Front facing
Eagerly pacing
You leap as I fall
We've seen it all
Separated by the miles
In my head stacked like files
Stepping over the lines
I try to hold account my actions
Letting the waves of time
Dilute my rations

Shelves are empty of lysol wipes, except for an unopened pallet in the aisle containing fresh supply. Watching customers slowly descend upon the pallet like walking dead, the worker unpacking it just trying to get through the shift without being trampled. What a sight.

An illness befalls the land
Unlucky as it seems, lessons to learn
The walls that separate us then
Do not stand in the present term
Unsolicited advice slips through
The mind as porous as one's skin
A heightened sense beyond the pale
Shared among a shopping line of dominoes
Tattooed with whatever is fit to print
Lest we run out of paper, come next edition
Buying the latest opinion on sale
Easily consumed and lacking nutrition
Toppling, one after another
A homogeneous room of deafening echoes
Shakes me awake to an upright gait
Slamming the snooze, postponing the blues

When you reach the end
You won't know when to pack
Our regards we send
For the things you'll soon lack
As blood halts and membranes boil
To the deepest ends you descend
Or up like smoke, your soul from the soil
Seeing those you used to defend
They gaze at your pictures, polished and royal
How you wish now to speak, for time to bend
One foot in, one foot out
A profile in courage and class
Rules out the southern route
Petty pursuits cut off the northern pass

Easy to talk, harder to listen. The learning curve shows. Taking in someone else's thoughts and what it triggers in you can be unsettling, if not unpredictable. But that's the point. Can't tread in those familiar shallows forever and expect to learn good form.

Here, under shade
I conceal my name
With ink that will fade
What's my game?
Other than the life I made
What's my motivation?
When amongst a who's who
Talking down to me on occasion
They lend a word, sometimes two
Like I can't understand
The choices I think through

Here, under shade
I'm the product of your delusion
In restless waters I will wade
What you think is an intrusion
Others hear a serenade

'I fly a starship
Across the Universe divide
And when I reach the other side
I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
But I will remain
And I'll be back again, and again and again'

As one stands at the edge of the world
Gazing before them
At the past, present, and future
There's no reason to restrain
What's held in secret till the rapture

Focusing closely on the stars
Will reveal elaborate music
In its full arrangement
It is more than the sum of its parts
The words are futile; the sounds, infinite.

Universal steps
Where are the signs?
Frozen on ice, can't feel the rest
Relatively inept
Cavorting between the lines
Their memories are kept
In the shades of right and wrong
Lay the hints of dawn within a song