Sunday, April 30, 2017

Achilles and Hector


Zeus looked down upon the scene
From high Olympus he watched
Upon the shores of Anatolia
There the Sea of Helle washed 
Along the coast a city called Troy
Surrounded by Greeks
Arrayed for war
Athena, Goddess of Wisdom
Inspired so many to fight with courage
But many more followed Ares
God of battle, Lover of war
Who had loosed his power
Bloodlust
In the hearts of the combatants
He found there many things to his liking
Who knows the ways of the Gods
So powerful, so distant
So perfect, so capricious
What lessons have they taught 
If they are so cruel
How can man know different
How can they create life so beautiful 
But be entertained by carnage 
Wars of men leave them fulfilled
Battle before the walls of Troy
Soon legends were wrought
Greeks opposed the Trojans
To rescue a stolen princess
Yet she stolen with her permission
After innumerable forays
Melees and slaughter ensued
Sent forth two champions 
The two finest warriors fought
Both were courageous
Both were born of perfection
Equal in strength
Equal in agility
Each had enormous skills
With the spear
With the shield
One moved by anger
The other by hope
The bloodlust in Achilles
Set his path to victory
But he was not generous
Taking his joy
In his kill
By desecrating the body
Dragging it behind the victor's chariot
The vessel for honorable battle
Corrupted
By a violent hero
Being infantile
Only the tears of a father
Could loose Achilles
From his hideous thrill
At defeating one
Who took a life
In fair battle
Of his friend
How cold it was
How unworthy
What an ignominious end



Saturday, April 29, 2017

Killer

It competes for existence
With nothing else
It has no equal
There is no resistance
It is opportunistic
Waiting for our fall
It invades with precision
It is the model
Of persistence
Humanity will crumble
Our civilization will die
Appearing docile
And weak








Friday, April 28, 2017

Need to end it

Awash in torment
There is no chance
Of redemption
Only immense shame
And metaphoric castration
Never wanting to know
The desire of those
Who hate
I reject the message sent
But it is worse
My birth was a curse
Bitter regrets remain
Life is of no significance
I hate who I became
I had a heart that was wild
It was killed
Torn out
Rather than being tamed
I give in
I give up
There is nothing
Nothing left


Thursday, April 27, 2017

Escape through the doorway


Foreseeing the end
The portal was built
The seers foretold
The stars would shake
Lighting would strike
The sun grew cold
Shattering reality
Cleaving the night
The seers created a way
For their followers to escape
The world was ending
With no other paths to take
This was the only hope
Apocalypse broke the sky
The seers gathered the tribe
Beneath the eternity door
While the rest of the world died
And passed into a new realm
Made for them
By their deity
And their power poured
From Heaven's core

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

the ancient races

In the earliest time
Before civilizations took hold
Time didn't exist
Lives were mythic
Events were epic
Gods lived among men
And then
The world was divided
Between the eternal
And the temporal
The angels and Gods
Took to heaven
And the dark lords
Entered their deep domains
The order was set
Until the fallen
Came to live
Among the humans
And took their daughters
For mates
These offspring
Were feared and revered
Always standing out
They were the Nephilum
The giants
The beasts
The heroes
Of the ancient world


"When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose. Then the Lord said, 'My spirit shall not abide in mortals forever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred twenty years.' The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown." (Genesis 6:1-4, New Revised Standard Version)

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Fallen Irony

From the heights of the cosmos
To the depths of the mire
There is no escape
I admire
The naivety
Of  the damned
Since they have entered
My hellish land
They scream in pain
They moan in fear
They do not realize
I am like them
Only worse
  My domain is fearsome
Filled with servants
These burning hells
Are now my home
 My servants hate me
They long to betray me
What awaits me is slavery
 Kneeling before the throne
 I cannot be redeemed
For I defied the creator's plan
I demanded to be seen as an equal
I am perverse
I burn with ire
For I know why I am here
 The traits I have 
My beauty and charisma
Should not give me pride
They are not my own
Rather
 They were given to me
By my creator
So now I am
A master of the lands
Many think me the ruler
Holding the damned
Under my thumb
My role is one I cherish
But despite this
To rule over the lake of fire
As the lord of the unsaved
I play a role
In the drama of the cosmos
I play a role in the epic play
Of one who serves
My pride was foolish
I lost everything
By capricious whim
I am not a master
But one who serves him
Upon a throne
Within a cage
In the end he has won
There is nothing now
I am alone and ashamed
I cannot escape my servitude
My own flesh weakens
My beauty fades
My spirit was tamed
And I am alone
Inside my own lake of fire
Engulfed in hate
I refuse to submit
So I suffer
I am consumed
By my rage

Monday, April 24, 2017

Pain love

He said "Your love is tears.
I am dying now
What did you do to make me change
I used to be alive
I used to care
And now I am dead
I exchanged hope for fear.
I will never survive
Knowing you
And what you do to me"

Sunday, April 23, 2017

sinking into the morass

The field wet with blood
From the battle
Of men sent to war
Neither side knowing why
They are simply chattel
And now they are gone
No one gaining
From all of them dying
The bones sink down
The land groaning
They'll be lost
Becoming one
With the land, the mud
And never knowing
Why they died

Saturday, April 22, 2017

I remain

I remain
Long after you left
I became
Insane
Your love left me bereft
Shame
I refuse to be obsessed
You are my sorrow
Alive still
Despite your choice
I am alone
Comes the rain
So cold
I've become
So old
And now I leave
You are free
But I
Am long gone


Friday, April 21, 2017

Pure Truth


So high above the masses
Looking down
Could become difficult
To do so without scorn
But there was one
Who never felt contempt
For those below
Never becoming cynical
His gentle smile
Was worn
With absolute grace
Only the true leaders know
That leaders serve
Those who follow
It is not for show
Or display
But poured from the soul
With the vigor of youth
Pure truth

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Dynamism

Beneath the chaos and order
Between peace and war
Hot and cold, fast and slow
There is a power that moves us
As well as arrives at justice
When two opposite forces act
In continuous motion
Opposition becomes
Power

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Beaten down

I saw him
He was disheveled
Looking pale
And gaunt
He had tears
Falling
And told me
What good is living
If there is only pain
He pulled in a tortured breath
What is the point of hope
If there's a cost you pay
There is no escape
Nor forgiveness
I can't do it
I cannot bear this shame
I have only to leave
With no one realizing
I have only to sleep
Never waking
Only dying
I know it is wrong
To focus on this
It comes close to suicide
But I came to love the thought
Of leaving this world
And escaping this cage
Of flesh


Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Destined


Some are
Destined
To enter legend
Heroes reply
To the quest
To answer
The question
Committing to a task
With danger and death
The Gods watch
As the hero acts
Culture will remember
Forever
And should the hero succeed
Will be remembered
For his deeds
And become
Part of the pantheon
Of those favored
By the Gods




Monday, April 17, 2017

Years fly

Years pass, like wind through hair
I watch with sorrow
For the things I didn't do
And people I miss
But I loved
And I loved you
I burned all my tomorrows
For a chance for today
To be
Yours for a day
And I don't regret my act
I had to take a chance
If I didn't
I'd be here
Saying I wish I did
It is the coward's way
And so now Older by far
Death is near
And without shame
I know what I want
Upon my final breath
I want to say I love you
Still
Missing you will haunt me
For the rest of my days
But at least
I got to lay in the sun
And return your gaze
For a little while
While you called my name


Sunday, April 16, 2017

Foolish Man

I couldn't understand
Why you ran to the other man
I wanted to give up and throw up my hands
But something
Somehow
Kept me there
In that circumstance
I never knew why
You'd abandon this life
We'd created a family in our time
But something
Somehow
Made you run
My heart is not able
And my soul is crushed
All options are off the table
You dictate the terms
Of my surrender
So we can get back to living
This love fable
Together
I have lost
Too many nights
Missing your touch
We once had forever
And now
Our love is harder to remember
Than our last fight


Saturday, April 15, 2017

Love's Epiphany

It seems to me that you are
        not in love with me
you are simply using
     my naivety
and my love for you
 for company
And your self esteem
If I am honest...
You are very mean

It was days before you called
      after you knew I was worried
I can't keep destroying my hope
My belief system
You shattered my inner walls, and doors
You hurried to respond to the others but not me
Yes I am a fool
But your fool
Forever yours

You can have any one
Males view you with awe
This love towards one
      who doesn't care
Is no miracle, no phenomenon
You are simply cold
Unwilling to hold
Another person
Who might break down your walls


preplanning my funeral


Crimson spray
Sharp is the blade
What can I say
Quitting is my game
Soon my vision blurs
Bleeding the devil’s liqueur
I stare in the cracked mirror
And it laughs back at me 
For now I'll lay down
Into the sewer
Until my time is gone
Until I pass
From this 
Stained palace

 

Friday, April 14, 2017

Flight

Smoke from the fires
Black smoke rises
Clouding the view
The raven ascends
To the heights he flies
A raven glides above
The broken earth below
The battle was over
Fall the walls
Of Jericho
A creature of wisdom
Has watched mankind
And offers no advice
He will rise
Upon the wind
And never return again

Thursday, April 13, 2017

gone


we've driven beauty to extinction
in favor of pleasure and ignorance
art is exterminated
as if it is our mission
to feed our indifference
to the world created
we pave forests
kill the creatures
poison the waters
to eradicate our world
by slaying the dreamers
we are fated
to be the destroyer
to be the ones
who slay nature
we commit massacres
of beauty
to replace it all
with buildings
streets
cell phones
pornography

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

wake me from

wake me from the dead
asleep I have been
forever knows
I am untouchable
no healing
no imagining
without the courage
my heart shows
how I suffer
how hungry I have been
don't let me start
I will never end
so ravenous
towards the other
love is empty without
transparent hearts
without hope
without affection
no
love is empty
without you
wake me
wake me from the dead
I don't care what I said
wake me


Tuesday, April 11, 2017

The Ancient Dead Remain

The corpse adjudged
Without shame
Nor worry
The past flees
Cascade started
Should the spirit be missing
And life is gone
The shadows and mist
Refuse to part
These bones exist
And the ancient dead remain
Before the court
A case presented
Though flesh has parted
The dead live the same
Skeletal remnants of life
Artifacts of existence
Bleached white
The life that is lost
Is a memory
A ghost
Still haunting
Still mourning
The loss


Monday, April 10, 2017

the pain in the darkness

amnesiac memories
gnideelberaeyesym
so much pain inside
snetsilydobon
No one cares
I can't escape
dnimgnimearcsym

Saturday, April 8, 2017

in the morning, they linger



In the morning
They linger
Where it is quiet
And white with mist
They are silent
Keeping aware
The deer feed on grass
Knowing
That should they remain
When the sun
Burns the mist away
Predators will hunt
Their ears prick up
Hearing and sensing
A human stranger
But there is no danger
Here rides
A human warrior
Upon a chariot
Armed for battle
Cu Chulainn is renowned
Being pure of soul
But black spirit in war
The deer continue feeding
To Cu Chulainn
Hero and bold
The deer hold no interest
His heart longs for action
He is a hero
And there are many wrongs
To address
Before the day grows old



Books featuring Celtic heroes, written by me, illustrated by Ed Quinby and others.


Books about Celtic heritage and history, not by me.


Postcard: Against the Tide They Stood


Thursday, April 6, 2017

questioning

angel chorus in the clouds
celebrate the new arrivals
yes
they survived the temptations
and they are proud
but I have to ask
what is the joy
of saying no
to the world
given to us
for our pleasure
dichotomies suck
and I am too stupid
to understand
a farmer breaks the plow blade
in a rock strewn land
an artist is born
without hands
called to a destiny
that I can't fulfill
or fate that escapes
due to my unawareness
of wisdom I had to distill
from the spilled vintage
I can't see myself alive
beyond this flesh life
But I pray to be
worthy of the breath
given to me
forgiving me
I believe
and I resist
but the wisdom is beyond me
and I still am alone
with my belief


Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Chasing evil in the Urals

We rode against the trolls
Against the Turks
Against the giants
Against the slavers
Who'd sold their souls
We were the Bogatyr
The warriors of the Kievan Rus
We never paled in the face
Of enemies
We were breaking their control
Of the human race
We rode
Never ever ending
Our forward charge
For we were the defenders
From the fields of Ukraine
To the golden land of Thrace



Monday, April 3, 2017

Through the mists of eternity

The cycle of existence
Is not monolithic
It will rise
or descend
Based upon my choices
And the use of gifts
And talents lent
This life will never end
My soul is eternal
my flesh is not
My flesh of clay
My soul has bought
Every tear
I suffer
I'm not God
Yet I am born
Ever again
The everlasting
seems so far away
Forever days
Ascension is my goal
No hunger left to sate
I am yours
Dear God of all
Do with me
And I shall answer
Your call

Sunday, April 2, 2017

I long for you














In the absence of light
I cannot find
Where you are
Your form is near me
As we meet in the night
My hands reach,
But you are too far
From my arms
The rhythm of your breathing
Tells me what I need
In your presence
I am alive
My defenses disarmed
Your beauty is unique
Your mind is glorious
Your lips are what I seek
First and foremost
Your flesh is warm
I am cold
We are dynamic
And our love is new
We both want more
In the darkness
Our hands reach the other
Moved by your beauty
I am awakened
To your charms
Hold me
Kiss me
Please do not
Resist me
I long for you
And only you
In this dance
We perform


Saturday, April 1, 2017

The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy

She knew my heart
Hidden behind the chest plate
Her touch was cold and taunting
I was naive to her ways
But I was not afraid
She had beauty that was haunting
Her voice soothed my fears
Her form moved my being
And when I reached for her
She was gone
And I was left
With only tears
Grieving my loss
But was she ever near