As clear as an Indian summer evening in October
It wouldn't matter how much you lowered the exposure,
The details of my existence steadily burn in my mind, their enclosure
The way the light shined through that unfinished treehouse
That old familiar highway, I could mark every exit of the route
Helpless in the backseat, a child undergoing that season of drought
Uprooted life, adolescent story re-written
When metamorphosis turned me in, I suddenly had competition
First internal desire to set my guards ablaze when they cast my muse forbidden
When escapism tied her first noose around my neck
How hallway comments became contagious, deathly spreading their effects
Becoming collateral damage to the landslide when Eros came to collect
Each ornament's location on a tree picked fresh from the lot
The first time I became uncomfortable with comfort, yet he had not
When the clock finally rang midnight, bandits in broad daylight now caught
When I traded fields for towers, the world loomed large, I was so small
Heat on my back at that picnic bench, unaware I was on the cusp of an incredibly long fall
Every laugh on the floor of those adjacent rooms, every memory posted on the wall
Hollow after my lifelong protector dropped me in the mountains & flew back to Mars
The night I'd have lied there for years, if night only extended that long, staring at those stars
The feeling departure carved into my skin, leaving me with new scars
The crash course of the dichotomy of self government
Disbelief that the years continue to gift me such characters of wonderment
When I fell prey to the serpent & faced my due judgment
I absorb it all, even conversations I can never un-hear
When I learned misery loves company even when misery is sincere
I'd never forget the wars won gaining reign over unknown frontier
The inflection of voice, a change in demeanor
An eye that's turned from me to grasses superficially greener
How distress tends to steal skin from my bones, leaving me a smaller creature
I've known every word whispered to me, I can't forget any eyes that have poured into mine
As they all enter the front door, as many have waved their goodbyes
Annotated in the corners of my book, leaving me to analyze
This prophecy of mine leaves many to choose, intimidated or adore
I've gone to every market with gold in my hands, not a merchant unexplored
After all this time, it still seems amnesia is a luxury I can't afford
Yet when my deepest introspection rises, in the late night hours I feel most true
I mediate on my life of fullness, my comfort in this unique solitude
Their colors so vibrant in my mind, I can't leave a memory unturned
If they ever make me choose ash of my remembrance or the smoke of the forgotten -
I'll say leave me burned