Three ranges
Running North and South
Miles expressed homeward bound
Jagged peaks
Plummet down
Earth's chest breathing in rise and fall
Easy now
Two valleys
Empty barren lands
One road stretching down
Through the valleys
Where shadows dip
Painting their shrouds
So the sun may not beat down
Three ranges
Two valleys
One road
Summit peaks and empty creeks
The valleys do speak
To all who travel the open ground

Thundering plains
Winding down a valley haze
The heart came to play
But its lonely beat was not met
So the horses came
Trotting in time
They knew the spirit of the wind
And the passion of the land
When the beat is left alone
Listen closely for thundering hooves
Coming to meet the heart
Free in the wildness
The horses come to dance with the lonely beat

Where the endless sea goes
Black sands stretch down the coast
And skies darken just right
The moons shine and the stars glow,
Where massive trees stand in time
Mountains shoot upwards, so cold
Hills lie down in gentle rolls
Forests grow in vast groves
This is home.

Where creatures fly
Buildings made of wood and stone
Streets so old clocks would die
People not bent to time,
Where my family goes
Every time we come home
With timber and marble stones
A hearth warm and embers gold
This is home.

Where my soul roams
Wandering shores and mountain sides
Never feeling lonely or out of line
Healing myself in the skies,
Where I go when tiredness has come
When I feel old
Settling back in with those of my kind
An essence shared for all of time
This is home.

This is a short story. It's not very long but may take a minute or two to read.            

There is a story kept in the libraries of
a distant place.
A very old one indeed,
Of three powerful beings who were so vast they encompassed everything.
The eldest two knew their offspring would struggle,
It was always so but they would balance the peace.
The youngest cared little for what the other two had to do.

One said, "for as long as I live I'll keep my children safe and teach them my ways."
The other said, "I will keep my children out of your way for it is their nature to have free reign."
So the two powerful beings gave rise to their children.

Chaos told his offspring to do as they wish only to stay away from a certain place.
Order smiled at her children and brought them up well.
While the youngest, Life was content to wander around.
This was the way of things until one day.

A fourth being thought dead,
Skulked from the distance
Watching the children play.
It looked upon Order's children and saw how strong they were.
It used its ancient powers to pull at the children's minds.
But Order's children did not listen to the thoughts and walked away.
So the being went to Chaos's children and saw them free and powerful.
It smiled and corrupted their thoughts
And Chaos's children were driven insane.

They ignored their father's advice and lost who they were.
Before this day chaos was never a bad thing, but balance was lost.
Order's children saw this and worried for their distant friends,
As different as they were, they all came from the same place.
By then Order and Chaos had left into the vast powers they were
And commanded their children no more.
So started a war, of two races so opposite and yet of the same blood borne.
The war raged long and far.
It was ******,
Deeds were committed that forever changed the nature of all we are.
Even ancient blood was spilled and that was too much.
When gods weep the universe bleeds.

Chaos's children regained who they were,
But not before a heavy price was paid.
Order's children forgave but bitter blood still finds hate.
These children so old and ancient now sit in wait.
Watching as the rest of the universe grows in pain.
First born and now they wait.
For the rest to learn the lessons of their great mistake.

Mirrored lake
Disturbed by a falling leaf
Gentle ripples spreading out
As the leaf sticks to the surface
In a moment becoming one with the water
A person comes along
Seeing the still lake with wonder
Disrupts it by tossing a stone
A satisfying vacuum plump
As the stone hits and sinks
Pulled down to watery dephs,
For longer than the one who threw it there will live
Ripples from the epicenter
Stretching across the mirror
Distorting all who stare
In time the stillness returns
The waves disappear
And the stone becomes another resident of the mirror
Someone is always throwing stones
And life is dropping leaves
But the mirrored lake always returns
Asking you to look into it
Without tossing stones.

I sit down to write quite a lot
My mother knows this and seems to take it with some pride
I'm glad she doesn't see the sickness it hides
Every so often she'll ask what I write
I'll sift through loose pages and half written thoughts
The story is too long, I mutter to myself
So I pull out the pieces of poetry
Scribbles really
Something that came to me in the night
A random piece of thoughts growing from thorns in my side
My mind a splintered and layered place
Hints of the darkness dwelling underneath the layer of light
Strings of my inner life
Wrapped in lines.
I hesitantly let her read
Some she smiles and says, that was nice
Others she reads and the smile slips from her face
She nods and says, that's my girl, a writer.
The sound of pride mixed with sadness in her eyes
She doesn't understand but she nods all the same
Proud of what I'm not sure
A hint of the darkness that swells in me is what she sees
And I know the pain it creates
My mother is proud of me even when it breaks her heart to see the sadness in me
And that is something I can't always bear to see.

Tips of wheat brush gently across my fingers
I weep
But there are no tears that stream
Or muffled sobs
Only me in a field of wheat
A place among the stars
Why here?
In this field of golden stalks and grey sky
I'm answered by the breeze
Caressing my face with gentle embrace
Sight fades for feeling's sake
The illusion of life slips away
I am left with these golden stalks and breeze
Here I am free
Among the wheat with my lonely tree
I rest peacefully

Thank them for me
This dance is ending
I won't stay after this piece,
Tell the band they were sweet
They couldn't have made a better beat,
It's time to go
Tell the angels sorry I had to depart
My heart couldn't take anymore
Tell the demons the laughs were great
I couldn't cry another drop,
See the dance is ending
I'm not sure it's any different than the beginning
I already knew that part
So I never had to witness
The men playing smart
I moved with my art
A fanciful existing
Bringing angels and demons to my yard,
Thank them for me
The host who sat apart
Tell him I know the game he set from the start
And now I depart
I leave my art
And my invitation
Thank them for me
I've danced my part

I'd love to hear freedom ring
Not with flags and anthems playing
But with afternoon rains and poetry
With pleasant ease
No future or past weighing in
Bodies just a simple vase to hold what's within
No oppression busting bones
Mind clear like crystal stones
Imagination left to soar like it was meant to be
No limits to be achieved
Freedom is hard won
The soul begs to be released
The mind demands to be free
The body craves comforted peace
Listen to the silent pleas
Let freedom ring
Let it ring for all of humanity.

Do you hear the creak?
Of the wooden sign breaking free
This is Dead Man's Ranch
The horses died long ago
And the cattle don't graze any more
The plains wait for none
Thundering clouds beating down
On this blood soaked ground
A sacred town
Of dead and cultures long gone
Beneath the dusty bones
Are the lives who worked this ground
Can you hear their shouts?
Few can hear these calls
This country life is dying now
The last son loaded what father gave him
A piece of lead to protect this hallowed ground
Here he sits with the dead all around
Saying nothing as the dust stirs
The final beat of generations sound
Dead Man's Ranch
Listen now

A thousand days
Followed by a thousand nights
Callused hands and silk ties
Each a different journey of the night
Scabs and names becoming all the same
Three hundred more
Whistling a song at the door
A simple melody
Of a hundred scores
Carried in every lore
Another night
How nice
I look up high and see the sky
Smiling wide
I whistle for each life
Each in my mind
I'm becoming whole tonight.

When the feelings die
And the cracks turn into cliffs
I'll fall down and break apart
Into the smallest pieces

I'll let myself scatter with the wind
Till the pain fades
And I hear my pulse in my head
Then I'll piece myself together again

No piece will be the same and it might sit in a different place
Little lines will streak my body
Scars of all my grief

I'll become a beautiful mosaic
Each piece an art
Every line a memory
And when my days are done
I'll look and smile at what I have become.

I wrapped up my things today
Cleaned out my room and dusted the place
I tied a noose from the ceiling
And hung my heart from it, to air its woes
I sat and listened to it beat
Its constant thump echoing through the halls
Reminding me of this house in which I've grown
A house of bones
I know as I get older it will creak and moan
I count the scars in this house of mine
One, two, three..oh and one from when I tried to climb
I turn the faucets on so I remember it's okay to cry
I scrub the floors and paint the walls
Just to keep this house strong and all
I'm only a tenant in this house
But I call it home
This house of bones.

Waters edge
Horizon line
Knelt beside
Drinking cool light
Currents swiftly passing by
Of nocturnal light

The edge of creation
Event horizon's light
The void pulls tight
Wrapped in rings
Drifting inside
I wonder
About the light
And dark

Mates
Whispering sweet carnal things
Of destruction and delight,
Morning dew
A lovely hue
Burned by day
Frozen by night

The edge of light
Dancing like it'll never die
Immortal taste of life
Brash and defined
Luminescent
Passionate
Etherally wise
Bringing tears to eyes

No one comes along to take your hand
The path long left the map
Your footsteps are on an empty pass
Your shadow is the only company
On this singular path
Many will try and take you from it,
Offer safety in numbers in a broken system that long passed into yesterday's abyss
Fight for who you are
And take no one's word for wise
The guide is you and the path is only for your eyes
Embrace the life you have
The show will not last
And this illusion will have lost its chance
Learn what you can and make it last
The steps on this path are yours to find
Take it in stride
Leave the masses behind
You'll be alright

A record plays a scratchy song of yesterday
I sit down
Dust the weariness away
With some soulless rain

The sun sets
A reprieve from the snake
While my cares and apathy battle away
Seeking balance before the ending day

The words and thoughts are stale
I've tired of their endless debates
So I watch the sun set
Listening to Cohen play

I remember the day
All I felt and forgot
It may have been too much
That's okay

I know
And found a better way
A raspy tongue
Steinbeck feels the same to me

Some days I forget my way
I don't know what to say
My sighs are defunct
And silver is grey

Perhaps Cohen can light a match
Smoky voices and acoustic beats
Are beautiful today
After memory decayed

Empty muskets
Breathing life and piercing holes
Tasting metal in your throat
Red rocks of oxidizing ore
The dirt is already filled with it
Why does it need more?
Ares colors run deeper than gold
Blood moons in prophecies of old
Deep red of our veins coats the Earth
Leeching life into our hearts
From cries and screams to hollow weeps
Blood born from mothers to Earth.

Strands bound tight in a double helix
They unravel and copy every day
Thousands of generations in you
Why your eyes are blue or your skin a certain hue
A, T, G, C
Let me tell you of their blend,
A is always fated with T though sometimes T becomes U,
G is always with C no matter if another letter saunters by saucily.
It's tricky when we say why we love or why we dream to name a gene
Scientists argue if it's all you'll ever be
Two parents giving 50% each
It's a long name DNA
I won't name it here, I'll save the space
Instead I'll say as one whose watched it replicate
It makes mistakes and sometimes that isn't great
It's a marvelous thing and I can see why we never truly die
Some person you never knew is directly responsible for you
Despite its beauty I've noticed one thing,
In all its complexity it only partly describes you
It will long live after you die
Maybe giving your great grandkids freckles in an odd place
But it doesn't say why you loved or laughed
It may say why you were prone or not
But that's all it can say
These words here do that more than that
DNA is a wonder and I've studied it till my head ached
But I'd rather read what you have to say
Because that's our condition
DNA will continue long after you and me
But your mind is a horrible thing to waste

I stand here in morning rains
Grey skies
Surrounding me
I open up
Like the flower beside
It's cold
And drowning rain
Rinsing my soul
Of weary stains
Wet my eyes
Of tears needed yesterday
My soul was fixed
Lighting me with why
A melancholy scheme
Wandering the sky
A bird seeking home
Knowing its age is gone
Finding tranquility in pouring rain
Wet globes of home
Quenching dry eyes
Quintessence of solitude

I disembarked at the last stop
It was fate
Though I didn't know it then
They said I would need to be patient
A foreigner in a strange land
I took jobs of all sorts
And did my best to always make amends
I learned to laugh and joke
As well as any native did
I made myself a life
Thinking nothing of the past
Until I found my ticket one day
Stamped at entry so long ago
I tried hard to remember my life then
Only to come up short
So I went to the port
And asked for any who knew me
Only one answered
Though his mind seemed less than sharp
He checked my ticket
And gave me a toothless grin
The last passenger he said
You stayed till fate released your hand

Late last night
I sat on the highest hill
A child among mountain giants around
But still a lovely little hill
The monsoon battles the dry
It has every night
The half moon was bright
Shining amidst storm clouds
The cool breeze pushing lazily by
A battle of moon and clouds played out
It was a glorious sight
The clouds would darken the sky
Brightening only with lightning
Then the moon would shine
Declaring its superior light
Only to darken once more
The battle waged for hours
Until my eyes grew tired
My last sight a triumphant yellow moon
Then I closed my eyes
And the clouds had won

The hills burned
The blue sky turned dark
As smoke blotted out the sun
Gracing the valley in red dusk
Burning skies
So beautiful tonight
Embers of brush and piñon pine
Nature's destructive light
Raining ash
With gentle might
Dying skies burning bright
Wildfires decimating for new life

When today sheds its skin
And becomes yesterday and tomorrow
Will the longing of today be spent?
The call of the void fading
As I close my lids
Echoes of past and future tense
Coming like horsemen
Demanding what I fear to give
One last breath before I slip
Into the soul's domain
One last look where my body lay
I hasten to hear what the soul has to say,
It's begun
Tell them I have come
And let go what you think you must become

Black or blue
Iridescent feathers shimmering through
Scavengers with a noble walk
A raven squawk

Beauty in the sun
As it rearranges pebbles just for fun
A trickster, an omen of insight or ill
Beak meant to pierce old kills

The raven den was empty here in
But they still squawk
On a pole watching the world go
Looking for a shiny stone in the empty roads

Laughing without stock
To their friends and enemies aloft
Intelligence in their eyes
Claiming more than mere sight.

I watched myself die that night
I watched my mother cry
It broke my heart to see her so

I struggled to get free
But the red dirt wouldn't let me go
I was trapped
Left to travel this strange place

When I demanded to be freed
He said I was dead and to leave it be
If I wished to leave this place
I must accept that I am no longer me

I looked at my mother
Frightened to leave her alone
But I couldn't return
And I was tired of the red
So I admitted I was dead

I found release
Until I woke
And thought what a strange dream
A few years have passed since

I see now the dream was true
I died that night
I didn't return
The girl I was died to the woman I became

I don't know if this person is better than the one before
She's hard and complex in many ways
My mother lost her daughter to me
I've been trying to reclaim my simpler days

Futile hopes woven into passing dreams
Choking on these words
They're smoother than they used to be
The darkness is no longer a shadow to me

I died that night
But I didn't realize it until today
I must have been a zombie.

I once had a professor
I took his class on passionate whim
Though I spent my days in labs
With test tubes and pippettes
His class fascinated me
So I signed up just to balance my time
Too much science isn't good for the mind.

It was in a building I had never been
I sat down and waited for class to begin
The clock struck one
It was only me and two others
Am I in the wrong class? I wondered
When in walked a man
Dressed very professionally
That was rare to see.
He smiled and said hello.
He sat down, exchanging pleasantries with the guys next to me.
He glanced at me and smiled
He said he knew the other two
They were philosophy students of his.
He asked my name and I told him
This is a small class he said as one more came in
The guy sat down and was rather talkative
The professor said hello and asked what major he was in.
History the student said
The professor nodded and said this class will go nicely with that.

I was feeling out of place
The only girl and not even in the humanities
The professor asked what I studied
Biology I said.
Everyone quieted and stared at me quizzically
One chuckled and asked if I was in the right class
This is Ancient Greek? I asked
The professor nodded with a grin
"It is, let's begin."

A hunter walks
In a subtle stalk
Holding his breath and refusing to talk
Waiting for his prey
When it appears his rifle is cocked
His lungs go quiet and his heart quickens
He pulls the trigger
The moment cannot be forgotten
Life and death hanging in the air
Like scents of apple blossoms
All a hunter will ever be
The silence unforgiven.

My mind spins
Like a wayward top
Drifting towards the edge
The table no longer makes sense
Life is a masquerade
Why did I come to play?
My hollowed heart whispers to me
Its cup never filled yet often used
The light is dim
My eyes are no longer content
It's all fuzzy now
I've lost the sheet
Blocking eternity from me.

Built on a sunny day
Intended as a fortress
To keep the darkness away
But it faltered in the dead of night
The guards scattered as it went alight
They hollered and shouted
But nothing stopped the blaze
Not the coldest water or stormy rains
It smoldered and flamed
In the most spectacular way
A horrific beauty to see
As this castle burned with no relief.

On a dusky day it was built
Salvaged from skeletons and heaps
It crumbles at times
And the guards are always busy,
Minding its failing keeps
But none have trespassed
And the darkness stays away
This castle of ash has proved stronger in every way.

Rivers run
Winding through willow groves
Casting light on the setting sun
Tears of dying light
Settle on horizon's night
Oceans come
As comets run
Tails of bliss to kiss the sun
Of glory's day
How simple it has become
Go down where the river runs
Bathe yourself in tears of those gone
Bits of light grace your eyes
A cycle of time
Through you it all comes to life.

Emotions demanding thought,
Mind keeping measure
No need to live, no need to die
Sickles sweet, crescents of red
Incontinence of my thoughts
Sweeping me beneath these currents
I don't know what's happened to me
All I've lost and let be
Have returned to me
I was never lacking,
The world just never became what I thought it to be.

I've walked the desert
Through the dust and barren seas
I've dreamed of water
On the hottest days
I've felt the hot winds on my face
As tumbleweeds scratched my legs
I've wished for relief as my skin bakes
Wondering how much I can take
Today I collapsed
The desert had claimed too much
I laid in the dust,
Watching the sun pass
Burning my tears
I laid until the moon appeared
It told me to get up
My body feels weak
And incomplete
The desert has drained me
And now has come to rescue me
From certain defeat

Levels and the layers grow
Rings running me down
Honestly I gave in long ago
The cusp of the hole you're sitting at
Is a lie of what the dead have said
Subjectivity is objectivity in shadow form
Five senses all colored in different glows
I hold my blows
Never wanted to be the one to bring it crashing down
But you're calling me from your mighty throne
A paradigm of empty minds
Asking for honest truths from my very soul
A stranger who I don't know
Asking me for blood down in my core
Shatter the plains
Burn castles to the ground
I bring my sword out now
I'll drag you down the hole of questions with no bounds
Empty your soul
Bare bones
Ask me for honesty and I'll shake it down
Can you handle the sounds?
The darkness all around?
You wore me down,
Now I'll no longer protect you from the hole
Welcome to your new home
Truth and absolutes, black and white
Lies you never learned kept you in check from the battle within.

Wintry tales
Of warmer days and green space
Jagged snow capped peaks
So high up there is little to breathe
Nestled in cliffs is a warm place
Where my heart beats
Far away from anything
I don't recall putting it there
But there it beats
With strings of soul attached
In the broken peaks it waits
Unbroken and untamed
Its thunderous beat is frightening
Sometimes it scares my sleep away
The electricity arcing through nodes
Down to the bundle
Commanding every fiber that exists
It waits
For the day I can reach the airless peaks
Claim what's mine
And will always be

Look at these words, scribbled here
Black and clean
I wonder where they came from
I know it's me
Of dreams and memories
Some I know
Others are strange, I can't place them.
Are they mine?
My mind so full of different lives
Should the day come I remember
These black lines will certainly fly.

Have you ever seen the moon rise
Fall on high tide
Echoes of cold light?
Have you ever looked in a pool of silver
Gaze at the reflection staring back?
Both speak of silence
Moments of thought not easily described
Have you witnessed the light in your eyes?
Or the pull and push of your tides?
At night when all is quiet and the world sleeps,
Have you looked inside?
Reflections
Real or not
What does the mirror say?
Of your windows and gates

Roaming through
No place else to go
Shadows call
Home wasn't here
The place where the burden goes
Shoulders aching
Under the load of a silent woe
Just a moment
An echo of home
Rest these weary bones
Violet rich
With eyes of storms
Soothing touch of otherworldly forms
Take me home
Where freedom roams

I am lazy when I write about you
It's not my favourite pastime
It's been some time, the scar mends
It's not so tender,
It can handle a confirmation or two
So the fact you did worse than I knew
Itches the scar but nothing more
I write to make sure the pain is released before it makes me its home again
They say it is better to loved and lost than never loved at all
I do not disagree
Despite this little white scar of mine
My only addition of wisdom,
It's a shame we can love one who doesn't deserve our pain
For me that was you
And now I forever bid you adieu

I walked away
To a different night
To a different life
A dream of another time
If I'm alive how come I go?
If I die, will I come alive?
I walked away tonight,
Left this life
In the morning perhaps I'll return.