let's do it, i said
i'm a bona fides reprobate
let's call up the dead
arouse Mother Fate

we dressed ourselves purple
like butterflies and birds
sat in a circle
said all the words

in mix of drama and derring-do
we painted a pentagon in electric blue
lit red candles and turned down the light
and waited and waited the whole --- night

then just before dawn
as i stifled a yawn
as if in a blur
i saw something stir

at first I thought
'twas imagination
but then i was sure
it was a visitation

the hairs stood up on the back of my neck
my heart beat faster as i thought 'what the ----'
my arms 'n legs froze as if inert,
though all o' my senses were really alert

inky, metallic, with glinting eyes
hooded, unworldly, as if taken by surprise
air of sinister, darker affairs,
unaware of all our fixated stares

it came on slowly, unsure at first,
then started forward, as if coerced
as if beckoned by unseen power,
by spirits o' nefarious witching hour

black and hardened were its wings
fixed on its back like two locked springs
a mouth vacant with open pincer
with an odd click like meat-mincer

bamboozled by the circle of candles
the black anthropoid walked around in angles
traced the floor as if driven berserk
the peremptory beetle with fastidious legwork

a factoid known by a pitiful few
beetles are attracted to colour light blue
and when aided by a scented taper
are apt to go on a pre-dawn caper

i met him once
so long ago
seems like centuries
covered by snow

and beneath
the miles of ice
he's still there
from paradise

a place where rivers
and lakes join hands
and sing in joy
with trees on land

a place where music
and light combine
where multi-colours
radiate shine

a place where water
is made of wisdom
revealing order
unending kingdom

a place where waterfalls
gush forth bliss
speaking the secrets
of eternal kiss

a place where angels
sing like stars
where thoughts are sharp
like scimitars

where sun 'n venus
mars and moon
collaborate in one
infinite tune

aye, he's still there
i feel him still
but up above
on lonely hill

i live as madman
in drunken stupor
oblivious, blind,
to past or future

subsist without aim
a non sequitur
actions as child
with no genitor

one day, i'll wake,
i'll find him afresh,
let's hope, for my sake,
i'm still in this flesh

or else, i know,
it'll be too late
for there's no going back
once you've passed the gate.

moving mass morphed myopic
homogeneous heaving humanity
killed 'n culled in catastrophic
hatred, hostile enmity

six million souls pulled together,
stuffed into a devil's mouth
reached out from the nether
to quench unending drouth

red-brick nostrils belched black smoke
blood dripp'd from barbed fangs
in iron fist a throat did croak
emaciated body now lifeless hangs

still the cavern was not filled
still his hellfires burnt and grilled
till there was no man left breathing
save a mound o' skeletons wheezing

and 'neath the pile of thousand shoes,
'neath heaps of bodies, black and bruised,
'neath the filth, the stench'd refuse
earth wept wet for those lost Jews

a million cries in one tear
dropped into a yawning crevice
take your time to lend an ear
or else be part of that abyss

a million cries in one tear
that formed the oceans long ago
as men blind in life career
its waters rush to and fro

in its movement hides a sigh
a yen for haven long ago
when all was one, the heavens high
with dust and creatures down below

that ocean's tides, the ebb and flow,
is yearning for that status quo
can still be heard in your heart
so still a moment, be a part

of that oneness, spirit that's singing
proclaiming plainly, loud and clear
of those million cries still pinning
to join together in that One big tear.

~
Dishevelled he stood, unable to speak,
from years of abuse in youthful upkeep
the years of admonishment had taken their toll
reduced to obsequious, lugubrious soul

the once-happy boy, unable to opine,
or quip in humour, save garble and whine,
decades would pass before he'd undo
and jettison the harm taken years to accrue

now he stood dumb, bewildered and slow,
top ziggurat of abuse, debilitating blow,
still, gentle flower, a gem unscratched,
as new-borne babe, chick freshly hatched

unprimed, unready, for onslaught of world,
the cruel schadenfreude, the evil unfurled,
the juggernaut of malevolence, of intemperate hurt
that would crush gentle flower, dissolve into dirt.

sleep, my child,
drift upon the ether
in gentle mother's smile
as you rest beneath her

sleep, my child,
for there will come a day
when forces far from mild
will come out war to play

when the vicious and the terror
will tear each other apart
leaving nothing but a pallbearer
and a broken heart

till that day, my child, sleep
revel in your youth
dance among the woodbines' creep
the leaves of jagged tooth

amongst the mosses of spring and elves
sleep, my child, sleep,
for men will ever corrupt themselves
as the humble weep

and till the day when evil implodes
when all that's good survives
skip along the sleepy roads
where butterflies lead good lives

hide beneath the buttercup
for its shelter is more true
than all the falseness that's blown up
in world that waits for you

the bloom of a flower
nine months in coming
in heavenly shower
heavenly stunning

a new life in arms
celestial charms
life elixir
in innocent peer

feel immortality
shake hands with mortality
the ongoing chain
through birth of wee bairn

though memory's failing
red cheek's paling,
youth's gone a-sailing
libido's ailing

this newborn vitality
overrides mortality
its individuality
is G-d's spirituality.