They All Know

Aimlessly, you continue to roam,
Never realizing all that you’ve shown,
And they talk about you up there,
A prized scandal they claim, they claim
all their own.

Back when it had begun,
Is when you started to come undone,
So many moons ago,
Well they all know, they all know.

REFRAIN
You think it’s nothing because it’s not
spoken aloud,
But you’re treading water, and eventually
you will drown.
It’s the talk of the town that they keep
dancing around,
Keeping it behind sacred doors thinking
broken treasures can’t be found.

Your cover, it is blown,
They all know.
You think you’re faultless,
But they know, they all know.

REFRAIN
You think it’s nothing because it’s not
spoken aloud,
But you’re treading water, and eventually
you will drown,
It’s the talk of the town that they keep
dancing around,
Keeping it behind sacred doors thinking
broken treasures can’t be found.

All the time,
They are mindful,
And they judge behind their smiles.

In due time,
The clock will chime,
And you will have to atone.

03.17.18
© Kerri L. Stanley

Not Quite Over

We’ve been here before,
Losing sight of what it’s all for.
Somehow I’ve gotten replaced
For the love you needed in haste,
Whom you think you need more to adore.

To fill your soul and what’s left
Of self pride scarred since adolescent depth.
And you’ve wandered too far away,
Wandered too far away.

It’s like you’ve crossed the border
To abandoned times out of order.
We keep getting older,
But it’s not quite over.
The friendship that has been broken
Can’t hold a candle to what I keep holding,
Even if you have somehow wandered,
The candle flickers in its holder.
Still it’s not quite over,
Not quite over.

It’s not knowing how to share,
And even forgetting that I’m here.
It’s that voice to whom you don’t listen,
Neglecting the friendship that’s still there.
It’s a promise made to the end,
That we’d always be best friends.
Yet here we are at a dead end,
A dead end.

I refuse to ever doubt
That it will fade to be allowed,
Just because you aren’t aware,
Or are blinded by false love.
We put on a front,
Lying to each other.

Still it’s not quite over,
Not quite over.

03.08.18
© Kerri L. Stanley

Nothing at All

Pen to paper, I’ll write it all down,
And I’ll pretend that it means nothing at all.
But if there’s nothing that is happening,
In the hours that are the night,
What is it I’m not writing about?

Your vision is blurred in what you refuse to see,
Perspectives from the people of day.
Your senses are muted and buried by the heart
Overcompensating to pretend that it’s free.

Oaths that were taken on that sacred day,
Only realized in the role that you play.
It’s all part of how you learn to live with the lies -
Disconnected from nothing happening today.

Confessor to friend, I’ll lay it all down,
And I’ll pretend it means nothing at all.
But if there’s nothing that is happening,
In these things that make up you and she,
What is it I’m not talking about?

02.23.18
© Kerri L. Stanley

Trespass

Those are safe words,

What you put in your text.

In case you are challenged,

And ultimately put to the test.

There’s a fence that you will cross,

A very obvious visible line,

Yet you think that you’re not seen

When you’re standing on the other side.

Everybody sees.

Everybody knows.

Everybody denies.

Trespass.

The weight of your burden cannot be felt

Because you carry each other’s sins for each other.

Reasons and excuses unlock the key to the gate,

So you see no need for penance to your Father.

But everybody sees.

And everybody knows.

Still, everybody denies.

Trespass.

Just because you can cross over to the other side,

Does not mean it was never a trespass.

02.17.18

© Kerri L. Stanley

Asking For a Friend

If you know the truth in the words to a story

Can be hidden amid secret deceit

Should you read between the lines?

Asking for a friend.

If you hear a telltale whisper that sounds like a lie

Carried in the branches of a willow tree,

Should you wait and listen for them to bend?

Asking for a friend.

If you perceive what looks like a sin

Repeating itself as only habits can,

Should you brush it off time and again?

Asking for a friend.

If you know something to be wrong,

Even when it might seem all right,

Should you take action to make it end?

Asking for a friend.

If you know it is bringing you down,

And keeping you awake at night,

How do you know when is then?

Asking for a friend.

Asking for a friend.

02.02.18

© Kerri L. Stanley

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