Oh, how the emperor loves his new clothes!
He loves the flash, the glitz, the show.
The presentation is all that matters--
The garish, ostentatious tableau.

His lackeys and sycophants grovel before him,
Currying favor and kissing his…****.
Loving all the attention, he can't
Distinguish between substance and farce.

The emperor has the best people--
The best tailors, the best spinners--
Who say that the ruler's fancy new clothes
Can separate losers from winners.

Fawning subjects praise their leader.
Mesmerized by his tales,
The people fail to see the danger
When facts are ignored and fiction prevails.

Whether from pride, thirst for power,
Or ego, the emperor--walking on air--
Doesn't see that underneath
The pageantry there's nothing there.

Who can break the news to the emperor?
Who can put an end to the lies?
What will bring about true awareness?
What will it take to open his eyes?

- by Bob B (2-13-17)

Let me pull you through this as
gently all the little things you see
reach out and pluck you from the home you keep

Uncertain steps to somewhere
this can only be a dream
what does it mean

What does it mean

In the arms of the aetherial gale
caught
I am not sure
it’s like I’ve been here before

Once mighty wings now
encased in silken threads again
I close my eyes with a hand in the well of notions

Welcome to infinity
awoken to be put to sleep
the wave is calling for me

Where is the key
to the gate
who is the keeper
to the kept

The darkest part of distant space
the deepest fathoms in a lightness place
no
child
there is no abyss
no nothingness
it all exists to flow

I feel it all rippling like royal flags
within me
and when I look into a mirror I don't
recognise myself, my skin has
become so pale
blue eyes incite magic that god only knows
I can't control
inner sensations double as sirens,
piercing another likely story through the glass

I feel it all, and it's beginning to ache
so burn these flags for my body's sake

-c.j.