Return to the Bottom

I want to lay down and sleep
Forever dreaming of the days I woke to your smile
The heady aroma of everything you are
Keeping me on the highest cloud
I want to return to the days
When I lived in your heart
Because I don't know where to go from here
In the world of today where "alone" is just as abstract as "dream"
And I don't think I remember who I was before I was yours
So
I want to lay down and sleep
Because I remember the view from the bottom
Where the floor needed vacuuming
And the old show under the bed was a comforting friend
The thing is
The bottom is up from where I am now
And above that is the dream of the memory of
You
I want to lay down and sleep
Because falling so far after rising so high
Feels like jumping off a bridge and not dying
I need to lay down and sleep
Before I start to fight the instinct to survive
And dreams become the reality of sleeping forever

By Any Other Name

Question the beauty of a rose
For a love that may go by any other name
May be replaced in the dark of night
Where dreams rule over fate and
Roses may make a man bleed

Question the beauty of a rose
For a love whose growth must be pruned
Groomed and taught to be pleasant
Lest its thorns become wild and
A man becomes enslaved to an ideal of "beautiful"

Question the beauty of a rose
For a love that smells so sweet
May find its way into the heart
Where love's battle with sensible rages ever on and
Roses may make a man headsick

Welcome the beauty of the dandelion
For a love that is so pure
It is first seen by children
As a gift presented to their mother and
An innocence that once lost may never be recaptured

Welcome the beauty of the dandelion
For a love so sweet it may become wine
Sharing this honeyed intoxication so
It may be forgiven for growing so wild and
Beautifully, unapologetically free