Mathematics If you rain on my parade, I'll just go buy an umbrella, If you say I have no future, I'll go see a fortune teller. If you say I'll amount to nothing, I'll go buy an abacus, And if nothing I do adds up, I'll multiply my every wish. If you shoot at me with bullets, perhaps I'll buy a vest, If you claim my #life is garbage, I can just clean up the mess. If you stare at me with daggers, I'll put up my shield to cope, You can divide me from my dreams, But you won't subtract my hope.

Caged Bird I don't know why the caged bird sings, He'll never fly or spread his wings, What a dreary #life, what a dreadful mess, To possess a thirst that can't be quenched. I don't know why the caged bird sings, His song is shrill while he sits and swings, What a dreary #life, what a dreadful mess, To possess such strength and be powerless. I don't know why the caged bird sings, Sweetly upon deaf ears of kings, The kings refuse to open the cage, No matter how well his wings behave. I don't know why the caged bird sings, A song that bites and burns and stings, The kings refuse him fresh air's taste, No matter how well he pleads his case. I don't know why the caged bird sings, I may never know such dire things, What a dreary #life, what a dreadful mess, To possess such power and be ownerless. I am a caged bird and yet I sing, I don't know why my voice still rings, I'm sick of studying sunken faces, Of silent birds sitting in their cages.

Sweet Rapture #life is sweet rapture, a beautiful disaster, With ecstasy and agony alike interwoven, One must taste the traumatic to feel the fantastic, #life comes and goes but a soul's never stolen.

Tangled Vines Your bloodshot eyes are a subway map, And mine are vines from a twisted tree, The subway crashes and the collision of color contrasts the scarlet scribbled into the surface. As my verdant vines wrap around the moon, I can finally consume why #life is worth the pain. It's all a game, but nobody wins except the commuter rail and entangled midnight moon. And as the clock approaches noon, the vines grips grow tighter and tear the#moonfrom the starlit sky, And as the map of your eye once again becomes a blank slate, I can finally relate why #life is worth the pain. - i.m.r @blotterbrain on Twitter

Moments And so I've learned that #life is long, More of a symphony and less of a song, Each day we awake to begin anew, Every me, and every you. Cherish each moment, they soon shall pass, Some drone slow, some bleed fast, Some are swept by the western wind, some may never return again. A moment shared is something special, Whether shared with a god or shared with a devil. Some moments are heavy, some light as a feather, Withered hearts can blossom when beating together. Moments will come and moments will go, Some vanish to steam, some freeze into snow, So live each moment as if it's your last, Because some drone slow, but some bleed fast.