The creek babbles just outside
Aspen leaves blow gently in the moonlight
Mice scurry for the snacks they think we've left behind
Despite the chill I'm warm tonight
You lay beside,
Breathing softly, asleep
It is the last night
Your arms wrap me tight
It's been a long time
But my empty feel persists
Knowing my thoughts betray what's inside,
Once again our ships are passing in the night
My thoughts scream
It wasn't meant to be
I ignore them for a taste of life
Just tonight
I know I'm free
A blend of pain and peace
Will it always be?
Let me sleep
Falling with nothing but the creek and trees
I hope they catch me before the scream is released.

I saw myself today
Standing on the plains
The sky was grey
And the breeze smelled of rain
Tall grass brushed against my legs

I turned and saw myself
Asking why I came
My answer was a smile upon my face
Electricity coursing through my veins
My breath a part of the day
Giving life and letting go of every pain

I saw myself today
Sitting in a storm by a single tree
The winds never disturbing the place
Laughter on my lips
Sadness in my eyes
Questions and answers dancing happily
While I rest

I saw myself today
Having nothing and everything to say
On the grassy plains
I let the scene slide
Knowing it's where I reside
Where heaven and earth collide.

Something empty
Something forgotten
Something lost
Something begotten
Strange how we feel at the bottom.

Freedom unleashed
Took a shot or two to do
Pressed against the wall
Hot water soaking aching muscles as it falls
Breathing deep without a sound
Funny how you don't see the stress
Until it floats around
Let it down the drain
With the ***** water
Let yourself relax
Till the worries rinse off,
Into the ground
Where it's cleansed for another round.

Dead light
Passing by
More alive than you or I
Released into ether
Held by past memory
A balloon in a child's hand
Looking for ancestral might
Connection in our changing lives
Something to grab hold of
When the storm blows by.
When the light fades,
And I close my eyes
Let me go
I'll always be here,
In a cool breeze when the sun is high,
In the storm bringing water when the ground is dry,
And in the smile when you cry
A ghost I will not be
I'll exist in everything.

Tips of wheat brush gently across my fingers
I weep
But there are no tears that stream
Or muffled sobs
Only me in a field of wheat
A place among the stars
Why here?
In this field of golden stalks and grey sky
I'm answered by the breeze
Caressing my face with gentle embrace
Sight fades for feeling's sake
The illusion of life slips away
I am left with these golden stalks and breeze
Here I am free
Among the wheat with my lonely tree
I rest peacefully

Drinking this earthy swill
Wearing shoes too small
Told a career would make me grow
Make sense of this all
Work hard and it'll all settle into place
Took a few years to see the lie
It's all shoes that are too small
College paying with paper straws
I'm too young for the looks I give
I'm too old to be singing this song
Let's go
Pretend we all know how the records spinning
Sipping cheap *****
Talking about the way the world's burning down
We're not living the way our grandparents did
Lost the house and kids along the way
We'll get there eventually
Or so we say
Was the job part of the game?
I forgot the password to play
Let me check my cat's middle name
Swipe my ID
For some digital pay
Slipping on my ill-fitting shoes
Remembering when it didn't feel this way
But the clocks struck 00
And now decade 20
The world's in a craze
But hey let's go
We're barely old enough to know any other way.

Send me on my way wishing well
I don't ask for true love
Though it's nice to be held at night,
Or a million pieces of silver
I'd have to pay it all to Ceasar,
I don't ask for vengeance
Even if some wrongs have never been set right,
I don't ask for the gift of prophecy
My dreams are enough already,

I ask,
My throat be quenched on a hot day,
A fire warm my face in bitter cold,
Laughter never far from my lips,
Not a care when a wrong is better off than I,
A sunrise that makes me happy to be alive,
Empty eyes so I never forget why I tossed this coin
To be free of all I cannot say.

Whiskey fine
Brandy wine,
The former I shouldn't drink
The latter is just fine.
Brandy is warm and eases my throat when it aches,
Whiskey makes me question life,
Too much for my liking.
I'm a simple type,
I rarely drink sweet, fruity kinds.
I'll drink ***** as the Russians do,
One shot followed by a pickle or two.
But I do not drink much,
Just a taste.
Each time the bitter burning liquid touches my tongue,
It reminds me that I'm still here and I still have much to do.

Prometheus brought the fire
Defied the gods so there may be light.
A titan strapped to cliffs
Tormented eternally for his gift.
I wonder if we hear his cries.
Have we made his suffering worthwhile?
Do his acts of defiance stand proud?
Or do his cries fall on deaf ears as we war and act with no love in our hearts?
Prometheus came
He lit us on a dark day
When gods feared what we would be.
An anthem has been written
It's sung by spirits in the fires of our souls.
He suffers for the fire he gave
Let's make sure it doesn't go cold.

I tied my laces tight
Bloused my pants and secured my vest
Canteens sloshing stale water
With a ninety pound ruck on my back
My buddy jokes I weigh just as much
A pen, knife, sunflower seeds and 550 cord
Kevlar helmet strapped to my chin
A sure weight slung on my shoulder
Its cool embrace always in my hands.

****** heels inside my boots
Exhaustion makes this dirt feel great
Embracing my rifle like a lover at night
I don't care I'm atop rocks and brush
I'd sleep on the firing line or in a ditch if it meant some shut-eye.

The air rocks with blasting sounds
Waking me from sleep
My exhausted mind hearing cries and shouts
I grip my rifle tight and silence myself
Hearing footsteps crack the ground
I should be scared I know
But all I feel is anger over my lost sleep
Fear slipped away the moment I laced my boots.

Ambushed on a lonely dusty road
My heart did not skip a beat
In the mud and pain life became a game
Grit my teeth and walk again
Laughing when insanity hits
Sleeping on shells
Rolling my eyes as the guys play a game of 'worse smell'
In it all I saw myself
It was too easy,
This road to hell
And I feared a soldier shared my cell.

While falling down this dark hole
I stopped screaming and began to wonder
As dreams and memories became the same,
As voices soothed me from far away
Asking if I was really awake,
Was this pit reality?

A woman's voice so comforting,
Like cool ocean breeze providing certainty,
Washing over me in the dark
Is this memory?
Kindness drifting like fall leaves,
Gentle rains soaking parched feet,
Giving relief where I didn't know I need.

Falling erases memories
It scrubs clean the warmth
Leaving cracks that bleed
I've gone so far the ether speaks to me
Bringing me a cool sip of relief
Wet my aching throat
So my voice doesn't join the myriads of misery

The Ancients knew,
Tartarus was at our feet
The rivers of mortal life passing by without ease
Our shadows pulling another way
Bent on knees before the stars,
Asking for reprieve.

Hell isn't fire and brimstone
It's life unbelieved.

I saw a helicopter tonight
Flying low with running lights
Made me think of the ocean
Watery horizon and dying sunlight
Reminded me of a Marine who flew a little too high
Helicopter in dusky skies
With red running lights
You remind me...
Of so many nights.

There is the poet who writes
Of broken hearts,
Love gone right and awry,
Then there is a poet who tells
Of lonely days,
Life's litte mysteries,
Another poet still will sing
Of beauty in nature's glory,
Of the seasons and roses,
The last poet will hardly be one at all
Not the most lyrical
Writing a soliloquy
From pondering love to moonlit nights
This poet will drown in thoughts
If you be a poet ask yourself one thing,
What do I leak?
Blood or poetry

Like every day it comes and goes
A number on a page
Of September moon
The sixth day just like my great-grandmother
Except she she was in 1920
I came on Labor Day
My mother says she took the meaning seriously
But that was many years ago today
Three, six, nine
I've got them in spades
My poker face hides the smile that never fades
Born in dying heat of Autumn blues
Refreshing cool and end of summer
Have always been my restful cue
Twenty-seven may it be a good year for you.

Last to leave
Never to break
Swirling the drain
It's not okay
But the lie remains
The lives of others come first today
Don't break
The world's not that kind of place
I don't remember if I ever didn't feel this way
I'm tired
And I've only begun the race
I despise my face
It lasts every poker game
Life granted me solidarity
My personality looks complete
Denying what I feel underneath
I'm breaking tonight
I don't want to see
I'm tired but it's not up to me
I'm looking for my strength
It's eluding me
A race to the end
Of the mask versus me.

I hear you calling my name
Looking back from some other time
I put the phone down and I'm not opening the door
I'm not answering anymore

You think you're a wolf
Stalking the prey
Let me show you something real today
When I release the lioness from her cage

I see them coming across the plains
Dressed in white
Pretending they are messengers of the divine
They are coming for me
Little do they know
I'm not clothed in sin or dressed in white

Hate never stood at the door
But justice came by and spoke to me
Claimed she saw me on the front page
Of a book long escaped
Since she's companioned with me
And now she's asking your name

I hear you calling my name
Looking back from some other time
I put the phone down and I'm not opening the door
I'm not answering anymore

Because if I do you'll be at death's door.

I wrote a dozen poems in one night
A dip into memoryscape
Take my hand and hold it tight
I've remembered the way
A place of serenity in my sights
My footsteps mark the place
I need a companion to remind me it's alright
Someone to grant me a little time
To reassure the pillar of its might
Wise man's knowing why
Needs the understanding Seer's eyes
The soldier needs to hold his weapon tight
The traveler needs a memory of home
And the seeker needs to know there is light
Empty eyes need sight
Relief comes one step away
Do not grieve me as I go
Empty eyes have glimpsed a sight

Voice ringing out silently
Where only shadows go
Memories coming round
Faces of the untold
They came easily enough
Seeking some sound
Silence knows no bounds
Breaking these walls down
Underneath was abandoned and cold
Dark shadows come
Their quiet gazes strike home
Breaking the heart's hesitations
Shadows where do you roam?
Have you found home?
Creatures of light and void
You understand the struggle within
Won't you stay?
Help me find solace within this shadow of home
Shadow calling was my gift
Born from grace in the unknown
Where darkness flows
And light bends to grab hold
Hear my calls
As I empty my soul

Emotions demanding thought,
Mind keeping measure
No need to live, no need to die
Sickles sweet, crescents of red
Incontinence of my thoughts
Sweeping me beneath these currents
I don't know what's happened to me
All I've lost and let be
Have returned to me
I was never lacking,
The world just never became what I thought it to be.

Thundering plains
Winding down a valley haze
The heart came to play
But its lonely beat was not met
So the horses came
Trotting in time
They knew the spirit of the wind
And the passion of the land
When the beat is left alone
Listen closely for thundering hooves
Coming to meet the heart
Free in the wildness
The horses come to dance with the lonely beat

Look at these words, scribbled here
Black and clean
I wonder where they came from
I know it's me
Of dreams and memories
Some I know
Others are strange, I can't place them.
Are they mine?
My mind so full of different lives
Should the day come I remember
These black lines will certainly fly.

Good or Evil?
Simple terms
Circumstance and happenstance
Treated equally by the tactician
Grave ambition
Touched by sedition
Allied?
Never truly known
Honor code
To a people unknown
A servant never meant to bow
A warrior or a monster
Depends whose writing now
Know when he comes around
You've lost before you began
It's only a matter of time now

Rivers run
Winding through willow groves
Casting light on the setting sun
Tears of dying light
Settle on horizon's night
Oceans come
As comets run
Tails of bliss to kiss the sun
Of glory's day
How simple it has become
Go down where the river runs
Bathe yourself in tears of those gone
Bits of light grace your eyes
A cycle of time
Through you it all comes to life.

The days pass away,
Always in a whisper or a shout.
People hum to their own drums,
Never seeming to look up.

There is far too much,
Hustle bustle,
City life.
Cobblestone roads and skyscrapers,
Yesterday and tomorrow mingling,
Like time ceased to be.

I saw Merlin in the subway.
As the stations roared by,
His coat fell like a cloak,
Ruffled by a neatly trimmed beard.

An umbrella steadied his hand,
He fingered the hilt as if it were an old friend.
His eyes twinkled though his face was creased.
He talked to the angel across the way.

The ease in which they sat,
As if the stations never came
And their stop was a question of the past.

I saw Merlin in the subway,
He glanced my way,
And smiled as if I’d seen the light of day.

If you went to war over me,
Would you claim subtlety?
If you killed another over me,
Would you weep for them and me?
If you died in my arms,
Would you remember when I kept you warm?
If you must fight over me,
Know I'll accept you as I do with every child that's come to be
I'll cover you in the dirt and keep you safe hoping for the day you'll see you never had to die over me.

I'd love to hear freedom ring
Not with flags and anthems playing
But with afternoon rains and poetry
With pleasant ease
No future or past weighing in
Bodies just a simple vase to hold what's within
No oppression busting bones
Mind clear like crystal stones
Imagination left to soar like it was meant to be
No limits to be achieved
Freedom is hard won
The soul begs to be released
The mind demands to be free
The body craves comforted peace
Listen to the silent pleas
Let freedom ring
Let it ring for all of humanity.

Oceanscapes
Followed by swirled green
And jagged cliff face
Pinched between index and thumb
A child's hand
Small but fully in command
Sits the glass sphere
A world of fantasies
Ruled by the little king
He keeps his sphere in line
With all his other worldly glass
He counts and names them off
Declaring law on his domain
His galaxy until he grows up some day
He'll think of other things then
Until he grows old
And sees his old marbles
Will he wonder what happened,
To his peoples he created?
Or think himself an old man full of flight and fancy?
I hope he remembers
For the marbles sake

When the feelings die
And the cracks turn into cliffs
I'll fall down and break apart
Into the smallest pieces

I'll let myself scatter with the wind
Till the pain fades
And I hear my pulse in my head
Then I'll piece myself together again

No piece will be the same and it might sit in a different place
Little lines will streak my body
Scars of all my grief

I'll become a beautiful mosaic
Each piece an art
Every line a memory
And when my days are done
I'll look and smile at what I have become.

Parallel lines
Never meant to touch and dare not cross
Stretching lonely into infinity
Perpendicular lines
Crossing at ninety degrees
A point on a graph, measured by x and y
Which are you?
Do you cross the line or stay to the side?
A mathematical certainty
A probability to me
Statistically not meant to be
Yet here we are
Playing the game of chance
Fifty-fifty is all we can say
It's logical
I've done the math
You and I were meant to cross paths

Thank them for me
This dance is ending
I won't stay after this piece,
Tell the band they were sweet
They couldn't have made a better beat,
It's time to go
Tell the angels sorry I had to depart
My heart couldn't take anymore
Tell the demons the laughs were great
I couldn't cry another drop,
See the dance is ending
I'm not sure it's any different than the beginning
I already knew that part
So I never had to witness
The men playing smart
I moved with my art
A fanciful existing
Bringing angels and demons to my yard,
Thank them for me
The host who sat apart
Tell him I know the game he set from the start
And now I depart
I leave my art
And my invitation
Thank them for me
I've danced my part

I am lazy when I write about you
It's not my favourite pastime
It's been some time, the scar mends
It's not so tender,
It can handle a confirmation or two
So the fact you did worse than I knew
Itches the scar but nothing more
I write to make sure the pain is released before it makes me its home again
They say it is better to loved and lost than never loved at all
I do not disagree
Despite this little white scar of mine
My only addition of wisdom,
It's a shame we can love one who doesn't deserve our pain
For me that was you
And now I forever bid you adieu

A record plays a scratchy song of yesterday
I sit down
Dust the weariness away
With some soulless rain

The sun sets
A reprieve from the snake
While my cares and apathy battle away
Seeking balance before the ending day

The words and thoughts are stale
I've tired of their endless debates
So I watch the sun set
Listening to Cohen play

I remember the day
All I felt and forgot
It may have been too much
That's okay

I know
And found a better way
A raspy tongue
Steinbeck feels the same to me

Some days I forget my way
I don't know what to say
My sighs are defunct
And silver is grey

Perhaps Cohen can light a match
Smoky voices and acoustic beats
Are beautiful today
After memory decayed

An artist's cup
Full and empty all at once
Schrödinger's cat in another life
Second sight coupled with the afterlife
Feeling a little too much
Artists need a place to bleed
Somewhere to be free
Riddled artistry
A cup of gravity
Unique to each who drinks
Crafted by creativity
Drained by objectivity
An everlasting cup
Filled with hopes and dreams
Pains and philosophies

No one comes along to take your hand
The path long left the map
Your footsteps are on an empty pass
Your shadow is the only company
On this singular path
Many will try and take you from it,
Offer safety in numbers in a broken system that long passed into yesterday's abyss
Fight for who you are
And take no one's word for wise
The guide is you and the path is only for your eyes
Embrace the life you have
The show will not last
And this illusion will have lost its chance
Learn what you can and make it last
The steps on this path are yours to find
Take it in stride
Leave the masses behind
You'll be alright

A bitter truth I sit down to write
But the words stop and nothing flows
So I sit and think
Stare at the wall and wonder about the paint
Is it grey or primer paint?
Then I remember what I came to say
If only the words would stay
So I decide to come back another day
Only to find the words at 2 am
There goes another night of sleep
Written in four words I weep
"Why can't I sleep?"

This is a short story. It's not very long but may take a minute or two to read.            

There is a story kept in the libraries of
a distant place.
A very old one indeed,
Of three powerful beings who were so vast they encompassed everything.
The eldest two knew their offspring would struggle,
It was always so but they would balance the peace.
The youngest cared little for what the other two had to do.

One said, "for as long as I live I'll keep my children safe and teach them my ways."
The other said, "I will keep my children out of your way for it is their nature to have free reign."
So the two powerful beings gave rise to their children.

Chaos told his offspring to do as they wish only to stay away from a certain place.
Order smiled at her children and brought them up well.
While the youngest, Life was content to wander around.
This was the way of things until one day.

A fourth being thought dead,
Skulked from the distance
Watching the children play.
It looked upon Order's children and saw how strong they were.
It used its ancient powers to pull at the children's minds.
But Order's children did not listen to the thoughts and walked away.
So the being went to Chaos's children and saw them free and powerful.
It smiled and corrupted their thoughts
And Chaos's children were driven insane.

They ignored their father's advice and lost who they were.
Before this day chaos was never a bad thing, but balance was lost.
Order's children saw this and worried for their distant friends,
As different as they were, they all came from the same place.
By then Order and Chaos had left into the vast powers they were
And commanded their children no more.
So started a war, of two races so opposite and yet of the same blood borne.
The war raged long and far.
It was ******,
Deeds were committed that forever changed the nature of all we are.
Even ancient blood was spilled and that was too much.
When gods weep the universe bleeds.

Chaos's children regained who they were,
But not before a heavy price was paid.
Order's children forgave but bitter blood still finds hate.
These children so old and ancient now sit in wait.
Watching as the rest of the universe grows in pain.
First born and now they wait.
For the rest to learn the lessons of their great mistake.