Madness and Demons the price of Genius

For every talent given, there comes a demon
Whether with addictive drugs, alcohol or lust
If you are blessed, without a choice, afflicted
Thereafter imprisoned, losing freedom, hope
Whatever you try, no one can give you trust
In the end, if you're driven mad, or addicted
You've nothing to replace what you've lost
While genius is extreme, you've paid a cost
Madness is just one toll you've had to pay
Your life is remembered, but in present days
With sad facts, accidents and happenstance
Death waits to steal your life from the timeline
Death is a bastard, he has no eye for any talent
He takes whoever he can with a final kiss
Then take his ugly bones back to the abyss
And there he begins to wait all over again

no copyright asserted, fair use only

I received Hope

The passion in her kiss
Revealed how deeply
I've fallen to the depths
Of the mystery
Being loved somehow
A union to keep
Still I can perceive
My life made adrift
Chaotic storms and danger
Her love allowed me safety
Ecstatic cries fill the sky
I am reborn in her arms
And I am able to believe again
In the focus of the eye of love
I shed tears and cry
In her love I received hope
Beneath her touch
I fall under a spell
Vulnerable to her charms
 So much that she offers
Freely, giving, she shares
Life might not be fair
My flesh ruined by service
Fighting enemies of my king
To defend my home
And still I believe
For her I'll fight to the death
With love in my heart
And the love she gives alone
Will heal my scars

Too Many Tears

There are too many tears to be able to see

The thick glass is fogged, the rain falls

As the windshield is covered completely

Only allowed to sleep if Morpheus calls

Haven't heard his voice, I plead until I bleed

My flesh is fragile, my voice cracks

My tears flow hard down, and attack

For I had thought this world would be gone

And the road is so very long

I am so tired of everything of all I lack

Walking on Holy Ground

I hear you whisper in my sleep
Telling me how great I'll become
I've never been, not even in dreams
But you believed and redeemed me
And I now I am alone, without you
All I have is memories of what you said
Otherwise there are no sounds
I am surrounded in silence
You're gone, you are dead
And I'd give anything
To be the one gone instead
I miss you, you'll be missed forever
Where you walked was holy ground
You know I have nothing now
But memories of you
You were too humble to be famous
But you are a warrior of renown
Fighting last stand battles
Winning every one
Your voice became a song
I can't remember the words
Only the music playing in the background
The memories move me
The memories echo, a hope resounds

I hope there is Heaven

I hear the angels
They are singing in the clouds
I see Heaven
The thunder is so loud
I have spent my life
Fighting for my land
I tried to survive
When the enemy took a stand
And now it seems I'll die
Without a funeral
Without a crowd crying
The silence is deafening
My life poured out
For the sake of others
Now that I'm passing
I bitterly wonder
Will my parents be proud
If I did something wrong by dying
If these doubts are going to go away
Or if my minister was lying
And God doesn't save us all
For those who heard the call

I found enough love

Although I endured a lifetime of pain
I chose to keep on living
After you'd left me to ruin
I missed you over my life
You were all I'd known
I could have exposed my wrists
And then used a knife
But I chose a different way
I don't need more strife
Nor take my exit before the time
I have a family and home
I'll leave through that door
When I need a deep soul kiss
That takes me from this place
I have more than I need
Love from my wife
Gave me all I have and will ever have
For love is not enough
You need something more
A constancy, a reality
Words are worthless
Words cannot restore
You must experience joy
To deal with the pain
You must experience hope
To endure the dark days
I have her
I found love
She gave me so much
You once said I should thank you
For all that you had done for me
You were wrong, you always were
For you didn't give me hope
You gave me nothing
And said that's enough

The Jealous World

What accounts for the disparities of life
What if a person of no great talent thrives
Or another with gifts does not prosper
As a genius struggles to survive or endure
Society mocks them, doesn't care
Answers don't come from a place demure
We've all been given something inside
All have been made to finally realize
We live in a world of possibilities
With more rules than liberties
If we burn inside with creative fire
How do you express it, for others
Without being extinguished
Are creatives attacked due to jealousy
Why are the gifted often ignored, or reviled
Rather than that society celebrating
Why do they not admire those who burn
To share with others, and help the world?

Time Grinds

With infinite questions, finite answers
Countless diseases, incurable cancers
Existence a sum total we can't calculate
Lives have worth, but some simply wait
Spending their existence wondering
Why some have joy, others suffering
Time's machine grinds without relent
Life is not forever, time will truly end
And so the great machine will stop
Like a light switch clicks on, or off

Awaken Sleeper, Awake!

The world is in chaos and dysfunction is common
What is asked of all of us is find a true form of justice
But it's an impossible test to rise above an angry past
Find hope in the depths of the abyss, or die at last
Birth alone isn't enough, your race is unimportant
For we are all citizens of the earth
By your presence here, you have worth
We must finally rise above our petty rage
The demands of existence call us to resistance
Fight the conformity that brings us to our knees
Rise from the slumber, wake us from our great sleep
Awaken now sleeper and release yourself from the cage

Not Enough

The world doesn't possess enough
Beer, Pot, LSD, Heroin or Crack
To make me love you again
I promise you, that there's no way
There doesn't exist enough love
To make me forget all you did to me
I am done and you can go away
Leave my presence, close that door
I'll not suffer this today
Never again, love no more
Only the scars remain

Fairness

We're not equal in gifts, but should be in dignity
What is fair, what is there to measure our rights

It isn't laws, it isn't found in legislation or rules

Coming from the heart, it should know reality?

Unique in talent, not all perform at the same level

Born similarly, we're composed of atoms and light

Existence is not a guarantee of kindness, or cruelty

We must fight for more justice, rise above needs

Taking hope, finding joy, we rise to equally revel
The language of the heart is justice, and kindness

Without the hint of happiness, what is there to find?

The Same Response

What if I love you and you are just a machine
What if I gave to you my heart and you said
"Don't be silly, it was all glycerine"
What if I found you while deep in my dreams
And you said "Darling, you just need to sleep."
What if I said I was moved
And you said "A lot of things do.
Everything moves you."
Just because I feel doesn't mean it isn't real
Just because I feel Doesn't mean it is silly
Emotions might be silly to you
But never to me
Loving you can be so empty
There's nothing to connect to
Might as well masturbate, ignore you
I'd get the same response
Shut the door
Hide away inside
And not have to pay for the experience

Are you complicit?

If racism is based upon the behavior that is one thing
It is not based on the private thought of an individual
Due to the failure of society in mind reading
The darkest thoughts are able to be denied
If racism is systemic, the brush is wide
With a collective guilt applied
Neither sort of racism is truly accurate
One aims where it cannot find a target
The other says we are all monolithic in our darkness
Neither definition should leave one comforted
While how you treat one another is never blind
Difference in look is not the same
As difference in due respect
So are you complicit?
By how you live every day of your life
Are you complicit by collective guilt
Even if you've tried to be good
Or have done all that is right?
For the record
I've been stupid over the course of time
My brain has been dirty, empty and ignorant
But in terms of understanding others
Please know that I've tried

By My Own Hand?

Always is in the air a sweet scent of existence
Fragrances of life abundant, fecund and verdant
Responses elicited, without pretense or regret
To hold and love another, to aim love together
To achieve a place in forever, behind the veil
We must aspire to reach the higher place
And upon earth to experience all things
Everything we can experience, devour it all
And be ourselves consumed by our devotion 
As reality is washed away by the truth
It comes from within, it isn't empty, it isn't doomed
If thereafter I am damned, it will be by my own hand
For the ultimate truth is this
Our magnificent world is proof of the notion
That every second I will have lived
Is more than I deserve
I am more than feelings, whatever my emotions
More than opinions, for they are not truth
The one King is truth, and is the one I serve
He offers redemption from fate and restoration
And the concept of legacies and lingering hope
Offer more than perhaps I am offered
So I just wait, sitting here
Drinking life in waiting for the end
But it will never be, by my own hand

Animals

Were humans subjected to living vivisection by an alien race
And ruled over, used as slaves, and treated in subservience
Would it change our view of so called animals and rights?
Would our response of outrage lead us in a search for justice
Or just to find a different group of living beings to replace us
Would our species use every means available to fight?
Would it surprise you to know that humans lived in cages?
Should humans then see themselves as belonging in a zoo?
Or would it instead reveal our endless willingness to betray
People of different races, animals, deeply held beliefs
For we become relativists if it concerns food or health
Or ultimately despicably worse, how we are entertained
We give no thought to suffering of others, unless forced
Becoming aware should be our fuel
Teach us in school, cause us to change
If not we'll become immune
We'll be wicked in how we live every day
Immune to the problems of other races and species
It is not enough to become enraged
We must change, soon

For further reading: OTA BENGA

The Norns

This life is measured out
By the length of yarn
Spun by the Norns
Have no doubt
I know my time will come
I can fulfill my destiny
Or be consigned to winds
Or death will call me
Like the call of a lover
Bidding me welcome
Offering me solace
Giving hope or wisdom
It will allow me vision
To see how I will rise
My calling is a reckoning
Giving me reason for hope
The benefits are manifest
To fall in any event
After becoming wise
Would be of my own doing
Or the will of the gods
My life is in their hands
For the Norns are powerful
As they weave and spin
Yarn woven by fate
As dust softly floats
Our choices hang in the air
As do our lives we spin
Our very own yarn
If in joy or in despair
The wind blows
And our place in life beckons
And death calls us home

When Hawks Hunt

The world sees the ability of flight
As an angelic trait, a glorious endeavor
But like anything, in war, flight is a tool
The dragons bearing a Black Cross attack
From on high, this danger kills the innocent
Unleashing their bombs on buildings, people
The forces of the Black Cross are challenged
For the Empire of Great Britain will fight
The Empire's Spitfires take on the agile Emils
As Hawker Hurricanes rise to meet dragons
This is an unequal fight, courage is needed
To hunt Black Cross dragons, be fearless
Sooner or later the brave ones may fall
But until they do or Great Britain fails
The Hawks fly to the heights to answer
In focused flights to forestall disaster

Shoot Down the Baby Killers

There they stalk the night skies
Above our homeland defenses
We now know, the devil flies
Honorable knights rise up
Using bullets and guile for offense
They streak upward
Upward
And in the darkness meet
Two unequal opponents
One the hunter
The other the hunted
Fight in epic duel

They

They have attempted to turn you into sheep
Every act they commit, deception is deep
They tell you and me how we should feel
As they urge me to agree with their beliefs
They say they value the truest free speech
But they are evil, doing nothing but preach

Wicked Orchard

Their bodies were trapped in the branches
Every limb that could bear weight, a portion
The crew fled, abandoned their dying craft
Jumping and landing in a burning forest
Their bodies then frozen in distortion
As if a vile life form, a cruel body orchard
Each branch bearing a body, of life now lost
Ignorant of politics, myth and ultimate truth
The broken flesh cannot move or think
And they wait for a cleansing fire
To free them from their contortion
In the violent trees, death bearing fruit

Flight

They were blown away by what they saw
In the era these existed and ruled the skies
Flying and gliding, swooping to the kill
Modern humans remained awestruck
Wondering how they survived, and still
Modernity had no explanations of worth
Nothing made any sense, no theory worked
The minds of science had declared them gone
Long ago, in eras beyond time, countless
Extinct and ancient they'd entered cessation
But they weren't dead, they were dormant
Earth fires fed them, kept them in hibernation
Keeping them alive there in safest of keeps
They were hidden in the earth's viscera
They were waiting to be awakened
Growing in size, even in their sleep
And when they were awakened
Earth experienced hell
And the flyers ruled
While mankind fell

Lost Opportunity

There was more than a loss, it was a disaster
The best chance to end the life of the devil

The leader would've been slain to save his nation

Officer Rudolph Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff

A professional, like many, became disillusioned

Millions died, the world before Hitler trembled

With violence, execution and mass starvation

Hitler presented a case of the perfect storm

Evil, Activist, called for the Final Solution

Change in schedule, ended before he could act

As a result two live bombs were extinguished

The lost opportunity meant two more years

Of history's then most destructive war

Hitler led a people to destruction, desolation 

He remained alive, doing more by his hand

Than all the wars of the land combined

With his Final Solution carried out

And no one could view with doubt

That his hand caused the destruction

And slaughtered future generations

1943, March 21

Bundesarchiv ©
Bild 146-1976-130-51  Unknown author 

We have lived with monsters

Painted on the rocks, paper and ink
Our ancestors had believed in dragons
Our children believe in technology
When science awakens their DNA
Dinosaurs will become alive again
And will be the dragons
In which we believe
Once they march forth
They cannot be stopped
But humans have caused this shock
By the manipulation of a species
Long thought gone extinct

Tapestries and Apologies

So now
As we unweave our tapestry
A work of two become as one dissolves
Untying each knot we tied
Alone again
Love lost
An ending resolved
My heart is gone
Never to return
My love is toxic
I know I've tried
Even if we smile to make others happy
I know the poison within
And nothing exists to draw it out
Only a sweet elegy
Like poem for the death of love
We simply stopped loving
Stopped the apologies
For our pride
And hurt
Rings removed, no longer one
A focus confused
Never again to be together
No matter all that we've done

Meat + Spark

If my flesh is just meat
And my spirit a spark
How do I measure a life
Or the love inside me
Inside my soul and being
How is one to start?
Will you end this existence
Made of smoke and illusions
Knowing you are unsatisfied
Forgiveness cannot redeem
When the heart is missing
What a being has sacrificed
Cannot be measured fairly
Without contrition in one's heart
How can I recognize all of the lies
All the ways that we're in
The exquisite masquerade
Wearing masks
To avoid honest words
To foil intimacy
So let me be renewed
If I am unworthy
Let me die
And if you are willing
Please let me start anew
With a new body
And a spark inside
Let me live or die
In knowing what is true
Even if I'm unworthy
I seek your majesty
I deeply desire to earn your trust
To be worthy of your beauty
You are all I long to find
All the days are empty
And will remain so
Without you

"It's easier to bleed than sweat, Mr. Motes.”  Flannery O'Connor

Fate or Destiny?

The Christ was foretold, prophesied by John the Baptist

Great King Arthur brought forth and christened by Merlyn

Wherever a man who has been sent by God appears
Even as the most holy son of God

He is preceded by one who walks the wasteland
Until the way is prepared, and he comes

How will we know what to become, who is next?
Does not knowing mean we're abandoned to our fate

Will our generation find our hero, the leader
Will we rise to the challenge that beckons, threatens
Or shall we fail, melt like snow, as we endlessly wait

Have we been consigned to die in a dying wasted land

Have we realized our destiny, only it is now too late?

The Lvov Ghetto

Holocaust history
Second World War
18 March, 1942
Jews from the Lvov Ghetto
Sent to the Belzec death camp
Found in Eastern Poland
To be gassed, or shot
Slaughtered like sheep
Gathered for death by SS troops
known as Einsatzgruppen
Killing or special task forces
Well able to follow orders
Packed the Jews into trains
Closed the box cars tightly
And upon arrival at the camp
Poured them into the grinder
Bullets, gasoline, or famine
By all means available
They'd do their work
As appointed by the leader
Herr Hitler, the fuhrer
And his final plan

A single shining bullet

The famous single shining bullet
Represents the sterling silver lie
Magic answer to a required question
An assassin masquerade at a dance
Waiting in Dallas was the CIA
Oswald set up to be the fall guy
The tin man was wooden
The scarecrow had no courage
The world is a chessboard
But every piece we get is a simple pawn
As the nation was damned
And we survived
But we must go back to start
The coup create a dystopia
Our fears realized
Did they lead to the end
Of our day upon the world stage
We've had a false government
Gunmen disguised as tramps
And violence seems to pay
JFK could not escape the fix
His assassin was then killed
To hide the trail
Of who would benefit
Without a pristine confession
We've been told to believe
But it is a lie of deception
We cannot receive satisfaction
For we know the answer is false
We need a great dispensation of grace
For the quest beast we now chase
To know the truth, or to find the facts
To reveal the treachery or mask
Behind the bullet and its creation

The Empire Would Eventually Fall

It was there I'd dreamed
Amidst a network of trade
Carved from antiquity
Ivory, silk, gold and silver
Here the Empire ranked first
It had reached from Rome
To exotic and distant China
It was a span that was vast
The empire frontiers held
The wars fought desperately
Against the Barbarians
Their numbers growing
Exponentially
Dramatically
Fearfully
Awesomely
The final die was cast

The nomad raiders attacked

A black flag finally unfurled

But I live in the future
In an ever changing world
Without memory of the past
My world stopped turning
Seconds move far too fast
Passing so quickly
I can never sleep
Lost all I longed to keep
But Mother Rome had nurtured
The rest of the world, her children
We in the Legion were the cubs
Suckling upon Mother Rome
My life in service near an end
A warrior is the lowest caste
In modernity's massive machinery
I have no place of safety
Only to flee
In the mindscape, the final escape
Where I can still serve Caesar

The Walker

Would anyone else desire to be there
A small moving mark on the horizon
A walker in an apocalyptic wasteland
His knowledge and wisdom are lost
His dreams shattered, he understands
But if he understands he doesn't care
For his intention is not to ever return
His intention is to die there, content
His hand in his own demise is noted
No one enters such a place, unaware

As the Ravens weep

We are watched over by companions
They will stare and gaze from aloft
Watching humans fail and succeed
Without judgment, only company
Some of a victory comes at a cost
Some of our failure defies belief
They speak to each other in symphony
We are fortunate in their dedication
Orphaned as we are in modernity
In isolation with our civilization
They watch, and for us weep

None are innocent when making war

When the Allied bombs fell on Würzburg
On March 16, 1945, Final months of war
90% of the city was wiped from the earth
There 5,000 souls passed behind the veil
In a raid that lasted just twenty minutes
Non-combatant children and women
Paid the cost for a war not yet ended
Bombs fell as precipitation, a fiery hail
If the German spirit wasn't broken there
It was surely bent, and traded for hate
Here the Angel of Death was sent
And had too many souls to carry away

The Idea

An idea that births a movement
Or  suggests we are a gear of a machine
Is to create an eternal revolution

A thought that has inspired many

Ideas and people can both become deadly

For on either side of a bayonet is a worker

Freedom rewards more than imposed order

And yet... order of any sort allows recovery

From the damage of when the world last burned
One can survey the land, and see the damage

No one gets to decide how one might survive

 And unless they survive time means nothing

For life refuses to bow before all but time
Giving to each of those who have served
Only what they are able to take
Not what they ultimately deserve

"... all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from 

immigrants and revolutionists.”  Franklin D. Roosevelt

Genocide

When the Rwandan Genocide occurred the world watched and did nothing
They perhaps helped in counting the dead victims, watched with cameras
When the Armenians were slaughtered by distinct intention by the Turks
The world couldn't watch, and then questioned what exactly happened
What good does it do, what is the point, to ask questions and then stop
How can we improve when our worst acts are performed with passion
The world stops to say oh how terrible, and does nothing thereafter?
If we do nothing and if we are neutralized into a static inaction
We've condoned the slaughter, we've become complicit
As if we've taken the weapon and gone out and did it

Stupid Passions

I can't dance and I know this
Dealing with others isn't my thing
I don't have grace in any movement
I've few attractive aspects of my being
Not able to dance, and I can't sing
I can't even do these in my dreams
My flaws and dark side are proven
And inside a rebel is seething
Unable to properly think
For all the opposition to everything
That burns in my tiny little mind
When I am on the brink
And empty is my heart
My soul well scarred
My flesh blue from dying cells
From living in this private Hell
Found inside me
Found deep in my mind
Where love is rare
And the light is dimmed
I am but a shell
My flaws illuminated by sin

Just saying, I never would

You said you didn't and
Would never love me
And that's fine by me,
I agree, and I already knew
I simply asked a question
It doesn't matter
What if we spend our lives
Trying to find the perfect one
And every effort fails
Perfection doesn't exist
So why should anyone resist
The urge to find someone
Instead of finding the one
But I'm ok, really I am
I wasn't asking after you
It was a rhetorical question
But to you, so empty and alone
Everything is an inquiry within
And you think you hold the key
But for me
I wasn't looking for you
So don't worry
I didn't find you either

Running from Catastrophe

Running from the nearing catastrophe
My feet can't possible run fast enough
To flee means I must run, I have no time
The flesh might die but I'll be free inside

Over Coffee

Did our conversation scare you away
I'm sorry, I'll try to be more coy
More glib, lie a bit, or just say
I am sorry I was so open
When you clearly wanted
Something else or someone else
After reflection I guess I said too much
About everything
If that's all you want
Sorry to have said anything
Is there anything left?
Just let me know
I am so confused
Love leads in so many directions
But love needs two to be complete
So it wasn't love
It was something
Unknown

A Human Wall

At Thermopylae they stood
Paying the cost for all Greeks
Spartan and allied forces waiting
A human wall that had to break
When the onslaught came hard
In that mountain pass defense
Each Spartan was creating
Time, renewed hearts
A moment for Greece to unite
300 Spartans became every Greek
Persian King Xerxes wondered
If all Greeks would fight like these
There'd be no Persian army left
And no stories could be told
Of his great victories
Yet to come

The Burning Village

As the crows circle the field

Lessons now have been drawn

The crops burn and raise smoke

A year's harvest will have no yield

For the enemy Norse have moved on

Upon the arrival the village lost all hope
Falling before the North men

The violence would become a flood
Hunters of the sea and predators of man
Seeking conquest and new lands
The world forged by Norsemen hands
Crossing dangerous oceans
Conquerors now gone berserk
Vikings become Europe's burden
Collecting the treasure and goods
And when the north men approach
The innocent would flee the deluge

No morsel too small to hang us all?

If one cannot say a fact without adding a direct judgment
If one can't describe an act, without adding a comment
How can we ever develop an intellectual understanding
If information discovered is only used for moral criticism
To be followed thereafter by angry judgment and hanging?

You are Warm

I must say good night my love as ever
I'm broken to leave but if I would stay
You or your name would be compromised
By judgmental eyes of others
Since my desire is to never hurt you
I refuse to let you suffer scorn
Be well my love
For in your love I believe
With you we can face the storm
I'd rather be wounded or despised
Than anyone wonder upon your honor
You're all that I have wanted
All that could ever have
In any way, shape or form
You are my dream
The world is very cold place
And yet in your arms I remain warm

Wash those Hands

Washing our hands of another man's crime
Does not leave our hearts without guilt
Our views have not changed over time
Nor were the foundations we then built
We create sympathy only in our own mind
As if our suffering has been filled to the hilt
When what we do is simply leave behind
All the baggage, all those horrible decisions
Of our fears, tears and moral indiscretions
All our flaws, trapped and now found inside

"I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves." Pontius Pilate

Dangerously Beautiful

We might see the glorious scenery
And think how nature is wonderful
But there is danger in beauty
In the eyes of a beholder
It is possible to become confused
Seeing the beauty rather than the awe
Of a creator's hands
We might see one thing but we must see
The creator and his creation
Or we enter into danger
Or become fools
Confused by the outer image
Love does that too
It allows warmth in freezing conditions
If we don't perceive approaching winter
Even as it grows colder we will freeze
If we're not able to perceive
The cause or reason for being damned
If we are blinded
We've entered negation
Having only hope to survive
Blinded by the beauty
Or the mutual blinding by love
There is danger in this lack of sight
As we stumble through the night
Love is dangerous
It allows you to fall
In love with the world
In love with the call
To love your neighbor
A high noble ideal
What if I am confused
I've taken your beauty
And ignored all else
Because I am a fool
Ready to dive into the abyss
As if it is kiddie pool

“The denigration of those we love always detaches us from them in some degree. Never touch your idols: the gilding will stick to your fingers.” Gustave Flaubert

Judenfrei

The defense of their home country, they would do
Whatever it took to survive, defeat the invaders
So many assisted in the Nazi slaughter of the Jews
How many were forced into service is not well known
They helped perform the mission of an evil crusader
The many who collaborated with a nightmarish throne
When their own survival was assured, they were ready
They complied, they did their duty, and were deadly