Black Butterfly By Robert M. Drake

 

Excerpts and Images from Robert M. Drake's most recent publication, Black Butterfly

Dedicated
"To all who have a dream, to all who struggle two jobs to get by, to all who have been ignored all their lives, to all who feel empty, to all who cannot sleep because there is so much in their mind, to all who have died a little in the name of love, to all who are called 'weird, strange and odd', to all who create because that is the only thing they know how to do, to all who believe in something, to all who breathe and to all who are no longer with us, this one is for you"

"The world is filled with broken people with broken lives searching for broken love. And that is why being alone has never felt so good.
I can't see myself with the crowd, I never have."

Bright Moons
"There was a flower in her heart; it just needed more room to bloom. And when she set it free, she showed the world that sometimes the most beautiful things can grow in the darkest of places without the need of light."

Letting Go
"The hard part is pretending not to give a fuck when you really do.
The worst part is trying to close your heart when its doors have been blown to pieces."

Imagine
"There is something far greater than death and that is to be ignored. Sometimes I think of all the faces I have come across and all the faces I have forgotten and how terrible it is to come and go.
Imagine you meet someone, and completely forget they existed the next day. In a way, this is how we all live our lives. We tend to only care about the moment that makes us feel something; until we completely devour the life out of them and move on to the next moment that might make us feel like we are all worth a little more than that of the night before."

Drowing In You
"Maybe I am a little crazy; crazy enough to love madly and crazy enough to love like pain was never meant to reach the shore."

Changing Tides
"There is nothing more dangerous to any form of government than an entire generation who knows how to dream and believe in themselves enough to change and reinvent it all."

It Does Not Hurt
"Maybe it is just the way we are when we are with each other. We cannot get it together or agree on anything. And maybe that's what attracts us; the fact that you and I know what is best for one another, but we are just too afraid to accept it. Either way, I am not sure if I can ever let go because deep down inside of me everything begins to hurt the moment I feel like looking away."

Finding Nothing
"And for one I did not know where to begin, I felt like I have been looking for a love that I have already lost."

Beautiful Chaos
"Chaos, leave me never, keep me wild and keep me free so that my brokenness will be the only beauty the world will see."

Unheard Glory
"If there is something you must know before I let you go, it is this: in your journey you will meet broken people, hateful people, and people who have lost the sight for their glory.
And the beauty of it all is this: I will tell you to love them, to love them deeply and show them how some of us still care. Never give up on them, for to give up on them is to destroy a reflection of ourselves."

I'm Sorry I Left
"I understand you just wanted someone to reach you, when you felt like you have been gone for sometime now. Maybe I failed you and maybe things could have been different. If only I had known, then perhaps, when I returned, you would have stayed the same."

Run Closer
"There are some days where i feel like no matter where I go, I always end up feeling the same, because all places are the same in the end. Or maybe it's just me and no matter where I go, I could never run far enough from who I am, and I could never run far enough from everything that hurts."

Small Heroes
"How beautifully blind are we to ignore the smallest things in us, for in us, that give us the power to do the most brilliant things."

No Air Here
"I cannot say that I do not want to drown. I just hope it is you that will be there when I let go because you are the reason I lose my breath every time I try to breathe."

A Lover's Smile
"The most dangerous lover is one who greets the pain with a smile."

Night Beast
"And every once in awhile it would hit me; the horrifying truth of being alone. And it did not matter if I was with good or bad company. I would slowly feel the violent pull of loneliness shaking inside of me like a wild beast in the night."

Terrible Darkness
"And when I look back at my life, when I looked back at it all, I clearly saw how bad times really meant everything, and how every moment of happiness revolved around some kind of terrible darkness.
Sometimes the darkness was a beautiful thing and sometimes it took me to a place where I had no idea where it all could go, but I knew it was all meant to be okay."

Lovely Madness
"You look at lovers, the way they are with each other and it makes you sick, for how could two people be in love and then the next day can be complete strangers. And when you think about love, you feel that it must be something only crazy people do...until it finds you, because it will. And when it does it will grab you and shake the madness out of you, only to discover that, that little touch of crazy has always been inside you too.
Love is beautiful but love too can be terrible."

Goodbye Tonight
"We will not be the same after tonight and knowing this we still smile and say goodbye. This is how it operates, this is how change happens."

The Last Request
"I'm sorry I can't save the world; I don't want any part in that. I just want to be remembered in a way where I can mean everything to one person and save them, save them from all the insecurities this world has created."

Be Better
"How are we supposed to love one another when we barely love ourselves. We are so much better than what they want us to be."

Heaven & Hell
"I found heaven and hell in people and those places could never be ignored, because there are more truths buried deep within us than any science or religion would ever allow to reveal.
These are the hidden secrets.
We are all our own form of destruction, and our existence is an act of our own choices."

Forgetting How
"Too often we feel like we don't know how to live, and too often someone will tell you how; without them even knowing how to live for themselves."

Confused Letters
"Because sometimes, the people we need to save us, are really the people who need the saving for themselves."

What I Meant to Say
"People are all the same, but you and I, we're not like them. So to say that we'll both stay isn't you and it isn't me either. We're tragically drawn to one another and eventually we'll fall apart. So let's enjoy whatever it is that we have, because when we're done, I wouldn't know what else to give you other than just another story. And that alone might be the most beautiful thing we'll ever live to tell."

Scars & Dreams
"Sometimes, your scars have a lot less to do with where you have been and a lot more to do with where you are going."

Beautiful Horrors
"Leave your horrors with me, they are beautiful. Leave all the things you have always wanted to forget and leave everything else that hurts. I will show you that you are not crazy. You are just a little different and I have been a sucker for that."

Types of Feelings
"You begin to feel like you are not yourself lately. You begin to laugh and you begin to smile a little more often. And for a second time you begin to discover yourself again.
This is the kind of feeling people have when they start to believe in something bigger than themselves. And this is the kind of feeling I get when I am lost; submerged somewhere deep inside of your soul."

Be Destroyed
"There must be about a million ways to let yourself be destroyed, but then there is you and I think tonight I am in the mood to break apart and let myself be consumed by all the things I know I would never be able to recover from."

Beautiful Words
"You are going to come across people in your life who will inspire you, love you and change you. And that is a rare thing. But every once in awhile you will come across someone who will completely rob you from your sleep, and those are the people who are just too beautiful to put into words."

No Sleep
"Dreams were always drawn to call her name and reality just could not learn to let her go."

Nothing is Left
"Some people are meant to stay while others are meant to leave. And there is really no difference between the two except the way you change after you realize you have nothing else left to give."

Made Myself
"I made myself from all the photographs I never took, from all the love I never received and from all the moments that never happened. And it has been too real, it has been a beautiful struggle; one that has always reminded me of how easy it was to laugh."

"May your flame live within my heart and continue to inspire me through every waking hour."