Bare bones in paradise

A kingdom of glass, of lightning-flame forged

in towering ascension

Hauntingly flickering, as a rock-solid specter

from wayward dimensions

Translucent spires with spear-cutting peaks

and tinged with red

Flying buttresses mounted astride earthy dark

in this home of the dead

Death whispering soft, cold air rushing past

in unseen icy streams

Luring us deeper into the velvet abyss

of unrested dreams

Kingdom and castle, buttress and spire,

ever-growing in size

Feeding on life-blood of unborn ambition

unto its very demise

Dreams be alive and live to be murdered

in an agony of neglect

Glass kingdoms blooming on the dry, bleached bones

of a dreamer-elect

Fragile yet strong, remaining vast unbroken

though pierced through

by beaten bloody fists of one suffering soul

ever and anew

A ruby streaked tower, beautiful, terrible,

a reminder to say

A dreamer may dream by night, but we claim

his dream for the day.

Let me tell you..

There's reason and then there's Reason,
may often be confused.
To do so is close to treason
and is vehemently refused.
reasons are excuses clothed
in logical disguise
while Reason is the nervous
brain's ultimate surprise
Reason is the reason that
we do the things we do
At least, that's what we Reason,
though true it is for few.
The reason for this Reason
is still mysterious
since Reason Reasoning itself
is a bit precarious!
And so it is that Science
of Reason's praises sings
and learns reasoned Reason,
Reasonable reasons...and things.

Whose fault?

Pointing fingers, walkways lined
with grim and iron faces
Truth and law shall be defined
in a hundred painful paces.
Judgements made by righteous minds
of socially deemed elite
While bruised and battered a victim torn
onward drags his feet
Hateful hate in his blood-drip
falling to the dust
Beast-touched in eye and tongue
walks on, as he must
Yet pitiful this last long slog
broken, lost, forsaken
Will not live to see the day
if day should yet awaken
Whispers down the watching hush
of desperate, unquenched need
Driving bruised and battered men to
the unforgiven deed
A vulture circles in the air
wings leaden with Blame
swooping, diving, everywhere
finds they're all the same
Guilt, black guilt, oozing through
every step that's taken
seeks and probes at every soul
and Faith may yet be shaken
Doubt colors living breath
but voices still be hushed
None will dare, they're all aware
rebellion's swiftly crushed.
And still he bleeds his broken path
now that he's begun
Perhaps right, perhaps wrong
but this one death is certain
Dust in blood, blood in dust
soon this life will fade
Torn and broken, bloodied and beaten
to rest he will be laid

but.....no rest for doubt and fear
and no rest for the tyrant spear

Fear in the walkways lined
with grim and iron faces
as Truth and Law will face the test
in his hundred paces.

Flying

Steel bird steel bird with sky high dreams
wending dark ways to the guiding beam
Lightless, less light, wind all 'round
Cloud-dark, earth-dark, billowing sound
Distant pinpricks catching the eye

Stiff back, nose down, gravity defy

Steady 'cline down in a sweeping grand

to rivers of sparkle in an ocean of land

Glitter and shine, ripple and gleam

Living, breathing light in pulsing streams
Closer and closer with swooping flight
twinkling shards to chaos bright
in sight. In mind
deep thoughts blinking in the murky deep
like little green lights at the bottom of the sea.

Vic-toe-reee

The open sky is alive,
with winds and gales,
to tease the waters into a fight.
Tries and tries, but fails.
Sheets of grey ruffled
into rifts of white and blue
Yet still and calm, beneath,
as if they never knew
what the wind was up to.
He huffs and puffs, that wind,
trees swaying in dismay,
"whiss whiss whiss," they wonder,
"what shall come of this day?"
Sands of the bank in a flurry,
flitter, fwoosh and fall
beseeching the water to give way
to the wind's mighty squall.
A steady wave of refusal
arises from the deep,
washes over the shivering banks,
puts flittering fear to sleep.
And yet the wind is raging
and restless mountains dream
of vanishing to pebble and dust
in the racing swooping scream.
The world all a-tremble,
yet the wind will not concede.
Pleas for mercy in the air
and water pays no heed
Until.......
Suddenly things are quiet
wind gone, water serene
the battle seeming done
but whose is vic-toe-reee?

Pain will out

Smiling for the world
is hurt I can stand
no more.
Sick of the hidden truth,
the rivers of guilt that flow.
Always a deep undercurrent
of resentment.
No more.
Snarling darkness held still
by bonds of inadequacy.
Always the inferiority,
words like darts, piercing,
no more.
Call it evil, if you will,
I care not for names.
Rising above the clacking
of tongues magnified a thousandfold,
I hold myself in
no more.

Writing at 2 am

Consequences are a must. Without consequences we would never know why we do what we do, or do what we don't or don't do what we should. The most important thing (or is it a phenomenon?) that keeps you and me and that fella over there from roaming around aimlessly with blank faces is...consequence. So that's settled then.

Some things have hidden consequences, they jump out at you at unexpected moments and give you one heck of a crick in the neck from trying to turn it so fast. If they came slower then they'd sneak up on you anyway but you could probably avoid the crick. One category of consequences that does almost always give you a crick in the neck is the consequences of allowing some person the privilege of being a part of your life. Of course, they may not see it as a privilege, neither may you for that matter, but that really isn't something to be quibbling over at this time and I would thank you not to waste valuable time (yours and, much more important perhaps, mine) by bringing it up at all. Yes, I brought it up, but only to make sure you wouldn't. Moving on.

When you let a person into your life in any category, or classification or whatever way of segregation you may lean towards making, the immediate consequence of this action is the building up (like rot in the woodwork) of expectation. Expectations of various degrees and levels come up as time passes and finally, given the relationship lasts that long, they all stand together like a gigantic edifice in which the souls involved in building it themselves fear to tread. Further consequence, the expector (being a a word invented to encompass the one who expects) is then constantly critically evaluating the expectee (being a word invented to encompass the one of whom it is expected) in all his/her actions. Both the people in any kind of relationship are, of course, both expector and expectee, save those rare gifted individuals who are neither.

All goes well if the circle of cause and consequence stops here. At this point it is interesting to comment that each cause truly being the consequence of another cause which in itself was a consequence in the first place, what we really have is a little Rattus norvegicus of consequences chasing its own consequency tail.

If the circle of consequence and consequence (this having been firmly established in the previous sentence, read it again if you must) does not stop there, the rapport between the two persons involved is likely to degenerate into a sort of lurking injured demeanor which is to the disadvantage of both. In other words, the Rattus norvegicus is now prone to aggressively biting its tail (harder each time). This sounds pretty bad but it can get worse if one, or both, members of the bond insist on piling on more expectations, requests, pleas and dependencies. At this stage one could say that our R.norvegicus is now being diagnosed as rabid and is soon to suffer a painful slow death or, alternatively, be quickly relieved of life by dint of a broken neck. Sad indeed.

If you're thinking that expectations mean only what you expect the party of the second part to do for you then you are sadly mistaken. They also include (but are not limited to) what you expect your place to be in the part of the second part's life and what you expect to have expected of you. As meaningless as that last part seems, think about it, it's really the part which most often causes trouble. Oh yes.

Now we come to the nub, as it were, of the matter, where we give solutions to the existential problems so far discussed. Pearls of wisdom, children, so listen carefully.



Firstly, the key to healthy personal relationships is to have both sides furnishing that towering castle of expectations at regular intervals, with fixed amounts, and with neither party ever exceeding the amount being furnished by the other. How this is to be managed, as many of you are no doubt clamouring to know, is not within the purview of this particular pearl of wisdom. Figure it out yourself.



Secondly, the key to keeping your Rattus norvegicus healthy and rabies-free is to give it regular immunization shots and keep it away from those vicious sewer rats. I'm not saying they all have rabies, but it's better to be on the safe side.



Lastly, the key to an consequence-free existence is, clearly, to not exist in the first place.