Half Life

Half Life                11/22/2016

Some days are raw

Picked and rubbed

Dry and bleeding

Emotions flowing

Like blood and water. 

Time passing slowly

And sinking in your stomach

As we light upon irrational worry

One after another. 

Thoughts come and go

And inertia pulls me down

Forcing my duties

Further and further

Down the road. 

Everyone is here

But we do not communicate at all

Only in perfunctory greetings

Sent out into space. 

I labored across the hours

A small blip on the screen

Unknown and unblemished

By power or influence. 

Others struggle also

With demons and rum

Wrestling with odd temptations

And exasperating minutia.

I have sideswiped many

And stared across the crowd

Momentarily linked

And lost.

Unable to connect

And unable to speak

Solitary prisoners

Silent and alone. 

Heavy as a headache

And hot as a fever

The lost chances of life

And staring at the floor. 

I wanted it all

Without thinking

Now I live

In the ruins

Halfway done

And halfway alive.  

Fear is the only thing

Between us

And courage is only way out

Lest we all die stupid,

Voiceless, and dark.

Paint it now

With bold brush strokes

Far and wide

In scorching orange

And searing red.

Splashed on the page

In overflowing prose

The shout of God

Through our own

Mouth and tongue.

Let the tiny flicker

Be fed from above

The spirit unleashed

For the whole world to see.

Yes even the hurt

And yes even the pain

All for a purpose

That we may never see. 

Someone

Somewhere

Needs it now

So let it flow

Rich, perfect, and free.

Dark Passage

Dark Passage              11/17/2016

Gusts of wind carries the leaves

Across the lawn

And across the street

As I turn over in my mind

And go back to sleep. 

Traveling far away

In time and space

Into a future past

Glimpsing into dreams

Gone without a trace.

A black car

Swerves down a highway

And a battered child

Slowly starves to death

Ten hidden horrors a mile

Just beyond our reach. 

We can stare  

Or we can look away

All that has happened

Or is happening

Behind closed doors. 

But God knows

And God remembers

Every buried body

And every stilted dream.  

Every sudden treachery

Long practiced in the head

And every savage beating

Among the living

And the dead. 

Evil never rests

And evil never sleeps

Even when defeated

And even when chased.

Today they hide

And today they think

Unimpeded by morality

The masters of murder,

Deception and theft. 

Begging for mercy

With a knife behind their back

Always ready to kill

For power

Or for money. 

Pursue them down

Though they may cry

All of it an act

And all of it a lie.

Phalanx

Phalanx                     11/10/2016

Many a man

Has faced down death

And by the thinnest of margins

The good can be saved. 

The fight begins

And the violent erupt

Spewing out in a tantrum

Childish, dumb, and cruel.  

The dead are rising

From the ashes on the pyre

Avenging ten fold

All that was murdered

And forgotten. 

Prematurely buried

And one coffin nail short

The lid lifted

And all blown away. 

The beaten man

Now stronger than ever

Covered by each other

Forward, flank and rear. 

Blamed, harassed,

And relentlessly attacked

The good and the innocent

And penalized to death. 

Hounded and hindered

At every single step

Robbed of everything

And ridiculed for fun. 

Bearing every burden

And enduring every attack

The host to the parasites

Feeding off his blood. 

Worn out and dying

We are always asked for more

While evil mocks the good

And celebrates.

It will never end

Until he comes

So together we can rise

And do what we can. 

Others have taken the blows

And others have paid the price

Accepting the challenge

And all the hatred. 

Stand with them now

Even when its hard

Because all of us need cover

The few

Against the many. 

Eleven Eight Sixteen

Eleven Eight                                          11/8/2016

I stood in line

And watched the sun rise

Filled with anticipation 

And defiant determination.

But others have also lived

And faced insurmountable odds

Charging straight into the teeth

Of likely defeat

And certain death.

The air had a chill

And my hands

Were deep in my pockets

Staring into an easterly orange.

We didn’t talk much

But I could hear

Some hushed conversations

As we all stood

On a chilly Tuesday morning. 

I saw a baby

Chewing on a blanket

And I told his mother

That my son did the same. 

Far away from here

In a land

Long gone away

And almost disappeared.

Fools may not know

And evil never gives up

Always patient

And always cunning. 

The fight lasts forever

And bloodiest of battles

Are often in our head

For many are the fallen

Dumb, foolish, and dead. 

It is now that we meet

And it is now that we ride

Doing whatever it takes

No matter how long

Or how hard.

Up the hill

And into the teeth

Straight through the gates

Ready, willing

And full of fire. 

Burning so bright

That darkness becomes day

The spirit aflame

Furiously burning

Yellow, orange, and red. 

Red Rose

Hideaway Hangout    11/2/2016

The dumb

Live in denial

Always hanging on

To the same old lies. 

But truth is reality

And reality is truth

Always present

And empirically

Evident. 

When I woke up

I could not forget

No longer able

To hide my eyes. 

That was the day

I learned to overcome

Smashing down the fear

Of rejection

And ridicule. 

And this also is the day

That the dam is about to break

Long held up

And long pushed down. 

But it is

At that precise moment

That animals always strike

Just when they lose

And just when they fail.

Lashing out in a violent spasm

They often kill or maim

Unable to grow

And unable to accept. 

Beware the sudden attack

And beware the greatest lie

A doubled headed snake

Dead and alive

And willing to kill.