Cranked

Cranked                                         7/28/2016

Locked down

With nowhere to go

Strapped in our seats

And climbing uphill.

Metal wheels

And metal tracks

Dragging to the top

With a long way down. 

We can feel it coming

In the pit of our stomach

The gaping void

All the way down. 

Twisting and turning

In a world turned upside down

We are but passengers

Slammed in unexpected

Directions. 

We can scream

Or we can cry

But either way

We can live

Or we can die.   

The end comes suddenly

In the same destination

From which we came

The end from the beginning

First and the same. 

These are the times

That are for the choosing

As each of us decide

Which way we go. 

We can believe

Or we can reject

But either way

The end shall come

At the end of the track. 

Sheepish

 Sheepish                            7/25/2016

I tried hard to make it

But it was already too late

Betrayed by a million lies

Hour by hour

Day by day.

By the time I felt the sting

The knife was in deep

Mortally wounded

And bleeding to death.

I had to watch it all

And feel it ebb away

All that I had tried

And all that I that I had loved.

In the end

I was nothing but an obstacle

To someone else’s comfort

A means to an end

To be removed and discarded.

It was all about money

And all about status

The kind so many covet

And kill for. 

Years have passed

And still I wait

Still the last

And still the least.

I did not know then

What it is

That I know now

That all debts are paid

Sooner or later.

Someone had to lose

For someone else to win

And jealous men

Will attack from behind. 

I was the sacrifice

Unaware and asleep

Too busy dreaming

To sense the mortal danger. 

Blind to the threat

Of a wolf in sheep’s clothing

Strange, mild, and weak

Greedy, heartless, and cruel.

Evil will never announce

His intentions

And evil will never

Fight fair.    

But rather he comes

Like a whisper in your ear

Playing upon our altruism

One step at a time. 

Attacking the innocent

And crushing the unprepared

He delights in murder

And rape.

He who cannot see

Is a fool for not knowing

The obvious warning

From right next door.

Photosensitive

Photosensitive                          7/21/2016

Huddled in a room

They pick at their scabs

Unable to contemplate loss

And unable to accept

The shame. 

Knowing in their heart

That they are wrong

But paid to lie

And greedy for more. 

Power breeds corruption

And ambition leads to cruelty

As the end justifies the means

Over and over again. 

How great

Has been the loss

Buried in the dirt

And forgotten. 

The millions who lived

And suffered

Murdered or starved

Over hatred

Or greed.

But how can man

Even begin to know

The truth for the lies

Repeated again and again. 

Good for evil

And evil for good

Trading faces

And trading places.  

In the dark

We knew nothing

But now that the dawn

Has come

We can see

With discernment.  

If a man lies for a year

He can lie for ten

But if he has lied for fifty

Then the truth

Is hard to find. 

Yesterday slinks backwards

And falls out of focus

Altered and over exposed

Redacted and hidden.

Edited for good

Or focused for evil

The carefully crafted

Sound bites

For all of us to eat. 

If you did not know

The contrast would be stark

But the more that you study

The grayer it becomes.

Muddied by theatre

And rehearsed on cue

A national pageant

Meant to confuse.

The club goes on

And life is good

For those in the know

Who don’t give a damn.

Laughing at extinction

Behind closed doors

The protected immune

To murder and theft.

But the sun

Shall also find them

And expose

All that they do

Forever shamed

And gone. 

Vigil

Vigil                                    7/19/2016

There is a feeling

That all of us know

A sudden sinking stomach

And a racing heart. 

Immediately after

A close call of terror

When we narrowly avoid

Injury or disaster.

A sour feeling

Or a lump in the throat

The heightened awareness

Long after

The threat is removed. 

Yes, time has quickened

And yes something is amiss

As we reel from savagery

And horror. 

Deep down we know

All who are awake

Who are awake

That something is terribly wrong

And more is to come. 

Evil is ascendant

Now more than ever

But nothing lasts forever

And that is how

Everything unravels.

The door is closing

And not a moment too soon

But hell hath no fury

Like a cornered animal

Doomed to death. 

Frothing at the mouth

It knows the end is near

Determined to take out

As many as it can.  

Desperation brings out violence

And now like no other

Increasing in severity

As the clock ticks down.

Pray now

And keep your eyes open

Lest the greatest lie

Or sudden attack

Deceive us all

Day or night.    

The Quickening

The Quickening    7/15/2016

Another day and another night

Time lurches forward

And snaps into place 

Splitting at a crossroad

With blood and death.

Weakness is complicity

And complicity is approval

As obvious as it can get

For many to see.   

Protected by lies

And covered by silence

Many burn with hatred

Towards the good

And the innocent.

Hating you

And hating me

They belittle the dead

As if nothing at all.

Choose who to ask

And choose who to follow

Because those you love

You will always protect.

Choose carefully

Lest you also

Be suddenly lost

Forever complicit

And forever condemned.