Saturday, April 30, 2016

I resist



There is a threat by others
A sort of pressure 
To conform
To the herd
Even unto death
Who ever said 
Being alive was better
Than the alternative
Has never been dead
That is just the fact
I don't expect death to be pleasure
With soft pillows, a harem and treasure
But not having been there
I don't assume that it is better or worse
For all I know, I might be healed
There, there is no cancer or lepers
No sorrow or grieving, no despair
I refuse to repeat after the speaker
The magical words
Life is important
But death is not known
I welcome death
Embrace the scythe of the reaper
It will happen when it will
And not before
The seeds have been sown
Bring the harvest

Friday, April 29, 2016

Stain or burden

You can consider who you are
A stain, a drain or a burden
But you have gifts regardless
You can believe in yourself
While you are so very not worthy
Of belief
We are all dirty
Broken and needy
We are all beautiful
So very fair
Somewhere
Some when
We are the same
In need for love
And completely different
Unique
Without anyone to compare
Refuse to live someone else's life
Refuse to dream another person's dream
Until you awake
Simply sleep


Thursday, April 28, 2016

Entered upon wings, Left in boxes and bags

“An equation: 40,000 dead young men = 3,000 tons of bone and flesh, 124,000 pounds of brain matter, 50,000 gallons of blood, 1,840,000 years of life that will never be lived, 100,000 children that will never be born (the last we can afford: there are too many starving children in the world already).”   Dalton Trumbo, Johnny Got His Gun




The youth of a nation
The pride worthy of
Every celebration
Was called to be
The sacrificial lamb
For the cause
Of empire
Yet this cremation
The firestorm's ashes
Could not give back
The bodies turned black
Only ashes in bags in caskets
Because the inferno burned
Destroying every single dream
Every ideal
Every goal
No matter
The size
No matter
Which regime




They should have been
Our most prized
Our most privileged
The finest vintage
The wine of the culture
The finest of vintage
Poured out
Upon the hard ground
Draining to the depths
Of Hades
With fire and sulfur
We gained nothing
For empire
We gained nothing
For family or village
Only sorrow
And rape
And pillage


This post is not a condemnation of those who served.  It is a condemnation of the warriors in congress and the White House who send others to war without a speck of conscience worrying for who will die, and the consequences for the country being attacked.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

The truth does not require Faith



The knowledge was ancient
Somehow I found it
It was wisdom
Profound
And I know
It is the truth
I don't simply believe
And the truth requires
Nothing like faith
I bring coins
To place upon my eyes
As payment of the toll
When I die
The ferryman doesn't work for free
This world I've entered
A domain that holds souls
Charon carries me across
As the river flows
So many drown
Coinless they came
And mindless of the cost
Our lives burn a hole
Upon the tapestry
Of life
I am
A burden
A cost of sin
Covered in blood
From the wages
I never paid
My breathes shortened
The life of others
By my greed
And here I sit
In the realm
Of Pluto
So dark is Tartarus
So black my soul
Here I sit
In the eternal place
Where souls remain
For their acts

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

so silently

I don't breathe
I bleed
I don't talk
I scream
But silently
So quietly
The world slowly
But surely
Grinds my flesh
With my joy
Leaving me
Please don't stop
Believing me
It takes me
Away
Secretly
And destroys
All of who
I am
I don't sleep
I dream
I don't cry
I burn
In fire it comes
A storm is near
When he returns
The battle is here
The mist rises up
The view is unclear
I might die tonight
But I have no fear



Monday, April 25, 2016

Stairs

It is your choice
Stairs go up
Stairs can go down
Your life is the one thing
You have
You can create
You can destroy
You can raise your voice
Never be outdone
Or you can flee
Run as fast
As far away
As your feet will carry
It is up to you

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” Kurt Vonnegut

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Monsters

We are able to stare into the abyss
Only because were are also beasts
The depths of the evil empty place
Scoured by our entreaty, and embrace
We are not holy, we are not good
We are the monsters, we abhor truth

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Some heroes are made better by the company they keep

Bellerophon and Pegasus
Were a heroic team
Before the days of Heracles
Their deeds seemed a dream
Fighting the Chimera
Killing it with honor
Now they live in tales
Told when we sleep

Friday, April 22, 2016

Sleep in Elysian Fields


Life is not our own to value
In this or any millennium
What they see does not have worth
Who we are, what we are does
By such worth we enter a place
And our soul can rest, sleep in Elysium

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Rain mingles













In the cold early Spring
The wind blows and ice stings
Rain falls and mingles with my tears
I look unblinking as you come near
My world is breaking, forsaken
I pray some day, to reawaken
For I have lingered in this pain
In a place wishing not to remain
I have one heart, one soul
One dream, one goal
You are my love
Sent from
Above
You are my angel


















Not like me

I heard his voice
As the master's whip
Lashed my neck
My body convulsed
Without a choice
I couldn't ignore the effect
So long as I had a pulse
I'd resist
Would not fall
T'was my quest
My children would be
Unlike me
I am a slave
But they'll be free
Even if I die
Especially if I die


Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Broken for you

Simon Bisley copyright
How many times
have I died
only to be reborn
the next morn
with only the scars
the story, my memoir
my body is letting me know
the pain and bleeding grows
the blood stark red
I know I've been dead
With every life I spend
My soul transcends
My spirit rising
Through the obstacles climbing
To the highest place
Ending in my father's embrace


Tuesday, April 19, 2016

It will end some day


without a care
the ocean a body
breathing in and out
while the world
has lost the will
in reflection
the ocean tide rising
falling away
washing the shore
without intention
the beach laid bare
the crows look afar
from the empty world
humanity unredeemed
fallen and gone
human plans
in complete recession
to the point of extinction

“Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.”― Carl Sagan, The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God

Monday, April 18, 2016

Destined

Though Perseus was a man
He was born of different bloodlines
A greater form of nobility
He was human, a hero 
But more
He was of extraordinary spirit 
With striking looks, agility 
Possessed of great strength
Trained by masters
His deeds would echo in eternity
His duty would be celebrated
He was chosen for a moment 
Of brash voice and youth
To become his generation's hero
Who would be remembered
Ever unto time
Because fate demands
And destiny requires
Fulfillment
He was called to be more
Than any man of his time
His bloodline was mixed
Of human and god
Entwined
He was the son of Zeus
With a mother from human kind
It showed in his courage
He was known to the gods
And blessed by them
Magical items he was furnished
Winged sandals from Hermes
A helm of darkness from Hades
A polished mirror shield from Athena
From his father Zeus
He received a sword, 
Of the hardest material known
To mankind
As Adamant
Yes Perseus was called 
To slay a creature
Called a gorgon
By name as Medusa
Cursed by the gods 
For her enormous vanity
Formerly a human woman
Now a beast
Her hair changed to snakes
And her eyes able 
To turn mortals to stone
She was feared
And so dangerous
Perseus was brave
But who would not harbor fear
Even the gods fear death
When facing uncertainty
Using the gifts
Perseus was able
Along with his wits
To slay the gorgon
Beheading her
And thereafter
Released from the viscera
Two amazing beings
A golden giant
And a winged horse
Only by slaying 
Was the curse lifted
And Perseus remembered
Through time
 

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Shall death ride and enter our world
Lives will shatter, and taken from here
Death is not hungry for lives
But he sees this all as his turn




Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Beowulf

Not every dragon has a slayer
Not every hero has a foe
Rarely
One rises in response
To this or any enemy
And rarely again
There is the one who fights
Who risks all
He has everything to lose
If he cannot achieve victory

Monday, April 11, 2016

Electric blue



So beautiful she moved my soul
Electric I was unable to think
Her movements fluid 
She shook me whole
In her ocean I began to sink
My resistance is diluted
As I watch her take complete control

"“The truth is not always beautiful, nor beautiful words the truth.” 
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Artifact






















Your love is an artifact
Of the time when we
Were in eternal embrace
Tied in constant dance

Beauty wrapped in lace

Memories are residue
Of the emotions
That accompanied our love
Alive, our love was true

A taste of Heaven above

Shadows flee, bones remain
From our existence
When we were together
Running through the flames

Children lost in forever

Remnants can be found
Wherever we roamed
Of the love we shared
Chains broke, love unbound

Joy destroying despair








“Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.”  Bruce Lee

Friday, April 8, 2016

50


Led by a God
Posing as a hero
The enemy froze
Blood flowed
As did fear
The defenders of the city
Stand in her defense
They often disappear
Here were the fifty
They'd be the saviors
Warriors took the offense
Never retreating
They were the moment
And the moment passed in their favor
Led by a single man
Some thought a god
Others just a hero


Thursday, April 7, 2016

She called to me, as I died




So many of us
Dying or dead
We lay where we fell
The blows of men
Edges made of steel
And arrows
Ripping our bodies
The snows turned red
Into a powerful winter wind
I see a white figure
Upon the field of recent snow
And she beckons me come
The glimpse of hope
A gossamer thin veil
Gives me a glow
Amazed
By it all
I can’t walk
To her I say
You allow me to fly
I answer only to your call
Before she came
I was so cold
With no way
To rise
But the hope
Gives me strength
And for her
While the gale winds blow
My last ounce of courage
Is poured
She is so elegant
So exquisite
From her heart flows
The path to my release
She shimmers
In celestial glory
And in my hand
Frozen and bleeding
I reach and try
Despite slipping
From my grasp
I will hold her
Before my eyes
Close upon this land
For good

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Ever


 I long for time
 Spent with my love
 I long for the moments
 We remember

 In dreams I run
 To catch her hand
 There we will ever dance
 Until morning

 Overnight the stars
 Illuminate the floor
 While watching our romance
 But in waking I want more

 She is my first
 My only one
 Growing old together
 Unto ever

 I call to her
 To join her in her sleep
 Finding her there we dance
 Sandman covers us in sand

 I have sorrowed
 That my flaws, sins
 Ever lead me astray
 Yet I find hope

 This life is good
 Because she is
 I am made so by her
 By her I shine

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Narrow Path



More and more narrow
The path is ever more so
Some of us know the truth
Still, yes we know
That some of us dwell here
Linger in the shadows
Whatever we believe
Into Hell we go

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Ripped

Before her
Before she brazenly danced
I never knew her
I had never asked
For her company
I never killed anyone
My knife had no name
But she was a whore
She deserved her shame
So I killed her
I ripped her flesh
I removed her
From the living world
I stole her breath


Saturday, April 2, 2016

Defending the legacy, Murdering to spread the culture



From the time
 Leonidas led 300 Spartan men
The heroes at Thermopylae
To Leuctra with the last stand 
Of the Sacred Band
Greeks knew what was important
And it was not glory
It was not heroic tales
It was defense of the land
And your shield man 
They understood their world



The states of ancient Greece tried
The experiment in Democracy
And they created a wondrous thing
Only to be dominated by Phillip
And his son Alexander
Greece had still created a legacy
For the future
Democracy was worthy of the fight
And worthy of dying for


We remember them now
For the acts of the conqueror 
Alexander the Great
Because he was a genius
For killing enemies in large numbers
And for holding together an army
That marched across the known world


 Ancient Greece was not perfect
But when the city-states were faced 
With domination or annihilation
It was the Persians who were slaughtered 
Instead
At Marathon
At Salamis 
At Plataea 
They preserved our gift
 Democracy
One person, one vote



We have it still
Because of their blood 
But we remember them most
For the acts of a man
Who declared himself
Born of the blood line of Achilles
Born with blood of Heracles
Alexander the Great
Believed it was his destiny
To destroy the Persian Empire
But his desire burned more in him
Than in all of the subjugated states
His quest was one of invasion
Not of defense



Greek culture was spread
As a result of the conquerors sweep
But it was not from intention
Inside Alexander was fire
But greatness isn't about that
The ability to kill
With ease
Instead the ability to lead
Requires sharing the fire inside
An almost righteous ire
To defend all that matters
But especially the home

 
The Persian empire surely died
Only to be replaced by other empires
Of similar design
Without direction or stability
Or desire for anything
Outside of the ability to survive
 

Friday, April 1, 2016

Nothing

She wanted me
I wanted to be free
And then I had nothing
And to think I could have been happy
Or at least free, or have something
More than this
I have nothing now
And forever
Nothing
Nothing

Streams

Conscious flows of thought
Refuses the life that I've wrought
There is nothing to believe
Or is there, should I trust you
Or even should I trust everything
I am walking a single path
Knowing my future is unwritten
I chose this way of faith
I fear not, I've been forgiven
There are streams of tears
There are streams of mind
I chose both and I know
Tears will flow
I'm content inside