Dear Val
(for VG)

Don't know if i ever told you
but i know a thing or two about bleeding hearts on sleeves
and how they stain clothing and skin alike
and how trust is just an empty hotel parking lot
whose toothless manager named honesty is about to expire
and how you want to cut it out from your skin
and hear your name be reclaimed by your own voice
and how the **** sword that wounded you
is the **** sword that heals you

Don't know if i ever told you
i know a thing or two about loneliness
and how the night goes on forever
and you stay up past reason
and you live to see sobriety come back before the dawn
and the shadows of night no longer scare you
because you've become their nightmare
last night i pulled 7 blankets over my head
just to make sure i could be buried in my own sleep

Don't know if i ever told you
but i know a thing or two about anger
and how it feeds off of life, taking days away from you
and how it makes you wish ill on anything noble
or of good cheer
and how you want to take that abandoner
and vomit into their mouths
so they'll know that bitterness can be passed on
when love or safety or trust has bowed out

Don't know if i ever told you
i know a thing or eight about love
and by vowing to love less, i learn to love more
and how light and darkness are joined at the feet
and how every ending is a beginning, so we begin to end
and how you will find a way to dance again
and how you will learn to leave the fear of the unknown
to those who fear the unknown
and it is true: love will set you free