Who is it we
feel sorry
for.
Is it us or
them who we
adore.
Look but only
get a quick
peak.
Like a glance
at a female's
physique.
Only the surface
is touched,
revealed.
Rest hides
deep under
shields.
To breech this
layer, we're
scared.
Not wanting secrets
to be
shared.
In the meantime
just take a
look.
But be weary, you're
not reading a
book.
Or take the road
none take for
flight.
Bear down, sink
in, take a
bite.

Night had fallen long ago
and the midnight hour passed,
yet in the yellow circle of my lamplight,
I pressed on in my quiet work.

And for a moment I paused, and set aside my pencil
then, without its scratching upon the paper
I could hear the silence of the world asleep.

Grey dawn was not yet near; Red dusk had long since passed
Now cool black lay across the earth
and quiet darkness filled the sky.

No wind disturbed a blade of grass, or leaves upon the trees,
No cries or shrieks of nighttime beasts shook the earthly silence.
And the forest stream silently trickled through shadowed trees.

Upon realizing that I was the only thing in the world awake,
my lamp the only light,
my work lay spread across my desk
and my pencil, set aside,
I once again listened to the silence of a world asleep,
Then not pausing for a moment
I turned off the light.
My work could wait for tomorrow.

303

The Soul selects her own Society—
Then—shuts the Door—
To her divine Majority—
Present no more—

Unmoved—she notes the Chariots—pausing—
At her low Gate—
Unmoved—an Emperor be kneeling
Upon her Mat—

I’ve known her—from an ample nation—
Choose One—
Then—close the Valves of her attention—
Like Stone—

Lonely I am, day and night,
With no one left or right...
Lonely is this room -
Silence and echoes doom...
Empty is my soul, my heart,
Empty is the world when we're apart...
And nothing changes its fate;
The Emptinesses are in Equilibrium State...

June 13th, 2010

Dust.
Keep it in my back pocket, keep it low 'n ready.
Grab a handful, a grubby fistful, when you need it.
A desperate need.
Need it like a gasping breath after swimming in the dark deep
of your own thoughts.
Need it like a lover's glance, or calm words after a storm.
When the need takes you in,
you'll tremble and shudder
like leaves or sunlight.
When the need swallows you, you'll know.
A deep down know, a bone stilling know.
Your soul will rise and fall, lifted and crushed
like shells and hopes.
And then you'll rebuild, picking up
little pieces and big pieces and heart-shaped pieces.
Discarding.
Cataloguing.
And you'll know.
You'll know that you took a handful and made a world.
You'll know that you did your very shining best, that you
fell off of every cliff and tripped down every flight of stairs.
That you broke and shattered perfection
into what it was meant to be.
For today, you destroyed beautifully.
You gave need a want and want a need.
What is needed...
What is wanted...
Hope? Courage? A bit of faith?
Or maybe love?
These are things that sink or swim.
Will I sink or swim...
Today?
Tomorrow?
In  this world where you don't know
what you need or what you want?
There's only one thing you can know
and cling to in this life of waves and currents and storms.
You know there's a glimmer. A bit of dust.
And you know that you're not ready to stop swimming yet.

Copyright Morgan Graham October 8, 2012.

I feel like a brick God puts under his foot
to reach higher elevations.
He is reaching for books that will teach
him how to make things unlike this brick.
Things that will alight and make bright
sun in the dark.
It’s hard to be heard,
being a brick under God’ s foot.
Such heavy things do not fit into sound.
But you help. You always help.
You pen your strings to my words
and they make delivered sound that creates space.
You lift my heaviness with God-given hands,
and God-given lips,
and God-given eyes.
I have been told of God-given life,
and God-given greatness.
So what is God trying to teach this brick?