Hello stress
Goodbye rest
Hello late nights
Hello appetite
Goodbye judgement
Hello lament

Workouts are fleeting
Enter bad eating
My addictions just shift now
From TV to...what now?

It's drugs in the morning
It's food at lunch
A smoke ring I'm forming
Now back to the crunch

Next'll be uppers then downers then more bull
And soon I'll need hard **** to feel half normal

At the end of this hectic whole putrescent week
It's a buzz and some rest and some love that I seek

Altruism, at its best,
Is only a means to pass a test
That you perceive you are in...
Of an absent God who licks your chin

    "What, in her do you see? Pray tell!"
"She's so selfless; generous to all."
    "So she tells me", I think to myself.
"...To all but you.", I think.  And stall.

What do I tell my dear dear brother?
What do I tell this brilliant boy?
That I'd rather he find another?
Altruism schmaltruism - Where's the joy?

Out of the ashes
Altruism arises
Here in this place
There are no prizes

There are no rewards
Other than bragging rights...

Cut the cord. Loose the bonds.
It's flimsy fodder - to offset fights

I'm in my childhood home
Or a reasonable facsimile thereof
And this holy man with a tome
Talks of visions and love

I seem to recall him relaying
A vision of flame on the ceiling
And fervently preaching and praying
For the group of us gathered 'round kneeling

Like an inverted brook of fire going
Up the stairway and over the hall
The fire represented The Spirit flowing
Like the tongues in Acts alighting on all

And the holy man looks like my father
With sports coat and mock turtleneck
But about details, this man can't bother
And I wake with a start. What the heck?

Trudging through the frightful torrent,
The stinging rain could cut through my clothes
The stinking smog smell is abhorrent,
And the train rumbles as it goes

I'm trying to reach a resting place,
As faces are flying faster past,
A sheltered bus stop I reach at last,
And sit myself down, and thank my good graces

I'm not quite sure just where I'm heading
It's always out of reach, it seems,
Being late is what I'm dreading,
...*That's one of my recurring dreams

Oh oppressed Silene,
Your water supply dwindles,
But the wily demonic monster
With each breath, the fire kindles,

So poisonous was the gas
Issuing from the mouth of the creature
That when it approached the city gates,
Its breath killed townsfolk who came too near

There was great fear and the people had to appease
with offerings of two sheep per day...
Until the sheep supply was depleted

Whilst they bleated, they had been enough.
Enough, the beast's hunger to quell,
But as the last sheep bleated and bleated,
The beast made it clear what power he held

His rancor, his fury, his strength ensured
That even without so much as a word,

The villagers knew the dark deeds they now had
To face, in the face of what lay ahead

"The dread, the dread!", the King had said,
"We must appease this wicked beast,
Give him this child, she's stout, well-fed
And maybe he'll withdraw to the East"

But the beast made his home in the water source,
And now had a taste for the blood of man,
And so an edict was signed into law,
A wretched and wicked compulsory plan

Both low-born and high-born must enter their names
For the sacrifice of children to the beast at their gates
And as their hopes went down in flames,
They prayed to the gods and hung hopes on the fates.

The deed would be done for the dragon's retreat,
The children were chosen by lottery,
And as the dragon devoured their young,
The villagers filled up their pottery.

The lot has now fallen to the King's fair daughter
And so, with tears, he must acquiesce,
She's bound with ropes now, down by the water,
Her face toward heaven, in fancy white dress,

When along comes George upon his mount
A shield of white, with cross of red,
And as he neared the dragon's fount,
He drew his sword and bravely said:

"Fair daughter, what are you doing there?"
Startled, she swung round and implored him thus:
"For God's sake, good knight, fly! For you cannot save me!"
And just then the dragon was roused by the fuss...

George advanced, crossing himself,
His spear set low and true
Into the jaws he ****** his spear cracking the spearhead clean through.

With yelp and gurgle the creature reeled
They led him, leashed, back into town
Then in the courtyard, his nerves steeled,
George had the people gather round

"Doubt not. Believe in Jesus Christ,
And turn from your wicked ways!"
One by one they went under,
And came up covered in grace.

"Be baptized in the name of Jesus,
And I will finish off the beast"
Then all the townsfolk, freshly dipped,
Made atonement; prepared a feast,

And in the shadows, the creature lay dead,
A giant heap, twitching- not pretty.
And it took four ox-carts to remove
The dragon's corpse from the city