Sunshine

There's one man, he's like the wishful thinking in my life, I see so, and he's like the wine on the weekend...

A smile and wave, a slight chuckle at my backwards side comments, and dreams that go in every direction.

A giddy, drunken, happy feeling, the world whirling around me, full of life, full of light.

And it's the excitement that comes before a huge summer storm, the whole atmosphere full of anticipation, full of electricity.

And though he is like the sea and it's right he be so, if I hold tight he'll wash over me...

Don't wait, don't stop, don't think about it – we are disasters, and full of mistakes like we ought to be, and I will be one for you, too.

Another drink, another dance, another time around, whirling, twirling, dizzy up the girl.

I can feel everything, I hold my hands open to the sky in order to catch the rain, I close my eyes to feel the wind and the sunlight, and pluck apart my fingers sticky from the tree sap, I am alive.

There's one girl I like she's a smile on a Monday, and she'll fight to stay so...and she's like the sun on the weekend.

Confusion, oh how it leads to irony, and discovery, and experiments that are going nowhere, going everywhere, going, going, gone.

It was a split second of sunlight, a frisbee that just flew right between my open hands, and yet still joy, still freedom.

And you are joy, you are freedom, and we will all become anchored through confusion, we will sort out what is right as we move past what was wrong, and we will help each other in this, our battle.

And though she is like the sea and she's right to be so, still I like that she sails with me...

It's a beautiful kite designed like a dragon, and it soars, flies, escapes on the air currents, tied down to the earth in your hands, by one tiny string – insignificant, and yet everything.

It's a sailboat with a sunfish on its sail, catching the salty breeze, the soul of the ocean, the pirate inside all of us, and the sea our church, our refuge.

And how they interact, they dance, the sea and the wind, and we – caught in the inbetween – revel in both, understanding nothing, and hoping for everything.

Didn't we all break down, didn't we all fake, isn't it alright now, didn't we all break out...

And it was our jail, nuestra jaula, the bars were wintry clouds, the cold floor slick with ice, with fallen leaves packed beneath it, treacherous and lonely.

With a brave face and a quieted soul, we trudged about, learned our perimeters, etched out our time on the walls.

But now, oh freedom! how we have fled and realized that there are no bars to hold us, no ice to plague our skipping laughter across the sound waves, the colors catching sunshine and the flowers' victorious return.

There's one man so bright he blocks the light, and he'll always be so...he's like no sleep on the weekend.

You will overpower me, overpower my senses, I will go crazy in the attempt to understand, my veins poisoned with beauty and passion and vitality.

The negative space will be the positive life, the composition will be the clarity, and the rule of thirds will be the rule of excellence – nothing less, nothing diminished, our life will demand greatness.

This is an existence of art, of dance, of music, sound, souls and singing, of everything important – of art for art's sake – la vie boheme.

And though he is like the sea and he's right to be so, when I hold tight I sink down deep...

It's a deep breath, count to three two one, and a plunge into the dark cold of the ocean far beneath this exhilaration, waiting quietly with patience and joy and a readiness for motion.

It's holding on and letting go of everything, an explosion, a scream from the bottom of a canyon, and satisfaction at the peak of everything, the epicenter of where we go from here, of right now.

It's a calm, but an excitement, a patience, and the inability to sit still, it's a shift in the world, a change in your blood, the beginning the end the middle the start of it all.

Didn't we all break down, didn't we all fake, isn't it alright now, didn't we all break out...

Drop it – the fear, the spook reaction that keeps you looking out the blinds, over your shoulder, listening at every turn – this is easier than you think, just go, just go.

There are no games to play, there is no need for double-speak, be you, drop it, drop this façade that we all think society looks for in us – YOU ARE SOCIETY – what do you want?!

A backless dress to display full back tattoos, elegance redefined, a shift in how we see beauty, how we see each other, how we see ourselves, this world is ours, it's ours.

And though we are like the sea and it's right we be so, we could chase tails all the years I've been given...

Do not waste this, because this, and you, and us, and them, everything – this is beauty.

Song: Sea Song, by Lisa Hannigan

I'm sorry if I gave you heavy boots...

All this feels strange and untrue…

I've never cried over you.

Somehow you possess the odd and mysterious ability to only make me completely numb.

I feel sick to my stomach, heavy, and so on, but in all these months, not a tear.

And I won't waste a minute without you.

Not for lack of thought or memory of you, of this, or what was.

There were such good things – the beautiful morning light, for once feeling comfortable in somebody's arms as I lay waking up, and the sweetest kisses as you went out my door.

And such horrible things – the sinking feeling as I was lumped in with 'karma', the verbal destruction of my (only) photo, and the feeling of being forgotten, again and again, cast to the wayside.

My bones ache, my skin feels cold…

"And it was so great, it just seemed like it worked, even though it was doomed from it's origins…"

I hear this, as these words fly across chapped winter lips, again, maybe for the last time.

Who else cares? What makes me worth remembering?

And I'm getting so tired and so old.

I remember the scene from Anastasia [the Disney version, surely] where she waltzes herself through the royal ballroom, dancing with regal ghosts, and she is the only one ever-present.

Except, in this ballroom, the ever-present character is you.

All of the dancers are the many beautiful, intelligent women, who are so good at keeping secrets and protecting you for no reason, that they will never know the extent of how many dancers there are.

The anger swells in my guts…

There are so many 'worst parts'.

The worst worst part is knowing that there are junctures where the used-to-be best part has now become the worst.

Even worse is the pervasive silence – the never mentioning it, the awkward twitch when that week's acronym comes up in conversation, the completely tangible shared knowledge, shared secret.

And I won't feel these slices and cuts.

"How long have you been with her?" "Three years." Stab.

"And she's wonderful and beautiful, and you love her and won't leave her." "Nope." Stab.

"And you won't tell her." "No." Stab-twist.

I want so much to open your eyes…

And all I can see now is an oh-so-broken person, meandering.

What once was the epitome of 'put-together', 'self-confident' and 'secure' is now a front of sarcasm, grasping at the whirlwind for due dates, and priorities and a sense of things.

Whose only dance partners are equally broken people, but I have learned that two broken people will never be able to achieve a proper whole – you have to be whole individually to start.

'Cause I need you to look into mine.

I don't know the answer, and I don't claim or aspire to be 'it'.

My own answer was to leave the country, get away from everything and even myself, and figure out that I could manage alone.

Incomplete and clearly still unresolved, it may not be the whole answer, and at its end might not be everybody's, but I identified the ground rule of needing one in the first place.

Tell me that you'll open your eyes.

Please.

This risks everything – the entire façade we've built of beautiful sarcasm and criticism of others, of class, of life.

I don't know – I don't want to lose even that, I hope it doesn't happen, but some things must be said.

Get up, get out, get away from these liars…

I don't think you took the road-trip to resolution you had planned over winter break.

Odds are she showed up with food, a bottle of wine, and all of sudden things were better again, same as before, but I may never know.

But even when you weren't speaking to me weeks at a time, I secretly hoped you were driving cross-country, for somewhere perfect like the Redwood Forest, seeking peace and resolution and a start to rebuild.

'Cause they don't get your soul or your fire.

"I'm a bad person."

"No you're not – everybody around you thinks you're phenomenal, no matter what you think that has to count for something."

"Nobody knows me."

Take my hand, knot your fingers through mine…

"How are you?"

"I'm…good. Really good. It's weird. I think I'm really okay."

At the least, I'm no longer broken, we can see I can keep a hell of a secret, and I'd make a pretty good friend – wouldn't it be nice if somebody knew you?

And we'll walk from this dark room for the last time.

You have given me two sideways hugs.

I remember both times, and they both felt like a slap to the face.

I'd like to make a better exit, for once – maybe a high-five would be better, who knows – but sideways hugs make a statement.

Every minute from this minute now…

Baby steps, deep breaths, and I'll walk a bit away each moment.

Perhaps finally I'll be able to turn my head, let it go, and make a friendship work.

Or perhaps we will end in ruin. We are a disaster, but tell me your heart doesn't race for a hurricane…

We can do what we like anywhere.

And I will fly away from this place, from this moment, from this time, exactly a year from now and nobody knows if I'll ever be back, not even me.

And maybe I'll learn Danish, and Telegu, and be published in books, and contribute to the lives of wonderful children.

And I don't expect a single person to be able to follow up with me through that, I almost hope to be completely lost so that I can be completely found.

I want so much to open your eyes…

I can't – won't take you with me.

Not in person, or in mind, or in heart.

And for some reason, I only imagine when you see this hearing a sigh of relief – if you allow it, you can be rid of me, only a year of patience and I am gone.

'Cause I need you to look into mine

You, more than anyone, can hold a conversation of double meaning with me.

You have always understood my other intention, and at our best you were the most honest of anybody I'd ever known [stab, stab, stab]

Please see that this is honest, and with sincere hope for you.

Tell me that you'll open your eyes.

Please drive, walk, run, swim, fly and find something.

Solace. Air. Peace.

Because you have been hurt more than I can fathom, and I cannot think of a way to help.

All this feels strange and untrue…

It's an empty feeling, writing this.

What now? How to proceed? What else to say?

And will we just keep on, will I have a chance to help, will you choose to tell me your story?

And I won't waste a minute without you.

Baby steps, deep breaths, and I'll walk a bit away each moment.