Among the choices we're offered are live, die, or give up
But in each case the offer is false, otherwise we'd all quit
Any worth in life needs to be tested, we might live or die
Choose to give up, you'll deserve fate, you must trust life
Because if it doesn't matter if you would rather die
Some call it hate, others call it pain
It doesn't matter a name, only that it is
You say there's no shame, a catechize
Alone in madness, my life left in ashes
No existence, a world devours emotions
Please let me know, I want no exposure
No matter, I'll say farewell for now
Better than receiving 39 lashes
I am unworthy in any event
I've never been pure
In a machine of culture, the grind of meat is soothing
As sounds of nothing leave the room before you enter
Anticipation, preparation, emotional starvation center
Ghosts sleep inside a mind, empty hearts are lamented
With no living dreams inside, a terror has an epicenter
Lives lived are past, a mind lost, behold the pretender
Seeking anew, a face and heart, once embraces the lie
“True genius shudders at incompleteness —imperfection— and usually prefers
silence to saying the something which is not everything that should be said.”
Edgar Allan Poe
The hive has needs, the worker bees have lives
As the hive is uppermost, free will is our dream
Her purpose is vital, only seen with true eyes
Existence demands sacrifice, truth rejects lies
In our life's labyrinth, we may no longer thrive
We must perform as cog, in the great machine
No sight, no sound, only the busy hum of life
The hive is crucial, while drones live and die
We cannot change results, outside of the hive
It is modern, powerful, beyond the slipstream
The hive is to be held as sacred, for all time
Workers are worth life, must find meaning
Within the hive we rise, labors redeeming
Fighting the collapse of our kind
A chase did not end as either war makers and warriors desired
The greatest of warriors cannot make war upon the scale needed
Unless they've resources and foresight or they shall be defeated
Napoleon's mind was to some perfect but he'd little to guide him
Casting aside bridging tools, and assuming battle would lead them
Fleeing Moscow, finding the cold and thaw, river Berezina waited
The frigid waters didn't allow wading or bridges numbers needed
Crossing before the Russians would catch his grand army fleeing
Napoleon was a genius, but now the catastrophe was beckoning
General Jean-Baptiste Éblé knew the future depended upon him
Of French forces, humans died, some remained behind in Hell
Building bridges Napoleon escaped, as did many of his favor
But never think that the Berezina river was anything but true
Swollen in fall, freezing, it had served mother Russia well
Painting by Lawrence Alma-Tadema
When existence beckons, one must obey
If there's nothing but an abject obedience
What matters? Is there any reason to be
Is our obeisance a gift to a great creator
Does a maker need followers to be divine
Should it become a quest to find purpose
Instead, deny free will and simply obey
Life should be lived or does that matter
Can you find a sum total, facts and data
How do you measure one life's worth?
With every single breath, I'm reminded, this life is fragile
The system used depends on a biological organic machine
Designed by an artist, an engineer, a divine spirit and time
A work of art, a device, human flesh offers few advantages
Our existence can be a gift, yes, but one that bears damage
We live a span of days and rarely exceed the time awarded
This life isn't guaranteed, we can only try harder to endure
Kisses from beloveds, purring cat heals me in pure love
Life offers opportunities but costs and falls as well
Prisoner #4353 tells his confessor
I spent my life learning how to die
My days slowly collapsed, falling
All my minutes passed so I scream
Life was torment, a treason inside
I begged, asked for grace, crawling
Nightmares shredded every dream
Nothing remained on my final day
If my world needs to torment me
I needed to accept the punishment
Grace for a need, mercy from me
What matters to withhold either
Nothing, I am just passing by
Nothing lasting, I'm dust, never more
I am dust, impermanent, not of worth
A grain of dust wasted on Earth
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
To pick from greatest human achievements
One needs to choose between pragmatism
Or of finest ideals that can lead to discovery
Not nuclear energy, global communication
Not the tunnel beneath the English Channel
All are great, but not even of human flight
Not Skyscrapers, Pyramids nor Monuments
The achievement responded to myth and fact
Space flight would pierce the veil of beyond
Seeking life other than our own, and planets
Would allow our human species to endure
Hopefully with greater wisdom and ideals
Than those that caused our need to leave
And a hope for a life with greater dreams
“In all our searching, the only thing we've found
that makes the emptiness bearable is each other.”
Carl Sagan
My flesh is a cage, not, though, to capture life
My heart and lungs may well beat and breathe
I'm not sovereign over this body's useful acts
Keeping the system alive despite all the facts
Staring in stillness of breath, before a mirror
It doesn't appear in mist, life is my devourer
I cannot escape, a body is alive but I am not
No matter the intention, my path is wrought
But I served my purpose, unto the very end
“This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.”
Each street soaked wet from rain
Blacktops drenched and slippery
Each step taken was run in vain
A moment fateful, even obscure
Falling, grievous pain, mystery
In fierce winds that howl loudly
One's body can't possibly endure
No screaming, no noise allowed
Quickly fading, life out of time
Nothing left to say or even do
Existence passes without light
As the darkness will devour all
Painting by Beneš Knüpfer 1905
I will chase the hopes, though long passed I should
To give my mind safe thoughts, now to find anew
Roads through unto the lands of dreams, renewed
Only after looking on stars and eyes, in my gaze
My heart still misses its time, exposed to truth
In these times, your eyes are solely in my heart
As you whispered, in the distortion, I didn't know it was you
That sound was different, still vital, and I knew it was a truth
You gave me purpose, you gave me life, you gave me hope
Your words were a fire inside, giving me release and proof
The stairs present a new problem, after all the sedentary years
They broke my neck once already, and no one calls any longer
I made too many "first" impressions that ended as being tears
The light of life left my eyes, despite the test, I'm not stronger
A path of finding my way, led to my being lost, every act cost
A world built by a being of epic grace, I lost the battle fought
I was offered a way to survive my world, instead I was tossed
Into a lake of fire, wanting to decide now, my hopes were lost
Looking off as my world turns empty, and a final black canvas
All my paintings burn, and those scratches are from the trying
Leaving their chilling signature upon canvas, in red, pleading
“No, child, you’re wrong. They’re not the same. Life
means hope, death is nothing at all.” Euripides
There are many questions, all linger without answer
We've become entitled, resting in ignorance, happily
If after years of hard research lead to a sort of cancer
Those liars act, and think your honor is blasphemy
Awareness of existence, refuse to become jealous
We speak to, address our prayers to greater beings
And by such we hope, until existence compels us
Into the dark sun's radiant waves, we can but see
Nothing just the colors and beauty of existence
Then in words of humans, smiles of children
Now a hope in all beings, at last made free
Swimming in sparked gasoline
Dreaming the toxic trampoline
The sleep will never heal me
For the dreaming never begins
The burning rot comes within
And I can't escape it or retreat
There is nothing left I can do
Every moment is flowing sins
Alive one breathe, done next
Drowning in silence, I've bled
Not from hopes, or future lost
Time is cold as life burns hot
Never fear, for reality awaits
You only get a single chance
I saw fire travel across the night
Not a falling star, it was worse
It was followed by an explosion
The world around me then shook
As the ashes still poured like rain
Coming from the firestorm's rage
Now is silence, I've become alone
We forever lost every present day
Now I know our past is forgotten
Future is gone, all dreams fallen
No more worry, nothing remains
As I look to the still burning sky
I think that I'm the sole survivor
When I die, unburied, no elegies
Our species will then be extinct
All our ideas, paintings, science
Our buildings, songs, and beliefs
Continuing to burn, as ashes fall
The few survivors tried to endure
As pestilence and plagues tolled
I saw nothing able to live, but me
My broken body somehow lived
No war nor greed, only asteroid
Are there others alive, where?
Who will rise to replace us all
Or will there be no one left
"Power, like a desolating pestilence, pollutes
whatever it touches." Percy Bysshe Shelley
Surrounded by the foe, each armed well, riding a beast
Staring into the horizon, obliterated by a moving many
The last line of defense had fallen, I was now left alone
I felt the earth thundering, shaking, there was no sound
Until the King's elite cavalry passed, all now charging
They collided with the enemy approaching, like a storm
I saw only movement, I heard only thunder and then I
Felt all my senses, made ready, believing, it was now
If in the moment I was to die, I was waiting, prepared
Those I fight for, those who live and love, will be safe
They'll be the focus of my life, outside the siege state
Innocence is worth life, mine is surrendered for them
There is no reason to fear, never more to live scared
Take my flesh, give freely to the cost of existence
I'm ready, a time has come, I'm ready in my mind
The end of the battle, did not inspire future warriors
As a slaughter it should have, but didn't lead to scars
For the armor cloaking them, stood the contest well
One can just only breathe after moments unleashed
The weight, the clumsy path walked and then fought
People without a knowledge of one another's beliefs
Fought over sharing of honor in bodies now wrought
But as the end came for one, it was to be felt by all
War isn't heroic, at times murder, hatred needed to play
The heat and stink of asphalt, I was melting
To flee my home, if I might somehow survive
They're watching, in hidden shadows, in shelter
Rain refusing to fall, I've baked human flesh
A world seeking my death, I've nowhere to run
Like a candle in an oven, swiftly turned liquid
