Nature's Retreat

My heart sings songs parallel to the dance of rain
Where lyrics speak true to nature's mighty chorus
Of colorful leaves burned from early frost
Where green becomes gold and gold turns to red
And the animals, both big and small, hurry to get to bed

My heart speaks to these changes all around me
Embracing Fortuna as if she were my mother
Wishing that I, like the leaves, could also fall and be free
Released from loose bonds that sway with but a breeze
From mighty ******, third of his name, God of the wind
Who that deceitful Juno deceived, to blow steadfast
Aeneas away from hearts true love, to a bigger purpose
His own Goddess to please

Yet... It was not to be for me
Too strong were the currents from that vengeful Neptune
Who then commanded blue Oceanus to summon the monstrous gray Charybdis
Pulling down on the brown oars of my life, seeking to consume
That which I thought mine, as if spoken by an Oracle,
A future as free and varied as a rain soaked forest in fall
Before all falls to rest within the spiteful white teeth of winter
Leaving me to dance in the decay of nature's retreat

I then cry with Terra Mater, reminding her of the days
Where our hearts sang and we spoke in hushed whispers
Excited for the seasons change and the chance to rest
Yet... I am not prepared to say goodbye to her
Her beauty, to me, shines brighter than burning Sol
Me, a moth to her flame, is lost when she is away
Tormented by the memories of life living only to die
An endless cycle of pain that numbs the days spent waiting
For spring to rise once again and refresh my heart
From the desolation of the icy purgatory
And empty forests, skeletal in appearance,
A drab contrast to the songs of revival and lush trees
That are a favorite of the myriad dryads and nymphs
Whom orchestrate the natural melody of the Earth
While patiently awaiting my summer heat

I miss them like I will her, for soon I shall fall like the rain
Patiently awaiting my rebirth so that I might dance with her again

Your silhouette captivates me
Soaking up the pale moonlit rays
Radiating a sense of oneness and peace
Like you're contemplating some grand scheme
To take control over the natural order of things
Yet nature can't be enslaved
Just like your illuminated outline
Bursting with such beauty it cannot be contained
I envy the moon it's treasure
To be able to shine my eyes upon such a majestic creature as you
Sadly, I am limited
'For my light shines from across the latitude
And everytime I get close
The longitude of our distance
Makes you a ghost

I'm the Sun
You're my silhouette

Nothing feels like never
In the grand scheme of things.
We wait and we want for those beautiful events
That cause our hearts to sing;
Such is the product of the two
That it is always greater than the one
Where every freckle, dimple, brow and tooth
Equals every individual sum

Yet never lives in the now
And the ever is most prominent
No matter which equation you design for life
The math is always eminent;
So no matter how bad
You add or subtract
A fraction of the whole may be divided
But at least its still intact

Never useless is the way you think
The way you move and the way you blink

Never useless are the moments saved
For the problems solved to the decisions made

Never useless is our sense of time always in the right as I'm writing your rhyme

Never useless I'll always say because what matters to me is hearing that you'll always stay

To fly you must jump
Free falling before the ground
Breaks apart your skull

Without you I am lost
Awash in this sense of dread
That permeates the very core
Of a rationality held in such esteem
That never could I think
To see myself dripping and bathing
In a pool of my own blood
Intertwined with thoughts of you
And completeness and purpose;
Without you I am insane
Left to tremble with your absence
Felt as sharply as a needle
Knowing that you are too far
Beyond walking distance
Such that my heart seizes it's beating
Forgets it's meaning
Begins the ending
Deathly sending
My final thought
About living in a world
Without you

...
Time ran out
...
But instead, a picture of Me
Was not at all a product of Him
And determined that my visage
After I read the words from God,
So imagine my confusion,
As well as us in his image
That God created the world as we see it
Was the greatest lie ever told
In the beginning

The deception of reality
Distorts and purports a dystopian image
Contrary to the utopia of our imaginations
This contradiction necessitates a division
And separation from the here and now
To the then and there versions
Of ourselves that depict and depreciate
In awareness of the real issues
That can move a generation to greatness;
To achieve the unachievable,
To tear down the corrupt walls
That constrain and obtain your identity
From the beautiful world around you
Simplifying your nature into a collective
Herd of obedient beasts
That never questions reality
Or its obscenities

The Gods once sang hymns of Garland twined
Dancing nymphs steadily seducing Zeus’s mind
They sang about love, passion, and a woman scorned
For Hera, wife of Zeus, Hephaestus, his brother warned
“Aphrodite may be sweet, *****, and supple
But the two of you together will bring only trouble”
Brooding Zeus sulked, like the heroes of old
Alexander may be great but he will be BOLD

Ignoring the warning, to the glade he went
Sending a message with Mercury, his love he sent
Luna hung low over the trees that night
Fireflies flashing accenting the light
There she strode, Aphrodite the beautiful
Come here to meet Zeus, lord of the thunderbolt
“My king, with Mercury your words I read
Sweet nothings echo in my heart that bleeds
In wanting for you, I bellow the forge of my heart
My longing for you had me longing to depart”

Zeus rushed to his muse, his body filled with lust
Never stopping to consider he was betraying Hera’s trust
For the queen had played mighty Zeus, an illusion she wore
Aphrodite in image but in Hera her SCORN
Together they lay in lust passions raged
To feel his love again being all that she craved
Her moans turned to laughter, her plot complete
The nymphs turned to vines snaring his feet
“Hera, my love, do not be angered
My feelings for you were never endangered
I knew it was you from the very beginning
I was just simply curious to see the ending”

Hera wasn’t interested in any more of his lies
Like Uranus before him she would cut off his pride
Never again would he sire another *******
She would remain queen on Olympus from here on after
In celebration she cast the ******* down the mountain
Into a babbling spring where nymphs danced ’round a fountain
When suddenly an infant sprang from holy water deep
A boy was born immaculately complete
Raised by the dryad’s a man he grew
Through labors of love to prove his due

Ignorant of the boy, Hera jealously ruled Olympus
With Zeus crippled her power now limitless
Until a prophecy was issued by Apollo’s oracle
“A child born, he who is destined to wear the purple”
Worried, Hera sent Mercury down to Gaia’s shores
His mission to find the boy before he could wage his war
Too late he was, for once, he was too slow
The boy (now a man) was already in Olympus with his father in tow
“Hera, I’m here to claim my throne, father as my witness
From him I was born, a product of your sickness
Your husband you tricked, maimed, and usurped
That throne is mine and Olympus will never be yours
Then he called forth his first thunderbolt
Casting Hera into the void and ending her revolt

In one hour
There is 60 minutes
That's 3600 seconds!
Or 3600 thoughts!
Within 60 minutes
Of one hour

Upon Auhr, the walled fortress, the priests wait.
Sitting and hoping and praying for the return to the old ways of magic.

A mother sat, burdened with child.
The delivery to be made within minutes.
A ****** conception hailed by the sept to bring about the will of the Good.

This child, as fate saw fit, had been selected to be a magical reliquary;
A type of ley line to which the powerful reigned over their kingdoms and fifes.
Yet the previous phylactery had fallen, perished amongst the hounds howling; Shouting their desire for blood and fear and ultimately... control.

So to the priest we brought the woman and her gift so that magic;
That power... would not again fall into the hands of those hungry to own.
Instead a pact was struck;
A deal to ensure the boy would grow to be a wise and true ruler;
While also granting the priest and his sept access to the ethereal temptation of magic.

===================================

Within Auhr a child was born and for a generation peace ensued.
Philosophy and ethics were the thresholds of the Aurish culture.
One after another, generous philosopher kings guided the construction of an empire.

An imperial order was established shortafter;
Built by the very first priests that had shielded the One from exploitation.
Corruption had infiltrated their minds;
Their very souls,
To the point that they had forgotten the very reason power had begotten them.

The broken priests betrayed their God and were so lost in the process,
That eventually their greed led them back to Him;
The boy become old man, bearing the weight of the needy upon his back.

"Why have you returned?" The Wizened Wizard asked of them.

"You have something we all desperately wish to share with the masses."
They cackled menacingly behind weathered skin leathered with years.

"And what might I have to offer you holy men of my covenant that can be shared?"
He asked of the shrouded snakes huddled behind their robes;
In pittance for their transgressions do they dawn the hood.
A vain attempt to shield the world of the Good before their eyes.

"Magic!"
They all cooed in unison.
"Life!" They chanted as they began to enclose their deity.

"My death?!" The Savior exclaimed, "will only further define your destiny."
"You parasites can leech upon my life's blood and engorge yourself with my flesh.
In the process you will destroy what light is left within you and only darkness will remain.
The worst kind of magic will emerge;
The kind of Death that will reave this world asunder and erase the progress We made."

The grand priest of Auhr walked within inches of the Wizened Wizard;
And like he did when the chosen child was born, he embraced his reliquary...
Easing his hidden dagger between the ribs of the One King Chosen to die.

=================================

Beyond Auhr, He was reborn.
Far away from those who would use his Good for all the wrong reasons.

When faced with limits
Art goes to die on a mount
Born a deity is

Rules that restrict life
Natural order of things
Resenting our art

Break the rules and see
With haiku is prophecy
Limits are the start

The oppression of life can be sweltering
For as it is with responsibility
Not all directions are chosen via choice
Nay, sometimes we can feel as slaves
Bound to a way of opposition
Against the natural progression
That would otherwise define happiness

Nature, therefore becomes operative
In the language of experience
As from childhood to adolescence
We are free to live and choose and fail
All-the-while learning from each
What it means to be a unique
Individual from the herd that
Silently stalks its prey
Patiently waiting to strike
With its conformist claws
Coated with such vile poison
That the freedom we once had
Becomes a shuddering hallucination
Quickly fading into the obscure
And routine dance of the day to day
Operations that progresses the opposite
Impression of oppression

The heat is unbearable
Just ask the sweat dripping
Drip...
Drip...
From your forehead

The depth of the rumble was paralytic
Causing a tremor to arise
Strong enough to vibrate the very core,
Of the art buried within,
When will it end?
Will the world stop?
Like a controlled explosion
The eruption is brief!
Yet the lingering devastation brings grief!
These noxious fumes they strangle
And they choke
Living next to a volcano
Is never a joke
So the next time you feel the house shutter
Open the doors and run for cover

As it dawned,
The Golden age of man
A wonderful group was assembled
To analyze the Sands

Grain by grain
Hands that they shook
Forever questioning the meaning of life
Remembered only by books

Yet for the men of Philos,
Quickly did they die,
Were criminalized by the people they loved
Mourned by those that cry

Since wisdom is a trade
Surrounded by weightless fences
The spiritual, the ignorant, the arrogance of all
Left Philos nigh defenseless

For there is a price for everything
Just ask the great city
To tell the tale they all forgot
About Philos and its fee.

Crestfallen,
The heart begins to deteriorate. Leaving behind only minute palpitations that tell the story of the current fall. A single sputter gasping out of synchronicity causes a spastic flutter of images past; facades in multitude. Vanish. Leaving the heart sinking in growing desperation, deprived of that which lends reality to its existence...

"The fact or state of living or having objective reality"

Were we ever even alive?

"Everybody loves notes"

Its the way we convey
In written words
What can't be said
Through spoken tones
Or relay those feelings
Which can't be expressed
Through candor and verbatim
Alone

No,
Its more complex
To add a style
Rich with syntax
And double in meaning
So I can draw you in
Then repeat again
After every time you're reading

In this way
May you never forget
The moment in time
I'm after
Immortal is the scribe
That can contrive
A letter of the soul
Forever

P.S.
...
A Post Scriptum endeavor
Intending to highlight
This memory
Canonized together
...
(Everybody loves notes)

Together we are towed downstream
On this powerful current of love
Always swaying but never stressing
The magical workings from above
Though this river may wander,
Meander and sway and flow
These feeling I have are far deeper
Than any ocean that I know
So dive with me my love
And then share my sight
Because no beach is too barren
Or stream too slight
==================================
Once love is true
It must always be right

I never understood the real meaning behind poetry and philosophy.

The former takes great meaning and condenses it by duration reduction; Compacting enormous information and emotion in just a few beautiful words.

The latter is the priors direct opposite, opposing condensation for elaboration to the grandest questions a mortal being could ask. It's defined as a love of wisdom but really it's just the wisdom we love.

Both portend to be a front of art and an artistic mind.

So it makes you question these opposites and the balance they bring?

If combined "what is the product" of poetry and philosophy?

I'll tell you,
It's Prophecy

I wish we could have stopped
To catch our breath
And consider the path to which we now travel
I feel guilty
Guilty that my behavior
Became a tyrant
Dictator
Focused solely on the oppression of the "I"
So consumed was I
In my hunt for supremacy and success
That I lost you within my own hubris
Thinking that it's my way
Or the highway
Just because I read a few books
Doesn't make me king everything
The way I smothered you
Makes me king nothing
For this I am broken
I did not realize the burden of proximity
Until the erosion of your character was complete
For this I apologize
I did not intend
For it to end
In such a way
I loved you
You were my balance and muse
Yet I threw you away like you were old news
Until that's what you became
A person lost in the complexity
Of a prison I built with words
Not your own
Forever reducing you to a mere shadow
Of the woman
Living in my home

My actions
My fault
My heart
My vault
My
My
My
Never you

I'm sorry

Frozen,
Close to absolute zero
In a state of near preservation
Do our atoms collide
Breaching the comatose exclusivity
Of each electron as it slowly orbits the nucleus.
In this way we can simplify the quantum
To a near exact state of uncertainty
Which Heisenberg predicted
Even as cold as our atoms have become
Their exact speed
Or their exact location
Continues to remain a mystery
As neither can be known plural
Only singular to the extent
That the realm of the smallest of particles
Is dependent on the temperature
Within the heart of a proton

Storms wash over the lands
Flooding
Causing a veritable maelstrom
Palpable
Trunk swaying in reaction
Lightning
Flashing and booming in bass
Cacophony
Wind pounding and beating
Incessant
Attempting to erode the landscape
Cleansing

Then...

Calm
A break in the dissonance
Assonance
Filling the pall left behind
Peace
Healing the ravaged earth
Sun
Shining glorious rays
Prismatic
That shatter as the eye passes
Blind
A terrifying howl reminiscent
Forlorn
Followed by a sickening rip
Broken

Then...

I am flying!
Spinning
Rotating at an ever increasing rate
Disoriented
Confused as my world tumbles
Torn
From the only home I'd known
Alone
Just a tree caught within a raging
Cyclone

A portal appeared
Thin line sheared
Ripping the world
As the end neared
For cataclysm came
Ragnarok Regained
The gods they fell
The mortals to blame
Thus darkness came
Descent into hell
Lightnings they strike
With storms that hail
Some devils do call
While others may fail
Yet heroes do rise
In light they shine
Rising at the moment
What fate defines
Ready to battle
To war they ride
A shout TO ARMS!
Their enemies do cry
Some may flee
And others do die
The devil had felled
A hero had rised
The day was won
Terra his bride

There is a place far away from me



That I can visit only in my mind



A white road with no destination



Where all lines converge perpendicular



To the motion of nonexistent traffic



Running parallel to my thoughts of you



As we traverse the fictitious route



Aptly named Rebel Road

The sand from the sandstone rubbed raw my skin
Baring the veins of a network of fluids
Guzzling and bubbling in an attempt to pump
Life to limb from heart to organize
The soul lost in between the functions of living
Breathing the life through eyes wide open
Finally seeing the world as path among enemies
Staving off the parasitic accoutrements
That weigh down a mind burdened by the incessant grinding
Of sand from the sandstone

The skin sloughs ever so slowly
As it parts from the blade and body
Slipping into the pail of past identity

On top I can see the newest addition
Eyes burning with golden bursts
Accentuated by cool emerald outlines
Staring back at their owner
Accusatory
The narrow pupil dilated in question
"Why go blind?"

I ignored the orbs
Instead turning back to the business
At hand
Where I was carefully removing
Fingernails and thumbprints
One by one joining the flesh
That had once been me

My eyes glared at me
I stared back
Empty sockets dripping
Drip
Drip
"Never have I seen more clearly
For without my skin I truly feel
Without my eyes I cannot cry
Nor nails nor prints to conceal
The real me is not outside
He's inside wanting only to heal"

Breathless,
As we are bled dry.
Philosophy,
Our lost art dies.
Sadness cries,
At remorseful goodbyes.

Greatness,
Now gagged and bound.
Lost,
Never to be found.
Speechless we sit,
Competent to admit:

That we have to quit,
Lest we remain,
Silently content.

Stand tall and proud
Oh ye mighty sentinel
Cast your shade there
Upon yonder ground
And with yer roots
May ye cultivate thine soil
So thoust may creep higher
With limbs reaching
Skyward
Climbing minutia
Until ye break through the canopy
Soaring amongst the clouds
Sowing thine seeds below
To grow the next generation
Of silent sentinels

The dissonant chime rolled over the distant mountains
.
A chain peaked and capped in the reflective white sheen of never-dying ice
.
Reverberating to the tune of loneliness in a sensual duet between the wind
.
Where every gust unites the pallette into such a beautiful harmony
.
That the range can't help but to announce it's existence to the world
.
In cadence like a sweet symphony tuning to the pitch of A
...
Before the start of the first movement
...
The Earth begins to tremble
...
In ode to the Spine of the World

On the ***** of our feet
We pivot
Revolving around to the beat
Of a classical melody
Both wholesome and nuanced
Like the flow of the wind
Or the splash of a pond
That gives this feeling a motion
In sync
With the tones of every movement
Moving slowly then starting anew
Everytime my eyes meet yours
This Starlight Dance
Gives me a hope
That as long as there is a chorus
I get to be a part of your heart

It escalated rapidly
Sending arcing sparks racing in different directions...
Between the whoosh and the whistle,
Shrill and omnipresent,
Was an anticipation
This emotion,
That permeated the sky
And all the stars that joined to observe the spectacle

As a distant hum began to echo out across the void,
The cold empty darkness,
Began to heat up,
Excited for the upcoming eruption of varying colors
That were sorely missed amongst the monotony
Of the blackest of spaces...

...All went Silent as the world expanded
In a bang it was announced that a star had given birth
Sending fireworks out into the cosmos to deliver the wonderful news
That a new generation had begotten a stellar nursery
Full of healthy little twinkles
Shining their light,
Because in the universe,
Even the dark is afraid of the dark

It was the rain to which I'd been waiting;
A palid clamor in the dark
An incessant pitter-pattering
Patterning of life's blood
Awash in the swirling gusts of a storm
Booming with menacing roar
To announce its presence
The purpose of which is to restore
Natures balance
Not unlike the cacophony which breeds
A humble tune,
Tuned to the key terror and awe
As it inspires new life to grow
In place of the old kaleidoscope
That has, to this date,
Shielded my eyes
From the renaissance
Of a world
Trapped in drought

I awoke to a song
A melody foreign to the ears
Of a life surrounded by concrete
Walls that strangulate the creative nature
Against mother natures nurture

With every note, a new realization dawned
Like the sun rising above jutted cliffs
Each varying in magnitude
To the degree that even the birds
Didnt know their tune

When alas,
The chorus reached a mountain creshendo
Filling the forest with such harmony
That I knew with every single beat
These woods are a part of me

Upon the banks
Of this little island inlet
The waxing light of sol's solace
Blanketed the horizon
For mile after mile
Casting a cool warm glow
Like a candle in winter
Slowly waning at the stars
Descent
When at its apex
The water began to shimmer
Ruffling our image into bright
Ripples
Replaying our landscape
And our facade
Into countless ruminations
Of the single second
That marked twilight's ascent

This reflected memory remembered
In the twinkling sky
At night

The sweet emotion of forever
Lasts as long as the wind caresses
And buffets the soul on a cloudy day

The sweet emotion of never
Is the repetitive cast into a flowing torrent
Of a flooded river that masks the shore

The sweet emotion of together
Coalesces into a monsoon of parity
That is a parody of the rain that crys

Now or never
This sweet emotion
Will last forever

Symbols are signs,
Assigned by design.
Representing the ideas,
Concepts reside.
In the language we speak,
The words we write.
Symbols are to blame,
For contradiction plight.
So say what you mean,
And mean what you say.
Letters and numbers,
Symbolic Array.

Bring down the earth for your own gain
Mother nature tears fall like rain
Open your eyes and you'll see her pain
We're all in this together

What we call progress is really the spread of disease
Man content to exile his home
Forgets that, like a tree, he has roots
That stretch for miles
Creating a vast web that strangulates
The lifeblood responsible for his sustenance
Until the point to which starvation
And devastation run rampant
Darkening the firmament
With smoke from their bombs
As Gaia shakes with earthquake trembles
Warning the plague that they have broken their covenant
As they huddle cowardly in their machinations
Hurriedly searching for the reason why their home aches
While not giving a single thought to the consequences of their actions

However, Gaia, doesn't care about their ruminations
The deal has already been struck
And it is time for her to cash out
She looks to her sister Luna
Who sits in a crescent wink
Hurdling towards their destructive reunion
And the end of the ungrateful pestilence
That made their mother cry

Bring down the earth for your own gain
Mother nature tears fall like rain
Open your eyes and you'll see her pain
We're all in this together

My eyes alight softly upon pale velvet waxing
Whose grace is as weightless as a tilting feather
Slowly orbiting between gentle arches
Caressing the space that separates two hearts
And minds locked in a tidal waltz

Waning, my gaze shifts to supple curves
Outlining the crescent shaped body
Which loving light reflects in full
As the beats of my pulse rapidly impact
Scaring the surface with my every rotation
That births a new phase with every rise
Yet sets my sights again upon distant beauty
Teasing the mind to reach out and embrace my muse
Relenting to the gravity ever drawing me nearer
Until we collide in throes of violent passion
Two bodies merging in the fires of love
To become one forever more

"Buy me a drink?"
She asked him
All dolled up
In layer upon layer
Of cover-up
Accentuated by
The strong stench
Of the wrong perfume
To him, she was fake
A person that exists
Only for four words
Or 4 syllables
Temp or ar y

To most men
This invitation
Equates to one night
Of senseless pleasure
In the shallows
Of human experience
That propagates
Short term like
Over long term love
Never realizing
The three most important
Syllables
I love you

I'm a mountain man
Far from my range
Surrounded by seemingly endless
Flat plains of sugar sand beaches
Here I am alone
So out of place
While all the waves keep crashing
Reminding me of a Blue Ridge song
Calling my soul farther north
To a place where my hearts match
Is beating along
To the melody
Of high winds
And granite peaks
So I sit knowingly
Appraising the horizon
As I miss my home
In Tennessee Rising