"where the air was never extreme, which for rain had a little silver dew, which of itself and without labour, bore all pleasant fruits"

After a weary journey
Our faith revealed
The Shining Isle

Where the wounded king was healed
Land of the undying
Their ancient glittering eyes all seeing
All foes long gone
Fear and worry undone
Graceful,quiet, deep browed
Long fingered hands
Stars and jewels chiming in silvered hair
As they walk those quiet paths

Over the water suddenly calm
We saw that glow
A light shining from the highest tower
The bells tolling from far away

Then with regret
Which made our throats clench with swallowed tears
We turned our hulls away
Back to the shadowed mortal land
Where the armies of the night
Struggle in unending battle
Broken plains strewn with bodies
Where the grey faceless men hold weapons
Dark with power

We always knew
Deep Down
This is the place
Where we belong
Where we belong

Avalon

The killer awoke before dawn, he put his boots on
He took a face from the ancient gallery
And he walked on down the hall
J. Morrison

AR-15, 100 shot drum magazine
.40 cal Glock semi-auto
Full body armor, riot helmet
Yes, I'm ready for the show

Yes, after all those years
Being the good, smart boy
Getting good marks
Always being polite
Pablo has finally invited me
To the "Magic Theatre"

Now all the Steppenwolves of my mind
Begin to run, teeth dripping with blood
Laughing and howling as they begin the hunt

Power vibrates through me
To the throbbing of the weapons
The screaming of the prey
Until all the magazines are empty

And I'm left alone again
Just the police asking the meaningless questions
And far away the Steppenwolf
Runs through the shadows.

At first it was sort of like a dog lying next to the bed
Panting
My head was warm and without any covers I was
Sweating
The pillow was damp, the breathless air would not
Move

I tried to remember the cold, clear nights of stars
Crackling
But I felt my tongue drying out in the stagnant air
Swollen

So now, we live in the big heat bubbling like a
Furnace
Everyday we feel it like a weight, like we might be
Guilty

In Iowa, the corn is dying in July, no ears are
Open
The frogs have burrowed back into the cracked mud
Hoping

On the freeway, the cars shimmer without motion
Melting
On the baking hills, the anguished forests now
Erupting
The rivers shrunken to dusty rocks, fish
Dying

When I cry to the angels at the end of all Roads
Begging
Praying for some relief, somewhere in the ashes
Drifting
They forbid me with their living swords of fire
Burning

Summer Solstice

"Everybody knows that the change is coming
"Everybody knows that the deck is stacked"
Leonard Cohen

In Colorado, the Cache La Poudre is burning
That's where they hid the gunpowder
Has it blown yet?

In the Southeast Asia Enterprise Zone
The suicide nets are ready for another night's harvest
Do we understand that our beautiful electric screens
Are polished with blood?

In Syria, the death squads are arming
For another day in the abattoir
Everyone is ready for the bodies

I called out to you in the night
I dreamed you loved me
From the bottom of your soul
In the morning, your e-mail address
Was blocked, texts came  back forlorn

The earth is crying out
But Jimi is so long gone
No one understands
And the wind howls alone

In the land of plenty
We're all tucked into our corners
Of the unlimited cage match
Our abs are ripped
Our tattoos look good
But our eyes are empty.

Winter is coming.

Falling (1)


I can still remember the climb out of darkness
It was aching slow
Many times I stopped
There were good holds sharp cut
Hands jambing in cracks that were cool
A ledge for resting
Friends showing me a better line
But I was afraid
Behind, below the emptiness of the abyss
Like a mouth opening
Darkness breathing
Still I came to a high point
And really viewed my surround
For the first time

Crazy Escherian stairs and lines
Cracks and climbs
Exploded from my gaze
Destroying every piece of knowledge
Every safe passage gone
Paisleys of twisting patterns
Purple reds, greens, orange
Twisting into a cacophony of images, bodies
Thoughts both shimmering and unborn

And my pinnacle
My granite stand
Dissolving into sand

With the panic of my tortured lungs wheezing
My heart pounding like some ancient broken bell
I leaped,
Hands desperately clutching
And held onto something I hoped was strong
I closed my eyes as it gradually dissolved
And heard the exhalation of the abyss
Welcoming me

Suwreel

The tale of the fat birds
Fire feathered in the dark woods
Asks the myth mountains
Snow drooping and year stained
The long magic of tears crystaled

Sing Cywril to Balour
Make the glad telling
Glow the Tenebrae's darkness
From the fen-mars to Dagash

The truth remains shuttered
The hard fists raise towers
The exhausted land prospers
Heavy with blood thirst

Sing Cywril, Sing, Sing

Gibbens, 68, 12

Silence behind his eyes

Before sunset

Exploded into tornadoes

Sometimes, when he was lucky,
His music could fill a small room
Maybe with an old cat
or a dusty painting as an audience

Lately, he would push his songs out
In the heavy quiet air
But it seemed the cat
Had gone to sleep

Dedicated to the current constructive political debate in the US

Why spyder phantoms
Does your film so choke me
On this cloudless night?

Is it the dust in my throat?
The longing in my head?
Or that door slowly closing behind her?

When the owls fly
The fantastic colors flow behind them.
Vermillions, arsenics, iridescent chromatics billowing
I tremble to follow
An anemic echo of their wings

All my green algaed
Freudian slips sprouting in a hundred greasy
Toilet bowls of the soul
Grow and nurture my endless
Turmoil of rotting emotions
And again comes the
Whirlwind


It speaks with the voices of dead cows
Rotting in the summer heat
Under the flat skies
Saying:

"Return to me my Anger!
Have I not hollowed the virgin hills
And trampled the fanatic iron snakes of doom?
Return again to me my anger!!

Sapphire mother
I welcome your longings
Your burdens
Your low moan at the sunrise
But there are none amoung us
Who love or trust you
You soft blue monster.
Selah

I am haunted by iguanas
Crawling though the attics of my dreams
And lately my front teeth
Are growing some kind of orange fur

I worry that ring tailed lemurs
Have stolen my remote control
I'm ridiculed by spider monkeys
Holding my underwear for ransom

My faithful cat ignores my worries
Unless her dish is empty
Now ants seem vaguely threatening
And magpies watch me in the morning

Late at night, I wonder what advice
Kafka or maybe Aristotle could offer
But they've never friended me or twittered.

And still she holds the light
Long ago, she felt betrayed by love
As a child her special place was gone
A child alone with strangers

She thought she was broken
Growing up twisted
Not smart or normal
Still she held the light

Finally the world of words
The secret knowledge opened for her
And she began to yearn
To see and learn

Then she was desired
Confused but excited
By men especially and their crude grasping
That was supposed to be somewhat like affection

The long history of men
Ignoring or fixing her
Needing her for their own devices
Stubborn she still holds on

Still the light shines
There amid the rocks
And wreckage of lost hopes

A signal for someone
To see the danger
Still she holds the light

Jihadi


Orange sand

Raw sewage

Diesel fumes and burning flesh

Screams and the black blood boiling

This is Sadr City

It might still be mourning

Time for prayer

Imams calling

Even now
We hope for the night

In darkness, we lose our reasons not to hide

Between the sirens and the screaming

We still dream
Our dreams

Involve silence
Not the detonations

Ripping closer and closer

We dream of thick re-enforced cement

Faltering drones

IEDs that fail

Strong hands on friendly weapons

And somewhere a door that opens on home

Warm food, open arms and home.

Slow as tomorrow uncreated
I've wandered down the empty roads of time
Waiting to taste your laughter
Waiting to hold your smile

It seems an enormous hour
Since I've felt soft patterns like your mind
Knowing those faint perfumes
The scents of your words touching mine

Alone with you is like the sunrise
Glowing through the new warming earth
The sadnesses of unknown sorrows
The pains of time I've long forgot

Music of our desire freezes
A quick lilting tune without end
Though I know I'll never hold you forever
Feeling that I'll never taste you again.

At last the traveler,

Aware that darkness is coming on,

Though weakened and shaken from the steep climb

Has achieved the pass, the high divide.


Below and before him the day is fading

Just the glow of a village

Flickering in the dancing air


He thinks he can maybe see the light

That shines from her home

He imagines her reading, looking out the window

Or walking outside to view the evening star

Her pale hair floating in the restless breeze

He wants to be there with her

He wonders if he can find the path

With nine iron rods

We held the gods

Balanced over jam jars

Then with nine iron bars

We broke those jars

And kissed the gleaming

Crystal knives left behind


Later we spead

Their essences on pumpernickel bread

We were glad when their folly

At last rested in our bellies

In the confusion

Of our purpled splintered mouths

We smiled

Cloud

Morning was so simple, fat early

Two
We sat over shadow

Them
To leave without loving

Yellow
A sun drama in blue
Bird songs flying

Final
Evening and songs
Spinning and weaving
Death themes and jewels

Crowning
Sly sleep with ease

Then
Slide, smile dream
Slide, smile dream

Darling
Key of E



Darling, darling, darling
Don't you think the sun will rise today?
Darling, darling, darling
Don't you think it'll rise today
Oh, don't you see it shining
Don't it make your mind feel okay?

Travelling in the darkness
Yeh, travelling in the rain
Travelling in the darkness
Yes, I'm travelling in the rain
I can't see where I'm going
But I've got to leave again

Walk me to the corner
Tell the man about your soul
Yeh, walk me to the corner
We'll tell the man about your soul
If he don't give us money
We're bound to leave this hole

Darling, darling, darling
Don't you think the sun will rise today?

The sun sank in the tendrils of the winter winds

Light quickly faded

The long night begins

What is our hope for the spring to come beyond this winter?

The old rulers are dying, their grasp weakened

Their desperate bloody clawing for power falters

What will the youth of the world build?

Overthrowing the gray tired old men with no vision

Will there be a new light glowing in an abandoned barn?

An opening of joy to a time of new growth?

It is now dark in the cavern

The animals have bowed their heads

Fearing the burning world that surrounds

Glaciers melting, deserts blowing

Is there a song that will lead us to

A new morning, Sagan's galaxy rise?

With a billion suns shining?

Or will we crouch in the corners again

Fighting for any lethal advantage

Sacrificing the world?

We should pray

(In a minor key)

Deep down, way down below
It's hard to see it all go
You know time passes
And still people die
Fighting the war that ended
So long ago
Deep Down

It's a world that's hurting
A world full of pain
lord lord
It's hard to catch the joy
And just be alive
Deep Down

So now it's just you
And now it's just me
We touch each other
And we're still free
Deep Down
Way down below
So hard to see it all go
Deep Down