I wanted to paint over my memories
Of you
But I didn't have any paint
In your colour.

If I made you better
Would you make me well?
I won't hide behind the curtains
no more, Counting down the seconds
Till you are first.

Toss out your badges
Wear your bandages with pride
Polish up your boots
And then leave them far behind
You're wearing someone else's shoes
Through the long and broken mile

Need a life with less clutter
Less heart beating on the door
Asking what's the matter
And if I told you what I saw
You'd see it's nothing more
Than stupidity mirrors
And memories on the floor

I wish you didn't play with my head
Or I didn't play with mine
Or whatever
I wish I could look at your name
In the regular way
And not like a combat statistic
Pushing up daisies where a headstone should be
I wish I didn't feel.
Like a robot counting the days
With warm metal indifference.

To All Those Dreams That Never Made It

I used to think in clouds of watercolour
At night my mind would race
In pastels on a damp, white, hopeful canvas
But now when I go to pour the paint, it's dry
When a dream grows up, it dies.

You can't steal yourself away forever
Without something getting lost
Click your bootstraps together
Kansas is going byebye