Demons by Imagine Dragons

"I wanna hide the truth, I wanna shelter you, but with the beast         

                    inside, there's nowhere we can hide."

People often ask, “Why do I push away the ones I love? ” Maybe it is because deep down we know we will hurt them. We want to help them or protect them but we can’t because we are the threat.  

"Don't get too close, it's dark inside, it's where my demons 

                                               hide."

When people say hurtful things to me I feel alone; however, when I say hurtful things to myself, I realize I'm not alone because inside of me there are demons fighting. These demons are made of broken dreams, failed attempts, and heartbreaking mistakes. These haunting memories are a pain, nothing can ease, not even love. It's agony. Complete excruciating agony. It's like your heart has turned to stone and is stuck in your throat. You’re left: breathless. You don’t have the appetite to eat and suddenly you realize you don’t want to anyways. You can’t think straight and then one day, you can’t at all. It's the most intense pain that you'll ever feel, and the worst part is, there's no way to relieve it. Its unyielding and merciless torture and you know that it's yours for life.

"Curtain's call is the last of all, when the lights fade out, all the sinners crawl. So, they dug your grave and the masquerade will 

                come calling out at the mess you made."

Seeing people for who they really are is the most terrifying yet humbling experience. When you unmask someone and reveal their darkness, they still smile but when you’re not looking, they show they are just humble sinners on their hands and knees, like everyone else. They are waiting for you to fall because they know eventually you will.  

"Don't wanna let you down but I am hell-bound. Though this is 

                 all for you, don't wanna hide the truth."

We let go the ones we love because we don’t want to hurt them. We want to hide our demons, protecting the ones we love. However, sooner or later we show them our skeletons, admitting we are filled with darkness. They have the right to know who we really are, who people all really are. The truth may hurt them, it may make them hate us and scream of how they thought you were different. But at the end of the day we only broke them, to save them.

"They say it's what you make, I say it's up to fate. It's woven in 

                         my soul, I need to let you go."

Some people say that what you do and how hard you work determines the outcome of life. They say that if we wanted hard enough to let our past go that we could. This is a lie. You can’t let go. There’s nothing you can do to change it: your inner demons become a part of who you are.

   "Your eyes, they shine so bright, I wanna save that light."

Often times when we love someone we don’t see the demons they’re hiding. It’s not that we don’t want to, we can’t. Love is blind. We do however see their innocence, magnified.

         "I can't escape this now, unless you show me how."

We think we will be stuck depressed and miserable forever but when we meet 'the one' they prove us wrong. They change us. Yes, we will still have a pit of agony eating away at our hearts but through them, the pain will be bearable.

What "Having a Coke with You" means to me

Having a Coke with You        

is even more fun than going to San Sebastian, Irún, Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne
or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in Barcelona
partly because in your orange shirt you look like a better happier St. Sebastian
partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love for yoghurt
partly because of the fluorescent orange tulips around the birches
partly because of the secrecy our smiles take on before people and statuary
it is hard to believe when I’m with you that there can be anything as still
as solemn as unpleasantly definitive as statuary when right in front of it
in the warm New York 4 o’clock light we are drifting back and forth
between each other like a tree breathing through its spectacles

and the portrait show seems to have no faces in it at all, just paint
you suddenly wonder why in the world anyone ever did them

I look
at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world
except possibly for the Polish Rider occasionally and anyway it’s in the Frick
which thank heavens you haven’t gone to yet so we can go together the first time
and the fact that you move so beautifully more or less takes care of Futurism
just as at home I never think of the Nude Descending a Staircase or
at a rehearsal a single drawing of Leonardo or Michelangelo that used to wow me
and what good does all the research of the Impressionists do them
when they never got the right person to stand near the tree when the sun sank
or for that matter Marino Marini when he didn’t pick the rider as carefully
as the horse

it seems they were all cheated of some marvelous experience
which is not going to go wasted on me which is why I am telling you about it

 The opening lines to Frank O’Hara’s poem address, “Having a coke with you is even more fun than going to San Sebastian, Irún, Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in Barcelona”. This displays a celebration of how the simple things in life are the most beautiful. One could travel the world tasting of different cultures without realizing the true beauty of the world until they walk down the street they grew up on. Though discovering the world’s landmarks and their beauty is spectacular, this poem reminds its readers that the moments in which they simply smile at a passing face, watch the sunrise, or hear their unborn child’s heartbeat is breathtaking.

The reader, of this poem, is expressing how the addressee captivates them and is compassionate for everything they do. In the lines, “Partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love for yogurt”, Frank O’Hare illustrates that love does not have to be big and overly romantic; however, it can instead be about the little things that make one smile. The ways people find joy and true happiness do not have to be vast and elaborate. It is usually the small, over looked things such as, the scent your lover wore on the first date or the warmth of their skin on a cold winter night, that people love and remember for years to come.

After explaining that the couple is visiting Spain, O’Hara writes, “Partly because of the secrecy our smiles take on before people”. The sidelong glances at a loved one and the feeling that a whole conversation has taken place without even speaking is more heart-stirring than visiting the magnificent landmarks. It is only the presence of others who notice the secret glances lover’s exchange because to those in love it is a simple, unnoticed act. O’Hara then goes on to announce, “And the portrait show seems to have no faces in it at all, just paint… I look at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world”. When two individuals share an enchanting love for each other nothing else compares, not even the Mona Lisa. They crave for each other and wish upon the stars that they could dedicate everyday to embracing and soaking in every detail of each other.

O’Hara could have easily said, “I am enchanted by the way you move”, but instead says, “And the fact you move so beautifully more or less takes care of Futurism, just as at home I never think of the Nude Descending a Staircase”. The addressee, in the writer’s eyes, moves more gracefully and is more attractive than a painting or sculpture that seems to move. The writer starts to wonder why anyone ever bothered to paint, “…a single drawing of Leonardo or Michelangelo” because the paintings “that used to wow me” do not compare to the alluring and enticing features of his lover.

The poem comes to an end with Frank O’Hara’s sweet words, “And what good does all the research of the Impressionists do them when they never got the right person to stand near the tree when the sun sank. It seems they were all cheated of some marvelous experience which is not going to go wasted on me which is why I am telling you about it”. Individuals have certain empowering moments of beauty in their life, such as, having a coke with a loved one; however, if one travels the world hopelessly searching for it they will never taste of true, everlasting happiness. Frank O’Hara’s ability to illustrate these emotions in such a way the reader can relate, wither they are thinking of a lover, a friend, or a food they ate, is a piece of true beauty overlooked.