Tag: original characters

Your Paper Crowns

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I walked through fire for you to hold the crown as a prize.

Imagine my surprise

When you told me you can’t recall my name.

Look at the frame,

The one behind your left lying eye

With me holding the barricades in place, head held high.

But go on and call me a traitor,

Soon you’ll be lacking innocent saviours

To sacrifice on hills filled with sports cars.

And trust me – I’ll walk through fire again to burn down your farce,

I’ll go to hell if it means you’re coming

To get a little loving

From the prince of lies himself.

He would put your face on the highest shelf

Of poor runner-ups

But you would never make a fuss

Because your head would be laminated,

Tongue dilated,

As I let your lips parch

While all those you’ve betrayed since last March

Take away your dignity and leave you to fight alone.

You’re not allowed a word or a moan.

They, too, walked through fire to hold the prize.

Imagine their surprise

When you swore that a paper crown would suffice.

-JW

Counting Down

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Once the droplets settle on the glass we both know it’s over,

But we still count down the minutes in case this’ll pass

As we grow older.

I draw circles in the humid air, slowly and somewhat patiently.

The leaves keep getting stuck in my frizzy weekend hair,

And then you say to me:

“Maybe something somewhere is better than this crushing feeling.

We’re both so young, yet looking the worse for wear,

We’re wilfully bleeding.”

But I take your words with a grain of salt and an ounce of solace.

It’s difficult to leave when parting ways is no one’s fault –

Yet, this love is lawless.

Once the droplets settle on the grass we both know it’s time,

But we still count down the seconds in case it’ll pass

With the freezing clime.

-JW

The Story, Retold

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Paint my face greyer than October mists

With the lightning bolts you strike

From your angry fists.

Dance around the subject when they ask

Whether exiling me

Was an easy task.

But never submit an answer worth their wait

So I keep being the last thing

On your plate.

A scandal or two won’t break a “good man”.

But if I play the cards wrong

They won’t understand.

And they’ll wonder where I went off the rails

When I accepted freedom

With all that it entails.

The next time you see me, call me an enemy.

Let my grey face fade

From your memory.

We’ll just play two strangers for everlong

As their thunderstorms

Paint the story all wrong.

Bleach

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I hold onto the cold banister

As they beg you:

“Please banish her.”

But you aren’t my punisher

So stand down.

Stay behind the barrier.

I know how to self-sabotage,

Say words like:

“We are meant to last.”

Then cut open the mirage,

Detach the wings

From the fuselage.

I contemplate my realities

As you wait it out

While the crowd isn’t pleased.

Fight again or appease?

The latter option

Feels like a sweet release

So I let go of what is out of reach.

Release the banister,

Let you win the siege.

Never trust those who preach

That life’s better

When soaked in bleach.

-JW

Don’t Take Me With You

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You swore to gods that your patience for me was long gone

When you cut me off like a deceitful con.

Even though you barely kept your head above the water

You never tried becoming a better father.

You stole time and trust from anyone who mattered

But my alliances were never scattered.

The night we last met your intentions were see-through.

I prayed – please don’t take me with you.

You never drove off that bridge in your selfish sadness.

Yet, you showed me the purest form of madness.

It’s been 6 years since I last heard your excuses,

But the pain you brought still feeds my muses.

And maybe, just maybe, you took me with you after all?

Because the rage I breathe feels like an endless fall.

-JW

Whisper The Name

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My tongue gets sour and bitter, it dreams up revenge fantasies.

A while back I hired it a babysitter

But it still screams out violent prophecies.

They try to bite me with their fangs, strip me of the power,

Acting as the god almighty

While I recklessly destroy and devour.

And I know they refuse to be scared of my baby pink guts.

But my blade, it makes moves.

It doesn’t stop until someone else rots.

My teeth get blacker with each hex that I spew at their swords.

But they’ve brought their hijackers,

They take over my thoughts and words.

Although I know it’s too late, my tongue sharpens its knives

Ready to unleash all the hate

Right back at their crooked hives.

So the bitterness slips away, I trip on its tails while it passes,

And I’m fit to fight again

Until they whisper my name in history classes.

-JW

The City’s Alive

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The windows of the old pharmacy glow loud in the pitch black night.

I’m at the street corner you left me on, facing my oversights.

The wires over my head get me buzzed like cheap dandelion wine

And a neon cross escapes the church, it slides down the steep decline.

Blue eyes peer out of gates and doorframes, looking for my scent.

The bricks from painted walls tell them, “We don’t know where she went.”

I sneak around parks, hide behind gravestones until the coast is clear,

Until the city whistles louder than wind – so my frightful ears can hear.

The last shadows of the night help me to pave the long way back home,

And the cars hum in unison, erasing the cool fear of ever feeling alone.

As long as I keep waltzing faster, I know I’ll escape all the harm.

This city will wrap me like a blanket, it’ll hold onto me like a charm.

-JW

Beating The Reflection

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It doesn’t get much easier when the mirror is no longer lying

Because you can’t take back the bullets,

Can’t take back the prying.

Once you were trying so hard to beat the broken reflection

But it was never playing your game

Of zero love and affection.

Now you have to thoroughly question – why does it cut you still

Whenever the night puts its claws

On your windowsill?

But as long as you swallow it like a bitter pill each morning,

I don’t think there’s a reason

For senseless mourning.

There’s peace in the mirror image getting boring and plain

And even if it doesn’t get easier,

It takes away the pain.

-JW

The Hippodrome

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In between the most private of moments the camera flashes bring me home.

The curtains I’ve wrapped around myself don’t hide me from the Hippodrome.

But these horses keep dragging the time faster and faster down the streets,

And I’m spinning in frantic circles to find the escape or just an empty seat.

Lights blur my vision as they’re leaking neon on my darkest dancing shoes.

I can’t run away now, the footsteps I leave are sparkling in pinks and blues.

If I survive one more night, then maybe their greed will lose its sizzling heat,

Or maybe it’ll scorch my scars until I bleed dry without missing a beat.

The choice lies down on my neck as all the flashes melt into a single one,

A pulsating array of stars emerge from the horizon, the prize yet to be won.

Between the most public of shunnings, the raindrops bring me back to life.

I let the curtains drop and blind the crowds that once kicked me down

And still took a bite.

-JW

Glass Limousine

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I see my refection in store windows and taxis,

It would be a lie if I told you it’s not taxing

And it would be a travesty to tell you I can sleep

When I’ve spent years driving this glass limousine.

Everyone’s seen the uphill battles in real time,

Cheered for the downfalls, paid for some new grime.

The climb is what really bores them to death

So they clap way too loud, and I take it as a threat.

But while they’re observing, I thrive in the blind spots,

I build a life out of fumes in case this car stops.

One day they’ll run out of gasoline to feed it,

One day it’ll devour all these low-hanging people.

Until then I keep driving, hiding weapons under covers,

And I hold my hope close like a hopeless lover.

I still see my reflection in chic silverware and screens

But it would be a lie if I told you that nowadays

I don’t also see it raindrops and trees.

-JW