Our Banners Lifted High

Armed with steel, and wrapped in armor
Our leaders were all riding steeds
Into the emptiness, we began to march
Roughly crossing into the vile Deadlands
Defense of the empire was our charge
Where in the midst of the chaos and din
There was a spirit of madness within
Like a snake crawling through the valley
Accompanied by our kindred and allies
We moved forward through the land
Preparing for battle that lay ahead
We were the living soon to be dead
Our banners lifted high into the breeze
Announcing our presence to the enemy
We entered formation, then were deployed
And now in the battle, bodies would clash
We refused to lose this epic fight
We pledged our lives from first to the last
The end left each army destroyed

Fallen and Burning

As you feel the blood leave your body
In the shock of a pain of the knowing
A masterwork that you'd once created
Had fallen down, a foundation rotted
Standing instead, a family disowning
All your dreams now being dislocated
By efforts to build an everlasting estate
Without a foundation or hope or home

Veil of Tears

The flesh driving my choices
As hurt underpins these voices
Shadowed inside by my fears
As I wear a silken veil of tears
The bitter seeds once planted
Lead to the harvest of cancer

Mirror

In every direction glass flies
As the dreams scatter
The mirror reflects nothing
If the frame is bent
Glass within shattered
Warped and broken
All reflection fails
All dreaming ends
With a single strike
To the surface
The future is unwritten
We've received
All these message sent
Ready to abandon our path
The protective veil pulled back
All of our coverings rent
We've nothing without hope
No reflection without it
The mirror is not for vanity
But for inspection
Of every doubt
Freedom from the chains
Of crushing fears
And endless tears

"Whatever may be their use in civilized societies, mirrors
are essential to all violent and heroic action.” Virginia Woolf

Saying No

When she refused to accept the love offerings
Feigning ignorance of the fine gift being given
She didn't love him and she didn't want to lie
Wanting to avoid the arrow he was trying to aim
Cupid couldn't connect, and no choirs would sing
No anthems, only strings attached, as if in a prison
She couldn't hide a deceit that'd be in her eyes
The word "no" was often so cold and shaming
And at this time she didn't want to be despised

Why?

The exacting, enormous, everlasting, eternal's gaze
What can there be, but the failure of a life in decay
Dead flesh putrefying, as every dream lays in state
Why give someone a life without the will to live it
Or give one hope without giving a will to fulfill it
Life might be a gift, but the value in it is uncertain
If there's only pain, remaining dreams untouched
Should life's joy remain hidden, if there is no love
What gives life value, if there is no joy, no hope?
What is there in the end, if it all turns to dust?

“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many
dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though
in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps
                                     the greater.”  J.R.R. Tolkien

Lace Wrapped

My hands touch her face, she responds sexually
Her lace is wrapped around her flesh, like a skin
Her lavender perfume is a scent moving me inside
The beast inside me, comes to life, unquenchable
Controls me, I enter her lair, I long for her within
Obeying her directions, she leaves me wide-eyed
She leads me, I'm consumed, in her vast festival

Vietnam the Giantslayer

In 1258 AD, on this day
In the battle of Dong Bo Dau
Vietnam stopped the Mongols
From dominating their land
Like the Chinese before
And then many times after
The French decided
To weld together a colony
From the region's neighbors
Calling it IndoChina
Later the Japanese tried
But the French came back
Failed in another invasion
The Americans thereafter
Failed to force their hand
Vietnam refused to be ruled
From a throne afar
It is only the hubris expressed
That'd lead to any thinking
They could do better
Than the list of those
Who'd already fought
And lost

All received defeats
The defeats severe
With the knowledge
Every failed invasion
Has becomes a fool's game
To deny to the Vietnamese
Their right to being a nation
A people who bear the name
That conquerors should fear
But know that Vietnam is more
Than warriors and victims
She is the absolute gem
In a region of beauty
A vibrant living land
Verdant, full of hope
Fully worthy
Deserving of the beauty
That dwells in their hand

The War Poem

The war took a second to begin, for all dreams to cave in
The assassination of an official wielding dangerous power
There were no safe places, no place to flee in desperation
With minds poisoned by lies, this wasn't our finest hour
No moment to spare as lives were taken and all was lost
But war is enormous, we were small, unable to stop
Morals were forsaken, resistance led you to be shot
The innocents were slain, we made pleas to our God
For all of us the war continued, the slaughter went on
So we tried to survive, with no hope upon the horizon

"Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging
on a cross of iron.” Dwight D. Eisenhower

Mia Familia

Love as a tapestry, hung high with pride
Families rise with care, unaware of time
As every generation rises, dying then fall
And the village they build is made sublime

“After a good dinner one can forgive anybody,
even one's own relations.”  Oscar Wilde

Explosion

Tragedies occur but sometimes they are fate
Hubris leads to an ignorance, and false trust
After reaching space, everything falls into place
It didn't
All we're left with, was distrust and moon dust

Today, This Man Broke

If I was able, I'd quit
Get the hell out of here
What does it mean
I don't know
I'm trying to be clear
I can't take it anymore,
As your life draws near
To the end, which is in sight
Know that I am aware
There's nothing for me to do
But pull the curtain down
Taking my final bow
Everyone saw me
Perhaps rightly, so
As a moronic clown
I am so done
So done with this place
I haven't had love
I've not even the taste
So I think it is time
To lose my mind
A nice break in the day
Forever perhaps
Again and again
Crazy I will remain
You are sane, yes
But I've lost my mind
Forever, forever insane
Washed in blood
Drops color the pane

Spinning on an Axis

How many lives must be lost
For innocence to at last prevail
How many dreams must be shattered
For the honest men to fail
We must make difficult choices
For the easy ones chose themselves
We must work for hope, and raise our voice
Because without them we'll all live in hell
The world spins, regardless of our suffering
It spins, in a cycle never ending, it spins
For good or bad, it will spin,
Even as we might suffer within

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way
of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants
and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible,
but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.”

                                                           Mahatma Gandhi

Albatross

Echoes of a heart beating through time
The emptiness there amplifies the sound
Alive but not living, dying but not dead
The possibilities flash through my mind
But I know nothing and wear no crown
A king of nothing, a fool perhaps instead
I'm prepared to reign, my kingdom is lost
My path forward, is ignorance and wrath
My symbol the cursed bird, the Albatross
It comforts me, there upon my throne
Through time remembered for misery
Yet I've now surrendered to the reality
I skip through existence like a stone
As I am tossed across a lake of sorrow
All  hope gone, opportunity lost
Thrown into an abyss of madness
I found my once and true home

Hollowed Out, Waiting

My skeleton fades, my being decayed
Flesh transparent, revealing all of my viscera
With dreams incoherent, lingering in misery
Still I long to see the fields of Elysium
Is there hope outside the promises of skin
I've waited for the length of my existence
As I wear the cloak of my human persona
I linger in shadows, I'm hollowed out within
But still I find hope, in the everlasting
I need hope, consequence, and requital
While upon my knees, I wait, ready at last
Let this experience not be simply spectacle
Let me find the aim steady
To drive me down the path

Passing Beyond the Veil, with Tear-stained Hope

Ink on the paper, blood upon the sheets
My emotions are torn inside, I'm done
Ruined by our love, just know I believe
Even with the plague of sorrow in the end
None can stop what your love had begun
The message into the mists you've sent
I've a love inside for you and only one
And now I can't understand why I weep
We'll be reunited, once again, forever
Spending a future, eternity, together

The Sleep of the Gods

A pristine white cat now dreams of the chase
Of Birds, mice, humans, squirrels and dogs
Cast in the role of predator, we are the prey
Know that in their minds, they're our gods
And well deserving of worship and praise

The New Shore

Our home world has suffered and will die soon
For all of our pollution, crime, wars, inhumanity
Earth has been grievously wounded by our acts
We should not wonder why it is doomed
For our ignorant choices, we'll never atone
We must start over elsewhere, on a new world
For now we've given our scientists the task
Finding a way to travel into space, we'll go
Across unknown stars and galaxies, roam
If we're not successful we'll fade from view
Despite potential of the young, they will be the last
For this generation exploration is not the goal
We must find a new home, we must renew
Or every memory and accomplishment will fade
We'll die painfully, our species extinct, enter decay
We must flee into the deepest space
Where life can start over, and our species may live
Again but we must begin anew

"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the
courage to lose sight of the shore."  Andre Gide

Bless the Earth

We live upon a majestic planet that has been generous
Despite the dangers and catastrophes it teems with life
Blue with rich oceans, green with verdant vegetation
The earth spins upon an axis, it is due our reverence
For without it, we'd never have evolved, nor thrived
We grow fat upon her offerings, yet there is starvation
Establish our species, by her riches allowed endurance
Trillions of life forms compete and struggle to survive
One day it will end, perhaps by disaster or human hands
We will should we engage in nuclear war's damnation

“In our new age of terrifying, lethal gadgets, which supplanted so swiftly the old one, the first great aggressive war, if it should come, will be launched by suicidal little madmen pressing an electronic button. Such a war will not last long and none will ever follow it. There will be no conquerors and no conquests, but only the charred bones of the dead on and uninhabited planet.”  William L. Shirer

Darkness

The constant din, fleeting dreams
A vulgar parade, as death walks in
The sun dims, the future screams
We are unable to change our fate
The future ends, our flesh a cage
Trapped in a world of nothing
Unless we change
Unless we think about others
This world has intrinsic value
As do the lives of our children

Love Leads to Hope, or Despair

The flooding, an unquenchable torrent
A moment,  or mistaken spark of hope
Love can lead you to a distant place
Love can steel you against despair
Or lead to dreams most abberant
The torment of hope is amplified
Words trapped in the throat
Hope hinges upon a simple embrace
A path to follow that might end unfair
But one must taste of love to know
And once you have the taste
Your path is determined
But you no longer care

DNA Mystique

We share a form that is the same
Formed by biology and DNA
We are, however, unique
With a beautiful mystique
It dwells deep inside of us all
Calling out to an exalted name
To a conscience and being
That is enormously deep
It cannot be found by a search
Nor by our chosen act
It is far from our reach
It is a life form
Giving us purpose
With a manifest beauty
A voice echoing into
Destiny and eternity

Far From Love

Yes she was beautiful, I never denied that
But she was someone I could never love
My heart couldn't be moved to being taken
By one consuming lives, like mice to a cat
Addicted to each new or different touch
If her soul wasn't emptied of compassion
It was surely forsaken
Without any love everlasting
If I could admire her beauty
I'd yet refuse to become the next
To a being capricious of whims
With such a soul, so cold within

Điện Biên Phủ

France had just been freed from German occupation forces
Among the volunteers from across the war torn world
Former SS men released from prisoner of war camps
Dressed in French uniforms, sent to fight in Vietnam
These volunteers were dropped into Hell
From low flying cargo planes
To a well surrounded fort, falling even now
So that France could be gloriously be restored
But they lost, with those who survived
Envying those who died
For there was no way home only struggle
An entire world changed as a French Empire ended
The French soldiers cried, surrounded by the dead
In the last moments of battle
When they saw the rise of a flag, of the color Red

SOURCE

The End Calls

A last kiss from the cold lips
The end beckons us forward
We hover over the abyss
Our flesh grows charred
And our hearts grow cold
We decay, turning gray
With our flesh now scarred
But there will come a day
When we have a promise
That is fulfilled
For all the madness
We will find sanity
And be still
In the heart of love

Inhumane

From Nazi German concentration Camps
To Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib
The use of torture violates human rights
In the hands of a master it destroys a life
Tortured men and women will always break
The body cannot perceive beyond the pain
If a mind cracks from the torment and grief
Surrender beckons the mind, offering relief
But we should resist, as pain is just the start
If one gives in to evil works of the torturer
Very soon that master will move to murder
Either killing the flesh, or wasting a spirit
Your fight gives others the ability to persist

Rising at Dusk

E. E. Cummings: “Unbeing dead isn't being alive.”

The whispers of the undead
A serenade song of gray
A spirit flickers, then flees
A butterfly flies away
An echo in the boneyard
All the eyes flicker red
Reflecting a sorrow unnamed
A foul stench of death
Is the fragrance in the breeze
Missing limbs, terrible scars
Their soul has gone
Never to awaken, rise instead
Waiting for night to dawn
They have no hope
Waiting for the end
They never sleep
Here in the body orchard
The nightmares remain
Being awake but not alive
Far too long, they wait
For nothing to save them
They will never forget
What it felt like to breathe
For once again to be alive

The 20th Century Legacy

By use of bullet or gas, fire or vile experiment
Cruelty was a legacy of the twentieth century
Even as the moon was reached after the wars
The event of reaching space was cruelty stained
All humanity, even the allies had become arrogant
Treating other humans as obstacles, tools or enemies
The practice of the science of Nazis was scarred
The goals of the Third Reich's leaders was insane
Humanity now stands upon fresh killing fields
The victors inherited data allowing innovations
Pushing for a weapon's nuclear maximum yield

“Forgetting extermination is part of extermination.” 
― Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation

Dead Soldiers

With uniform, and weapons presented
Gray flesh soldiers march in parade
Approaching the final gates
The choice would be too late
The natural course of life devastated
The starvation in the eyes of these souls
A procession moving forward, inexorably
They fought, and entered fate's embrace
No control of the destination
Nor able to pay Charon's toll
Life has fled, as they've bled inevitably
Never to return, their ashes in an urn
Loved ones wonder
What was it worth
To lose their loves

What if there is nothing?

Looking into the nothing
Of the stars above
And the black night
My world was breaking
It still is
A body once young
Now old and tattered
An idea embodied
If it is true
That with age
We'll grow wise
What if
With youthful dreams gone
And grave doubts
The dream is shattered
Laying in pieces
Upon a dark horizon
Our future spat out
In the pain of living
Existence's path of lies
Or life fading from view
How do we start forgiving
When we are the ones
Who made the choices
Leading here where I stand
The sound above
Asking me when you die
Will you enter Heaven
Or face permanent oblivion?

Waiting For Rain

The desert you see around me
Was made by the acts
Of human hands
No hope to escape
No hope for anything
Nothing is possible
Obedient to our plans
We had been damned
We foresaw miracles
And the great rains
But they
Never came
We prayed to invented gods
Nothing real
Found out we're the liars
Demanded relief
Didn't even believe
In the gods
The ones we made
By our own hands
The damage has echoed
Through the generations
Our memories live
But of a higher place
Lost to catastrophe
Of the world at present
Fears and failures
Are now too grave
We are the fallen
No hope to be saved
We are the newly dead
Our flesh goes on
But our soul is gone
Our lives condemned
We believe in machines
To a lure of technology
We've become enslaved
They will steal our dreams
Until we live to serve them instead

“Knowledge, absolutely sure of its infallibility, is faith” Yevgeny Zamyatin

A Lost Empire Discovered

In a back water swamp, tall trees and vegetation hide artifacts
Here are the forgotten remains of a once important empire
Nature is taking back what was her own as her domain
Nature is life itself and refuses to be consigned to shadow
Lush growth begins, beauty restored, healing by growth
But what is hidden are the wounds, of human toil and acts
Humans clear land with fire, give it scars, ignore the blame
Broken columns, residue of the past, memories are fleeting
When humans find the site, they'll declare all sorts of things
That they've recovered a major site, where humans lived
However, 30 generations later, humans feel no sorrow
They build anew, and endeavor to begin greater tasks
Human progress celebrated, believing in their greatness
But they will soon discover, this party will be their last
Nature might well not be sentient, but still it knows
Humans live for the day or moment, and revel
But they will feel regret and nothing more, tomorrow

Orphans of War, Poets and Warriors

Orphaned by war
In a cold distant land
After invaders raid
And a village burns
Three children, wander
Foundlings and orphans
Left behind
Without a guide
The memories a scar
In the catastrophe, separated
Into their adulthood
Alone, and apart
One was a poet
The other two warriors
Sharing blood, and outlook
They were spread
To the far horizons
Loving knowledge
And a love of books
Their life pathways chosen
From there they stood
Before the veil
Behind the fences
Time to grow
Time to move
In the end, when it was time
As seasons change, so do lives
They found one another
There was a reunion
And life was good

(Dedicated to my brother Nate and my sister Denise)

Shhhh

If we never speak again, please know I'm fine with that
You never removed the dagger you shoved in my back
The pain you gave me still remains when I see your face
Whenever I'm hurt, it is your bitter venom that I'll taste
So please, if you feel like punishing me with your silence?
There's nothing that I want more than that perfect quiet

 

 

Live above All

With every breath, you take your chances
You're better than the circumstances
This world wants to tell you
That you're not enough
Don't count the strikes against you
Don't accept the pain inside you
And be prepared to know
What is really true
Remember that dying a fool
Is neither brave nor cowardly
Living in ignorance
Let's evil devour you
Decide what's important
Refuse to let them win
If there is nothing to live for
It should never be a sin
To want more
This world has an emptiness
But your spirit is waiting
Let it be free
Restore the being within

 

Wannsee

On 20th of January, 1942
Came a moment of ruin
Nazi leaders sought to create
A machine of state to kill
Meant to destroy life
Bringing the termination
Of the Jewish race
By the German nation
The Wannsee Conference
A gathering of officers
Who understand the purpose
To gather resources, organize minds
Aiming their skills to help decide
In political and military organization
To be enablers of doom
Of the unworthy population
Or if the Russians won
Their own nation
In Berlin they were engaged
With finery and uniform
With orders and arrangements
Each aspect of state was utilized
To exterminate the Jews
Today is the anniversary
Of a conference organized
To bring the elite of Nazi Germany
Into a plot of murder
Remember it not to blame
But to remember it can happen
Probably anywhere

SOURCE

Breaking them apart

Based on a random fear, with no substance
Brought tears, with a life built upon regret
She was watching him leave, he was ready to bail
This love had been a gift received
If she had only known
And it seemed, they're meant to fail
He wasn't a partner for her future
They loved but were bad for the other
A union together was now uncertain
From an unwillingness to fail
Love and memories were lost
The pain and emotions remain

UNITED

A collection of nations, united at last
It had required an approaching crash
For all who fought to join in the fight
Slavery or hate, an encroaching night
Not all were democratic, nor capitalist
Each nation had chosen to fight evil
In the form of an world axis pivot
A gathering of militant nationalists
And leader similar to the Anti Christ
If he'd led his people to win the war
All of civilization would enter twilight

Depression

In America's past came a financial disaster
Value and savings were deleted in a flash
A catastrophe caused by great greed
Banks failed, companies bankrupt
The phrase used was Great Depression
America became the land of lost dreams
The damage wasn't just during the event
It followed through successive generations
False valued stocks and bonds were lies
The rich survived by selling legacies
By retreating until it was over
The rest survived by force of will
But being poor was a status
That was despised, still
Especially at a time of history
When it was believed that
One's labor could make one exalted

Given time, they'll explain everything away using Aliens or Bigfoot

It can drive me mad, watching things unfold
When the idle minds of the present think
They'll take a set of cold facts, all stats known
Try to create a story, draw and quarter links
By such weave a mystery in the shadows
Ignoring the truth to find some way to gain
But their ideas are empty and hollow
As their intellectual efforts become stains

Poet's note:                                                                     
I encourage free thinking, and I encourage debate and
revision when needed but fringe minds have begun to
express belief in a secret diary, written to support an
impossible fiction. Admiral Robert Byrd might have
failed in measurements or was flawed in ways, but I
promise, he never visited the center of the earth.

 

Chosen to be the One

Every time I hear your sweet voice
Or I catch your jasmine scent
Should I see your fine beauty
I'm made aware of wonder
In being the one of choice
Receiving a message sent
Epic, loud like a movie
In the moment I ponder
Aware of this place
Set aside at last
For just these people
Afire, in love divine
What else could I do
But find myself in deep
Swimming in depths of joy
Where there's only two
Me and you
Love like the finest wine
The vineyard's greatest prize
Kept for years
Grateful to be alive
Hand in hand
Dancing together in time
Without any worries
Or secrets to keep
Bound by what is true
Love for a lifetime

Functionary

People are amazed by the fact, incredulous
SS Heinrich Müller of the Final Solution
Didn't hold an opinion within politics
But it is because of people like him
That wicked acts will be carried out
Functionaries rewarded by the system
Or one without a deeper thought or bias
Can be convinced to do almost anything
And can be paid by gold, whatever the cause
Without reason, or to the bidder who is highest

Discreetly Hidden, But Never Forgotten

Her mouth tasted like honey
Her kisses would remind me
Of the fleeting days of youth
While being in love proof
I had to find a way to face
All the hurt upon the surface
I know it doesn't matter now
I was shattered, somehow
I know I'm still broken
Memories and instinct
All feel that pain within
But this is a terminal kind
Of losing what I can't describe
No forgetting what was stolen
By the thief of life called time
Forget it all
It is last call
Time to forget everything
And let everyone sing
Elegies for the lost still existing
And all of the sins still burning
Festering, fecund, fragile lives
Somehow while fetid, persisting
In the madness some thrive
Where love doesn't survive

My Very Naughty Cat

If I do not pay her the attention she desires
My cat will scratch anything she can reach
If I do not obey her, and pay her obeisance
She destroys the things in my room I prize
But she is a goddess, a cat ninja, superhero
Who am I to judge, she loves me, innocently
And is perfect in my aging fading eyes

Inalienable Rights of Being Human

You've been told that we are all individuals
But that only matter if one helps the tribe
We've been told we have value as sovereign beings
But the truth is, we aren't invited to really think
While we were encouraged when young
To believe that free thought and speech matter
As adults we learn differently
We are not allowed to say really, anything
Or to be more accurate, anything that matters
Just in case in case it might offend someone
Or that your words might disrupt the many
Or that you might make others hurt, angry or sad
By your words
We are not individuals
If we are not allowed our own beliefs
Free speech and thought flow from those beliefs
The government, wealthy and media together
All demand from us, rather than give help
They demand what they have no right to ever ask for
And then, they say we must comply
Do the rights of the many remove the rights of the few?
If we do not comply there are consequences
We will be jailed, or lose our right to a voice
Or we lose our nation or our health
So I am asking you now, if you are a human
Because if you are, you have human born rights
It does not matter
Your race, your gender, your orientation
Nor even your perceived or personally gathered wealth
If you are born, you are an individual
And it is you who should demand to be heard
You have a right to be yourself
An inalienable right
Whatever they may take, you have the right to self
And that is a right you have
Hold on to it tightly
No one can take it from you
Being you is the ideal, for no one else understands you
Like you do

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something
else is the greatest accomplishment.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.”  Friedrich Nietzsche

Fatima

A life of many examples
Regent and thinker
Poet and astronomer
Parent to a people
And child of power
Daughter of a Sultan
Mother to a Sultan
The name so famous
To two diverse religions
Who dwelled in one land
For a 700 years
One city named for one
Captured by a knight
Converted in marriage
The other a daughter
Of the Messenger
Such a name reminds us
All who read this are human
Who bleed the same color
Want the same things
Have the same needs
Fatima
Daughter of Muhammed
Fatima
Site of Mary's presence and miracles
Perhaps we are not different
Our thoughts just a moment
Before one comes
To tell us all why we are here 

 

Weighed By The Scales

To live or die is not a difficult question, but not to live is indeed
Will this life require a moral path, do we have to believe
If we are ever judged for our lives, after it has been lived
Will we get an unbiased judge, with grace or mercy to give
Or will our lives be found wanting, lived poorly, or worse
Will we have been considered to be a blessing
Or that our life had been a great curse?

“I have no idea what's awaiting me, or what will happen when this all ends.
For the moment I know this: there are sick people and they need curing.” 
                                                                                            Albert Camus

The Important Thing

We die, as life goes on, but still the planet turns, it turns. Every moment that we live offers an opportunity for each of us to learn.  But if life is joyous, is death bad? Every death offers hope, even if it is a time of loss. Memories of a life can be saved in memoirs, and image. Organs shared with those in need give new life. As we pass from the Earth we should try to find joy, for life offers only birth and death, and not much in between.  Mark those occasions well.

We can change the world, and can only do so, if all of us rise as one. We must see after our own, and also the orphans, the outcast, the lost, and the hopeless.  We must give hope, where there is no hope.  We must love, where there is no love. We must try, again and again to love one another, or we will pour gasoline upon the pyre, and our world will burn.  Find hope, give love, and try.  Every life has worth.

As our time upon the planet is done, and every voice is gone, we need to see it as a moment deserving recognition, a time to recount prized memories. We are not coming back.  No one cloaked in flesh has ever returned. We live, that is our truth without the promise of anything. There is no guarantee of fulfilled dreams. Watch as the planet spins, spins.  If you feel forsaken? Find a way to be forgiven.  Are you lost?  Be found. Set your banner upon holy ground. And love one another.