Birdseye

Birdseye                                                                        10/30/2015

Fill the ditch

And light it up

Without care or regret

Fearless and free.

Spinning our wheels

For no reason at all

A time and times again

Before we see

Or know.

I can’t see the waves

But yet, they are everywhere

Collapsed like information

On the head of a pin.

Zero is the distance

Between them and me

And zero is the hour

Ahead, and behind. 

Prisoners of our own bodies

Our hands are made of clay

Grasping, but never catching

Lightning in a bottle. 

Water runs deep

And falls gently on my head

Cooling my fevered thoughts

Of anguish and loss.

Somewhere out there

Is everything, we were

Still innocent, perfect, 

jubilant, and kind. 

All of this is nothing

But all we had

Was everything

Captured forever

Changeless and gold.

Smaller than we can detect

Yet larger than our dreams

The limitless possibilities

Of the human spirit

Awakened at last.

Flying free, above our heads

Blazing through the sky

At one single instant

Everything

And everywhere.

Nothing will be beyond our grasp

Unbound and unchained

No longer in fear  

Or want. 

Loved and beloved

Giving and sharing

Burning in the heart of God

Brilliant, Beautiful, and free. 

Jim

Jim                                      10/30/2015

I have dreaded things

That never happened

But horror comes

Sudden and unexpected.

Words are not enough

And condolences

Are only condolences

As we stumble blind

Alone and weeping. 

One minute you were here

And the next you are gone

Silent to the heartbreak

We all fear.

Eighteen months ago

We buried your son

And now we must also

Bury you. 

Gone before

And gone ahead

Across the river

To the far bank

Shrouded in fog.

Just because

We cannot see

Does not mean

We do not know. 

And just because

We cannot hear

Does not mean

We forget.

Love conquers all

And it can conquer death

Tearing down the veil

Between then and now

You and us. 

Peace comes with patience

And I know you are not alone

Reunited, laughing,

And shouting with joy. 

We are all here

And we shall all awaken

Born of more than blood

Washed, clean, and perfect.   

You know

And we guess

Until then we pray

Fighting free

And eternally blessed.  

The Waiting Game

The Wait                            10/29/2015

It is not something

I would have asked

And it is not something

I could have known. 

Life is given

Unbidden

And consciousness

Is a gift

Undeserved

And misunderstood.    

But yet all of this has happened

Both the dizzying heights

And the devastating lows

Dragging me and pushing me

To destinations unknown.   

Sometimes the good change

And sometimes the good fall

Compromised, bullied

Coerced, or betrayed. 

And senseless are the questions

That run through my mind

As I wonder about things

I cannot change

Over and over again. 

Many go along

Unaware of the damage

Starting fires

Wherever they go

Unthinking and unconcerned.

But, I am just a stranger

Living in a strange world

Learning how to swallow

All that I left behind. 

No matter what I do

Or how far I have come

I still remain, one word away

From grief

And shame. 

Like a skeleton

Buried in a wall

Always there

And trying to get out. 

I crossed that river

A long time ago

And now, no matter  

How hard I try

I will never make it back.

Incomplete and unresolved

I suffer the futility of pride

As I fling myself ever upward

Against the rocks.

Fling yourself also

But not out of dread

But only to know

And remember. 

All of this is going away

But you and I

We have forever

More than enough

To wait for.    

Deep Drop

Deep Drop         10/28/2015

In the dead of night

Unread and undisclosed

Secret deals discussed and signed

Traded away for nothing

Just like we always knew.

The sun is blotted out

And all the words

Can disappear

But even then

We know the truth.

Open the cages

And release the beasts

Because none of it is random

No matter what they say. 

Follow the line

And follow the leader

A pied piper of death

Up and over

Dead and down. 

In darkness

Evil awaits

Suddenly attacking

The vulnerable

And unaware.

Just as predators

Follow the herd

Patiently waiting

For the solitary straggler

To savage and devour.

We can lie

And we can believe

But in the end

This is real

And deadly.

The long dark night

Has already began

The truth obscured in the shadows

Like it never happened at all. 

But horror

Even if unacknowledged

Has surely occurred

Premeditated and executed

One here

And one there.

The candles flicker

And electricity fails

Setting us up

The same as yesterday. 

Remorseless

And shameless

Watch them wait

And watch them laugh.

Flooding our house

And flooding our street

Soaking us up

And rotting us out. 

Shine through

And do not give in

Because fear is nothing

And truth is priceless. 

Lexicon

Lexicon                                10/28/2015

I finally unpacked the books

Boxes and boxes of dusty tomes

Carefully examining each one

Before selecting the proper shelf.

It has been years

Since I last read them

As I felt each cover

And thought about the past.

Much has happened

And much has changed

Moving from one place to another

Unable to relax and settle. 

I think of the people

Who gave me each one

Where I was in life

And what I thought

At the time. 

Each one a window

On the world

A physical snapshot of time

Through the minds of the living

And the dead.

An unchanging string of thoughts

That we can interpret for ourselves

Looking through our own eyes

And time. 

Circumstances change

But ideas are something else

Structured through a conduit

Of reason, logic, and values.

The archetypes of philosophy

Spread out before me

Enshrined in a civilization

Suicidal and blind.    

We can chant all we want

And we can deny it a thousand times

But what is

Still happens

And becomes stronger each day. 

Priceless and irreplaceable

The essential search for meaning

Without it

We are nothing

But beasts in a field. 

Cliffhanger

Precipice                                      10/27/2015 

The cliff comes

A deep and yawning void

Calling us down

Headlong and dumb.

We have come far

But we have long since forgotten

Who it is we are

And from where

We came. 

No man is perfect

So we might as well laugh

At the incredible stupidity of man

Stubborn, fragile, and vain. 

We played in the sun

And the chlorine stung our eyes

But the warms days are over

And winter is coming.

The leaves have turned

And fall wet upon the ground

We found a red one

And also a gold. 

Nothing was ever free

And neither is this

A ripened world

Groaning under time. 

Grinding us down

Slowly and inexorably

Thinning the herd

One death at a time.