not I love you when I back down when we fight
It means you're more important than what I believe is right
I love you is not I love you when I'm so tired I cannot see
It means that if you're happy I will bear it quietly
It means I'm scared and sometimes sad and don't know what to do
It means for all the things gone bad, the only good is you

Shade 77: Whirlpool

With a torrent and a flourish and a slap

the summer ends

And the bitter breeze of yesterday comes

screaming round the bends

With a whimper and a whinny and a whine

the people groan

Inside of doors with windows shut again

to be alone

With a sputter and a crumble and a crack

the gold turns gray

The warmer winds and dulcet days once more

get locked away

Shade 76: Lose Wires

If energy cannot be created

And energy cannot be destroyed

What happens to our energy

When our brains are unemployed

Where do the currents travel

When the pulses have died down

Where goes that electricity

When we lie beneath the ground

If our thoughts are pulsing patterns

If our selves are circuit sparks

Then our energy remains behind

When all the world goes dark

Shade 75: Complacentsea

Take our hand and carry us on
To the crystal blue waters of Babylon
Drink so deep and worry is gone
No wants no needs no self alone
Body relax the spirit has flown
Beneath the light of golden dawn
No wind of thought no breeze is blown
Us and all can live as one

Shade 74: In The Abandoned Tunnels

What is here that’s calling?
Whispering through the night
Telling us some secret
Man keeps locked inside

What is here so tempting?
A beacon through the clouds
Things we weren't searching for
Longing to be found

The scratching in the darkness show true
We are sinners too
We are sinners too

[From the streets above]
Alone our bodies are nothing
Alone our thoughts are nothing
But we share one soul and we build one fate
Through the glory of our brothers and the mercy of the State

What is here that beckons?
Like mystery in the dark
Things we fear forbidden
Tugging at our heart

Stay we hear your calling
With our candle's tiny flame
We won't ignore your calling
You speak to us by name
You speak to us by name

Shade 73: Waning Gold of Summer

The summers ending once again
Though not at all too slow.
The time that we all knew would come
Has come and I must go.
Soon we must be on our way
But we shall meet again
To raise a glass another day.
Farewell, my friends, till then.

Shade 72: New July

I hear the golden ringing bells
Far atop the summer hill
Prosperity and joy and love
Begin my life to fill
The air is warm the trees are thick
Hatchling birds take wing
The lady who has won my heart
Contently wears my ring

Shade 71: Reverence

Do not tell me you are sorry
Do not tell me you repent
Do not plead that you deserve salvation from that which you lament
No, you are on your own now
You claimed that you could handle
You took for granted of your power, now you sit in shambles
The world was ever at your feet
With confidence you boasted long
Have you found humility in finding you were wrong
I take back from you your courage
Your ambition, though it shone
What have you come to understand now that you bask alone
Do you now take heed of my design
Though filled with insecurity
And did you find that at your age there still lurks immaturity

Shade 70: Green the Hour of Spring

Revive O green to live again
And end your lengthy sleep
Through the barren valleys let
Your emerald color sweep
The winds have shifted route again
The gentle zephyrs flower
The lily-white of yester draws
For green it is your hour

Shade 69: Karma

So delicate a balance hangs
A wispy thin of air
Between soft peace and sorrow pangs
‘tween elation and despair
The pendulum swings so temper thoughts
And walk with cautious trend
For though your wealth doth hit the top
Your health will hit the other end

Shade 68: What Grows Yonder

You know you shouldn’t eat me
And regret it when you do
But I’m succulent and juicy to the eye
And you think of all the fun you’ll have
When you’re full and so content
So you’ll take me and you’ll bake me in a pie
And you’ll savor every little bite
Until the evidence is gone
And I’m a memory in your scrambled brain
That’s when you remember
All the things you should have done
And you swear you’ll never take a bite again

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