Hallowed Be Thy Name

Hearing the tale that doesn’t belong,

Realizing again that it’s all still so wrong.

That knot in my stomach, it found its way back,

To the lies and deception that still fill your heart.

You’re stumbling around in the dark,

Taking the path where you know you shouldn’t go.

You deny any crime or sin

By hiding in plain sight as proof and to show

The innocence of a shepherd with its lamb

Can’t be connected to the bull’s eye mark,

Of you having been exposed in the dark.

Too many eyes, too many close calls.

Too many echoes in the crowded halls.

You think you can cover it up being hallowed;

The truth hurts so much.

You’re stumbling around in the dark,

Taking the path where you know you shouldn’t go.

You deny any crime or sin

By hiding in plain sight as proof and to show

The innocence of a shepherd with its lamb

Can’t be connected to the bull’s eye mark,

Of you having been exposed in the dark.

The truth always comes out, what will still appear,

In the falling of every single silent tear.

02.02.18

© Kerri L. Stanley

Not Otherwise Specified

I look back at how we wound up here.

Memories are scattered in my mind.

Just like your thoughts and movements

And sands of time.

That time is out of reach when you had shined.

Solidly walking 

that lifeline,

And now the answers are so hard to find.

All the scrambled words that are spoken,

And they reveal that you are broken.

What is there left to say?

What is there left to say?

Every time you flip that switch,

You unravel another woven stitch.

What is there left to say?

And the ties that bind my hands,

Tightly knotted to prevent your escape.

You didn’t choose this.

Logic and reality were yours to miss.

You were handed a new deck of cards

To play.

All the scrambled words that are spoken,

And they reveal that you are broken.

What is there left to say?

Every time you flip that switch,

You unravel another woven stitch.

What is there left to say?

And we try to play by the rules,

Amid the cheaters and all the flaws.

Pray, pray hard to our God.

For the means to fix what is broken.

And understand the words when they

Need to be spoken.

What is there left to say?

Can we bring  back the balance to stay?

11.22.17
©Kerri L. Stanley

Love Hard

Love hard. 

Stop hating.

Lines are crossed,

Lives are lost.

We’ve forgotten how to hate less,

Or how to mend this brokenness.

We must plant seeds of hope,

Tie love knots with this life rope.

In the darkness shine unified light,

And keep faith in our sights.

How can we mend our hearts?

In peace we must embark.

How can we make things right?

And live peacefully without fright?

Love hard.

Stop waiting.

10.02.17
© Kerri. L. Stanley

Riptide

It looks just like you're standing on the shore,

The riptide is pulling you in.

Each crashing wave sinks your feet deeper 

   Into the sand.

Rooted to where you must stand,

Unable to free yourself from the knowledge 

   Of going down.

Lips sealed tight with your secret,

Unable to even utter a sound. 

A hand reaches out for you,

But it's nothing but an illusion. 

The act of pretending to want to even care,

Is obvious in what's not hidden in your stare.

Shameless pining to nurture self abuse,

Unwilling to let go of what is unattainable. 

Buried deeper into the sand,

You refuse to reach out your hand,

Choosing to gamble with your psychological,

   Emotional and spiritual growth,

Thinking that the tide will recede and lessen,

Not seeing that it is nothing but an obsession. 

It looks like you're standing on the shore,

The riptide is pulling you in,

Because you have no strength to liberate yourself 

   From where you willingly and foolishly stand.

09.04.17
©Kerri L. Stanley

Highs and Lows

I took a ride to the coast,

Just me and nobody else

To unscramble these thoughts in my mind. 

What I remember the most,

Is how lonely I felt

How that pain could leave me feeling so blind. 

I watched the waves on the shore 

Like so many other times before 

And I knew I was where I should be. 

Not to let it consume me,

It was time to forgive,

Even if it meant to agree to disagree.

And the highs get so high,

And the lows get so low

And the things that make us most

Uncomfortable are the things that

Teach us what we all need to know.

Yeah, I saw that fine line,

And I relinquished the chance

To leave it there when I knew I had to go.

I took the long way home,

Turned the music up loud 

And the playlist was worthy to note:

"Don't Miss Your Life" and 

"If I Needed You",

I heard the words of these songs echo the most.

Still I brought them back home,

All these jumbled up thoughts,

As they tumbled right out of my hands. 

I put them all in a jar

That I handed over to you,

And you could see how far back it all began. 

And the highs get so high,

And the lows get so low

And the things that make us most

Uncomfortable are the things that

Teach us what we all need to know.

Yeah I saw that fine line,

And I relinquished the chance

To leave it there when I knew I had to go.

And you lifted me high 

To a place I didn't think I could go 

Not wanting to miss this life,

Knowing I would still always need you 

And learning that together we would still grow

And hold on to each other like we did long ago. 

08.21.17
©Kerri L. Stanley

Wayward Stance

They say the truth will set you free

Yeah like redemption felt walking down a church aisle.

Unless we walk in your shoes, what will we see,

But a trail of your sins strewn for miles.

And there just around the bend,

Your hidden life that has no end.

You step,

You turn

To your own private dance 

Fooled you think you have us

Into believing not whether

We'd be fooled again.

You can't even give in,

And you don't know how to walk away 

From this lie of yesterday.

Vows that you made are silenced around,

As you repeat a ritual knotted and tied.

On your knees you should fall to the ground.

But your morale only lessens

And there will be a next time 

To connect to all the times when 

You turned it into something beyond just friends.

You smile,

You yearn

To preserve your secret stance

Boldly thinking that you must  

Justify it all not to be a romance

Unable to even recall when 

The masquerade all began 

Now we don't know what else we can say 

To this grievance that's in the way. 

Yeah you are going to throw it all away,

As the hands of time put away another day. 

08.06.17
©Kerri L. Stanley

Glitter and Gold

I saw you again the other day

At one of your local haunts

Guess you never have anything to hide wherever you go.

As for me and my imagination,

We keep each other in check

And never argue about you having to be alone.

I'm still asked about you all the time,

And I guess I'm doing a good job of towing your line.

But sometimes I think about you,

And I know I'll never stand up,

To confront you and all your reasons;

Always the lion controlling her lair

Where the people will never understand you

Because by now I've come to know,

Even though it glitters, it isn't gold.

Well I think I've come to know her,

And without you she would crumble,

So I know you just can't bear to let her go.

Certain things you expose without knowing,

And they prompt answers to the questions,

And there's certain things that have to just be let go.

You were asked about it but refused to take the fall.

And I guess by now it's nobody's call.

There will never come that save for a rainy day,

And I guess my imagination is only white and gray.

But someday I think you are going to feel the cost;

What you think is a win is really the price of what was lost.

07.13.17

©Kerri L. Stanley