The forms have spoken
Upon teary eye they break away
From the norms that attempt to define
Love in all its beauty
While all but ommiting
The proximity that lashes repetition
To an oath few can keep
For the heart can become numb
From the suffering of a soul
Once held in the highest of esteems
As the daily routines begin to toll
And the engine that once drove a pair
Begins to seize upon itself in a forceful
Despair
Like an ache in the spine
Our weathering starts to show
Making points already proven
Impeding the natural growth and flow
That once reached towards the skies
Illuminating the heavens
The desire for eternity
Is a jackpot of lucky sevens
777

You're a moral conundrum
You exist as half a riddle
Yet not a full question
Somewhere in between
There is an answer
To your selfish selfless acts
That motivate you
To burn brighter
Than any nearby star
In comparison
Your morality is refreshing
It prefers the optimism
In a pessimistic world
As you view every interaction
On the premise of good nature
Solely for the sake of being good
To the people that make you happy
Never stopping to wonder motives
But instead to motivate
Others to be the best that they can be
While gaining only a smile

You, you moral conundrum
Puzzle me

Sit and talk
Write the soul
Blank canvas
Stained red
Talking all
Those words away
Twisting madness
Turning gray
Running over
All the stories
Every sip
Turns into more
Blue thoughts
Of the falling rain
Don't compare
To this life of pain
As I hit this green
Nothing has changed
Everything is yellow
Nothing the same

Stolen on the wings of the canary
Soaring within the clouds
And bouncing within hidden canopies
Is a song known only to the sun
And certain flowers

Trapped, the song pleads
In early morning
And in the dusk of shadows
"Hear me sing 'o lonely forest!"
Yet, sadly she found there was nobody to serenade

Frantic, the canary ruffled her feathers
Searching for just one ear;
One soul willing to listen to her precious
Color held captive

You see, it was yellow what stole the canary
For its song had long since seduced her
Dying the white of her genesis golden
After months spent dancing
In tune to swaying southern honeysuckle
Or simply chasing the setting sun
Soaking up every sweet note
Of yellows orchestra

Defeated, the canary found a secluded tree
Alone atop a barren mountain
And sang one final time
"Hear me sing 'o lonely earth
For I have taken that which is yours and have made it mine!"
She spread her petite wings,
Each feather a ray of sunlight,
"Hear me sing, for you 'o mighty mother
Are the only one willing to listen..."

Then, the canary cried
And with each tear dropped
Individual notes in shades of yellow
As her feathers bleed revealing her true self
A pristine white
Unblemished by the envy of color
Finding she was finally satisfied
With her own song

It was noon when the wise man approached me.
In his hand he carried a one hour sandglass,
Jovially bellowing upon every grain that trickled down.
So absorbed was he that clearly time didn't matter;
'For another two steps and he woulda crushed me and his hourglass.
"Woah timely sir!
It seems you've run out of seconds!"
I exclaimed
"Might I inquire about what is so important within this hour?"

The Sands slowed their decent as his gaze shifted...
His eyes fixated,
Everything froze...
Including the final grain,
Floating,
In its chalice.

He spoke to me.

"Given the choice between an
Hour...
Minute...
Second...
Which would you be?"

Curious I told him
"One hour"
To his reply
"There's only 24 of those in a day,
Think bigger."

Playing along I invoked
"The minute"
As he chuckled
"Though indeed bigger,
1440 is still too small.
Think larger."

Confused I queried
"A second?"
Not quite catching on

The laughing ended as he lifted his clock.
Silence reigned.
My eyes shifted to the immobile grain,
Hypnotic in its suspension,
When finally the fellow spoke above me:

"I hope you now understand the significance
Of 86400 moments."
Just before he turned the glass
To walk away.

Never useless is the way you think
The way you move and the way you blink

Never useless are the moments saved
For the problems solved to the decisions made

Never useless is our sense of time always in the right as I'm writing your rhyme

Never useless I'll always say because what matters to me is hearing that you'll always stay

To be more is a thought that troubles my mind
Binding and steering a good natured heart to a desire
Unachievable
In a reality where less is the standard of affection
Leaving a hole both empty and wide like a trench
That divides and separates our paths down a similar road
While merging these differences might yield uncertainty
Ultimately life is full of crossroads and what's important
Is which direction you decide to turn

Atlas may have shrugged
But you're a fool
I wish the weight of the world
Would simply crush you
And your blind faith
To which you hold esteem
That is quickly draining
Your life as you bleed
To death do us part
Theres always a plan
Whether divine creation
Or evolutions hand
You think I'm wrong
We'll let me teach you
For in every situation
My philos will be true
Never succumbing
To popular notion
The wisdom of your words
Like an empty ocean
So tell me again
The master plan
Because blind faith
Creates a blind man

Sometimes
My mind unwinds
As I'm constantly thinking of you
Wondering where you're at
And how you are
It so hard
You weighing on my heart
If only I could just see your smile
Or hear your laugh
All my troubles
Would be written in the past
Times like these
I wish I could be
Alone on a mountain with you

Minds claim to know that which is not.
Foundations... they are broken and they rot.
From the rubble is found a truth stronger than life;
To understand that knowing is nothing but
Standing on our understanding.
Now we 'K'now

It was a cleansing
A grey washing of the soul
Like a sky drip dropping rain
On an otherwise sunny day
Where light fights the clouds
For supremacy of the season
That up until this moment
Had remained constant and steady
In its conviction and reason
That even a sodden thunderclap
Could not shake the changing tides
As the drop dripping increased
And the sky began to fall
A wall of obscurity
Obscuring the pall
Where all sight diminished
Leaving nothing but the sound
Of a pitter-pattering blackness
Smothering the pain just moments
Before you drown

"Buy me a drink?"
She asked him
All dolled up
In layer upon layer
Of cover-up
Accentuated by
The strong stench
Of the wrong perfume
To him, she was fake
A person that exists
Only for four words
Or 4 syllables
Temp or ar y

To most men
This invitation
Equates to one night
Of senseless pleasure
In the shallows
Of human experience
That propagates
Short term like
Over long term love
Never realizing
The three most important
Syllables
I love you

A fire has never burned so beautifully
Its radiance so mesmerizing that,
Like a thief in the night,
It had captured and stolen
More than just my attention
But also the affection of my heart
As it brushed its golden hot flames
Into forked tridents,
Each invoking the image of poise and grace
As it danced around
Joyfully engulfing every ounce
Of positive energy to be found
With every twig and log added
The blaze raged brighter
Burning at such a pace
Not even a whole tree could withstand
Its reach
Yet no ember wishes to be confined
As the wind gusts in,
A shower of sparks fly at their embrace
Spreading the message in wonderful ashes
Across this mountain
And to the amazing woman
Who ignited my inferno

We all stumble through life
Lost on winding trails
Disconnected from the destination
Which pulls the soul
Down a path barren of beauty
Where downed trees create barriers
Roadblocks which lead to detours
Into the rugged wilderness
A trial that tests the mind with adversity
Begging the body to halt its course
To cool the crucible that has bled
Molten rivers carving ruts
Into an endless circle
Leaving us lost and out of breath
Desperate to pause and recover
The stamina wasted in a maze
Of our own creation
...
Until finally, a beam of light
Breaks through the dense canopy
Proffering warmth, peace, and solitude
Beckoning a return to the tracks
Worn by the forgotten footsteps
Of a different time
Too distant to elicit recollection
Yet somehow familiar and welcoming
For those seeking the forbidden happiness
That we have trapped within a sadness
Foreign to the natural nature
We had suppressed in order to feel free
...
Long have I sought the trail I thought lost
Turns out, all I needed to do was turn around
And remember I am not alone
Just simply facing the wrong direction

Nature's Retreat

My heart sings songs parallel to the dance of rain
Where lyrics speak true to nature's mighty chorus
Of colorful leaves burned from early frost
Where green becomes gold and gold turns to red
And the animals, both big and small, hurry to get to bed

My heart speaks to these changes all around me
Embracing Fortuna as if she were my mother
Wishing that I, like the leaves, could also fall and be free
Released from loose bonds that sway with but a breeze
From mighty ******, third of his name, God of the wind
Who that deceitful Juno deceived, to blow steadfast
Aeneas away from hearts true love, to a bigger purpose
His own Goddess to please

Yet... It was not to be for me
Too strong were the currents from that vengeful Neptune
Who then commanded blue Oceanus to summon the monstrous gray Charybdis
Pulling down on the brown oars of my life, seeking to consume
That which I thought mine, as if spoken by an Oracle,
A future as free and varied as a rain soaked forest in fall
Before all falls to rest within the spiteful white teeth of winter
Leaving me to dance in the decay of nature's retreat

I then cry with Terra Mater, reminding her of the days
Where our hearts sang and we spoke in hushed whispers
Excited for the seasons change and the chance to rest
Yet... I am not prepared to say goodbye to her
Her beauty, to me, shines brighter than burning Sol
Me, a moth to her flame, is lost when she is away
Tormented by the memories of life living only to die
An endless cycle of pain that numbs the days spent waiting
For spring to rise once again and refresh my heart
From the desolation of the icy purgatory
And empty forests, skeletal in appearance,
A drab contrast to the songs of revival and lush trees
That are a favorite of the myriad dryads and nymphs
Whom orchestrate the natural melody of the Earth
While patiently awaiting my summer heat

I miss them like I will her, for soon I shall fall like the rain
Patiently awaiting my rebirth so that I might dance with her again

Uncertainty is painful when coupled with Certainty
Like a storm building in the distance with no way of knowing when or where
It might fall
Sometimes I feel like the lightning
Racing towards the ground at a pace faster than light
Only to be accompanied by the boom of thunder...
Then finally the shock;
The realization that the divisions I feel inside myself
Are manifestations of time paired with love
That carries on its shoulders, like Atlas,
A ticking clock
Counting down the seconds to when my heart explodes...
And Atlas shrugs
All thanks to Certain Uncertainty

On the ***** of our feet
We pivot
Revolving around to the beat
Of a classical melody
Both wholesome and nuanced
Like the flow of the wind
Or the splash of a pond
That gives this feeling a motion
In sync
With the tones of every movement
Moving slowly then starting anew
Everytime my eyes meet yours
This Starlight Dance
Gives me a hope
That as long as there is a chorus
I get to be a part of your heart

Why cant we do more?
Be more?
Reach for Babel!

All stories told.

Yet we remain cattle,
Chained like links,
Tied by bonds,
Kinked.
We CAN do more,
But first we must unravel,
Travel the infinite highways
Of the mind,
Rewind the needle
And pull the thread.
Shed the unnecessary
"Necessities"
That necessitates a clarity,
Individually,
Away from the herd
Toward the ultimate
Enlightenment:

To do more,
One must first,
BREAK THE NORM

Blood lashes in the rain as the wind buffeted the Plains of Detritus.
Fetid smells plagued the air in torrents of swirling effluence.
The red moon shone beyond the bending and bowing trees slashing the horizon.
A lone figure stood awash in the downpour yet firmly unaffected by the gale.
"Stay" said the statue.
Unmoving in his conviction that all trespassers be swept away with the storm.
White lighting struck the ground mere feet from his outstretched palm.
The explosion reaping a cacophony of destruction resulting in smoldering craters.
Glare obstructed the morosity but did little to extinguish the rotten fumes of death.
As sight regained clarity another flash lit the scene to reveal a writhing mass
Emerging from the rent earth like the oscillating arms of a millipede.
"Come closer" said the Devil.
In a blink a thousand wails descended on the land.
Baring teeth and grabbing hands.
Reaching...
Reaching...
To grab hold of the light of the last soul holding claim to its life.
Stubborn, it resists the touch of darkness by force of will alone.
Until even the last spark of hope became entangled within the putrid hellscape,
Winking out of existence and forgotten;
Consumed by evil.
"Such is the price of the blood moon" cackled the fallen angel.

Although I remember
The first time we met
Its like a dream
That parallels into an alternate
Reality
Starting fresh with every morning
Call of the midnight whippoorwill
Announcing the coming
Of a red sky sunrise
Revealing your beauty
In magnificence
And splendor
That only the heavens may hope
To rival

Yet you are more than a deity
You possess a characteristic
Even the moon cannot equate
Like a stone made up
From a myriad of colors
But only presenting gray
Such that
A midnight eclipse
Pales in comparison
To your touch
========================
Then the memory returns
As night becomes day
I see you
My love in light
Is here to stay

We are all free falling
Yet never really free
Inside and out
This fall tragedy
We reach for help
But find no footing
Spinning around
Our stomachs churning
Endless is this abyss
Tumbling away
Our minds begin to slip
Running astray
In this place
Time has no bearing
Yet a light does shine
A pinpoint in the black
Forever a way of knowing
The path to get back
In our struggle to grip
That ever expanding gray
My solution for you is simple
Stop running away

Looking back has never been so painful
To leave the place where you find peace
Is no easy task
For me that place is in the clouds
Atop deeply forested arches
That link our Terra to the heavens above
Allowing every brave Explorer
To reach for God itself,
And for just a few fleeting moments
Understand what it means to be holy,
And pure
Like the crystal clear streams that carve
The mountainside
Creating bizarre gneiss's
That resemble an ocean wave
Turned to stone,
As old as Terra herself,
Slowly crashing down the cliffside
Moving the world
With every breath
Of my mountain home

These words I write in steel
For I fear living within a world
Bound between loosely knit hallows
Perpetuated by the lonesome crinkling
Of a paper wrought in a sleeve of gold and silver
As sweetly as the soft waxing of a grand moon
Swaying amongst the throes of light
Darkened by the sickening influx
Of overindulgence creeping and undulating
Ever towards my secrets wrapped in steel

Without my moonlight
I feel lost amongst the waves
Drawn out by the tide

To fly you must jump
Free falling before the ground
Breaks apart your skull

Millions of miles
Into the sea.
A Darkness beyond,
You fail to see.
Ask not why?
For failure, believe.
Its duty is known
As force to be.
Wonder not?
For fear to bleed.
The universe is vast,
Its secrets you seek.
Look on,
To timeless past,
The answers are yours
Better first,
Then last.

Words absent I sit and ponder...

Am I the one I see in mirrors reflection
Or I am just a mirror immage of potential
Lost in the convex surface striving to be more
Like light flowing in waves to form an image
Particles aligigning at the wrong moment
And at the wrong time to develop a concise juxtaposition
So that the world appears like a 3D movie absent 3D goggles
Side by side with the potential to relay a whole
Yet only delivering a blur of information undescerned
Similar to a vinyl record slipping on an endless scratch
Forever broken and divided from it's potential
To deliver a clear and crisp note tonally pleasing to the ear
Yes, I am he who exists in a self imposed purgatory
Forever doomed to repeat the mistakes from his past
Never quite grasping the difference between the cardinal directions
Of life and the proper heading into the storm and the fluctuations
Marking the true course of happiness and it's cardinal rose
No, I am just a broken man sitting and remembering
The myriad failures that drove me to write the very words now read
By another soul dissatisfied by the image facing them
As they sit and ponder their reflection in the mirror

I have become as steel, forged within frigid winters heart

With a hardness, no desert summer could hope to rust

Sharpened to a fine edge between shifting sands

And grinding glaciers, which, given millennia have honed

Shaping my geometry in such a way as to cut inward

Carving jagged crevasses at right angles to the core

Whose arrhythmic pattern resembles a diseased damascus

Indistinguishable from the delaminations of a failed weld

Running down the length of my spine with spiderweb cracks

Covered by a clever fuller designed to distract the eye

With a stylized straight line, slowly tapering at the tip

Rounded by the blunt force trauma of repeatedly stabbing

The anvil on which I had been so hastily hammered

I have a tendency to covet broken things
Like broken hearts
And broken minds
They are like an unsolved or unwritten equation
Begging for an answer or solution
Like the riddle that has all the right pieces
But is just rearranged shards of fragmented glass
Craving a resolution to the disorder of shattering impact
That is in need of a strong glue in which to bind the razer sharp edges
Back into a semblance of order
That is the Brokens' Beauty

I challenge you to consider life.

Ask of yourself the greatest of riddles
Determine the mightiest conundrums
That inspire and awaken your inner detective
Become The Batman and realize your inner hero
Be more than ordinary and ask of authority: "Why?"
Because you are more than just a sheep
But instead a product of a question
With no simple answer
Yet beholden to every solution
All you must do is think
And consider life and all of its mysteries

Challenge accepted.

The depth of the rumble was paralytic
Causing a tremor to arise
Strong enough to vibrate the very core,
Of the art buried within,
When will it end?
Will the world stop?
Like a controlled explosion
The eruption is brief!
Yet the lingering devastation brings grief!
These noxious fumes they strangle
And they choke
Living next to a volcano
Is never a joke
So the next time you feel the house shutter
Open the doors and run for cover

Though there may be a tear the moment will pass
Living within the chains between now and the past
It strangles and chokes you until you struggle to breath
A fear so great and mighty that gives you no reprieve
From the loss you've incurred to the tolls you've paid
Every single tear you have cried must also be forgave

Turned around, fleeing,
I run from conflict
instead of facing it—
a coward’s path
born from a father’s shadow,
steeped in generational abuse.
A cycle vicious
as a violent thunderstorm,
striking bolts from the heavens
in divine judgment,
scorching my soul
as if branded like cattle.
A coat of arms
twisted and contorted,
misrepresenting values
held in the present,
yet fully defined
in a past no longer recognizable
to the progeny
who is tired of running
from Daddy’s failings.

No, it is time
to alter course,
to charge headlong
into the unknown abyss
where a different fear
lies in wait—
the dread of becoming
a carbon copy of his failings,
their venom lurking
like a stalking predator,
starving and salivating
at the thought
of a fresh meal
of unsuspecting me,
tripping into the pit,
unprepared to face demons
and rewrite history,
to forge a new heritage
unblemished by cowardice,
to rebuild a coat
that accurately depicts
who I have become
while freed from the bane
of paternity’s weaknesses,
that led to his son’s pain.

I stand up,
pushing back against the dark,
my light radiant
like the summer sun at noon,
casting glare
over the shadows,
causing them to flee
in a terror once my own,
no longer to darken
the soul of a good man
seeing beauty
in all things—
a revelation
that I too can shine
if given time
to heal from past wounds,
whose blood-streaked tears,
now scabbed over
and healed,
leave only a faint scar
of what was,
a reminder to live
in the present
and build anew
the love lost
between father and son.

Your silhouette captivates me
Soaking up the pale moonlit rays
Radiating a sense of oneness and peace
Like you're contemplating some grand scheme
To take control over the natural order of things
Yet nature can't be enslaved
Just like your illuminated outline
Bursting with such beauty it cannot be contained
I envy the moon it's treasure
To be able to shine my eyes upon such a majestic creature as you
Sadly, I am limited
'For my light shines from across the latitude
And everytime I get close
The longitude of our distance
Makes you a ghost

I'm the Sun
You're my silhouette

Nothing feels like never
In the grand scheme of things.
We wait and we want for those beautiful events
That cause our hearts to sing;
Such is the product of the two
That it is always greater than the one
Where every freckle, dimple, brow and tooth
Equals every individual sum

Yet never lives in the now
And the ever is most prominent
No matter which equation you design for life
The math is always eminent;
So no matter how bad
You add or subtract
A fraction of the whole may be divided
But at least its still intact

Storms wash over the lands
Flooding
Causing a veritable maelstrom
Palpable
Trunk swaying in reaction
Lightning
Flashing and booming in bass
Cacophony
Wind pounding and beating
Incessant
Attempting to erode the landscape
Cleansing

Then...

Calm
A break in the dissonance
Assonance
Filling the pall left behind
Peace
Healing the ravaged earth
Sun
Shining glorious rays
Prismatic
That shatter as the eye passes
Blind
A terrifying howl reminiscent
Forlorn
Followed by a sickening rip
Broken

Then...

I am flying!
Spinning
Rotating at an ever increasing rate
Disoriented
Confused as my world tumbles
Torn
From the only home I'd known
Alone
Just a tree caught within a raging
Cyclone

Why hasn't it changed?
If all we just do is sit back and abdicate
In faith that justice and liberty are inherent
Within the minds that control and manipulate
Both the means and the ends
That lead to a prosperity unworthy
To the masses and become limited to an elite
Selfish and soaked in a tyranny
Founded on the power generated
By the minds of the ignorant
Who truly know not the meaning of freedom
Given, only to be ripped away by the simplest
Execution of our most fundamental rights
Possessed by all with a mind
And a soul which yearns to decide
For itself whether it is to be free
Or a slave to those inferior in wisdom
To the animalistic tendencies we so quickly
Fall back on in a relative, fictional, safety