The Black Parade
i.
Welcome to the Black Parade
where your father left you
in the summer
his phantom fades
in the jungle gym of limbs and smiles
of black, white, and blue.
ii.
Mama, we all go to Hell
and I'm sorry for disappointing you
all those years
while you and my sister cry
and I'm stuck here dodging landmines and bombshells
waiting on the both of you.
iii.
Just sleep
stay down there
in the pits of your dreamscape
watching the lights fade away
wanting to reach out and feel against
that surface of "wake up."
iv.
Give me blood,
gallons of the stuff,
drink it up,
slurp the remnants
paint a smile for the doctors and nurses
grinning back
v.
I don't love you like I did yesterday
when we smiled and laughed
in that oasis of void-sunshine
where we could fake that happiness
just for a little while
vi.
This is how I disappear
and you won't even get to understand
the words spewing from my lips
don't go--
vii.
Take that knife,
Romeo,
and slash your wrists,
Juliet
viii.
Teenagers scare the living shit outta me
maybe it's the way they scream and glare
concealing their feelings under fake grins
concealing their guns under black coats
ix.
Play ring around the ambulance
you've got nothing to lose
you've got empty pockets,
empty dreams,
empty bottles of booze
x.
Know that I'll never marry,
baby I'm just soggy from the chemo
my calendar is burned to bits
and soiled under the mud from my boots
tracing miles and miles
just to find your face
xi.
You're just a sad song
with nothing to say
faking your tears and grimaces
to the hostile crowd
bringing on the heartache and pain
xii.
Cause I see you lying next to me
with words I know you'll never speak
awake and unafraid
asleep or dead
keep that light twinkling in those faded eyes
submerge yourself back into those black waters
find yourself trapped back in that sanctuary
of straight-jackets and balding
of endless rest and sad lullabies
of old snow days spent together
soaked in red
then nothing
xiii.
You're dead.
(You're dead.)
We all miss you
(We don't miss you.)
The mistakes we made.
(The sacrifices you took.)
All for one.
(All for nothing.)
xiv.
Come one, come all to this tragic affair
as we relieve the life of the scorned son
locked away in the closet of his broken heart
encased by his steady lungs and fragile ribs
left in that summer evening
where he and his father walked the beat
rode the Ferris Wheel
tasted the funnel cake
and went away.
©SelfTitled, 2017