Dedicated to Metallica’s deceased bassist Cliff Burton, this was inspired by him and his way he went up, and I thought it was inspirational enough to be a poem. It’s a ballad that tells many stories, in many poems that become this. This is not his story, but it was inspired by him, for him.

12-String Player

Written by JT Keebaugh

“Birth and Decay”

Life starts a bloom when you’re young

You awake and then your parents take you home

Growing up is a struggle

Just one adventure through the unknown

Nobody to guide you from birth

Plane billows flames that took them away

Parents burn in the wreck, did you cry that day?

Then you got up and saw yourself all alone

Time swipes by as you find yourself in another broken home

The old are too weak to watch you

The memory is out of focus now

Five years went through and through

You wonder if things will ever shine

‘Til one day you thought luck had run out

Your will to live has run dry

Sanity is just a game; you know you want to die

You’re still inside a broken home

“Plane of fire, take my rebukes”

To live is only to die

Still broken I can see

Plane has taken my pride, taken my life, taken my parents,

Taken my soul, taken my strength, taken my will to live

Darkness envisioning me, burning my sight, burning in horror

Burning my flesh, breaking my bones, burning my life away

Just a broken dream!

Just take what’s left of me, I don’t need it

Burn away this misery, I don’t want it back

Silence, please envision me

“12-string”

Things were misleading in my life all along

I guess I see things differently,

Sometimes I don’t think before I quote these useless sayings

Signs from my broken home

Woke up one morning with a guitar in my lap

Its bridge standing tall—wired with 12-strings

Give me a couple months; I’ll be on my feet

I’ll learn to play a twelve string

I’ll try it out

I can’t play it well, I don’t know a thing

I try harder every time

Years go by the twelve string and me as we play

I’m locked in this sanctuary in my mind

I never thought I’d see things this way

Night after night we’d throw out some rhymes

We’d invent a couple tunes, maybe sing a few

Talent began to bloom as I played

Suddenly the thought of my parents leaving seemed so far away

I’d found something to live by

Fade away angst, disappear from me

I’ll keep playing this guitar until you let it be

“On the road”

Two of us riding nowhere, riding lonely

Life’s not over yet, we’re gonna’ leave home

I’ve finished up all my work

Thanks for all the help gramps

With love, Chase

“I am the only one”

12-strings I am

Stricken for fun, I’ve become a puppet

Listen to my music

Now I’ve been going down the road

Playing a tune that makes the people cheer

Pick strikes my twelve strings

Music envisions me into something new

I’m a tool for the people, I’m not human, my music is how I sing

I lack the mind Chase has,

I’m a tool without a mind

My music is just harmonizing from my screams

But I’m just an object, I feel no pain, I’m a tool with no dreams

“Cry twelve strings”

Playing another song, this time for a crowd

Chase made his way up to the stage

He would never disappoint his fans; he’d never miss a show

I was always by his side though I’m fading from age

Soon I’d be broken like a dream

The city does not sleep

I play my own self as Chase strikes my strings

I wish I were human

I could walk along the empty streets

I could be like the ones who made me

I can the one who plays me

It sounds funny; my strings scream this music within me

No pain builds up inside me, I just scream because I’m told

We’ll play this ballad through

Listen we’ve been there

We’ll finish it soon

“Descent”

Hear why it’s sung here oppositioner

Keep striking, the words move on

All on track, all arriving

All sing this tune Chase gave to us

Now I wish I could loathe myself, I’m a parishioner

I’m on a stage, Listen we’ve been there

And a burning plane has finally burnt out

Stare into the open roads were taking

All the roads we have to walk are winding

Never speak out of tune as were playing

All the lights that lead the way are blinding

Oh I will never be saved my strings have broken

One moment today soon the band will leave me as the one who couldn’t make it

Then one day you’ll see the lord turned me off

And maybe you’ll understand in the end

There’s no escapin’ it

“I lay you to rest.” Said he,

“There’s not much we can do.”

Buried by river, the band speaks of pain

If we gotta’ leave forsaken,

We’ll be descended into the ground some day

No one can ever bend the rules

Listen…hear words sung here oppositioner

There was nothing you could ever do

“The Song remains the same”

Now it’s a different day, my life’s all gone

I lost my 12-string, it wouldn’t play anymore

All those memories have finally been put to waste

I try to play a different tune, the song remains the same

I’m feeling useless in my life alone

Starting to feel dry since I’ve lost my will to move along

12-string has gone away

I must return to where I belong

And all the roads that lead us here were winding

And all the lies I’ve lived once before are reprising

Flames come back to burn me inside them

Plane crash took my parents, now burn away my remains

I don’t want them anymore

As I wind on down the road

I wonder what’s left for me

12-string that ceased the pain, play another song with me

I’ve been looking for another tune

Rest in peace this broken dream

Stuck inside these four walls without my old twelve string

A friend who helped bring me up before going silent

I’m just another broken person in my old broken home