THE DARKNESS THAT IS ME

I sit in the sunshine that’s today

But shadows stretch out behind me
…
Why Is it that we can’t escape the darkness;
Gray-dark nights that hunt our blue-light days,
Nights that lurk within
And hide behind the sunshine of our smiles?
What will it take to shine the sun
Into the corners that hide the half-seen predators
That shun the light and feed on fear?

Nothing.

The light is only a one-way window,

The dark inside is me.

RAIN: THEN AND NOW

I miss the simple ways of children,

Where silver spears falling cold from heaven’s roof
Spike on the skin, evoking shouts of glee.

I miss the splish-splash sounds of feet through puddles

The cold mud squishing through my toes. And all around –
The rainbow sound of children’s joy.

I miss the magic that was youth and freedom

Never thought of till too late. For now when rain comes falling down -
I see the world through panes of grey.
SAGANA: PLACE OF PEACE

The river flows like countless voices

Speaking, soothing hurting minds.
Endless chants that speak of peace -
Perhaps there is some other way?

The trees stand tall like graceful giants

A vast battalion, green and mighty.
Instead of war they speak of peace -
Is there perhaps another way?

The day invites a rare joy

Urging one to stop and think -
Thoughts that speak of man and peace:
Perhaps there is another way.

THE COLOUR OF SIN

The wind swept through the stormy plain

The snow and ice as white as sin
The cold without
The cold within
To chill your soul and heart and mind.

The sun glared down the dusty plain

The rocks and sand as red as sin
The heat within
The heat without
To dry your soul and heart and mind.

The rain struck hard the wooded plain

The leaves and boughs as green as sin
The green without
The green within
To spite your soul and heart and mind.

The mist hushed through the lonely plain

The souls within as grey as sin
The grey without
The grey within
To break your soul and heart and mind.

The night fell down the stricken plain

The world now stained as black as sin
The black within
The black without
To kill your soul and heart and mind.
FAIRYTALES…

When I was growing up, well,

the world was a shadowy place.
Where wolves slinked past in grandma’s clothes
Trolls lived below the bridge.
Sweet girls were bait for hungry bears
…Hush…who’s that at the door?
The forty thieves will burn in oil
For that’s the price of crime.
Or so the story goes…

And now that I’m all grown up? Well,

The world’s still a shadowy place
Where wolves creep past in soldiers’ clothes
And trolls don’t hide no more.
Sweet girls are bait for sadist swine
…Hush…who’s that at the door?
The forty thieves now rule the state
For that’s the price of crime.
Or so the story goes…
REFLECTIONS…

Wake up call -
Or not.
Another day stretches out
in empty wastes
Of should haves
And wish-I-hadn’t
And other self-excusing lines.
It’s time again to live in Death’s grim show.

Lunch-time break
Or fast
From the greed
That always gnaws at what
- is best
- is pure
- is sacred
Forcing confrontation
With the face that haunts the mirror.

Bed-time tales
Or elegies.
Of fruitless lives spent
In search of…
…dreams
…glories
…wants
…needs
…greed
And the dreams await
To mock our ‘grandiose’ lives
That peter out
Into weightless-ash
Long forgotten by the traveller
On the grim road
Of this dance of graves.
THE ABYSS

I stood at the edge of the abyss

And I guess I stared too long
The black depths spoke to me
In alien yet familiar,
Coldness.

Now I carry the abyss around in me

And if you look into my soul,
Where hope and dreams once lay –
There’s only gaping emptiness
That chills.

Seductive yes, and lovely

In elegant shades of misty gray
And swirling clouds of midnight black;
But empty all the same
In solitude.

I see you standing near the edge -

The abyss lures you too.
Be careful as you gaze into its heart
The blackness that’s despair
And eternity.

GRIEF

Night washes out bright hues of day

And palls herself in black;
She sings her dirge-like song of woe
Of thoughts I’d wish unthought:

Of souls that find in them the dark

Of harsh grief’s quenching grasp;
And moans of still a darker place
That never finds the day.
THE SOLDIER

The soldier pales at news of doom

It deals a heavy clout;
Her face so recently in bloom,
Now filled with fear and doubt.

That news – Oh God, that awful news

To which he must respond;
That face – that loving face so dear
From which he must depart.

The soldier knows he must atone

For sins without a pardon -
His soul feels like a tomb of stone
Her tears have written on.

Those tears - those burning tears of fear

That all who love must feel;
His soul - his wounded soul of stone
All those who kill must have.

The melted honey summer days

Give way to winter’s tears;
And those once glazed and golden rays
Transform to icy fears.

Those fears - those numbing fears that chill

All memories of bliss;
Those tears - those freezing tears of fear
All those who love must have.

“Oh hurry home; don’t linger long!”

She’s frantic and forlorn.
But all this plea does is prolong,
His pain so hardly borne.

That dreaming girl - with eyes of hope

Which long for Victory’s gleam;
That anguished man - who feels Death’s gaze
And must accept his fate.
WORDS

I’m living in an alien world

Comprised of welling words
that day by day, and drop by drop
Surround my cringing soul.

The words rise up to drown me

In their whirpool swirl of mad;
I thrash against the killing tide
That inhibits, keeps me down.

I wish I could…

scream out loud!

I wish I could…

mete the hate!

It might not do much to rescue me

from the spitting bullet words;
But at the least, this victim’s words. . .

Would form a solid final stand.

I strive to kick my captured feet

From out the whirling tangled weeds
But limitations keep me down.

And I am fated-

Doomed to drown-

In the floodtide verbal rage.