When you think of an angel, you think light.

Halos maybe. Pristine purity and wings of healing. Twinkling, soft music that plays in the mountain ranges of childhood memories. Workers of heaven.

But Death has her angels too.

Nearly no one expects me.

Not my darked skin like that of the deepest night. Not the gold markings that swirl across my skin as a living reminder of the good that I’ve don...

No palm reader could have predicted how my life would find me here.

My hands are warm and they twitch as I watch the scene before me play out.

I inspect my fingernails against the milky white color of my skin. They are trimmed close to the skin and perfectly shaped. I naively wish for a moment that dirt would find residence under my nails, but that’s all it is: wishful thinking. The gold bands cl...

Flowers.

Lots of them.

Lilles.

Roses.

Daisies.

Wilting as the frost sets in.

My steps are heavy and slow.

The sun beams down on me as the chilled wind ruffles my windbreaker. I can see my breath shimmer in the morning light as it’s expelled from my body.

At least it’s not _my_ last.

Stones.

A mother

A father

A daughter

A sister

A son

A brother

A lover

A baby

A grandm...

The mind sighs

and the heart is tugged closer

A soft beat, a lullaby to a melody.

_What is it that draws you to waste in sighs my friend? _

__

_I waste for change is upon us and I know your hurt. _

__

__

The darkness swirls between in an endless circle and solemn understanding flit between them.

_You know my pain but you’ve seen my joy. This is but a chapter in our book. You think there’s no...

two go in

one comes out

blood for a penny

a headless henny

throw a rock

another another

broken bones make a fine bow

Broken bodies bow the best

tip toe

tip toe

to the nest...

One.

Smile big. It’s beginning.

You don’t know much. But you know you.

Two.

Be distracted. You’re gonna find your way.

Eyes wide. Take it in.

Three.

Focus in. Talk more about less.

Shake in repentance.

Four.

First love. Give it away.

Look for friends who choose to stay.

Five.

Run free. Play around with your sound.

Get loud. Stand out in a crowd.

Six.

First miss. Never said goodbye b...

It’ll pierce you in the neck

Stab you in the back.

Yet it’s the very thing that makes you

you....

One thing stuck out

As I was huddled down

Growing up.

Boys were always told

That God wipes away every single daughter’s every single tear.

So you best be careful with them.

Until a humble broken boy wondered at a man and asked

Does God wipe away my tears too?

And a heart melted at a topic buried under a pendulum swung too far.

They are not clay.

We are not clay.

Guys are not somethi...

Stab into my back

The very thing you protect

Left behind to rot....

It started as a song

But I’ve lost the melody.

Sitting at the grown up table,

_Is_ anyone stable?

I talked with the faces

Washed my hands with the broken flower vases.

Sat with strangers on those stone-hard benches

Followed His tears in those life-worn trenches,

No one really wants to see over their neighbors fences.

Well

The absence of warmth. That’s how I’d describe it. The echo and the...