Faith So far I'm self-taught And after giving it some thought I've learned nothing about a lot And a lot about nothing Though I've scoured the streets extensively While living in prisons of all sorts Judged in criminal courts My brain and body got divorced But continue to wage war on one another So I dive into deep cover With hatred as my lover Choosing to live a lie But live it high with my shoes untied Because every day I walk in someone else's Can't find my shape or form Due to distractions and retractions In my shelter that is a storm Beaten, battered and reborn Into something deformed I rage against the machine Against injustice that I've seen Against the bones that own my being Self-inflicted wounds too raw to heal Remain concealed Afraid they'll deepen if revealed In my mosaic of a mind An extremist of a kind I use a ruse to pass the time Between now and my next day dream I don't know how to stay clean But the stakes are escalating While the voices keep debating My propensity towards truth Through the density of youth I hear death rebuked As my true voice takes root But it's hard to follow suit So I go back to being confined Within walls that I've designed Brain and body recombined By a force greater than mine That rhymes with reason But feels like faith -Ryan Madden