Because of his death,
We had to face a lot of flak.
Living on the streets, parched, starving and cold;
Always on the run and hiding
As if we’re at war with law and order.
Everything we earned, we gave away
To play with guns and bullets,
When we lost our way home,
We bribed and got an extra dose of happiness.
The moon spoke about our silence
When it illuminated radiantly;
It always right when it shone like a fresh rose.
Something we knew
Was only a temporary solution to our problem:

Heart bound by fear
Tongue laced to my lips.

Words are left
Unspoken.

My hand is my mouth.
Pen, my tongue.
Flowing freely
The words that are locked in my throat.

Breath hitched
And the thought
Of using my voice

My voice is the one you hear with your eyes
The one that speaks the truth.

She is uninhibited
and her eyes are open wide
She blinks with innocence
and asks the question why?

No one has seen her heart
though she wears it on her sleeve
She's a liberal lover
she's got a heart that bleeds

He is alone, no family
that is how it seems
He's just the one she's looking for
the product of her dreams

Scintillating aura
hides a darkened soul
sick and twisted reasoning
seduction is her goal

I cannot remember when
my body knew no pain
when a walk refreshed,
and didn't drop nuclear bombs
down my spine and hips.

I cannot remember
moving without a stick
bracing an unbalanced form,
when the ache didn't prompt
every movement, every fall

I cannot remember
a time when metal shards
didn't flow through my marrow,
minutes seem like decades
as a lake of fire ignites the arch

Why am i?

Driving wind screaming
February holds the reigns
Frozen unshod hooves

Gallop for the rains
Atop the hardened frost line
Below pounding trot

A sleeping world waits
Root and spore begin to plot
Winter changes gait

By Izaan Raza, March 2023

Roses were red and violets use to be blue-
The oceans rose and the world was changed for the new-
The future is cunning and all-knowing but you had no clue-

For what came next shook the books of time-
The past forgotten, and the earth was left abandoned-
Nature is destructive and humble-
But time is ageless-

It's going to be a risk wherever you go
They're going to say that you're all show
You'll always be too young or too old
You fall into doubt and the fire grows cold

When you turn the tables, they rearrange
When you figure out the rules, they change
And when you finally grasp it in your hand
It seems to slip through your fingers like sand

I started this off listening to Iron Maiden Symphonic Medley II
Epic Symphonic Rock.
.

Twisting steps of chasse`
maneuvers born of skill
Knives slicing air and darkness
trying for the kill

A dance of death and horror
two bodies 'round and 'round
Knives slashing, letting blood
spill on rocky ground

Stygian blackness interrupted
cries of pleasure in the night
Another incorrigible sinner
sent to bathe in holy light

Assembled over the years,
I was pieced together by many things.
Among them, wounds that pierced me
without blood, but disfigured me for a time.

Scars and abrasions remain,
from loss and from love.
If I’m fortunate though,
another compress will be within reach,
ready to be applied, when needed,
by my experienced hands.