The Dead Half

The Dead Half 7/31/2012

It took a long time
To kill that crippled self
That part of me
That was defective
And always dragging me down.

Pulling me backwards
Until I could barely stand
And always ruining my happiness
With foolish demands.

It didn’t die easy
And it didn’t go quiet
Fighting me every inch
Until I could fight no more.

I thought that if I was quiet
Then I was part of the problem
And I bruised myself
Just to prove a point.

I didn’t want to forget
Because that meant giving in
And I didn’t want to be silent
Because that mean giving up.

But even if I forgive
And even if I heal
It does not excuse evil
Or make it ok.

No longer should I waste my efforts
And bang my head against the wall
And no longer should I suffer
For what others have done.

It is better to let them go
And take the damage and run
Resisting where I can
Without pain or angst.

Their own words
Shall give them away
And they shall stumble and fall
Unexpected and hard.

No one knows when
And no one knows how
But even the worst horrors end
Someday in the end.

I say what I need to
And I do what I can
But never more
Shall I let it eat me
From the inside out.

I have put away my heart
And keep it safe inside
Never again to bleed
All over the floor.

Your heart is your treasure
So do not waste a drop
Not on useless rage
Or self inflicted pain.

But instead stand
Head held high
Calmly telling the truth
The only way we can.

Time goes on forever
And the years do not see a change
But all the years of history
Can happen in a moment
Of destiny and growth.

Soon all of this will disappear
And the dust will blow away
Revealing the truth still standing
Big, bold, free and clear.

Eyes in the sky

Eyes in the Sky 7/30/2012

I would wait for tomorrow
But tomorrow is today
As we look over our shoulder
To see whats in store.

Increasingly logged, tracked, and labeled
We become the lab rats in disguise
Running through a maze
Without a plan
And never a prize.

Trained to obey
And shocked into submission
We learn to acquiesce
Or die on the way.

The blood hands reach for us
And the fingers become tentacles
Reaching into every crack
Until we have no secrets
Mystery or freedom.

Our identity lost
And replaced with a group
Either for reward
Or punishment.

All they needed was a crisis
To take away who we are
Rushing in to fill the vacumn
When peace and stabilty
Have gone.

Causing the collaspe
Just to pick up the pieces
And looting the treasure
Just to confiscate the rest.

It is here
And it is now
Beneath the surface
As we dive for cover.

After the firefight
The gunfire is sporadic
As the wounded are evacuated
And the dead litter the street.

Everyone is hiding
Because the sky is full of spies
Looking for something
With thousands of eyes.

The future is here
And it is naked and ugly
Fueled by unreported hate
And lust for control.

If you leave life to chance
Then eventually the good shall rise
As the foolish are brought along.
By the responsible, decent, and wise.

Freedom allows man to create
And allows him to thrive
Neither hindered by bureaucracy
Or persecuted by tyranny.

But man loves to pull the levers
And man loves to set the stage
Taking power into his own hands
To change the obvious
And rearrange right and wrong.

To hire and fire
And tilt the playing field
Either for against
The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Making life harder and harder
On the good and enterprising
While excusing the horrors
Of the violent and terrorizing.

Time will tell
What we do
At the crossroads of history
When the time has come
And even seconds count.

You can go and hide
Or you can come out swinging
Willing to pay the price
For a future
Waiting to be born.

Voodoo Gambler

Voodoo Gambler 7/27/2012

Place your bets
And put them on the table
Counting down the cards
And gaming the odds.

Riding high on the sea
But sinking downwards fast
The fortunes of the gambler
And the conceit of the swindler.

Everyman has secrets
And every man sins
But some are worse than others
Without a conscience
And without remorse.

But no man
No matter how clever
Or how cunning
Can lie forever
And go unpunished.

No man can conceal
All his motives
And not all secrets
Shall remain hidden forever.

Even as they laugh
And even as they boast
The beasts of vengeance
Stir in the depths.

The clock ticks for everyone
And desperation tightens the grip
Snapping its jaws
And moving side to side.

What worked before
Will not work again
And all the secrets are out
For the whole world to see.

The monster has broke free
And it crawls out the muck
Searching for vengeance
And craving its food.

Looking for clues
And searching for scent
Stalking its prey
Through brush and thicket.

Sensing warm blood
And savory flesh
It conceals its movements
And stiffens the sinews.

Soon the gambler
Will be on the run
Pursued until his heart bursts
And lies no more.

Such is the folly of fools
Self confident and vain
As he justifies theft and murder
Destroying everything
And everyone.

But in the end
It always ends the same
As he falls on his sword
And is torn by the scavengers
For blood and food.

End of the Line

End of the Line 7/25/2012

The news is full of distractions
And our heads are full of ourselves
Preoccupied with the day to day
Guided by consumerism
And treading water.

Too busy to notice the shell game
To find out the truth
With lie on top of lie
And no ball at all.

A confidence game
Played with straw men
All set up to play
And snag away your cash.

Rigged from the beginning
So it doesn’t matter if you watch
Because the winner is already picked
And you can always tell
Just the reason why.

You might wonder
Where all the money went
But it is all our own fault
Too soft and too spoiled
And now the bills are due.

Everyone wants to be liked
And everyone loves to be praised
But even kindness has its limits
When the wolf is at the door.

A wise man looks a little deeper
Deep enough to see the future
Because if you don’t say no
They you mean yes
To more, and more, and more.

It’s easy to point fingers
If you pick a safe target
But unless you address the root
Nothing is done
And no one is safe.

Some people love money
And some of them love Power
Over regulating some
And ignoring others.

Money greases the wheels
And social unrest intimidates politicians
Nothing like murdering and looting
To ruin the profits
And spoil the view.

Too little and too late
We arrive at the crossroads
Out of wind
And out of time.

Breeding like bacteria
Are unintended consequences
Because we all looked the other way
Never bothering to protect
What was ours to keep.

The tipping point has come
And all is about to burst
As the burden becomes to great
For any man to lift.

As the takers overwhelm the givers
And there is nothing left to steal
Because they have killed all the creators
Just to make it all fit.

Time travels in a line
Accumulating debt, guilt, and regret
Slowing down and speeding up
And getting heavier every day.

Overburdened and corrupted
It stretches under the weight
Until it either breaks
Or snaps back
To a new reality.

What was once sacred
Is now a joke
And what was once reviled
Now becomes an honor.

The tail leads the head
And the dead eat the living
As we slumber in our dreams
And think we are awake.

On our way to another day
We stagger towards the slaughter house
In perfect straight lines
One after another
And one at a time.

But unlike sheep or cows
We can choose how we die
Either like chickens
Or like men.

Lifting up our heads
And opening our eyes
With a new heart
And nothing to lose
And everything to gain.

A Sideways Smile

Sideways Smile 7/24/2012

Sometimes even the worst
Is better than what you think
Because desperate men
Do desperate things
Exposing the truth
In the nick of time.

Hardship is still hardship
And my circumstances
Have still not changed
But the change has come
Inside and all around.

No longer do I care
What it is, that others do
And no longer does it hurt
When my enemies
Mock or ridicule.

Happy men
Are seldom cruel
And most
Are confident with victory.

Without a need to justify
Or a point to prove
But happily enjoying the fruits
Of labor and duty.

But a haunted man
Will always try to fill
His emptiness with meaning
And his inferiority
With hatred.

Welcome their lies
And laugh at their comparisons
Because then you know
The mask has fallen
And all shall know
Who they are.

Soon enough to perish
And soon enough to disappear
Missed by none
And never remembered.

Black Light

Black Light 7/23/2012

It was a month ago
That I got the news
About the wounding
And the blood.

My oldest son
Now knows more
More than he should
At only twenty one.

He lives far away
And he has felt the sting
Of a bullet to the middle
In a bizarre twist of fate.

A victim of a strange mistake
And a tragic miscommunication
Far away from my voice
But close to my heart.

Injured by another
Who did not think it through
Thanksfully not a lunatic
On his way
Off the end.

The cut off his clothes
The blood soaked shirt
And splattered trouser
To cut him open
And appraise the wounds.

A split seconds decision
Is all that it takes
Between the easy and the hard way
As much as life and death

Bullet wounds heal
From the inside out
Slowly closing up
As the infection drains.

A long time to remember
What no man can forget
Even though the pain is gone
The scars remain.

A dent remains
Where the bullet hit the ribs
A strange reminder
About an inch from death.

He is me
And I am him
Blood of my blood
And half my DNA.

The curse lives on
Without conscience
Or remorse
And untold is the suffering
Unspoken and unknown.

I pray for him
Both night and day
My first born son
First of my heart
And first of my life.

So much alike
I gave him my name
Cursed from the beginning
For being mine
And being the same.

But he lives
And so do I
So the fight goes on
For another hour
And another day.

He too has learned
What it means to learn
To suffer unfairly
And survive anyway.

I pray that he
Will take this to heart
To take the curse
And turn it upside down.

To ride out the hardship
And become a better man
Emerging stronger than ever
And better than before.


It didn’t happen overnight
The total transformation
Of my spirit
Renewing itself by small degrees
From the
And the inside out.

Unhinged

Uhinged 7/20/2012

Gravity holds the body down
But our minds are fee to wander
Skipping over the invisible boundaries
Between decency and madness.

There are many worlds
And the one we see
Is what we make it
As we go through the motions
Of circumstance and fate.

In the beginning
We are full of hope
But life has many disappointments
Cutting us down to size
And leaving us all alone.

Desperation is never far
From disappointment and anger
If we allow our minds
To spin and spiral
Thinking the worst
Instead of the best.

Thinking ourselves in circles
So that we cannot see
That there is always a way out
Of every black abyss.

But some would rather be victims
Of their own twisted logic
Preferring death to change
And murder to sorrow.

Determined to satisfy their feelings
No matter who it hurts
Or who it destroys
Acting act their fantasies
As messengers of death.

But the real world is here
And what we do
Spreads like a germ
Infecting everything
And everyone.

Horror begets horror
And hatred begets violence
As man turns on himself
And kills his own.

A dying world
Is like a wounded animal
Violently mauling
Even those he loves.

Because his brain is fire
And his insides are rotting
Driving him insane
Before convulsions and death.

But even demons on the brain
Cannot destroy what is good
For the good and innocent
Live forever.

A better place awaits
And a new world is born
From the pangs of the old
Corrupted and dead.

A Dark Secret

Dark Secrets 7/18/2012

I have never been perfect
And I know where the bodies are buried
Because deep inside locked closets
Every man has bones.

I am not the man
That I could have been
But I am better
Than who I was.

Looking backwards
Time lengthens
And grows heavy
As I replay the tape
For the millionth time.

But the memories
Always end the same
And I always fall apart
Drowning in despair
Naked on the couch.

There are many things
That I do not know
And there are many mysteries
That remain
Hidden in the dark.

While we search through the possibilities
The truth disappears
Hiding in the shadows
Or buried in the sand.

I have tried to understand
But I guess I never will
About how I ended up here
Silent, wounded and dead.

There are times
When nothing is enough
And you are left hungry
Empty and angry.

When you have done your best
And stuck out your neck
Only to be cut off
And left bleeding on the ground.

When you have done the right thing
With an outstretched heart
Only to come home empty
Without love
And without a friend.

How does one make it
And how does one go on
When everyone you loved
And everything you depended on
Is torn away.

Leaving you to sit and watch
As they are dangled before you
Taunted every day
And harassed every night.

To see what you loved
Get smaller and smaller
And to watch the children grow
At a distance
Marginalized at every turn
And mocked every day.

To view them from a distance
Foreign and estranged
And remember all the lost time
That no man can retrieve.

Yes, I tried with all my heart
And I gave all I could give
But no matter how hard I tried
The damage was done
And I woke up too late

My life came unraveled
But not all in a day
Slowly fading from view
Until nothing remained.

It was hard to smile
And it was hard to stand
Standing there powerless
As the blood poured out
Between my fingers.

Somehow I have survived
In spite of the wounds
Living on the edge of survival
Without support
And without dreams.

In this world
Good does not always win
And sometimes even the worst
Obtain wealth and titles.

But even in those moments
God is at work
In the places we cannot see
Transforming our hearts
Into something greater
And something better.

And almost imperceptibly
Circumstances begin to change
Turning around into our favor
As we learn
And as we grow.

And although
It does not happen often
Everything falls into place
At just the right intersection
Of history and fate.

Preparing us for a future
That only God can see
As we pass through history
At just the right location
To either save the day
Or kill us all.

What can you say
And what can you do
Without giving in
And without giving up.

I couldn’t do what I wanted
And I couldn’t satisfy my anger
Not without losing
All that I had left.

Others do for themselves
Even when they promise
And even when they give
For no opportunity is ever wasted
To advance their cause
Or increase their wealth.

I have suffered
But others have suffered more
And what can I tell them
And what can I say.

Nothing but the truths
That only time to teach
And nothing but the promise
That only God can give.

Closed Casket

Closed Casket 7/16/2012

How close can anyone get
To death
And yet still live?
And how far can the spirit travel
And still return to flesh?

Can a dead man walk
And the condemned repent?
More dead than alive
Without imagination
Or conscience.

The world is cruel
And it takes all it can
Always looking to punish
And always looking to blame.

If I am cursed
Then that would explain it
Because I am cut off
Everywhere I look.

Hunted over nothing
And cruelly attacked
Squeezing out every penny
Just to make it hurt.

But they have forgotten
That life is a circle
Looping over on itself
Returning our actions
Into our rewards.

It is enough to know
That the motive is clear
The works of desperate men
Who know
Their days are numbered.

Raging against the good
To do as much damage at they can
Remorseless
And arrogant.

I have lived the curse
And I have buried myself
Longing for death to take
What my actions had failed to kill.

But something’s are not up to us
And God has a purpose
Bigger than us
Unsearchable and unknowable.

It is hard to see a point
When there is nothing left to save
With nothing left to give
And nothing left to hold.

And it is hard to keep on trying
When you are ashamed
Hanging your head
And staring at the floor.

Because there are the people
Who will laugh at your pain
Too stupid to understand
Just how shallow
They really are.

I did not know it then
And I did not think to question
About the cost of my emotions
And self indulgent dreams.

I dug a hole
And lay down in the dirt
Burying myself
In a deep dark pit.

Neither living nor dead
But more dead than alive
Merely going through the motions
As I sang myself to sleep.

I cursed the day
And the heavy black cloud
Following me forever
Like a heavy black curtain.

But I have learned to be happy
Even in this silent tomb
Because my life is ransomed
And all my debts paid
Regardless of my mistakes
And in spite of my sin.

Finding comfort in the darkness
And faith without vision
Growing on the inside
Without acknowledgement
Or praise.

And yes, I will rise
With my own hands and feet
Without earthly support
And without earthly regret.

To live again
And laugh again
But this time without doubt
Fearless and free.

To live for others
And abandon myself
Leaving my selfish desires
To rot in the ground.

By this knowledge and wisdom
I shall return it all
Blow by blow
Twice as hard
And twice as violent.

Searching out the guilty
As they run, crawl and hide
Exposing themselves
Before God and man.

Full Spectrum

Full Spectrum 7/13/2012

If words have a weight
Then let these be a ton
Heavy enough to be remembered
After everything is said
And everything else is done.

Words have potential
And words have power
To inspire or heal
Or to injure and destroy.

So then let these be a warning
And let these be an alarm
A voice in the desert
Crying out for someone to hear
Or anyone at all.

There are things
That we do not understand
And sometimes we know things
We wish we didn’t know.

A light is turned on
Inside of our brains
Something deep and old
Unused and forgotten.

We may all have it
But often we ignore it
Preferring to pretend
That nothing has changed.

We believe what we see
But we have not seen it all
But only in part do we know
And the rest is but a dream.

Knowledge can be a gift
That we must knowingly accept
Not necessarily originating in our heads
But from anywhere
At any time.

God gave me a life
And he gave me a chance
An offer that I could take
Or refuse.

The tiniest of sparks
Can start the biggest fires
And even the long dead
Still speak from their tombs.

Speaking to me
And speaking to you
The spirit of the ages
Heavy with time
And burning with truth.

If you have hung your head
And if you have felt the sting
Then you have another chance
Starting today
And starting now.

For I too have felt it
But didn’t know
What it would cost
But no matter
How much it hurt
I have gained
Much more than I lost.

Others have come
And this is not over yet
But the wise search their hearts
To know the good from the liars.

Another day will pass
And still we wait
But the answers will come
If you know who to ask.

Whatever you want

Whatever 7/12/2012

All it takes is a second
And everything we loved
crumbles and disappears
As our lives hang in the balance
Between one decision
And the next.

We muddle through the days
Without thought or question
Never knowing who we really are
Or what we really want.

Born with a longing in our heart
But without the understanding
To even search out the cure
Or know what we need.

By the time we know
The horse has left the barn
And we stand around
With our hands in our pockets
And staring at the ground.

We hold on to things
That have no value
But let go of precious love
Like we never knew it at all
And often never did.

Taking for granted the priceless gift
For a few moments of make believe
Another treasure in the dead letter file
Unclaimed and forgotten.

But when I die
It will not matter what I did
Or even what I accomplished
But rather what I gave
And how I loved.

Each day we are assaulted
By a million messages
As the world begs for attention
To either acquire our money
Or manipulate our mind.

Begging us to listen
And begging us to escape
As if the perfect life
Is only a click away.

But reality is what we have
And it is happening now
Pouring in and pouring out
Like water in our hands.

This could be
Our greatest moment
The one and most important decision
That we or any other
Will ever face.

Many are those
Who sit on the fence
Never sure and never certain
Wasting their time
And wasting their breath.

Arguing themselves into in action
And hoping for the best
But in the end
They die unremembered
And wasted.

Some get pulled over
And choose their life by default
Giving in to the prevailing winds
Or swept away by childish emotions.

A victim of their feelings
And a sacrifice for others
Giving themselves up
To become someone else.

Surrendering their life
To make others happy
And dying without a whisper
As they run off the cliff.

Giving in and giving up
To the path of least reisistence
Without every truly thinking
Of who it destroys
Or where it leads.

It is long past time
For me to decide
Because the easy way out
Is almost never the best.

I have decided
To jump the fence
And keep on running
Taking the siding of liberty.

My life in my own hands
To either succeed or fail
Free to seek and understand
And free to learn and grow.

To be something greater
Than a demographic slot
And something more meaningful
Than a paper tiger
To be bullied or bought.

Resist the end
And let not the hands take you
Smashing you down
Just to make you fit
And make you hurt.

This is the world that we have made
And this is the time we have
Now and this day
To reach higher
Or grovel in the mud.

But if I am free
Then I will have to choose
Something better
And something deeper
Than just a spectator
In a made up world.

You and me
Have the time
And we also have the means
To make the world over again
Better than before.

But only if we will
And only when we do
Because its not enough to wait
And its not enough to dream.

If you are loved
Then love back
And if you are blessed
Than love everyone.

But if you suffer
Then you will know
What it means to be tested
And given so very much more.

Love anyway
And smile through the pain
Taking back all that was lost
Plus much, much more.

Chronic Condition

Chronic Condition 7/11/2012

It was seven years ago
That it first crawled in my heart
Coming in through the back door
With deception on its mind
And murder in its heart.

I was a fool
Unaware of the truth
Blindly fumbling though life
Pretending I was alive.

Thinking I knew what to do
And I knew what to fear
Wasting my energy
On useless battles.

I got the message
In the middle of the night
But even the sender never knew
The deception in his head.

One action leads to another
But only God can see it all
As our motives
Bring us down
And slowly tear us apart.

There is no escape
And there are no easy answers
Nothing to explain it away
And nothing to make it better.

Something’s exist
Either for better
Or for worse
Products of our choices
And random disaster.

The good die
And sometimes they die
In our arms
As we feel the death fever
Burning up their hands.

While evil survives
Pitiless and cruel
Stealing everything
And killing everyone.

Even a parasite
Should know when to stop
Before it kills the host
And starves to death.

But, even the devil cannot help it
Because evil is evil
No matter what it wants
Devouring itself
Just to prove a point.

Just to win
And just to make it hurt
Spiraling out of control
And spreading like a germ.

So much is wasted
And so much is lost
Spreading from one mouth to another
Filth, mold, death, and rot.

Nothing is new
And we should have learned before
That history repeats itself
Visiting the same wrath
Generation after generation.

We quickly forget
And the easy smiles
Melt the heart
So that we pretend we are immortal
And nothing will ever hurt.

We see the signs
But ignore them
Because it is always someone else
Someone else’s problem
And someone else’s pain.

Softened by comfort
And paralyzed with fear
So afraid to lose our favor
That we never say a word.

It takes great effort to rise
So all too often we fall
Sinking into the mud
Stuck in place
By inaction and timidity.

He knows our weakness
And burrows into our heads
Squirming into our fevered brains
With doubt, imaginations, and dread.

Evil has come
And the curse continues
Bleeding us white
One way or another.

Hiding in the shadows
In the back of our mind
And dwelling in the thoughts
Of the powerful
And the vain.

Just looking for the perfect time
And searching out the perfect men
Those above the law
And beyond reproach.

Accustomed to deception
And the age old sleight of hand
As they deal behind your back
And under the table.

Concealing their motives
And white washing their hatred
Covering up their tracks
On their way to the end.

Ferocious when attacked
But meek when hunting
Just as needy as they are violent
Taking everything
And manipulating everyone.

If you have lived you have seen
The naked face of evil
Smiling on the outside
And dead on the inside.

Remember the look
And never forget the reasons
Becuase if we don't learn now
Maybe we never will.

Dead Field

Dead Field 7/10/2012

It probably doesn’t matter
That I stayed in bed
And it probably doesn’t mean much
That I don’t care at all.

The world goes on
Self deluded and dumb
Heavy, crushing
And spinning in space.

I was shamed and wounded
And no one said a word
As I lay dying
With all my blood
Rushing out.

Others have come and gone
Without a memory or clue
Walking softly on the grass
Without making a dent
Or blazing a trail.

I drove the jeep through the orchard
Spinning my wheels in the mud
And we drank whiskey and ate blueberries
In the hot summer sun.

So much is lost
But life lives on its own
Forgetting you
And forgetting me.

The sound of our voices
Echoes out into space
Traveling in the eternity
Into the deep dead black.

If I could go back
What would I do
And what would I say
Because it probably wouldn’t matter
And I would die anyway.

We are amused for awhile
And fattened up in the sun
All a part of a bitter harvest
Tall , Golden and rich.

The reaper has come
And cut us down to size
Killing me and killing you
All for nothing
And done in a day.

Our time is short
But we never seem to know it
And our feelings do not matter
To the sun
Or to man.

Our anger is wasted
And our sorrow is a bore
Dragging us down to the bottom
Unaware and overripe.

No one cared how much it hurt
And no one noticed my face in the rain
As they walked by
On their way to the end.

The rotted fruit fell to the ground
And the tires crushed the sun burned apples
Never before and never after
Will I ever laugh
Like that again.

Memory fades
And even the trees grow heavy
Lowering their branches to the ground
Gratefully sleeping forever.

I am in them
And they are in me
Together laughing
In shades of green
And fields of gold.

Zero Hour

Zero Hour 7/6/2012

Let it all explode
And watch the fires burn
Dodging the fragments
As they shoot everywhere.

Fire all your guns
Until the barrels melt
Without any hesitation
And without any regret.

Let the fires rage
And burn out of control
Taking everything
And leaving nothing.

The horrors can mount
But the world can wait
Because it is all about to end
At least for now
And at least for here.

Oh beautiful end
How I have longed to see you
Watching you from afar
And waiting for you to happen.

So this is hell on earth
But how many even know it?
As the watch our world ebb away
And sink into to chaos.

Spinning around in circles
And going nowhere fast
And dragging around our tombstones
Without a thought
And without a plan.

Becoming fools for fodder
With our blood and guts
To grease the wheels
As the statists go on
Like tomorrow never comes.

Maybe not today
And maybe not tomorrow
But the animals roam the street
Gnashing their teeth
And looking for food.

Men speak lies
To inflame the passions
Rousing the foolish
To kill and plunder.

But the end must come
For the giant to awake
Finally raising his hand
To crush everything
And everyone.

Yes their end is coming
And you can almost see it now
Feeling it in the earth
With every rattle and tremor.

Even if we die
What is there to fear?
Nothing but sleep and dreams
As the spirit flies away.

He will make my bones stand together
And he will cover them with flesh
Building me back
Better than before
Ten times better
And ten times enough.

The circle remains
Unbroken
And love remains
Undefeated.

Rising up to full height
More than enough to see
Staring at the face of death
And the horror it breeds.

How I love you
My beautiful end
No matter the destruction
Or the terror.

We get what we deserve
And we reap
What we have planted
A deadly harvest
Of poison and rot.

So bring the end
And let the masks
Fall to the ground
At last to see the truth
And all the hidden intentions
Just as beautiful
As it is horrible.

Where will you go
When the end comes?
And where will you hide
When the looters come?

Love me truly
And love me deeply
Because I am here
Shouting from the rooftops.

No beginning can come
Without an ending
And no truth can manifest
Without a reckoning
And without blood.

Sparkle Sparkle

Sparkle Sparkle 7/5/2012

I could feel the sun
Burning my skin
As beads of sweat
Fell off my nose.

Moving the chairs
And setting up the food
Hanging the bunting
And flying the flag.

The pool was perfect
A aqua colored jewel
Sparkling in the forest
Perfect, cool, and refreshing.

I played with my kids in the water
And I watched them laugh and splash
As perfect a moment
As I will ever know.

The sun streamed through the trees
And dappled on the patio
Streaming across the gardens
And our faces.

Our friends were there
And we remembered the others
As we honored our brother
Wounded in war.

He will never be the same
And lives with the pain
But still he laughs
And still he loves.

His kids were there
So also were we
In another perfect memory
Cherished forever.

We lit torches
And we ate and drank
Leaving with the glow
Of a day in the sun.

The kids slept in the car
With the wet towels in back
Driving in the night
With all the smells of summer.

Many summers have come
And many have gone
But this is what we have
And that’s enough for me.

Life will never be perfect
And no man can have it all
As we pass through life
More a promise
Than a reward.

But this day
I have all I could dream
A loving family
All happy and strong.

Free to live
And free to think
Gifted beyond all measure
Beautiful, rebellious and brave.

The Tesseract

The Tesseract 7/3/2012

There was a secret passage
Behind the fire place
A place to hide
And a short cut
From one world to the next.

It was a place
And it was a time
Long gone and far away
But never forgotten
And richer with time.

The walls and ceiling
Were lathe and plaster
And the attic had a tunnel
All around the eaves.

It was a place
Where the imagination ran wild
Bigger and better
Than the world I knew.

At night I listened to the clocks
And marked time by the chimes
Every hour and half hour
Long ago and far away.

There was a stillness
That you could feel
And a heaviness of time
As if time stood still
On those long summer days.

I laid on my bed
And read my books
Stories of adventure and mystery
Unlocking doors of destiny
Inside of my mind.

In the attic
Was an old television
Opening windows on a world
Now long since closed.

At the end of programing
When I switched off the dial
The world collapsed into a dot
Glowing on the screen.

Time and space
Alter our locations
And I have entered the unknown
A future invisible
Inside of the past.

But I am marked by the world
Sliced, diced and burned
By experience
And indifference.

Somewhere in between
Something crawled out
And poisoned the world
Killing everything
One degree at a time.

We rise up
And then come down in flames
Speeding to the end
Without any hope at all.

Cut from behind
And murdered in our sleep
The victim of our own design
Caring for everyone
But ourselves.

I slept in a bed
Safe in the past
The one that my father had built
And the one he repaired.

But others have let it rot
And others have scaled the walls
Slipping in the cracks
Everywhere they could.

The good lack the courage
To do what must be done
Softened by success
And spoiled by time.

Because we covered up the truth
And pretended it wasn’t there
Calling ourselves monsters
And retreating everywhere.

But I am not one for lies
And I have seen enough to know
That respect must be earned
Or it means nothing at all.

Some men roam the street
Looking for something to kill
Laughing at their victims
Before the break and run.

If hatred is what they want
Then that is what they will get
And if war is what they crave
They shall die en masse.

Laying out in the street
Food for the dogs
Licking up the blood
And vomiting on the rest.

We will all return
To what it is we are
The purpose of our death
The same as our birth.

Everything shrinks to pin point
And that is what is left
Nothing we can hold
And nothing we can change.

Slipping out of time
We become the essential self
Moving inside the spaces
That no one can see.

Faster than the speed of light
We emerge in the beginning
In a new world
Perfect and immortal.

There will be nothing to decay
And we will see where we were
Everything we thought
And everything we did.

Compelled to stand
And take our place
Waiting for the word
We never thought would come.

Live for then
And live for the truth
Buried but for a moment
And together forever.

The Young Lions

The Young Lions 7/2/2012

Take this truth
And hold it up in the sun
That nothing is more important
Than what we give away.

The good times come and go
And so will all the money
For the better or for the worse
Love and even hate
Flourish and fade.

But I am still here
Even after they are gone
The sole survivor
Trying to feel his way forward
And find his way home.

We were brothers
And now they are gone
Blown away
Like dust in a storm.

Spread out in all directions
And impossible to find
Yet still as close as ever
On the other side of life.

Words are only words
And how we perceive the world
Can make all the difference
As either we give each day a chance
Or fall backwards on ourselves.

We can live in fear
And stay in the shallow waters
Or we can dive in
Plumbing the depths
Of knowledge and wisdom.

In ten thousand years
Time will have no meaning
Because forever is what we’ll have
Brothers together
And brothers forever.

We can wonder how we will make it
Or we can know that we will
Watching the world fall apart
Or building it back again.

The spirit is calling us friends
And joining us together
Reaching out with invisible hands
Just to gather us home.

We are an unlikely bunch
Finding each other
As we seek to understand
Coming together
Against all the odds of eternity
Right here and right now.

Joined by God
One in the other
Spreading the spirit
All over the world.

I will see you all
And you will see me
All of us as one
And all of us forever.

What God has found
No man can lose
And what God has joined
Even death cannot break.

What was lost
Will return
A thousand times better
Better than what we were
And more alive than ever.