Love > Test

Love > Test
By: Tyler Ross

I remember being alone
and how cold it felt inside.
The chill creeping in rapidly
numbing everything around me,
except that awful freezing,
starving for attention.
Everyone seemed a threat,
as my mind lost control.
Anti-trust.
I swallowed it whole.
Where does a damaged soul find solace
inside a ball of growing confusion,
freezing all that's becoming a mess?
I don't want this
to hurt me anymore,
the human I desire
and feel to be the best.
Why is love such a test?

Please Tell Me I'm Wrong

Please Tell Me I'm Wrong

By: Tyler Ross

There’s a panic in my mind

and I cannot seem to dodge.

I pace it slowly while I retrace all my thoughts.

The burning in my brain can manifest little lies.

It’s hard to trust you when you’re inconsistent

and you don’t realize.

This isn’t where I see myself

questioning what’s there.

Looking for irregular patterns

on a single colored canvass left bare.
You’re magnificent in all directions,

I’ll never forget to feel.

But please don’t leave me out in the cold

if you’re not too sure if this is real… 

Please tell me I’m wrong

for this doubt above me,

pushing me off this ledge.

I guess you just don’t know

how much I really care.

You’re selfish to notice what’s really there.

If this is serious, I want to know.

Do you want to keep on watering this plant,

and see it grow?

I get the impression, you’re bored, but feel so loved.

Caught up in a predicament,

you feel guilty because you want to run.

Please tell me I’m wrong

for this doubt above me,

pushing me off this ledge.

I guess you just don’t know

how much I really care.

It seems you’re selfish to notice what’s really there.

Please tell me I’m wrong.

Hypocritical Human Pointing Fingers

Hypocritical Human Pointing Fingers
By: Tyler Ross

It's okay for one thing, but not the other,
for you.
Standing on your soapbox,
today it's the Internet,
only your point of view.
Somedays, you band together
and to spread more hate,
what's wrong with you?

Where is your open heart?
Can you be a negative reducer?
I guess not.
Your brain ignites your burning tongue
spreading more hurt,
reducing everyone.

You wear those shoes too
given the opportunity.
You just refuse to see,
those stones you cast
only add more negative unity.

I see so many quick to judge,
then apologize later.
The likes of you
don't see anything greater beyond yourself,
even if the roles were reversed.
I wish I could help.

Where are the ones
helping to pull those who've fallen?
In those times of need,
sometimes it's not about what happened,
but about the recovery.
Everyone could use a pick-me-up,
a real friend.
Someone that will boost positivity
and stand by you to the end.

We could all use a little more help,
less spreading filth.

Inside Out

Inside Out
By: Tyler Ross

He just stares into space,
feeling less day by day,
unsure about wanting to stay.
The skin he wears is uncomfortable.
His core compromised too many times,
and love lost by self-induced flames.
He remains exhausted from his mind,
and tired from time spent - failing,
not relating.
His world feels toxic, unfamiliar
and losing importance rapidly.
The very things that validate him
feel like they're alienating him.
Devalued.
Torn.
This isn't the life he signed up for.
A suicide note now means so much more.
Polluted.
Truly unappreciated,
he struggles to grasp a life once loved
and misses it very much.

Treading Water To Freedom

Treading Water To Freedom

By: Tyler Ross

I started off on the wrong foot

or at least you’d like me to think.

I blinked twice and saw you above me.

Teary eyed and torn in two,

a reflection of what’s inside of me.

Consumed,

with anger, distrust

and the distancing,

I walk this solitude alone.

Scared of what I’m becoming.

Closed off,

afraid to continue to be disappointed

by the walking, talking heartless

I find myself in front of.

Draining my everything

into a pool of unhappiness,

I am stumbling forward,

in search of

a beautiful accepting exit,

that will hopefully assist with my departure
away from this all.

Welcome To Earth 2014

Welcome To Earth 2014
By: Tyler Ross

Many ignored smiles.
Too much disrespect.
Too many unanswered calls.
Too many unanswered texts.

R.I.P. to empathy.
Poor communication.
You think your time has more value?
Too much time wasted with these situations.

Welcome to Earth 2014
You ain't no friend of mine.

I'm out.

Summers At Fryman Canyon Will Always Miss You

Summers At Fryman Canyon Will Always Miss You

By: Tyler Ross 

I said bye to a curly, black-haired dog today.

It laid in the shade struggling for air.

It’s confused and lack of urgent guardians,

gathered around 

with strangers on a Sunday morning hike

up against a fence 

by its side, 

while the mother petted it slowly.
They said it overheated,

but to me they didn’t seem too defeated,

by this saddening situation.

A member of their family,

lie motionless

and they just squatted around, hands to their heads.

Maybe there wasn’t anything they could do,

because a hiker passing had a grim tongue

reassuring to the point, this was the end.

Or maybe,

it was an old dog and death is just a part of life.

Either way, my thoughts were with the dog that day.

As we finished our hike,

back the way we started,

we crossed the family once again.

This time, the dog was in the father’s arms,

lifeless.

Sorrow surrounded that family,

as they headed for their car - every hiker was aware.

Yet I refused to believe it was dead.

We carried on that day back home,

but in my mind, 

that dog was racing around back at its home

having another shot at life.
I’m having trouble sleeping tonight.