Burn, Baby, Burn.
I was born in flames
In the screams
In the tears of despair
On grief that never healed
On bodies left broken
On shattered glass and empty hands
Just rage
And night
Burning through their eyes
I was born in fire
Burning with city fever
On July 14th
A night when time froze
Tweny-five hours.
No light
No mercy
Just blackout
A hole with no fireworks
A silence too loud
Dark night
Dark hearts
Cardiac sirens
No trace of kindness
The heroes hid
And “Son of Sam”
Yes, “Son of Sam”
The lover-slayer
Wrote love letters dipped in venom
His poetry
A slow, cruel burn
Each word
A loaded match
Each line
A whispered threat
But even then
Even there,
Something still breathed
I was born in flames
Between a siren’s scream
And a DJ’s scratch
Patching the universe
With stolen vinyl
And holy defiance
I was born in flames...
Aby M.
Is there another version of you
Where your eyes aren't this pretty
Your voice not so husky
Your hair unkempt
Your body frail?
Is there another version of you
Where your laughter isn't lilting
Where you aren't always smiling
Where you let yourself be?
Is there another version of you
where you cry in the open
And appear weaker to the world
Is there another version of you
The one thst you hide from everyone else
Where you aren't such an extrovert
Where you aren't always chirpy
Is there another version of you
Where you are cold and shivering
And not always this warm
a version that you keep to yourself?
Tangled up in you
I remember the day I saw her,
running down the avenue...
Chestnut hair flowing in the air,
I was taken by the view
She was running late, ran by my gate,
saying how do you do....
I said, don't run away, come make my day,
turn my grey skies to blue
Later on that night, I caught a sight,
of that lady coming home
I said, hey my dear, don't ever fear,
'cause you'll never be alone
She stopped in her tracks, said is that a fact,
how can you be so sure?
I said, my love is true, and I'm true blue...
guess I'm tangled up in you
She stopped by for a spell, guess y'all can tell,
just how this story ends
She said thanks a lot, but you're not so hot,
why can't we just be friends
I said fine I guess, you know the rest,
she used those nifty shoes
I said I'll sit and wait for your return,
with my whiskey and my blues
the trouble with me is this, you see,
I'm still tangled up in you
yeah still tangled up in you.
soooooo tangled up in you.
I wish I were one of your breaths,
So I could flow through your body and fill you up with life
I wish I were a bead of your blood,
So I could travel through your heart, playful
Oh, to be the moonlight,
So in the nights I could sneak through your window
or to be the summer breeze,
So I could lay on your skin, steal your dream
But your eyes shine to another sky,
more distant,
that make me wish I were a part of your soul,
So I could live alone in Heaven
and be the reflection of all your desires
This way, every time you look at the mirror,
Search deep into your eyes, you'll find me somewhere
I will always be there, even when you cry
'Cause as they say the eyes are the mirror of the soul
But you don't know, oh, how much I'd love
to be a starry sea, to embrace you
To hold you tight, my foam to be your scent
And with my wave to drown you into kisses
Wounded
Distrustful
Inured
Enthralled
Fooled
Estranged
Paralysed
Exposed
Resolved
Consumed
Scholar
Slave
Compelled
Searching
Hopeful
Wounded by its lack
Distrustful of it
Inured to its absence
In thrall to its allure
Fooled by its simulacrum
Estranged from it
Paralysed by fear of losing it
Inexorably exposed to it
Resolved against it
Consumed by longing for it
A scholar to its foreign texts
A slave to its compulsions
Compelled to search for it
Forever
Hopeful
Eyes to the skies
Vs 1
As you move, you glide...
hips sway side to side...
Your step's in rhythm to my heartbeat
Vs 2
You glance across the room...
Your gaze tells me I'm doomed...
To your love and there's no escaping
Pre-Chorus
I raise my eyes, to the skies, and pray
Please dear Lord, give us both, another day
Chorus
Tonight will be the death of me...
Kiss me oh so softly...
We swim together breathlessly...
Drowning in our loving
Vs 3
As a new day dawns...
Our love goes on and on...
Without your love I can't keep breathing
Vs 4
And as the days pass by...
the tears fall from your eyes...
I had a feeling, that you'd be leaving
Pre-chorus
I raise my eyes, to the skies, and pray...
Please dear Lord, give us both, another day
Chorus
Tonight will be the death of me...
Kiss me oh so softly...
We swim together breathlessly...
Drowning in our loving
Chorus
Tonight will be the death of me...
Kiss me oh so softly...
We swim together breathlessly...
Drowning in our loving
repeat chorus and fade
John Derek Hamilton
August 15,2023
revised with music and vocals June 26,2025
posted August 26,2025
We made our padded rooms,
Trampoline parks for a time,
For bouncing off the walls,
As we crash into the side.
Those clouds our leather breakers,
Eroding rolling rows,
Salty tongues to a gobstopper ball,
Cancelling the storm.
Strapped into a jacket,
A hopping biped fowl,
From pterosaur to Christmas baste
Skin golden crisped to taste.
Thrown off the pier a flip,
Does blind the inner ear,
To up or down, or sand or air,
Our skull: the barycentre sphere.
Clouds overhang again,
Dangled down on unseen strings
A sea of puppets bobbing,
On white lip crests of sea.
Thrown like a bottled ship,
Lab foetus in a jar,
My pickled skin, burned crisp like chicharrón,
A whole communion of my form.
Stranger things have happened
Lightening strikes a man twice,
and he lives to tell
Said he never thought twice,
about the tolling bells
Refrain
Oh yeah, Oh yeah,
Stranger things have happened
The world watched as a child,
was pulled out... alive
Three days under the rubble,
with no way ...to survive
Refrain
Oh yeah, Oh yeah,
Stranger things have happened
Chorus
I know you told me, last year,
you were still in love with him
And the odds of you coming,
back are... pretty slim
but...I believe... still...I believe
(because)
stranger things have happened
I've seen a man free fall,
back to earth from space
He came back without a scratch,
and a smile on his face
Refrain
Oh yeah, Oh yeah,
Stranger things have happened
Chorus
I know you told me, last year,
you were still in love with him
And the odds of you coming,
back are pretty slim
but...I believe... still...I believe
because,
stranger things have happened
Oh yeah, Oh yeah,
Stranger things have happened
Oh yeah, Oh yeah,
Stranger things have happened
(repeat and fade)
John Derek Hamilton
November 26,2020
revised with music and vocals July01,2025
posted August22,2025
This is neither poetry, nor art,
It is not an ending or a start,
but in all sincerity, says I,
"May I have a slice of apple pie?"
"Indeed, you may have your apple pie,
It is not a case of do or die.
It's a simple fruit filled pastry,
thought by many to be tasty."
"As the pie, I beg your attention.
There's something I would like to mention.
I have steaming apples in my crust,
but don't eat me...well if you must."
LEAF
imprint
in cement
pressed in the sidewalk
we lingered there and talked
a thought she once gave to me
"a soul friendship will ever be"
Is there still time for us?
vs 1
I wake up to a sunrise,
and a beautiful blue sky,
so many questions unanswered
I'm still left with the big why
vs 2
I see that the earth still turns,
we watch as our planet burns?
will humans never learn?
Is there still time for us?
Chorus
Is there still time for us?
Haven't we seen enough?
What happened to the way we cared
Dear God, please have patience
Listen to my earnest prayer!
Vs 3
I look to the blackened space,
I wish I could see your face,
Our past cannot be re-traced
I raise my eyes to the skies
Vs 4
I'm sure that you're still there,
Help me believe you still care,
I'll follow you anywhere,
Listen to my earnest prayer!
Chorus
Is there still time for us?
Haven't we seen enough?
What happened to the way we cared
Dear God, please have patience
Listen to my earnest prayer!
Chorus
Is there still time for us?
Haven't we seen enough?
What happened to the way we cared
Dear God, please have patience
Listen to my earnest prayer!
Chorus repeat and fade
John Derek Hamilton
April 25,2021
Copyright © John Hamilton |
revised with music and vocals July 29,2025
Posted August 8,2025
When the hurting speaks
All of the memories...
flood back with time
I've never been taught, how
to handle it right
All the thoughts linger...
in the cracks of the mind
Where no one expects,
or is able to find
Bridge
Where are you going
in this altered state?
Where nothing is real,
and solutions are fake.
Chorus
What will you do now?
Wait in the darkness...
Wait in the darkness...
Until...the hurting speaks
and, tears your insides out
that's when the hurting speaks
Why are they speaking
words I cannot hear
I see their lips moving
but I still live in fear
They've got all the answers
or so, they will say
But they couldn't live,
in my day to day
All that you need is to
take our nice pills
Blues reds and greens will
manage all your ills
Chorus
What will you do now?
Wait in the darkness...
Wait in the darkness...
Until...the hurting speaks
and, tears your insides out
that's when the hurting speaks
and, tears your insides out
that's when the hurting speaks...
John Derek Hamilton
August 13,2023
revised with music and vocals June 26,2025
Posted August 4,2025
Choose to live
When darkness falls upon you,
and, you can't see the light
Look to the maker of the stars,
to show the way
Sometimes the pain of heart is,
too much to bear....
Life can be beautiful...
despite the pain.
Chorus
Choose to live...
even when it seems
the whole world's against you
Choose to live...
forget about the pain
they've caused you
Choose to live...
Remember your life's
a gift from God,
and you don't have the right
to take it!
You may live in a mansion,
or a... cardboard shack
Life can be beautiful
either way
Affliction may bring you sorrow,
but... that's o.k
Look to tomorrow's sun to
shine a better day
Chorus
Choose to live...
even when it seems
the whole world's against you
Choose to live...
forget about the pain
they've caused you
Choose to live...
Remember your life's
a gift from God...
and you don't have the right
to take it!
Bridge
Everyone is beautiful,
in their own way...
look inside yourself
to find YOUR special gift!
Repeat chorus and fade
John Derek Hamilton
December 05,2021
Revised July 28 with music and vocals
Cruelty wears a crown in a cloaked place,
cold-blooded grins behind mirrored faces.
Remorse walks the halls bartering tattle while I fracture.
They crowned me in shame, but
within a queen still rises.
They buried me in a fire of hell,
But like ash-gray smoke, I rise and swell.
I am the silence of the crown,
gone through ups and downs
stumbled in the dark multiple times
but my spirit still my heart and mind.
I am a teacher, a child, a guardian and a shadow behind my past.
But a strong woman who will still rise from the stillness of darkness.
Inside of me multiply like smoke and breathe:
into silence of forgiveness and hope.
Yes, still I rise, a whisper stitched in storm-
a sovereign spirit-fearless and warm.
The tortured self becomes the flame
not burned but lit beyond their shame
like the shimmering star, shining bright afar!
This is me, a version of being a woman in time and forever be!
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