My name is Jonathan.
I'm 9 years old.
I'll tell you a story
that's never been told.

I lived in Lebanon,
and so did you.
Till the year 14
and a thousand times 2.

We lived aside,
your building next to ours.
We were happy, what a bliss!
But there are thorns on all the flowers.

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

I knew not what happened next,
but I felt heat strike my face.
Who would believe that the curse we're living,
was once upon a time a grace?

The explosion happened too fast,
but I had time to take a last breath.
And when you took yours too,
we crawled our way to death.

So we left dear life,
which wasn't always so dear.
But even in heaven,
the cries of children, I could hear.

And I met you,
my dear friend Hussien.
But know that Muslims and Christians
are both being slain.

Just wait till they realize
their killers care not
for religion or for race,
for all was to get shot.

They're both targets,
and enemies all in one.
And our country has become
a battle that'll remain unwon.

Maybe one day they'll wake up
and learn that religion does not
give only them the rights to live
and the others the rights to rot.

Maybe one day they'll learn
that we are all but one.
So why not hold each other's hands
and to the new day welcome the sun?

My name is Jonathan.
I'm 9 years old.
The terrorist, government, and citizens;
the responsibility the do hold.

They ruined what used to be our heaven
and we would no simply obey,
even though most of us
in this heaven are here to stay.

My name is Jonathan.
I'm 9 years old.
And I **** on people
whose country they sold.

XIII

And wilt thou have me fashion into speech
The love I bear thee, finding words enough,
And hold the torch out, while the winds are rough,
Between our faces, to cast light on each?—
I drop it at thy feet. I cannot teach
My hand to hold my spirit so far off
From myself—me—that I should bring thee proof
In words, of love hid in me out of reach.
Nay, let the silence of my womanhood
Commend my woman-love to thy belief,—
Seeing that I stand unwon, however wooed,
And rend the garment of my life, in brief,
By a most dauntless, voiceless fortitude,
Lest one touch of this heart convey its grief

The emotions become enough
I lay down for a moment and cry
Then shut my swollen eyes
The light is then gone
Darkness in that moment
And then to lay awake
Silent cries and soundless screams
A never fading nightmare

Gone and lost
Hopeless dreams
and memories
Fighting battles
Left unwon
Timeless moment
Timeless race

Smiling is no longer
An emotion
No longer
A friendly gesture
But only
Another mask

Now everyone's become
Emotionless dolls
Playing along
To mask the past
And the time to come

Sometimes when unsure souls are apart, hearts go dark,
finding bitter-sweet sorrow in the depart.
Unconsciously staying far away from "them and they" who filled and smashed then cast away our jars from back then to present day.
In all despite,
in a moment of might,
You walk into my sight,
Suspending the win of "them and their" sins.
It's effortless for me to give in,
the chase begins again.
In spite, it doesn't feel like a chase,
it just feels right.

Smile so sweet,
our eyes meet,
it's like a lightning strike...head to feet.
Hits me like a glowing, white hot flash of tingling electricity,
blinding bright,
striking right down from the heavens like a craggily branch of pure flowing energy piercing my heart and soul,
then surging through every electrical current-driven nerve cell my body holds.
I magnetize to the earth, unable to move, frozen in time…
Grounded as thunder following clasps in the distance.

Staring at your sparking seducing silhouette,
then hips,
then lips,
then surmising eyes,
then smile advancing pace towards me in the street.
A rare chance for us to meet.
The same Lightning strikes twice.
I feel the tingle spiring up to my face,
the sly and subtle serendipity strike setting the pace, the time, the place.


My fears are flushed,
I feel heat blush,
I wish you to rush.
Race,
closer to touch.
The instant innocent "Crush" is much.

You enter my personal space,
Smiling a mile wide.
You close in until my place is touched and encased by your hair softly falling around your eyes and face.  
Lightning strikes thrice.
I sense my helpless demise as my heart takes the stage,
Opening night,
Act one,
Scene one,
Cue the thunder.
Will I be undone in this serendipitous theater of surprise or hearts unwon?

Dropped from the highest point,
the largest stone smashes down and holds back all that once made me feel alone.
My soul runs unto to your connection,
our necks connect.
I smell your skin's convection.
Time alignment correction.
The earth is shifted.
My eyes naturally close as I fold into you.
My natural emotion is selected as I hold on to you.
all sounds drown,
our heads tilt down in concert,
seredipty conducts,
a symphony erupts into minutes as though everything I want goes through yourself.
So subtle is the soul-to-soul magnetism adherence, a transference beyond appearance.
Anticipating thunder,
the next minute of our meeting begins.

By R. Craig David-Copyright 2017

A war, lasting over a month.

On going battle, one that would have me stumped.

a traitor, a man, a son of much treason

that war that did last for-a foolish reason .

a battle, carried on and still yet unwon

what a place to be caught in, what had he done?

betrayal of a man whom chose to switch sides.

his tactics were nothing more than his lies.


What a waste of man, wounded soldiers and all.

he tore through the bricks, ending the brawl.

it could have been halted, the ****** battle unfair.

could've been halted if only he cared.

A room fill of people and a heart full of hope
Pulling on my mind like a worn out rope.
Faces undistinguished prove a possibility unwon.
Thankful for sight, but tortured by the one.
The one will save me without being asked.
The one who is unseeable.  The one I just passed?
Tortured by mystery is a sad case to lead
Impossible to stop because waiting is the key.
The key to freedom, and the key to unlock.
But where is the key to this neverending clock?

stop.
breathe.
slow.
leeee.

my heart races as i watch your gentle paces but everything you do seems gentle and every time i see you it's monumental because my mind moves so fast it even falls behind itself as if a thousand thoughts are moving, but with stealth, because as i see you walking by, each second seems to beckon a thousand more thoughts, leaving me a thousand times more fraught with emotions i never do process, yet in acknowledging this i have made progress, progress that will undoubtedly be undone by some internal battle that remains unwon and unlost, a stalemate between two sides fighting for the same thing, my hands stuck to my face like a magnet to a steel plate, two things uniting oppositely charged particles, as my brain continues to write this long, boring, hopeless article, understanding that as you walk away, the feeling doesn't stay... and everything.... slows..... down...... in....... the........ worst......... kind.......... of........... way............

don't.
leave.
love.
meeee.

feats of angels
try hard not to stare
lonely wild men
only partially aware
struggle down the alleys
of our new neighborhood

found your hiding place
when i came home today
try not to think too much
about what has become
of these darkest dreams
which we have undone

someone is going
to call the cops
maybe this time
they will show

the evening news comes on
we hardly seem aware
you nurse bitterness
like a lost child
searching everywhere

always misunderstood
try not to think too much
about what we have done
of these dark dreamers
and what we have become

try not to think too much
about what has become
of these empty lives
and these dreams unwon

*the city burns tonight
a horizon red glow
nobody cares
just another blow

We are each of us entwined
In our heart and in our mind
But we're broken, and we're battered
And we're shattered, and we're torn
We don't know just what we're saying
Til the memories start replaying
And we see what truly mattered
And what we were fighting for
The second hand keeps taking
Little pieces in our waking
As the dreamer that now screams inside
Cries out for something more
And our hearts keep on repeating
Throughout all bent on defeating
Both the strength and sanity we find
When we feel there is no more
The smiles keep returning
Through the lessons we are learning
For our memories still bring laughter
Just the same as they bring tears
This journey we have taken
Both forgiven and forsaken
Will soon be forever after
Be it days or weeks or years
So no matter what was done
With every battle left unwon
We're still here, and we're still standing
Even when we feel we're lost
Every love that left us bleeding
Every fear we kept on feeding
Every last misunderstanding
All gave more than what they cost
For the knowledge we can gain
From every single ounce of pain
Shapes the way we see tomorrow
And everything that we hold dear
Even when we're far apart
We're forever heart to heart
Be it smiles or be it sorrow
In my heart, you're always near

We look back to the ancient past
And castigate the white skin
The shackles of the days before today
Still ring the bell of oppression
We call them the masters
And Inflictors of the flesh
While the gate is yet closed
A new gate opens
A broad way to the mind
With a brown shallow exit
Where the black skin rules
With selfish tools
In the land of the cow and the bee
Where the people lie in wait for hope
And voices seek to be heard
Corrupt hands steal destinies
While accountability fades away
These chains of societal slavery
Are Battles yet unwon

See that woman taken by the wind
blown in the skies without a lover
nor promises to uncover her darkness
her nights are covered by the moon
As it wanes she wades on her bed
caressed in a lonely love affair of own
arrested in an unbearable burn of lust
stressed by blowing ******* of unwon
she tries to chase the butterfly in the dark
as the glow promises the line of lovers
her laughter is an echoey paste aced
See that woman taken by the winds

*Hold her hand and just chase her

We are each of us entwined
In our hearts and in our minds
But we're broken, and we're battered
And we're shattered, and we're torn
We don't know just what we're saying
Til the memories start replaying
And we see what truly mattered
And what we were fighting for
The second hand keeps taking
Little pieces in our waking
As the dreamer that now screams inside
Cries out for something more
And our hearts keep on repeating
Throughout all bent on defeating
Both the strength and sanity we find
When we feel there is no more
The smiles keep returning
Through the lessons we are learning
For our memories still bring laughter
Just the same as they bring tears
This journey we have taken
Both forgiven and forsaken
Will soon be forever after
Be it days or weeks or years
So no matter what was done
With every battle left unwon
We're still here, and we're still standing
Even when we feel we're lost
Every love that left us bleeding
Every fear we kept on feeding
Every last misunderstanding
All gave more than what they cost
For the knowledge we can gain
From every single ounce of pain
Shapes the way we see tomorrow
And everything that we hold dear
Even when we're far apart
We're forever heart to heart
Be it smiles or be it sorrow
In my heart, you're always near

i want to feel lost
in the jungle tearing through branches
in the river against currents thrashing
the will to fight still dances

hard and fast in my little soul
yet when a wave comes crashing
and yanks my head under i tend
to let my arms and legs play dead

so please come to my bed tonight
and remind me of sunshine
with those starry eyes
so i may not forget how

the world is sharp and thorny
and twists and turns will fool me
but these scars are only monuments
to the battles of the one i want to be

then let me lay my head on your chest
so that i may rest
because battles: failed, unnecessary, unwon
constantly boil in my blood

I am sorry I am jealous of the dying sun.
Its just that... everyday the clouds and I bare witness,
as the sky swells with the wet red artwork of her blood,
and I admit... I wish to be as she is.
To come back every morning,
no matter how many times she kills herself
on the blade of the horizon,
ready to bleed more so that we may glory in her light.
But for me..... its different.
Each time my crimson artwork swells to life,
a little piece of me withers away and dies.
so, unlike her,
I do not come back whole
with the rise of the sun....
unlike her, my battle remains unwon.

IN  THE  BEGINNING  WAS THE  WORD

IN Inward  Nearness
THE   Transcendent Holy  Eternal
BEGINNING    Before Existence God Innate Nuanced
                            Numinous Infinite Natural Grace
WAS      Word Affirms Surrounds
THE         Transfigured Heavenly Essence
WORD            Wholly Original Redeemed Divine

  

IN        Inward Draw us ever innerward
Draw us deep to Your Word  
                              
                              Nearness Harness us near and dear
Earnest desire so clear


THE Transcendent Ascending to the Highest
Answering to the Finest
                                
                         ­       Holy Seeking Word most Holy
Knitting souls to be Wholly
                                
                         ­       Eternal Your Word eternal Love
Arms reaching from above



BEGINNING   Before Way back no time no thing
Vast empty before angel sing
                        
                          Existence Sounding the unvoiced into being
Lighting the blind into seeing
                        
                          God God unseen in vast so deep
Human souls still and asleep

                          Innate Wisdom and love before any time
Wrath and love in Christ rhyme

                           Nuanced     Subtle simple a genius clock
Wheels within wheels unlock

                           Numinous  Sacred beauty full and luminous
Life water of Christ fountainous

                           Infinite        Limitless God flowing with mercy
Word rivers of fathomless fluency

                           Natural Innate gift of endless giving
Universal outpouring for living

                           Grace Gracing us unwon mercy love
Gracing Him for us Dove above



WAS    Word Always there from very start
Divine love eternally heart

                           Affirms Love proved by Your death
Sustaining all with Holy Breath

                           Surrounds Encircling the least of us
Energy filled, enlivened dust



THE Transfigured Painted finger us entrance
Invitation seven heaven dance

                 Heavenly Evenly hearing all your people
Aspiring to height of steeple

                  Essence Christ paragon crux of love
Wondrous woven treasure trove



WORD   Wholly         Longing to see your Holy Face
By your side please save a place

                   Original Christ virginal Creator of all
Foundstone we heed your call

                    Redeemed         Deem us worth Your sacrifice
May our true faith suffice

                    Divine On gospel words gossamer fine
Allow us to forever dine