#11

your beauty is a front
for the poison is hidden
it is deadly and ready to scourge
to leak forth to destroy
to corrupt those who love you
your beauty is the trap
and those who are fooled
you bring them into the real truth
and ensnare them into death
the passion you create shall consume
destroy all things held dear to life
and your beauty is all they will remember
for it was the thing that brought them to you
before they can run away, you reveal the deception
and it is too late and they are burning in your death

© 2005 thomas bates

HER

she comes to me
in my dreams
hands touch my face
her eyes : the light
her smile embraces me
her gentle touch
her soft skin
fingers trace the contours of my face
my eyes close
i feel safe, calm, and at peace
her breath is a gentle breeze of the morn
her voice is a crystal shower dancing
as she whispers my name
but she is called away
she leaves me here alone
in my silent solitude

© 2001 thomas bates

#10

please let your hair down
pretty face
don't take away the beauty
shine through the skin border
break the conforming rules
of your genre
make a statement
a neo-creation
of beauty

© 2002 thomas bates

ALONE

sitting here late at night
writing by the moonlight
listening to damien on the stereo
missing the one dear to my soul
miles away from my home
i think of her cold and alone
many distractions here
wishing she was near
to keep my mind clear

© 2001, 2005 thomas bates

NOT MUCH TO ASK OF YOU

i can feel You soothing me when i ask
i can feel You guiding my feet and hands
i ask only for humbleness and wisdom
i don't deserve Your unchanging love
sometimes i feel so sad
sometimes i feel so mad
sometimes i am alright
sometimes i just plain lie
You can fill me with Your unchanging love
but humbleness and wisdom i just want

© 1997, 2005 thomas bates

#9

the pen that writes of my life
is dipped in my blood and strife
these are the dark days
the writer is paying his way
to follow me into the darkness
where my heart has been hardened
i want to break free and turn my life around
this darkness i am now accustomed to
cannot be here for me to see me through
i have to be the one who has to stand my ground
i have to be the one to make the difference in my life
and to stop dipping the pen in my blood and strife
to finally dip it into a new hope and peace
to finally have the suffocating depression cease

© 2005 thomas bates

#8

we used to be good friends
how did we come to an end?
where have you gone?
what have i done?
i am now dead to you
or is it you're dead, too
i have given up on you with my patience
because everything are now open-ended questions
never do i receive an answer when i ask
since when did our friendship become a task?
why do you avoid me and the others?
we used to be tight... like brothers
however you found someone to replace me
and into oblivion i have slipped for eternity
alone i am now... again... in the end
it's time to analyze if we were even friends

© 2005 thomas bates

ANGER

it never grows inside really slow
it cannot be pushed down low
its energy is unstoppable
it boils inside big trouble
and when it comes it is quick vengeance
it bleeds out of your mouth unrelentless
it pours through every cell in your body
setting you on fire to burn out the holy
the tongue is quick and sharp as a knife
everything in its path will lose its life
severing ties and breaking bonds
this force inside is a ticking timebomb
and after it's gone you are left spinning
and the world around you is ripping
the fires from the brimstone are scattered all around
and the cooling inside can drop you to the ground
and the simmering fires in your eyes are slowly fading to oblivion
and the recent distate for everything is called into retraction
as quick as it came and disrupted evolution
it enters back inside and leaves devastation
the hibernation stage now kicks back into gear
and those around you now know how to fear

© 2005 thomas bates

THE SCREAMING TREES

all over the park there was destruction
they were burned down by someone's neglect
they screamed for help and for justice
they used to be alive dancing in the wind
now they are frying in the flames
smoke filled the sky, the sun that day shall not shine
firemen did all they could, but it was too late
conservationlists and environmentalists cried and stood aghast
their dream land has burned to the ground
people miles around watched the evergrowing scar on tv
when will the madness stop?
with screams and dreams burning up to the sky
large, beautiful trees became pitiful charcoal beings
the mountains' evergreen was wiped away by a large eraser
leaving only behind an ugly mesh nightmare
bison, bears, elk, and deer ran as their flesh melted
all of yellowstone's beauty was marred
because of an unwatched campfire
the great remember was forgotten

© 1993, 2005 thomas bates