http://slow.writerscafe.org/Red_Phantom The original writings of author Tim Lawless en-us Copyright 2026 WritersCafe.org 1776097898 WritersCafe.org RSS Generator 15 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy so be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.--Romans 8:18Who are you? How do you identifiy yourself? With what do you find your fulfillment? Where is your hope?We can never place any hope in anyt.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/406729/ This is not a love poem.Such a tired, spent literary formWould do a disservice to everything I truly feelAnd yet find myself unable to express. You deserve more than contrived metaphors and non-analogous analogies.You deserve more than comparisons to everything beautfiul under the s.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/404376/ I await the end--sleeping in the eyeOf this ever-growing storm.I await the reaping--falling at yourFeet to be reborn. To be reborn or end this lifeTo be destroyed or make it right. To be lost and never found,To be buried in the ground. Pull the trigger. Say it's .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/392033/ Selfish, bloodthirsty, inhuman monster!Who do you think you are?This life is not yours to define! You, with your empty eyes and your wicked smile.The look in your face betrays the hate in your heart.The closed mouth hides a dagger--your tongue.You could rend flesh from bone with j.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/392028/ Wrote this one a while back. Never quite finished it. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/391137/ Change can't come quick enough.The West is too far away when your chance at purpose lies under a sweltering Texas sun.Everything here feels all the same.Different faces. The same fake personalities.That same stench of pretention and disingenuousnessThat smeels like so much gasoli.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/390398/ Just the same decaying organic matter,Whether you keep up with the Joneses or not.Just the same declining, dissipating spirit,Whether you're a white collar type or you live in a box.Very little is certain in life.Taxes. Death. One, I am certain, leads to the other. The good d.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/387806/ About a thousand years ago,Some guy named Paul wrote a letter to some guy named Timothy.He told him this:You've brought nothing into this world, and you're not taking anything out of it.So be content to serve your maker. I see no reason to disagree. What do you have that's .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/387363/ Perhaps we only know loveBecause we're so well acquainted with pain.In my short time on this earth,I've learned enough about what it means to hurt,To know that knowing what I know makes knowing love all the more meaningful. I'll never claim to understand it all.It's just another m.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/384073/ Putting my fingers back to the keysAnd my thoughts back to the page.Never hurt so much.Never as much as that time when I wrote you,Tearing up, with shaking hands.That time I had to tell you it would be alright,When I had no right to think so.Never as much as when I sat up all night.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/380066/ I called.You answered.I prayed.You heard. I've reached the wood wherein the roads diverge.And found the one less traveled to be narrow.I've found the beaten path to be much wider,But it descends into darkness. I ask for so much and You always answer.You ask for so lit.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/367352/ End this now.Let it all be said and done.Rise from the ashes to findThat you won't be the only one. You have a choice to make.Everyone's watching but nobody's here.Take back what's yoursAnd answer the fear. Take back your life,Or you belong to death,If you give.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/367010/ Something I wrote kind of spur of the moment, based on H.P. Lovecraft's Chtulhu mythos. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/365366/ It happened all over again it seems.I'm left feeling awkward.Like I don't belong.Like maybe I said the wrong thing,Just bared a bit too much of my soul. Whatever it was,I remember my place.I'm the quiet one.The listener.The not-quite best friend.The almost-like-a brother... http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/348554/ I can't answer every question;In fact, I can hardly answer any of them.But I suppose if I could answer my own questions,I wouldn't be awake at 1:30 AM, with a 7:40 class looming in the near future. Moreover I suppose I wouldn't be struggling with thisonegargantuanmonumentalque.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/348163/ You asked for a song in your name.Good or bad, I'll write it all the same.For the sake of all the sleepless nights,And for the sake of knowing that you're alright. So cliche as this all may sound,And tossed around, and around, and around.I never expected what I got from you,.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/347471/ Two days running on two hours under the cover of dreams,Sleep deprivation, insomnia. Not always what they seem.But I'm not the kind to sleep for erasing fate,Waking struggles, soon you'll find, in sleep will take shape. It's some kind of contagion passed from you to me.Is it making .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/339038/ I do not exist. I'm not here. I'm less than a self, invisible at best. So don't notice me. Don't pretend. We both know I'm not really here anyway. And I'd do better without a simple acknowledgment to inflate my ego. I thought I was here .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/335433/ Another year,Long gone.Another monthSlipped by.I've wasted too many sunsets in this short life. I'm getting older day by dayAnd not getting any wiser.Just more hardened. Cynical. Jaded. Bitter. I've weathered every trial and come out no better,It's like they just keep.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/334906/ Silence.Nothing but silence.My pursuit is brought to an abrupt endBy cold, immutable stone,A frozen heart standing aloof. I never knew what I was getting myself into.Now I only wish I knew how to get back into it,Because the silence on the insideThe wholehearted attempts at ha.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/327778/ You're always here,I wish that I could say the same for me.I always think I'm so damn goodAt knowing what you need. But for the life of me,I can't find the right answer.To the pain that eats away,And kills just like a cancer. It's not that I don't care,It's that I'm j.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/326223/ Just tell me.Who am I?Why am I here? You seem to think you're so hard to love.Why don't you let me be the judge of that? Maybe it's all in my head,But I feel the distance growing. Every day,A wider chasm between us.Every day,We talk a little less. I'.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/320515/ We seem to have reached the end of this.Hope you're happy.Hope you know the change was for the better,Though you can't seem to tolerate it. I'm truly grateful that you came out with it now,Thanks for letting me think you were true for five years.Five years! Damned! Lost! Irreversi.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/320443/ Autumn never felt so cold,The wind never did seem quite so bold.But there's a chill creeping through the air,A reminder that I'm here and I'm not there. How much harder did I make it?Did I make this vow so I could break it?Am I honestly honest with anyone?Am I just making a fool.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/319165/ I fell in love with a fake.I fell in love with a game.I fell in love with a faceWith no name. She told me she loved me,Said it was all true.In the end I'd be ashamedI never knew. She wasn't like me.Not a human being.The smile and the eyesThey were all for deceivin.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/318138/ Is it wrong that I want it so badly?A curse like this would probably kill me. You don't know the first thing about love,But you do a damn good job faking it. I put myself here, no doubting that.Lust just has a wayOf getting under the skin. She's a liar.She's a w*.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/318135/ In my darkest hour,I find that I can put this to rest.Pardon the ambiguity,But some things are better left unsaid.Love is one of those things that nobody will ever quite understand.I mean--what I'm feeling--can you honestly say it's just chemicals in my head?Like my mind is just som.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/317461/ If I chase sleep any longer,If I run after it any faster,If I try any harder,By morning,I'll be fit for a marathon. It's not that I don't want to sleep.To the contrary,It would be quite a blessing. But still it escapes.Fleeing from my grasp,Like a thousand other fai.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/316540/ Take everything.Take the lust.Take the so-called love.Take the self-righteousness. I hear the call.But these burdens have no place under You.And if I know anything,It's that I can never be the same,Having heard Your voice calling me. So take everything I have.And ta.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/315733/ I find it interestingThat now that this is all out in the open,And we've aired our concerns for one another to hear,I find that I am completely sureThat I am completely unsure. But I appreciate the honesty.It eases the self-loathing.And I know that it's ok to feel this way.&nb.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/314892/ I do believe,That your insomnia is catching.Your sleeplessness is contagious.Or else some other part of youIs just as infectious. I have a one track mind,Beneficial in most situations,Agonizing in this. Do you end our conversations so abruptly,Because you're just tire.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/313578/ Sifting through memories,I've found I don't remember much,And I don't remember growing up.I never noticed the loss of sleep.The loss of peace of mind.And the understanding that comes with age. It seems yesterday I was a scared eigth graderIn a foreign world.I was twelve years .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/313559/ We're all so weak,Lord be our strength,When we walk in shadowYou are our light. But God, my God!How dark is the soul!How black our hearts,That we can only be healedBy nails and lashes and a crown of thorns! We are weak.We are evil.Greedy, spiteful, knowing only da.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/313543/ Here I sit,Like a thousand other nights,Just waiting for a sign.Just waiting for anything,Just hoping you're alright. I wish I could just take all the pain away,But I'm afraid that I'm the cause.And I hate knowing that the best thing for you,May mean that I lose you. .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/313063/ We will shake this earthTo its core.We will fight in the name of our Maker.We will not surrender,Until every knee bows in worship,And reverence for the King. But how can we change anything?We're all asleep!Wake up! Wake up!Don't you see what's going on?It's all just oceans.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/312718/ Touch the coal to my lips.Kill me or send me.I now know I'm capable of everything You said. If words could kill, I'm the culprit.Hatred is so easy (for me.)What has gone in has not defiled me,But what has come out has defiled me and everyone else. I am undone.For I know.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/311918/ Honestly, how did I get here?Stuck with no choice but to hurt...Someone. So really, what brought me to this?It's beyond me.I lost some part of meSomewhere along the way. And left part (all?) of you...Just because I lost the feeling.I thought I understood love.I was .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/311916/ I could move a mountain with my faith.I speak in tongues that cause the earth to shake.I've conversed with angels, I know their very thoughts,Though I feel further now from everything I've sought. I am dischord, symply empty noise,I know all there is to know but my heart is a v.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/310414/ Wherever you might go,Whatever you might do,I just hope you know,Those sleepless nights were all for you. If you're ok, that's just enough.You don't have to act so tough.I hate to break it to you,But sometimes I see right through you. If you ever think you need me,Jus.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/309797/ I can still feel his breath,Raising the hairs on the back of my neck.Gripped in unearthly frost,Chilled to the bone. He is Darkness.He is a roaring lion.He is a quiet whisper,Amplifying the doubts of my mind. And that night,I felt the chillAnd heard the Demon callin.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/308737/ Can you fix me?Can you tell me that this will be alright?Can you mend every broken heart and stitch my soul back together? I've been told that you could.Though I admit I'm reluctant to believe,I've done so much wrong,And so little right, it seems. All I could ask is that .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/307143/ This world will always try to bring you down.And tell you you're not good enough.In this hopeless time, the comfort I've found,Could only be my Maker's love. We are force-fed all these lies and deception,We're told we're no more than numbers,Mark my head and tell me I need co.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/306188/ Bound by funeral thirstTo feed on death and horror.I hate that which made me,And curse what I am given. I know only fear,I sow only destruction.No good thing is within me.Only that which tears at heartstrings. We are drawn by the taste of blood.Though it is seldom eno.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/305212/ Just a poem I wrote for a friend of mine who's been going through some rough stuff. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/304737/ I've heard that you could save a man.Can you make me whole again? Can you take away the pain?The devotion that I've feigned? I know you're who you say you are,But these doubts have carried me so far. I can't comprehend sickness,I can't understand disease.Your pla.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/303755/ Time is wasting, time is flying,All is mortal, all is dying,Still we waste all our time crying,Still we're cheating, stealing, lying. This life is brief, and far too shortFor all our petty little plans,I've learned that I must ask myself,How can I be a better man?.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/303170/ All I can offer You is my life.I have little else to give and even that is tarnished beyond measure.I will say I love You with blasphemy fresh on my lips,And claim to live for You while moving closer to dying for myself. I can honestly say that through no work of my own,I am Yours... http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/301912/ Ironically enough.Liberty means no freedom for me.Honors, debate, essays, more debates, more essays.Communist roommates with whom to argue,Legalist professors with whom to disagree. I'm excited and everything,But with school taking up so much of my time,I'm an academic prisoner... http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/301873/ They keep saying I'll miss this town.They all keep saying I'll come around.But I never found much to like about it here.It's still just the same after so many years. I'll admit it's grown on me, that I've become quite fond.But there's too much pain on these empty streets to miss it .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/301864/ This is not a game.This is not a drill.This life is a war,And every day is a battle. The question is, whose side are you on?Will you fight for the truth and righteouness?Will you call evil by its name?Or will you bow in servanthood to the Father of Lies. There is no mid.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/Red_Phantom/301262/