Page 45 of 151
Differences in grief
My friend lost a child,
a little brown-eyed girl.
The people mourned with them,
and brought flowers over,
and shared in their tears.
Every year they visit her grave
to honor her memory.
My friend lost his business,
a little grocery store.
The people called him weak,
and mocked him incessantly,
and he cried himself to sleep.
He hung himself last year;
no one brought flowers.
Ephemeral
All my detractors
try to pull me down with words,
but I will be free.
Into that long night
Ere the midnight creeps on by,
ere the storm comes blowing by,
ere my dreams traverse the sky,
ere exhaustion shuts my eye.
For spite
They say I will fail,
that I’ll amount to nothing…
I will prove them wrong.
Downpour
Today it seems like
this world is too bleak and lost –
God can’t stop crying.
Parched Pathos
I hate the color of your skin,
and the contours of your face.
My God calls them a sin,
and my pride, a disgrace.
You murdered my brother;
you’ll reap the whirlwinds.
I’ll take away your father,
your family, and friends.
I’ll find those you hold dear,
and set them all ablaze,
and the last thing they will hear
is me laughing through the haze.
And finally, for my own mirth,
I’ll even salt the very earth.
The Dreaming
To never grow old…
wouldn’t that be a wonder?
Endless summer days.
Progress
Thunder, thunder,
raining down.
The smithy’s hammer
and burning forge
shaping iron
into blades
into mail
into war.
Thunder, thunder,
raining down.
The fact’ry hammers
and fact’ry workers
shaping steel
into ships
into tanks
into war.
Thunder, thunder,
raining down.
The assembly line
and machinery
shaping plastic
into chips
into bombs
into death.
Of Gods and men
Immortality:
the desire of old men, and
the folly of youth.