Kings and Queens and Aces

I am building a family
Out of kings and queens and aces
Somewhere left of the rainbow
A pot of gold resides
I haven't found it yet
I keep losing the quicksilver slippers
That take me home
Wherever that is
For I am on the path following the Bride
They keep telling me it was a man
But I see her from here
And sink in her footsteps
She whispers everything dies
Not just saints and martyrs
But it only matters
If you complete it within your life
And come back from the seventh gate
Naked and weaponless
But in the face of an army
An empress
I trudge on through storm and mountain
With bones of steel
And chapped lips
I'm looking for a fortress
But only find flowers
And somewhere in the distance
I smell the smoke of my house of cards burning down
I left the abyss six miles back
But still sometimes see it from the ridge
Even though I now stand on solid ground
I wonder if I will ever heal completely
I walked away with the pain of a burn unit
And enough guilt to found a new Eden and religion
Some days I am held together only by fine mesh net
On others brushstrokes penstrokes and vitriol
And wishing I still smoked
The thing about happiness is
When you have ink scarred demons
They are so much uglier and more powerful
Against virgin white
And it takes bigger chains to hold them