“Excerpt 1”

You loved him like a mouthful of whiskey
He numbed your lips as well as your heart


Like wine he was sent to age
The bitter
The sweet


All collide in the end


He was left in the cellar


Too gone to preserve

------

“Excerpt 2”

Such is the fate of heroes


She laced my lips with arsenic


And
God, forgive me


I can’t stop putting them on you

------

“Excerpt 3”

They made you into a weapon
And told you to find peace


You are a weapon
And weapons do not weep


They rust
And they fail


But they do not feel


Oh,
But neither do they kill on their own


They are used for destruction without choice
For weapons do not get a choice


The Devils who hold them do


You are a weapon, darling boy
But you live and you breathe


And you are alive


Swallow your bullets
And dull your rage
Retract your blades
And become your own Devil


For weapons do not feel
They do not choose
They do not weep


The Devils behind them do

------

“Excerpt 4”

It’s a tragedy
The way our story goes


Maybe
Perhaps
Almost


If it’s love,
It must be more
Than most


If it’s love
It must be tarnished


By loss
By failure


By whatever


If it’s love
It will last


However long
It takes us to get there