Sleep Eternal

Sleep eternal, sleep so sweet
Slumber in which dreams I'll meet.

Do not fret, mind not my passing
Chaos somewhere is amassing
Daily strife that fated be.

When fire sets across the earth
Poured out from the corrupted hearth
I will be long since gone from danger
Like newborn docile in a manager.

Long since sleeping, long since free
Sweet sleep for all eternity.

As the Ages Pass

Copse of forest, bright with life
Labyrinth of verdancy
With fallen leafs the floor is rife
Birds and beasts abounding free.

Enter Man

Fallen founts of wood spit smoke
Wild does the forest burn
Axes torches writing choke
And bereave the final fern.

Enter Children

Concrete castle mars the skies
Classrooms bustle busily
Silenced are the students' cries
Of life's remaining mystery.

Enter Strife

Broken metal, shattered glass
Order falls with empty clips
Soldiers run through lead morass
Destruction at their heels nips.

Exit Man

Quiet corpse of stone and steel
There the wind resides alone
Time will work to mend and heal
Till the forest's fully grown

Enter Nature

Copse of forest bright with life
Labyrinth of verdancy
With fallen leafs the floor is rife
Birds and beasts abounding free.

Final Repose

Amongst the languor of the spring
Where wind-blessed birds mirthfully sing
Beside the gentle, curving steam
Sits I within a living dream.

There, immersed in laughter play
The creatures of the forest's fray
Cavorting in the fading day
Reluctant to be on their way.

I scarcely blame their attitude
The mundane world without seems crude
Whilst beauty lay before me nude
Leaving would be quickly rued.

Upon this great, enchanting glade
Across whose meadows wind doth wade
The flowers dance within the shade
Shed down by leaves of purest jade

If bliss be food for eye and ear
Then who would tempt starvation here
Where every moment begs a tear
With lavish feasts lain out just near.

I too, cannot quite leave this place
This realm of stolid, ancient grace
Where heaven doth unearth its face
From flowers made of scented lace.

The wind doth grant me with a kiss
It sends my worry all amiss
And whisper I to the water's gleam
"Keep me bound to this living dream."

The Dreamers

It seems a dreamer cannot see
The harsh and cold reality
That keeps their dreams from running free
That hinders, binds, and shackles thee.

Although, perhaps, it would be best
To not put their dreams to any test
To lay reality to rest
To liberate the heart from chest
To see what only dreamers see.

O' Soldier Strong

Where have you gone o' soldier strong?
Did you chase after battle's song?
Did you head out to mend the wrong?
How long shall you be gone? How long?

A grievance born, a broken trance
Passed gates of death the living prance
Forgotten families forced to dance
Across the woe created hence.

Upon the casket sleeps the pall
Honoring your triumphant fall
A triumph not to me at all
Not worth the tears the mourners bawl.

The gales of joy that once had blown
A laughter now no longer known
No memories to soon be grown
For you have left them all alone
Because you wished to mend the wrong.

Where have you gone o' soldier strong?
How long shall you be gone? How long?

A Rose

I abandoned my bonds
I abandoned my chains
I abandoned my prison
I abandoned the reins
I let the carriage run awry
Down what path it chose

The road was rough
The wood, it roared
The wheels groaned
But I ignored
I let the carriage run awry
For I had found a rose

Her thorns relented
Her petals glistened
She whispered mirth
And so I listened
I let the carriage run awry
Forgetting all my woes

Time fell to fading
Time lost to bliss
A breathing dream
Within a kiss
I let the carriage run awry
For I had found a rose.

Piece of Death

An ancient fallen corpse,

A time-worn tower of life

Now so rife with death.

The wind had once sung gently

to the soaring giant when it stood.

And in turn the giant danced.

Idle for eternity until

the grove beneath bode welcome.

Forgotten by passing birds.

The fount of life stood cold

where once the redwood grew.

It seemed forlorn and broken.

With diligence I did approach

as not to hinder newborn growth,

and looked upon the ruin.

New life aspired atop the body,

yet nonetheless it was bereaved.

Naught but an empty husk.

From the shattered base

I drew a relic like a sword

from within a tattered sheath.

I lingered for a moment,

free from bonds of woe,

and pocketed the fragment.

And so am I so honored

and so humbled by this

slab of time, taken from

the past.

Medusa

Solid scathing gaze

That pierces like a poniard.

Feel the angry cold

That riots in your chest.

River of your thoughts

A sudden stagnant mess.

All-enveloping abyss

Called forth from deepest dark.

Eyes like dreary clouds

Relent not for a moment.

Soft and smoothest flesh

Now rigid like a stone.

Mysterious Orb

Broken branches, decorations, on the forest floor.

The golden light, like warmest blanket,

Burning here since times of yore.

Brave contender, so eternal, fighting back the dark.

Such sweet cadence pouring outward,

Forcing ears to carefully hark.

Beckoning it begs me move- much closer to its side.

I abide, my heart a-flutter,

Bliss, I know, within does hide.

Gallivant

A joyous life with another

is a rarity at best.

We cajole and flirt forever

but how much of it in jest?

Truthfully we are not true

and so we play a game.

Hoping that with bow and arrow

we shoot with cupid's aim.

The Crusader

They marched in echelons of boldness

With sharpened tongues and bloodied blades,

Resolve burned in their frigid gazes;

Grinning in the shadow of their leader.

They bordered him like loyal wolves,

each so debonair and dauntless.

Their opposition cowered quietly;

The lesser coyotes of the land.

Each with scepter, still they followed

The one they could not parallel.

He was the icon of their aspirations;

A paragon of their pride.

He was the highest executioner,

And yet kept the cleanest blade.

His visage was impeccable

Beneath it something brooded.

The sunlight hid behind drawn curtains,

the darkness overwhelmed them all.

Trustingly they sat and smiled,

Unexpectedly they'd fall.

He took his seat upon his throne

And silence hastened forth.

He had become a deity.

His audience too often sinned.

Revolution stalked the table like a specter.

The incorrigible had spent their turn.

He spoke but once before it ended.

The old world he would burn.

POETRY

Poetry is the music of literature; every word a note, every form an octave. It plays upon the heartstrings of world and beckons minds to harken to its many messages. Each message is a valiant truth, aspiring to explain the endless, beautiful confusion that both besets and blesses the realm of humanity. Feel free to feel curious and explore the messages composed. Dissect and mutilate them until they are but tattered scraps; they will endure. For each poem is a passage from eternity, and is itself eternal.

Across the breadth of time human-kind has tried its hand at explanation, however vain or futile it may be. With steady hands, before our tongues were deft, we scraped stone and brushed paint, eager to share our observations of the majestic and mundane alike. We reached out to the celestial and the ethereal that encompassed and composed us, but without the equipment of language we could only reach so far. It is at the inception point of language that we perfected our ability to convey and construe; that our ideas found fruition. Thus was our reach extended. The truthfulness or falsity of what we reach is arguable by those with enough audacity to protect their beliefs, but the reach itself cannot be controverted. And it is when we write poetry that we reach the furthest.