The Eyes of Oblivion

I see the survivors
They have eyes
Empty from the pain
They have seen oblivion
And returned
Again
Curse to live a broken life
Avoiding again
The hunger
Of living without
Food or love
Safety or freedom
The hunger burns
Inside
The soul commits suicide
While the bodies
Never die
But become dust
Mud
And ash
The burning fires
Of modernity
Will destroy the world
Regardless of the innocence
Or the cause
Or smoke covering the earth
And in the sky
Like a curse
Worse than my very birth
Less a stain
More a violent death
Unannounced
Ignored
And thought
Worthless

Hope of the Elysian Fields

I grieve for the lost
For the never loved
For the ones who are hurt
And those without someone
Who can heal their wounds
Who can heal their soul
I grieve for the broken
I grieve for the never whole
I grieve for the crying
Who cannot be consoled
Because there is hope
There is a place
We all can be
There is a love
That can redeem
And I sorrow
I sorrow for the souls
Who have given in
Who have given up
With wounds within
And a bleeding
That can't be controlled
But there is a healer
There is a holy land
The fields of Elysium
Where I hold the creator's hand
And we walk
With gentle breeze
And sunlight
And peace

Cloaked in Sin

She was cloaked in the shadows
Her eyes, though, penetrated the dim
I saw her flesh beckoning
Spurred my yearning within
Her body was painted in glory
Her voice chimed with lust
I saw her there in that moment
And I learned why her name was sin

A Rebel

A rebel, he didn't fit
The government wanted him
But they were wrong
And he'd resist
It used to be
He'd say
A man could walk freely
Could raise a family
Could follow his own path
But now
He was seen as a criminal
For doing what his kin
Had always done
He rose his fist
Screamed his independence
And called for his people
To do the same
Soon he was shackled
Around the wrists
And walked to a gallows
Waiting
For his fate
But at last
He was heard
The people would rise to fight
But he hung
At midnight
And into the wind
He would twist
And shake

Poured out

Under her watch
I was frozen in my step
I looked away in fear
My hope dislodged
From hiding in her web
My face covered in tears
I can't resist her power
She owns my breath
And I cannot portend
Her presence towers
I am now bereft
And I cannot pretend
My life is a stain
I will never rise
Despite their words
Again and again
They say remain
But my life's vigor
Has fled

Lift up the voices

My ashes float
Upon the winds
As the flames burn my remains
Light the fire
Let the choirs sing
Around the pyre
Let my ashes rise
Lift me above the mire
And let me meet the king
After all
After this life's spirit
Has taken wing

Across the Danube

Across the Danube a city slept

We were aware of her fate

For we soon would be her executioner

The few who walked the street walked quickly

For the night was both beautiful

And dangerous

But until we struck

In the dimlight of the moon

They never knew how dangerous

This night would become

We had come to punish them

To let them all know

That no one insults the Empire

No matter the distance away

Nor their pride

We were the arms of the Emperor

We were the venom of the snake

By using us in combat

No tribe could endure

No tribe could survive

Along the Wall

My home was Germania
But I fought for the 9th
We fought in Caledonia
A land so fierce
A wall was built
To stop at least for a moment
The tide of the Picts
The Picts followed the signs
As read by a mystic leader
They were superstitious
They were wild
One dead or twenty
They never stopped
And in all of Albion
They were the only tribe
To kill a legion
Of the Emperor

Shadow Lingered

The shadow that lingered
             Promises to pass
The anticipation soon covers
A heart that was darkened
                With all hope smothered
Echoes of nothing lingering
There is only silence and quiet
           And we wait to harken
For the trumpet's call
Where after we rise
And enters the warrior messiah
All who looked become enthralled
For he is beautiful
His eyes are cosmic jewels
His strength is present
And none but fools
Dare oppose him
And with his arrival
I am content
That the evil that threatens
Will be tamed
Killed and damned
With a gesture of his hand
All sorrow is banished
And the grieving made whole
As the kingdom welcomes home
Her children

A Black Swan

Innocence lost

The end of the innocence
Began when we learned
With every two deaths
Three are born
If the dead met violence
It is applauded
As some kind of murder porn
We go to war
To entertain our deviance
We refuse to mourn
For the next war
Is just around the corner
We await the next bomb
Or terrorist strike
For life grows tedious
When the struggle is found
In the daily boredom
Of earning the wages
Of the day

Image from the movie Metropolis

Far Beneath Your Reach

I fell down
Far beneath your reach
And Lord help me please
I know that you couldn't
You couldn't know
The depth of corruption
Within my soul
Nothing could delay my destruction
My soul's abduction
The complete devastation in control
My being's entire consumption
Answered
By the fires of desire
By the chains of lust
My being will be spread to the winds
Ashes to ash, dust to dust

That damn letter

When you sent me the letter
Explaining why I was not the one
Who would make you better
It crushed me in every way
Despite your gentle explanations
I stopped caring enough to play
Love's musical chairs
Again
I stopped caring enough
To live knowing
You no longer loved
Well after
I'd seen the sun
And felt my spirit fly
You were my reason why
And nothing since could be done
To explain my resolve
Never to be in love
Or be loved
Again

A View

Looking to the past
Is like standing on a mountain's top
And realizing, how far it would be
To fall
So beautiful there
With thin air
And you can hear the call
Of your youth
Calling you to remember
Saying to keep your soul
Young
And free
But youth is spent
Far too much
Upon the young
While the price of wisdom
Is so dear
You are willing just to be done
So long as there is no more pain
Of loss
The inevitable cost
Of being

Drowning in tears

You wanted two hearts
To beat as one
But your math is wrong
I have only one half
Never able to regenerate
And heal
You tell me I need to start
But I long before had begun
The journey is so long
My life living in the aftermath
The cost of loss was too great
I can no longer feel
And will never
Again
Love can cure all things
But if you are lose the one
Who gave you it
The reasons to live
Are gone
Gone

Watching a Swan

I watch as the beautiful swan
Swims in the nearby pond
It makes the only sound
And I hear its cry thereupon
Silently I abscond
Avoiding the very ground
You walked on
But why bother
You are a virus
I cannot recover from
I can't release you
I can't burn you out
I cannot escape
Your wrath is pious
Your hate is righteous
And I expect you'll smother
Me
With shame and nonetheless
I know who I am
And ignoring my fate
Is better than any destiny
I could choose

Shiny things

Shiny things and nudity
Steal our attention
We are undone
By the things we condemn
By the things we shun
It is a war of attrition over time
And there is no contrition
Lust is a beast
Its gaze melts the watcher
Our minds are distracted
Decay damnation are our portion
We are confused
Our focus lost
There is no lucidity
When one meets
Eye to eye
The beast inside
Everyone speaks
No one listens
Society kills itself
All it loves
All it worships
It commits deicide
In its final act
Of volition

The Veil

The term for what I feel
Is self hate
Because 
Without you
I just wait
To cover myself
With the veil of death
When my life is over
And there is nothing left
To sleep and dream
Being still alone
To have known you
In my heart
And in my mind
But never together
In this reality
I long for you
But you are a thought
A moment
A dream of someplace
Where I can be alive
I am fooling myself
And will never know
Your touch
Your love
My body is cold
I am alone
Forever without you
In these
My heart's catacombs

Why I Ride

I am thought a curse
Across humanity
Fear and sorrow
The legacy
I ride the pale horse
What I do
Is not a function of morality
Rather I am the servant of time
I was created by the maker
The machine of time is cruel
I do not love what I do
I am neither malicious nor kind
I simply follow the rules
Set forth by the creator
Beauty, Greed, Power are the children
Of vanity
The humans who long for them are fools
They worship self
Enter into a pact
With idolatry
They celebrate their own insanity
Thinking they shall never die
But just as one lives
They should realize
Everything that begins ends
No I am not adored
I am, however, unable to be ignored
I am not boastful
I do not suffer conceit
Swiftly my scythe will fall
For death does not equivocate
Death is not a punishment
It is the reward
I am honest
Whether your life was fulfilling
Or if it were incomplete
I am never late
I offer no apology

Her Excellence

The morning was clear
The scent hanging in the air
Was all things floral
She was laying upon the royal barge
As it moved slowly
She was uncovered by clothing
Her pristine beauty nearly sacred
Unaffected by the royal quarrels
In the distant palace
Her body was in repose, still
With the breeze cooling her
It was as if this immortal queen,
Simply floating
Was communing with the many gods
Still as a statue or corpse of an mortal
Yet clearly alive
Even electric
The glowing
From the blessed Aten
Upon her beautiful flesh
When I gazed at her
I lost my breath
In my reckless ways
For her beauty so elegant
Her features so nuanced
My heart could barely stop beating
For fear
For if she looked my way
And saw my gaze
I'd be crushed for the pretense
Of being a mortal man
Gazing at a woman of eminence
And not knowing what to say
So I kept silent
Knowing I was nothing
Compared to her magnificence

Pulled down

Do or die, no, I never tried
Run from this catastrophe
Inside of me
Time after time
There is no solution
To the world's problems
It is social pollution
Where everyone is right
Where nothing is wrong
Where I am god of everything
Where all of the world's sanctity
Is gone
I run and run
And get pulled down
And I look
Everything I knew
Is gone
Gone Gone

Healed by her

I was a prisoner of my solitude
Forever being alone
Was my fate
She shook me from the state
Changing my attitude
Always au fait
But without courage
She grabbed me by the throat
Breaking me like a bronco
She took the reins
And took control
I came to her ready to give in
And she made me feel unashamed
And returned my soul
My heart dances in her light
And I am content
Having no solitude
Whenever she is near
My heart is healed
Forever after
Healed permanently
When she says
Come here

Tears

Tears fall down my cheeks without passion
My indolent heart can't beat, has no desire to live
There is nothing left but ashes
And nothing to forgive
Because I was wrong all along
I never should have tried
I never imagined
How everything could collapse
But it did

Ywain, Knight of the North

When his qualifications are adjudged
His life was worthy
He was born of noble blood
Yet never cared to be a ruler
His was a love of joust
A love of battle
His skills and wisdom
And skill in swords
Made him perfect for Arthur's table
Ywain was not a castle knight
He rode his beautiful horse
From domain to domain
Son of Uriens and Morgan Le Fay
He impressed the best of the table
His talents and skills stood ready
He came from the North lands
Where dragons still reigned
Where giants still walked
He was young in heart
Faithful and devout
A bit wild in his spirit
When met Esclados li Ros
Also known as the Red Knight
They clashed with swords
Testing each other
Before the magic water font
The Red Knight guarded
And his wife Laudine
Was the Lady of the Fountain
Both seemed equal
In the end Esclados was slain
And in his last bleeding steps
Led Ywain to the home
He shared with the Lady
Ywain spoke to the widow
To comfort her spirit
In a moment he becoming smitten
He courted her
Over time she fell in love as well
They married and for a short time
They gloried in each other
However
Ywain's spirit of adventure
Ever chafed at being tamed
When Sir Gawain called upon them
He reminded Ywain of his duties to Arthur the king
Both knights left,
Not before Ywain promised to return soon
Only to be gone years
In the thrill of adventure
He finally returned to their home
And the Lady of the Fountain
Spurned him
Only after repeated, and torturous pleading
Actions, and desperate tears
Did they unite again

Golden

The art they created
Reflected their world
Pristine beauty
As if offered upon an altar
They were inspired
To dream of gods and heroes
Lovers and lore
Longing only to lay
In Elysian fields
Upon furs and heather
Surrounded by soft grass and breezes
And the scent of lavender
Revealing their muse
For the listener and the scholar
Without pretense nor self awareness
No auditorium for the songs
No moment of knowing
Their words would last forever

Falling

Called to become a Thunder God
My life shared for my parents' land
Tears will never stop from falling
This storm is our last stand

I am pleased to have the honour of having been chosen as a member of a Special Attack Force that is on its way into battle, but I cannot help crying when I think of you, Mum. When I reflect on the hopes you had for my future ... I feel so sad that I am going to die without doing anything to bring you joy.
— Ichizo Hayashi, last letter home a few days before his final flight. April 1945

Gaze at me

Your gaze strikes me
An icy feeling leads straight in
I can't feel anything
But pain
I am pale and dying
You can't hear me scream
But I am
You can't see me crying
But I am
And I can't fly
Because there is nothing left
That I can do
You burned my wings
You burned my spirit
Ate my flesh
Yes you made me scream
But I can't hear it

Red Deer

you

I spent all the time before we met
Preparing to be the one you want
Learning the lessons that life had spent
Your love is a pristine font

How did I know to wait for you?
Somehow I felt it, I just knew
Atop the mountain God left me a clue
'Don't follow until I say pursue'

Hunger

I hunger for you
As a man who has been empty
And seeking the flesh
Of another
My soul burns askew
Because my modus vivendi
Does not allow me
To simply take from a lover

Your form is so very tempting
Your manner so elegant
I lose my breath
And have never been eloquent
I am led to you and am melting
Your flesh so exquisite
Waiting will cause my death
My desperation is evident

I am yours
Take me
Cure my pain
Need me

The Northern Crusade

In a land of frozen ground
Swamps of mire and clay
Wheat fields for miles
Two titans of steel clashed
Lives were frozen in fear
As warriors of renown
Fought in a haze
Of hatred and denial
Evoking memories of the past
Wearing armor, steel and spears
An epic battle fought upon the ice 
Neither empire still lives
Over time they went extinct
They fought again and again
In the present we can see
No one gains victory
When two people are slaughtered
And only hateful legacies
Remain

For More Reading:

Being chased

The snow makes every step look burned into white
As if every sin I've committed is burning bright
An unforgiven, unbreakable dark hold
That will chase me
Until I die

Ascending

I will not untie the knot
That holds my soul
Together
I 've been given my lot
And have no control
When I fall through the aether

I am born unto this place
My soul wet and new
Shivering from birth
My flesh and spirit embrace
Entwining the truth
Breaking every curse

Upon my death
My temporal state passes
I will ascend
And will be reborn
When this journey is at an end

Slave to fears

I have been a slave to my fears
And you've broken me with words
Slashed and burned my heart
Your heart plays musical chairs
And whoever you choose is cursed
Your cruelty is state of the art
I refuse to surrender
Because I remember
That I do not need to be
Your focus of hate

Adieu

Nothing you could have said
Could've wounded me
like that
Did
Since you think
Our love is dead
I'll no longer pretend
To be a diplomat or acrobat
Regarding the status of us
Because there is no justice
When love is the venue
Where our emotions are dissected
And examined
No more innuendo
Only two who feel dejected
Rejected
Left without hope
Except
Please understand
I know but a few things
Yet, the one thing I know
Without hesitation
Is that my love
Is completely true
And it burns so hot
I am wounded
Because my love
Burns only for you
Until you realize that
I will live apart
Far away from here
So for now
Or ever
I bid you adieu

Fit it

I never have been able to make my memories fit
The truth of what happened between us
Unrequited love is the only thing worse
than unrequited hate
The corners of the expanse of my mind are lit
By the fire you caused inside me
Burning all the things
That never mattered
A desire insatiate
A mind full of broken dreams
Of a life not spent together
I said I'd love you forever
And that promise seeps through
Every atom of my flesh
Every moment of my breath
And I will ever regret
Never tasting the lips
Of the one who moved me
And still
Beyond imagination

Upon my knees

Weary as an escapee
Fleeing the huntmaster's hounds
My body is done
I can't go on
My king, my king
The shine of your crown
Blurs my eyes
Forgive me please
I say that I am exhausted
But what I truly am is finished
It doesn't matter where I was going
The journey is ended
No matter the fanfare at the beginning
My heart has learned
My brain has grown
And my love for you,
My king
Is undiminished
But the road has been so desperate
My heart has grieved so much
I buried so many companions
I can't bear to still walk upon this
Now Holy ground

Me the father, Her the mother

When I first got married
I was filled with fire
And lust
I had found a sanctuary
With one I desired
And could trust
Then the years rolled
And sorrow took a toll
Losing our hearts to loss
Unborn children in utero
We finally made it through
With a son so glorious
We forgot about each other
Now it was me the father
And her the mother
How could I have known
I'd felt the joy
Didn't realize the cost
Of being still in love
While being fulfilled
By the love of the new son
And now he leaves
Back now to the same two people
Who had been there at the start
Will we be lovers
Or just two old farts

Not again

Stop the flood
End the torrential rains
Inside my heart
I am losing blood
Going insane
I can't start
All over again
End the deluge
I'm not deluded
I know where I am
And can't take the pain again
Stop the flood
Broken memories and hurt
I'd give anything
For my brain to stop replaying
The same things I've done
Over and over
It rings inside my head
I'd give anything
For the chance to become deaf
Inside
Stop the flood
I can't do this
Not for anyone

PTSD

Defiant

I can't count the times I've tried
The failures are piled so high
Giving up when the cost is death
Means never stopping to cry
I never regret mistakes
If I truly repent
Move forward
My heart might break
I can't forget
Even if I cry inside
I know the price
And keep trying