K

Walking in the space betwixt
The blinding light, the angry mist
Just rambling down the brambled way.
A tree comes down across my path
Must brave the roses' thorny wrath
To continue on my way.
For life's too bright and death too cold
To walk established roads of old
So I have split the diff'rence.
Gouges, bite marks, a bloody sheen
As I crawl the wilds between
The aged divergent prints.
I thought the middle would be bliss
No trumpet blasts, no angry hiss
Just a quiet, tranquil place.
But there's nothing there, save musty air
And a barbed-wire heart in disrepair
In the waste and empty space.

F

A step
Not a staircase
A step
Not a path
I'm not looking for pavement
Or even streetlights
I don't mind tripping at night
But I'm hungry and cold
And my soul's growing old
In these endless woods
How I long to be good
But I can't find the next step to take
All of my days
Endless the maze
That I trek
My feet are wet
From the blood of the blisters I've  burst
Think that I'm cursed
To wander forever apart
In the endlessly lingering dark.
I'm blinking and breathing
Thinking and teething
New thoughts into the world
But though trying my best
These scratches attest
That I can't find the next stepping stone
Think God has left me alone
And I can't even blame him for that.
Because after wandering for years
Counting miles crossed with tears
I saw footprints ahead
A new path to tread
But hope turned to dread
And I'm lost instead
For sadly, the footprints were mine.

E

I thought I'd understand things by now
Not everything
Not most things
Not even many things.
But a thing
(maybe two)
Anything!
Yet nothing.
You'll understand when you're older
Or so our parents said
But that truth ain't reared its head
And I think our parents lied.
Certainty the purview of children
And I'm too old for that
Ain't never once looked back
Since I kissed confusion's crooked teeth.
Haphazard bite marks on my neck
Ye gods, I'm such a wreck
Never find a crooked face entangled in your sheets
Or you'll find there's no more sleep
Just all these questions why.
Oh yes, our parents lied
For I'm old now and don't know a thing.

D

How can mere words convey majesty
Songs sung in heavenly tongues
Written in the dialect of gods?
How can they capture the image
The gravity
Of a sunrise overcoming the odds
And finding here not just starlight
But hope?
How can mere words ever cope
With the enormous task set before them
To shape futures and store them
Safe and dry, away from the rot
Away from the things we wish time forgot?
Hope, as a thing, has a presence
That despair, in its consumption, can't tout.
How can a phrase ever portray
What even fickle hearts can't betray
The one thing no life is without?
If what's on the inside comes out
And faith finally overcomes doubt
Why can I only speak sin?
Why does shame seem to have greater substance
And anger more colorful skin?
Why is it so hard to be who we are
And bring forth the good that's within?
Why can't I write what I know to be right
And wring out my soul through a pen?

C

There is just one question across the age
Who brings peace and who brings rage?
If the world is made of black and white
Will we lighten dark or darken light?
There is just one truth we can't deny
We are what's done to those who cry.
If the world is reaching out in need
Are we healing hands, or greed?
There is just one choice 'cross all of time
Will we be the cure or be the crime?

B

Run
Do not wait
Nor beg, nor scrape.
Escape
And run.
Do not fear the darkest night
Do not frolic in the light,
There is no gentle in it's fright.
Should you see a candle
Run.
Should you see a headlight come
Drop your feeble toils
And run.
Drop  your weapons, drop your gun
There is no fighting, only
Run.
Like moths to flame our spirits come.
Drop your knife, or drop your life
Forget your strife
And run.
Approaching light is chasing death
Moths alight sigh vacant breaths
Don't chase the light
Just run.
For rot drips down it's creaking walls
Mildew oozes from moldy calls
A cavity, it's vast abyss
Don't chase the light
There's more than this
When streetlights come do not sleep
Don't look back and do not weep.
Just run.
For 'lo the devil come
Mirror's workings demand a light
Do not, do not fear the night
Else daylight comes and all's revealed
Time we've borrowed, time we've killed
All things finally die
We ourselves the lie
And from our souls
We run.

A

In a garden, I finally met truth
And I spit blood in its face
With the world for my proof
I kissed the cheek of grace.
I have walked with walkers of water
Sailed with fishers of men
I have seen the eyes of a Father
In the face of a Son, oh when
Did I ever see this before?
Ate lunch with sinners, supper with saints
My brothers asleep on God's floor
I stain my lips with betrayal's paint.
I have walked with Life and courted death
And here in one eternal breath
I met God with an embrace
I leaned in and kissed his face
Oh God, it was sealed with a kiss.
How did I turn into this?
What did I see? What did I miss?
My name a curse on eternity's lips
Judas. . . Judas. . . Judas.

Hey look, I'm still writing

If someone says leave
I go
If someone says stay
I go
If someone says wait
I can't stay in one place
I won't take the bait
And I go.
If someone is walking beside me
I try to leave them behind
If someone is trailing behind me
I try to leave them behind
If someone is holding my hand
If I'm tired and sore and can't stand
If anyone is close at hand
I try to leave them behind.
If I see the promised land
I go
If I'm in the promised land
I go
If I'm lost and confused
If the path is a ruse
Whatever I choose
I go.
Stay is a four letter word
Love is a four letter verb
If I found both
I might see some hope
But mostly I cope
And I go.

Hang Out The Banners And Shout The News, Blow The Trumpets And Horns

Empty hearts and empty eyes

Empty souls see empty skies

Empty hands seek empty truths

Sunday came under darkness' roof

All was disbelief

Until,  upon sunlight's stark relief

Gloom's evil glee was turned to grief

For 'twas then that daylight shone

And revealed the grave as empty stone

How can we be silent? How dare we speak?

For all of the ages are dawned and complete

In one sacred act of defiance

Death's unholy alliance

Is dealt it's final defeat.
On Friday, it was finished, complete
Saturday was with evil replete
But Sunday, oh Sunday, the King took His seat.

46 (3.0)

Sit down
Lock the door
Put the gun out of reach
'Cause people that preach
Got bullets for eyes
Razor blades hide in their smiles
Church clothes hide holsters
All-American teeth
Hide the daggers inside
Everyone lies.
They'll always lie best
When there's no time for rest
When they know that you're dying inside
To trust is divine
They say as they lie.
They weren't kind enough
To buy piercing rounds
Just shot
Beaten down
One nick at a time
Just petty crimes
Killing you slowly
For fun.

46 (2.0)

Amethyst's treasure was spent
His casing irreverently rent
Pyrite was placed
At the feet of his grace
Gravel knew not what it meant.
Or so they said
Though it filled them with dread
To see Ruby falling
And hear Onyx calling
Amethyst unto the dead.
Sapphire turned Slate
The world insensate
Rumblings, rumblings of fear
Then Silver appears
In Amethyst's place.
Marble had sold
For thirty odd cold
Everything here
All that was dear
And now could not be consoled.
Here energy fades
As Quartz eyes turn Jade
Envying Amethyst's power
Not knowing this is the hour
When the world is unmade.
For without Amethyst's craft
Ore veins, a simple mine shaft
Turns into a tomb
And into the doom
Onyx stared darkly and laughed.

46

Gravity
Working against us
Pulling and clipping
Our wings.
Saturday
Is made of such things
Stumbling around
So much falling down
Covered in mud
Mingled with blood
Our veins filling with dust
There's no wanderlust
Only dépaysement
Debasement
A crown with no king.

45

The end
And so it was
All's now before,
because
Nothing remains
Only midnight
Encased in black-tipped flames
A world unnamed,
Save death
One name to call us all
Light is given one last call
Now blackness claims.
Friday
Written on our graves.

44

Dark soul enters black cave

Re-emerges cloaked in cape

Thinks clothing makes a hero

When all he wants to save

Is himself.

Dark man with a platform

Finds new populist pursuit

Thinks volume makes a hero

Instead a violent storm

In a suit.

There is never such a thing

As a violent path to peace

People think a thought police

Will make them heroes, kings

But among fools.

For where violence breeds

So follow darker things

What follows darkness brings

Chaos on four steeds

Apocalyptic deeds.

With eyes bright and heavy hearts

We must sheath our swords and march

To death, to end the silence

Shout as one to end the violence

That tears a world apart.

43 (2.0)

I know the color of fear
The hideous shape of a sphere
That we orbit around
For there is no ground
There is no breathing room here.
Fear is a cancerous rot
Turns us to what we are not
We must look in its eye
And see through the lie
And tell it we won't be forgot.
Though fear be the face of the times
We will not trade dollars for dimes
We won't give into hate
Won't embrace fear as fate
We will not simply follow what shines.
Does freedom not make our blood burn?
Does it not our veins to fire turn?
Does it not burst from our lungs
Make merry our tongues
Is it not the song we've all learned?
No, fear cannot have its way
No, hate cannot keep us at bay
For we are born free
And will not bend our knee
And darkness will not have its day.

43

Headwind
Strip me away
Come scour my face
Strip my disgrace
Show me the shade of my skin
Headwind, please come again
Headwind
Strip me away
Come and rip clean
Come and rip up the seams
And I'll stand facing your strength
Gale
Strip me bare
Every step stops despair
Strip me until I am new
Headwind
Take me with you.

42 (2.0)

There is an ethos in normal life
Says to those a-sleeping, cause no strife
If ill is done when backs are turned
Many bridges have we burned.
But of this thought, child beware
Of often finding trouble there
Adheres not war to cordial rules
And those who will are played for fools.
If evil sleeps, child kill it there
For should it wake, so much despair
Yes, if evil ever turns it's back
Child, strike and strike, against the black
For in ev'ry place lets darkness lie
They find it is the good that dies.
Should evil just once look away
Child aim true, and haste the day.
Wherever hate should rear it's head
Truth is always left for dead
Its wicked tongue and dragon's teeth
Many will be those who weep
Child, do not, do not let it sleep.

42

What costs the most is worth the least

Best-sellers about inner peace

Ain't worth a walk among the trees

When spring is in full bloom.

Pollen eyes and yellow feet

Annoying, but a simple treat

The makings of the world's repeat

Mean life is dawning soon.

Every truth that's ever told

Will never be as brave and bold

As a flower after winter's cold

A dream rises from the gloom.

And every single living cost

Can never match the beauty crossed

With each step over stones and moss

That once made up a tomb.

It seems however far I go

However fast, however slow

The road before me only grows

And to stay is surely doom.

41

Eight peasants protect lords
For turf with checkered past
Through light's incessant forays
Dark often answers back
All king's rise and fall
On the courage of their pawns
Many kingdoms lost and earned
Upon a daring queen's return
On a peasant's strange ascent.
Men with swords on chargers
At odds with men of prayer
Peasants with their broken backs
Crawl forth through open air
Though no one guards the peasant
There are no shades of gray
In wars of black and white
It's not lords who sway the day.

40

Winter is becoming spring
Everything is turning green
Winter's paths are overgrown
Cold's tyranny is overthrown
Darkness rests his weary head
Hope finds newer roads to tread
Once all that was in reach was dead
Now life is sown in golden threads
Woven through the budding trees
The world is young and we are free.