A morning sun rises above the treetops
And I sit
A glass-like lake reveals no secrets
A swarm of insects feed the fish
Jumping and writhing
In the shallows of my heart
I hear the call of songbirds on the wing
And I smile
For all there is
Today
My fingers trace her face
With light touch and care
Her dry skin awaiting rain
I place my fingers against hers
And I feel the warmth of sunlight
Sink into flesh and stone
I breathe in her scents
A feast for the spirit
And my mouth goes dry
Spirits of the Earth
Mighty and Ancient
Rise to the sky from her back
A wind blows across my face
And all is right
In this world
(From 2003)
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
For Our Dead Fathers
We place into the earth a shell that carried the spirit of the person we knew and loved. It is the gifts that we received, the lessons we were taught, and those loving memories that carry our beloved on through life with us. The grave is there as a reminder that this body is mortal, and should be respected as such, but it is the eternal soul that truly gives us something to remember, until it is our turn to move into whatever beyond we believe awaits us.
My father has long since departed, so I am on the same side of the fence, but I am the man I am because of the man he was. Not all of his lessons were good ones, nor were all of my memories of kindness and hope, but all of my memories were formative to the father I have become. Light and Dark dance on the same blank wall, it is what we interpret from that dance that guides our decisions.
Be the person you are and know that your father would have been proud. No matter how he expressed it, he surly said 'I love you'.
My father has long since departed, so I am on the same side of the fence, but I am the man I am because of the man he was. Not all of his lessons were good ones, nor were all of my memories of kindness and hope, but all of my memories were formative to the father I have become. Light and Dark dance on the same blank wall, it is what we interpret from that dance that guides our decisions.
Be the person you are and know that your father would have been proud. No matter how he expressed it, he surly said 'I love you'.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Dream of the Raven's Gate IV
Tuesday
Sunlight beamed into my face, burning the sleep from my eyes and wrenching me from the world I had seen within myself. It was morning, apparently, but I had no recollection of the night's wonders. Like the early-morning fog, the daylight cast my dreams aside and dragged me into the here and now. I was again chained to reality, grounded in today, and bound to labor another day of my life wastefully away. I was out of bed and showered before I felt even the slightest pang of remorse. And I didn't even remember what felt badly about. But I felt it. And it passed quietly as I started my day with a cup of coffee and a pasted-on grin.
At lunch, another ice-cold spike buried itself in my spine. I didn't know why, but it was there in me, and I could not shake the sensation. I began to feel quite tired, and had to force myself to stay awake throughout the rest of the afternoon. As my day closed, I finally had to succumb to the irresistible urge to sleep. I pulled off the road for just a moment, to rub my eyes and try and stay awake. I could not resist. My eyes closed. And when they snapped open, I was standing before an enormous iron gate. A gate I recognized. And in my hands quivered the Silver Key. A smile broke across my face and I unlocked the gate and it swung freely open unto a world of my own creation. I stepped through and left any memory of the world I was born into behind me.
And beneath the swirling darkness, a faint green glow pulsed ever stronger. And a vast evil imperceptibly shuddered with a coming greatness...
continued.
Sunlight beamed into my face, burning the sleep from my eyes and wrenching me from the world I had seen within myself. It was morning, apparently, but I had no recollection of the night's wonders. Like the early-morning fog, the daylight cast my dreams aside and dragged me into the here and now. I was again chained to reality, grounded in today, and bound to labor another day of my life wastefully away. I was out of bed and showered before I felt even the slightest pang of remorse. And I didn't even remember what felt badly about. But I felt it. And it passed quietly as I started my day with a cup of coffee and a pasted-on grin.
At lunch, another ice-cold spike buried itself in my spine. I didn't know why, but it was there in me, and I could not shake the sensation. I began to feel quite tired, and had to force myself to stay awake throughout the rest of the afternoon. As my day closed, I finally had to succumb to the irresistible urge to sleep. I pulled off the road for just a moment, to rub my eyes and try and stay awake. I could not resist. My eyes closed. And when they snapped open, I was standing before an enormous iron gate. A gate I recognized. And in my hands quivered the Silver Key. A smile broke across my face and I unlocked the gate and it swung freely open unto a world of my own creation. I stepped through and left any memory of the world I was born into behind me.
And beneath the swirling darkness, a faint green glow pulsed ever stronger. And a vast evil imperceptibly shuddered with a coming greatness...
continued.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Pierre
standing before the mirror I asked the face there
to tell me why he did not see the cracks
the face answered
what cracks?
we raised out hands and pointed to the place
our fingers touching at the faults
here
i stated
here are the cracks
but the face in the mirror turned away and left me there
pointing to a place
i thought was cracked
but as i watched him leave
i saw
the cracks were words
and it told me what I needed to know
that i am alone in the mirror
for my soul is turned away
and the message is to be read by my willing heart
rather than
my bared soul
and still my
mind
refused to read or bare
so I stood agape at the largeness of it all
and held my breath
as the glass shattered
and crimson spilled on the hard woods below
roses appeared on
a vine of razors
in the mirror
of my eyes
to tell me why he did not see the cracks
the face answered
what cracks?
we raised out hands and pointed to the place
our fingers touching at the faults
here
i stated
here are the cracks
but the face in the mirror turned away and left me there
pointing to a place
i thought was cracked
but as i watched him leave
i saw
the cracks were words
and it told me what I needed to know
that i am alone in the mirror
for my soul is turned away
and the message is to be read by my willing heart
rather than
my bared soul
and still my
mind
refused to read or bare
so I stood agape at the largeness of it all
and held my breath
as the glass shattered
and crimson spilled on the hard woods below
roses appeared on
a vine of razors
in the mirror
of my eyes
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Dream of the Raven's Gate III
Lost in time...
The Great Old One lay cold in his tomb. Shadows, aeons old, draped themselves around his bloated, slime-covered body and stilled the creature beyond death. But the beast had long waited to return, so long that Death itself had finally turned a blind eye to the demon so patiently counting the untold millennia. As the Dream Land was formed above, strange energies began to stir deep within a long-forgotten place below. And somewhere in our world, men young and old began to gray overnight, and woke with eyes wild from the impending madness. Those who listen too closely to the whispering in the night and mumbled nonsensical words in their slumber began to focus power in an unthinkable direction... Backwards and forwards through time and space... from this dimension to the land that lies between dusk and dawn.
And ever so lightly, the Great Creature began to take it in. The waves of madness and dementia pulled from the world we know being consumed without conscious effort by an Evil beyond all limits of comprehension. Few other times in our recorded past had this evil been stirred, and the ensuing madness guaranteed that the memories of It's coming are unreliable, disjointed things that were not meant for the newspapers, but rather for filling the pages of fantasy novels.
And still, it slumbered. But just as the most insignificant light can be seen in the pitch blackness of the ocean depths, so could the faintest of green glows be barely made out from beyond the Old One's eyes...
continued
The Great Old One lay cold in his tomb. Shadows, aeons old, draped themselves around his bloated, slime-covered body and stilled the creature beyond death. But the beast had long waited to return, so long that Death itself had finally turned a blind eye to the demon so patiently counting the untold millennia. As the Dream Land was formed above, strange energies began to stir deep within a long-forgotten place below. And somewhere in our world, men young and old began to gray overnight, and woke with eyes wild from the impending madness. Those who listen too closely to the whispering in the night and mumbled nonsensical words in their slumber began to focus power in an unthinkable direction... Backwards and forwards through time and space... from this dimension to the land that lies between dusk and dawn.
And ever so lightly, the Great Creature began to take it in. The waves of madness and dementia pulled from the world we know being consumed without conscious effort by an Evil beyond all limits of comprehension. Few other times in our recorded past had this evil been stirred, and the ensuing madness guaranteed that the memories of It's coming are unreliable, disjointed things that were not meant for the newspapers, but rather for filling the pages of fantasy novels.
And still, it slumbered. But just as the most insignificant light can be seen in the pitch blackness of the ocean depths, so could the faintest of green glows be barely made out from beyond the Old One's eyes...
continued
Bon Voyage
A Dying Sailor to His Shipmates
"Oh, wrap me in my country’s flag, and lay me in the cold blue sea
Let the roaring of the waves, my solemn requiem be
And I shall sleep a pleasant sleep, while storms above their vigils keep
My Captain brave shall read for me, the service of the silent dead
And yay shall lower me in the waves, when all the prayers are said
And I will find my long, long home, among the billows and the foam
Farewell my friends for many a league, we’ve sailed together on the deep
Come let us shake our hands, I’ll sail no more, but shipmates wear for weep
I’m bound above, my course is run
I near the port, my voyage is done"
Life is too short for sadness and unrest. The voyage that we get is made more interesting and wonderful by the people we are surrounded by, and those we invite into our lives. If we are very lucky, we get friends close enough to include in our families, and once in a great while someone gets close enough to understand you.
I lost someone in my life today. We weren't especially close, and we didn't spend a whole lot of time socially, but he was someone I considered a friend. And respected a great deal.
Thanks for being part of the crew, Robert.
Your Voyage is done...
10-7-10
"Oh, wrap me in my country’s flag, and lay me in the cold blue sea
Let the roaring of the waves, my solemn requiem be
And I shall sleep a pleasant sleep, while storms above their vigils keep
My Captain brave shall read for me, the service of the silent dead
And yay shall lower me in the waves, when all the prayers are said
And I will find my long, long home, among the billows and the foam
Farewell my friends for many a league, we’ve sailed together on the deep
Come let us shake our hands, I’ll sail no more, but shipmates wear for weep
I’m bound above, my course is run
I near the port, my voyage is done"
Life is too short for sadness and unrest. The voyage that we get is made more interesting and wonderful by the people we are surrounded by, and those we invite into our lives. If we are very lucky, we get friends close enough to include in our families, and once in a great while someone gets close enough to understand you.
I lost someone in my life today. We weren't especially close, and we didn't spend a whole lot of time socially, but he was someone I considered a friend. And respected a great deal.
Thanks for being part of the crew, Robert.
Your Voyage is done...
10-7-10
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Dream of the Raven's Gate II
Monday Still
The Darkness hissed from somewhere outside my ears, but my world grew still. Upwards and outwards, beyond all measure of my imaginational limits. From a blank canvas sprung the meadows and glades, while a breath of wind sweept the barley into a wave that carried lover's wishes away into the newly-formed azuline sky. All of this driven by my whim, my wish, my desire, my lust. But there was another side to this Dream World. And from the hissing the Darkness spat upon my painting, I felt the stirrings some where deep down of a creature I did not yet believe in. It's tentacled face blank and it's eyes closed still. Quietly, the Silver Key trembled in my grasp as the stirrings began.
A glorious sunny day opened before me. The wild creatures I had become accustomed to were there in abundance, as well as animals I did not recognize. Half-formed abominations that slunk away under shrubs I could not honestly identify. But this was MY world, and as such I expected that those unfamiliar things to be nothing more than fleeting memories from forgotten days. I turned around on the neatly groomed path upon which I stood to face her, suddenly there, and wearing the same squint I wore from the golden rays. Turning again to the path, I felt her gaze no more, and did not think twice until much later. "You must continue, Child" the Darkness whispered into me, "Don't stop there. Bring them here, you will see how much you missed them when you see them for yourself".
"Who? And What do I call you?"
"I am the ancient, and I am the sleepless. Call me what you will, but I call myself Karasu." I was shocked at the name. Karasu. The Raven. Where had I heard that before? The thought was hung there in my sleeping mind and I hoped I would remember to check when I woke from this slumber.
"Why won't you bring them here, to us? You know they want to be here, don't you? Bring them" Karasu seemed to writhe with anticipation. But still I knew not of what he spoke.
And the Silver Key trembled again.
Continued.
The Darkness hissed from somewhere outside my ears, but my world grew still. Upwards and outwards, beyond all measure of my imaginational limits. From a blank canvas sprung the meadows and glades, while a breath of wind sweept the barley into a wave that carried lover's wishes away into the newly-formed azuline sky. All of this driven by my whim, my wish, my desire, my lust. But there was another side to this Dream World. And from the hissing the Darkness spat upon my painting, I felt the stirrings some where deep down of a creature I did not yet believe in. It's tentacled face blank and it's eyes closed still. Quietly, the Silver Key trembled in my grasp as the stirrings began.
A glorious sunny day opened before me. The wild creatures I had become accustomed to were there in abundance, as well as animals I did not recognize. Half-formed abominations that slunk away under shrubs I could not honestly identify. But this was MY world, and as such I expected that those unfamiliar things to be nothing more than fleeting memories from forgotten days. I turned around on the neatly groomed path upon which I stood to face her, suddenly there, and wearing the same squint I wore from the golden rays. Turning again to the path, I felt her gaze no more, and did not think twice until much later. "You must continue, Child" the Darkness whispered into me, "Don't stop there. Bring them here, you will see how much you missed them when you see them for yourself".
"Who? And What do I call you?"
"I am the ancient, and I am the sleepless. Call me what you will, but I call myself Karasu." I was shocked at the name. Karasu. The Raven. Where had I heard that before? The thought was hung there in my sleeping mind and I hoped I would remember to check when I woke from this slumber.
"Why won't you bring them here, to us? You know they want to be here, don't you? Bring them" Karasu seemed to writhe with anticipation. But still I knew not of what he spoke.
And the Silver Key trembled again.
Continued.
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