Holding On (Final Offering song)

I'm holding on 
to everything you're leaving here
The lies we told ourselves 
somehow came true

Blistering what was held inside,
dilating in light
after being in chasms 
through the time
before all this counted toward the lie
that somehow found its truth

I'm holding on to everything
I don't know 
whether I'll ever see your face again,
even though it represents 
such a turning point

I love you

Matt Mauldin
1995
Atlanta, GA

Your Song

This is your song
What you have to say or think
This is your song

To each their own view
or version of a story
Think and feel out of my hands,
words become nothing
They die out in some version,
I hear them, you hear them
in transformation

Experience, fear, bias
translates into a personal language
that makes the outside world meaningless
This is your song
What your have to say or think

MM 1995

Breathe Again

In the corners of my eyes 
breathes again 
an apprehension that corners 
my movement 

The lid has been removed, 
and the contents left on the table –  
saturation 

Can you pick up the pieces? 
Can you forge a meaning 
in a puzzle for which you’re constantly throwing 
away the pieces? 

You can burn them, 
but they’ll never go away 
You can run, 
but they’ll always follow 
Like the vision in the corners of your eyes,  
always clearest 

MM 1995

Spiraling

Bound the hands with bars that won't bend
Tear the eyes look inside you'll never see
the folds the cracks the opening
Shadows cast the vision's clouded
It's a maze I can't find may way out of
All around, hands are tied, eyes are down
I can hardly see.

I'm circling my images
Am I playing true to form?
These tests aren't getting easier
Am I playing true to form?

Lie to yourself
to make things easy to understand
like what the truth should be

MM 1995

Lonesome Jones

When gravity settles in,

the pull makes your blood boil

as you step off for the last flail

or kiss off

We’ll sew your feet to the ground,

with fishing line!

It’s so unsettling,

it’s bounded

I’m down with it

I’m down to see it breathe

We’ll get a big kick out of muddy fangs,

a big kick out of gaping holes and fiery eyes

A lonesome jones just sitting there,

like cornered prey

realizing that nothing ever changes

Because gravity is so unsettling,

it keeps you in your place

It tells you to shut the fuck up,

after the consoling stops

A lofty attempt at something big

may gouge those shifty eyes,

but the screams can’t drown the laughter,

can’t stop more pressing issues

The realization never changes

MM 1994

The Defeatist

Insignificance... 
it lives
It breathes... 
breeds inside
Its consequences manipulate
every step or action taking place

For the fear of it showing
itself in speech and thought
The fear of finally branding oneself
with all its beauty and grace

There is no stranger to the self
No face beneath the mask
It's there flourishing
with every precaution to avoid the inevitable... 

What am I afraid of?

MM 1995

Correcting God

God needs helping, correcting
Is God on the right track? 
I could be a helping hand

Like a little child with the obvious answer
that was so oblivious in the higher mind and spirit
All the mortals saw the master's blindness
but no one wanted to admit any problems with the way things were

A shepherd or mere drifter? 
Which track are we on with God? 
Is it the right track? 
Is it wrong, my friend?

MM 1995

Good Riddance

There's not a damn doubt
inside my tired mind
about that mortal chance
of running out of time
The time is for telling,
I spell it with my blood
It's more than a message
of my guilt-ridden love

It is something more
It is a part of me

There's not a damn doubt
in my clouded sight
that I am just your villain,
it is a shrouded plight
The time is unforgiving
and is so short with me
It's more than a confession,
it's trying to break free

MM 1993