We are brothers and sisters of the pen,
Toiling in darkness, hoping to shed light,
Clicking away our life's blood every day,
Passionately crafting words that go unread.

Of all the things in life that we could do,
None would yield lesser tangible rewards,
We do it not for gain, or praise, or fame,
We do it because it is simply what we are.

We write with ink, with toner, or with blood,
To allow others to see through our eyes,
A world that's stripped of facile, false facades,
And rendered to expose its naked truth.

We travel solitary paths of joy and pain,
Hoping some friends along the way to gain.

Although I have published millions of words,
Twelve texts on law, fourteen peer-reviewed articles and more,
My favorite book of all is tiny,
Only seven thousand and eighty words.

A quarter million words about the law,
Between hard covers feed a hungry mind,
But seven thousand words and a few more,
Fed my young soul and stitched my broken heart.

I'm grateful my non-fiction is widely read,
But wish it were my poetry instead.

Although I am an only child,
I have billions of siblings,
Men and women,
Young and old,
Jewish, Muslim, Christian,
And of all other religions and none.

I am but a leaf,
Of a very old tree,
Planted by one God,
Known by many names,
And worshipped in many ways,
Perhaps to His amusement.

Regardless of what any religion teaches,
Including my own,
I know we are all His children,
And He loves each of us,
Who strive to do good,
More than doing well.

All human beings,
In their infinite precious variety,
Are my siblings.
All are bound by our God's love,
All spring from the same holy seed,
That He planted in eternal hope we might do right.

If I hurt my siblings,
I hurt myself more,
And disappoint He who created me,
And all whom I love more than words can say.
I weep for the injustice humanity wreaks upon its own,
I weep for He who filled the void with light that we might see.

I weep for those who injure my brothers and sisters,
Almost as much as I weep for the victims of their evil deeds,
For I know the victims will return to God's embrace,
While their tormentors will reap a bitter harvest,
From the poisoned seeds they sow,
And will never share in God's embrace when their days are done.

God is love,
Love is God,
God love is.
Love His children well,
As He well loves each one of us,
Let not His love go unrequited.

Romantic love can fade and does with time,
Like hunger of those starving in a feast,
Or a child let loose in a candy store,
Who quickly tires of endless sugar highs.

No fire can burn forever, not on earth,
The hottest flame to cinders is reduced,
And cinders' glow can warm but not consume,
And so we search for other fires in time.

Great is the need for a consuming love,
Once felt, it haunts us to our dying day,
And we engage in a most foolish quest,
Looking for that most rare eternal flame.

And when we find it, or think that we do,
We cling to it and bid reason adieu.

___________

This blank verse above is my teaser for my short story Amor Vincit Omnia which deals with the subject of true love and our need to embrace it no matter how unlikely the source. It is one of my most unusual short stories from my Echoes of the Mind's Eye collection from a very personal point of view with humor and tongue only slightly planted in cheek.

Justice

Forced conformity,
By states that steal our freedom,
Does not justice make.

No price is too high,
To break the chains that deny,
Our right to freedom.

-------------------------

Hubris

We pay a high price,
When hubris drives our actions,
Instead of reason.

Wiser ones than we,
Can leave us clear warning signs,
That we will ignore.

Mice run for the cheese,
Heedless of the deadly trap,
Alas, so do we.

__________

The above are teaser poem for my SF short stories "Justice" and "The Riddle of the Sphinx: Solved". You can download both in ebook format free until 3/15/22, but only at the following link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/429453

I do not care what others think,
I care somewhat what others say,
I care the most for what they do.

Thoughts in themselves won't hurt or ****,
Words do not heal or peace achieve,
Actions alone can change the world.

Fear not the man who likes you not,
Raise not a hand to answer words,
Fear those who smile with knives in hand.

Don't waste your time on pleasant dreams,
Don't write to those whose eyes are closed,
Actions, not thoughts or words, bear fruit.

If we had two years' notice,
Of our world's impending doom,
What might humanity do?

Would we bend our knees and pray?
Would chaos reign supreme?
Would we quietly despair?

Would our flame shine brightest then?
Or would we embrace darkness?
I suspect we would do both.

But I doubt we would give up,
I hope we'd go out fighting,
For one final, great lost cause.

Ingenuity is ours,
I believe we would unite,
To save humanity's seed.

Humanity would survive,
Some on space stations perhaps,
Others would flee underground.

Moon bases might yet be built,
And perhaps even on Mars,
That human kind might go on.

An asteroid can destroy,
All that humankind has built,
But not the human spirit.

_____

This is a teaser poem about one of my longest short stories, Mars: Genesis 2.0 about humanity's struggle to preserve its seed in the face of an extinction event. You can download the short story (one of 13 in my Echoes of the Mind's Eye collection) free through 3/10/2022 but only at the following link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/428820