The Man With the Queen

He sat on the streets, chess board before him
Another player across, pieces scattered
The battle of wits at its peak
A fight that he was losing

A beer bottle sat by his side
A cigarette on his lips
A filthy coat hung over his shoulders
He pondered his next move

Pawn down, bishop there
Knight moves, rook stays
Flurry of moves, another loss
Moves the Queen--
"Checkmate."

The Boy Who Spoke French

"Ne t’inquiète pas," spoken softly
Soothing jarred nerves, wrung out hands
Hours like liquid, flowing around
Too much time, not quite enough

A quiet song, a quick laugh
A broad grin, a lengthy talk
A long afternoon, slowly dripping out
With us at the centre, watching it pass

"Ne t’inquiète pas," hand on shoulder
"Ne t’inquiète pas, dance with me."
"I don't dance." "But with me you can."
So music became the world

Physics never applied to us that day
Math had no hold on us
But a few words in another language
"Ne t’inquiète pas."

The Pirate Girl

She dozed off to visions of the sea
A sea in space, transcending time
She swooped in and saved me
A kindred soul looking for its kind

She was the Watson to my Holmes
A heroine armed with a teddy bear
We found our own world to roam
We saved each other there

She questioned herself for years
She found herself and fought
I pushed down all my fears
We found what we always sought

So her spirit, dazed and wild
Found mine, cold and hard
Fate on that day smiled
Then broke us from the start

The Magnet Boy

Not a scientist, not a musician
A pack rat, needing his hoard
His magnets alongside his trombone
His trombone alongside a binder

The salty sweet taste of effort
One he's hardly ever known
A note of music for his troubles
Blown away on winds he doesn't know

A magnet, polar ends, polar strengths
So we cautiously stand by each other
Attracting, repulsing, pushing, pulling
A trombone and flute breaching our defense

The Girl Who Lost Her Soul

She lost her will three years ago
When her muscles tore and bones tightened
She lost the thing she loved the most
She couldn't swim anymore.

She broke her heart two years ago
When she loved a boy with golden eyes
He never looked twice at her
She gave up on him.

She left her home one year ago
When she broke away from her parents
It was a choice she had to make
She missed her life.

Now she's held together by threads
Threads she weaves and strengthens
She's lost herself this time around
But she'll find the light again.

The Boy With the Golden Eyes

The easiest way to describe him: gold
Eyes like the rising sun, curls like grape vines
Laughter, smiles, jokes on his lips
Smirk and a grin, waving away

Jumping, twisting, splashing in water
Diving, swimming, kicking away
Tackles and hugs, running around
Just a chant and a hand signal off

The lazy grins when he says hello
Boundless energy, fooling around
Laughs at life, warmth and pride
Right inside his golden eyes

The Girl With Five Loves

She loves her sisters
Two of them, jewels to her
She takes them under her wing
Protecting, teaching, loving
One, two.

She loves him, that boy
Worried she's messed up
Her best friend and worst enemy
He understands her, hurts her
Three.

She loves her friends
These are the ones that stay
They question how, not why
They are her companions
Four.

She loves the mask she dons
Hiding everything behind it
That funny, careless, flirty mask
Covering a soul of shadows
Five.

The Mindless Boy

He dreams of walking the stars
Running through the universe
He dreams of Einstein and Aristotle
Being better than them all

He dreams of intelligence
Smarter than everyone else
He dreams of creativity
Taking down the world

He thinks he's too good for anyone else
But not good enough for himself
His friends are few, loves are fewer
But they stand by him still

He dreams of the skies and seeking its secrets
He sleeps to the lullabies of the heavens
He sees the turn of the universe
Feels its beat beneath him, thudding
And he can only dream more

The Boy With the Heart of Gold

Understanding, kind, helpful
Those are the first
Smart, compassionate, thoughtful
Those are the second

He's the boy with his head in the clouds
His feet planted firmly in the earth
With laughter on his tongue
Sharp wit in his mind
He's the one to run to

He's the safe one, the careful and tried
The one whose twin hands are both tied
By the stars, the earth, a girl, his friends
He thinks the beginning, or perhaps the end?

He's the one who knows others
And he's the one to save them all.

The Girl of Stars

The stars, she says, are beautiful
The sky waits for the dark and takes them out
The planets spinning, galaxies whirling
So she watches the sky for the stars

The stars may be beautiful, but so is music
And so she picks up a violin
The sky rends to pieces and the stars weep
As the heavens move in their cosmic dance

The stars may shine their dusty lights on her
But she can love too, so love she does
A boy with stars in his eyes and rocks beneath his feet
One person out of hundreds, thousands

She lives like the stars
Brilliant, fiery, throwing out light
Reserved, spinning, somehow lonely
So she finds others like her

The stars light up all that's around
So she illuminates petty lives
Sees hidden things, with help and hope
Like a mother, but just too far

Stars burn within, casting her away
She is a star, with her planets and moons
The wonders of science, the beauty of music
The joy of friends, the worries of life
She could be a star

The Boy With the Bible

This is a story of love and broken hearts
Of secrets and friendship
Of strength and weakness
Of life and death
This is a story of the best days of my life
This is a story of the worst

This is a story of a boy who moved
Of the love he held for God
Of the love he felt for me
Of the love he had for another
This is a story of him torn apart
This is a story of me breaking down

This is a story of science and faith
Of building, studying, fighting
Of taking risks and jumping
Of making mistakes and learning
This is a story of us together
This is a story of us gone away

This is a story of him and me
Of loving him too much to bear
Of him not enough, loving another
Of burying the pain, drowning the sorrow
This is a story of wild happiness and joy
This is a story despair and fury

This was how it was, how it was meant to be
He loved so many, but wasn't for me
We had the same mind and split at the seams
The tragedy of our comedy is his story.

The Bird Girl

Here she flutters, waiting for something
Like a flighty bird, can't wait, can't stay
To worry, to flit, always dreaming
A throat built for singing, chirping away
Uncontainable.

Best intentions, best of heart
How could I begrudge her that?
In my story she's played her part
The question is: Now what?
Incorrigible.

But trust, little bird, that's all you need
From you to others and others to you
Stay, brave enough to not flee
Breathe, not far enough for you
Intentional.

The bird girl, who haunts the shadows
Of my mind, and soars by day
To dusk and falling far too slow
To night, and then she flies away
Irrepressible.

The Car Boy

This is the one where I could have moved
I could have lived in Europe
Could have gone to school in Switzerland
Lived somewhere different

This is the one where I helped a boy
He lost his brother to a rope
Cut him down from the ceiling
And broke his heart to pieces

This is the one where a car was damaged
And in fear, didn't tell his rich father
I helped him find his courage
And he found himself respected

This is the one where his family offered
For me to move to Europe
I could have a job and schooling
I could have a new life

This is the one where I stayed right here
So I could see where I could take myself
I could have all my adventures
But without his help.

This is the one where I found myself questioning
What if? What if?
What if I had said yes?
This is my life's greatest what if.

The Girl of Nine Tongues

Summer days, like blazing fire
When I met the Italian girl
Hair like thistles, skin like coffee
And a tongue with nine different lives.

Nine languages, she says
Nine languages she can speak
For Inferno, Faust, or Don Quixote
Perhaps even Phantom of the Opera

A literary mind, close to genius
A silver tongue, accented with lives
Nine lives, nine tongues
Nine languages that live inside her
But what can those lives survive on?