Don't hurry, it's just a game.
Shhh don't run, I'll name the pain.
Pay attention now. No, look here,
That's it, I'll make it clear.

Shhh don't run, I'll name the pain.
No, don't panic, there is nothing to gain.
Slow your heart down, listen.
Are you comfortable in that position?
Ahhhhh I gotcha now,
You can wipe that sweat off your brow.
But don't tell anyone,
It's just part of the fun.

Just listen to my voice,
I'll take away the need for choice.
Shhh don't run. I'll name the pain.

The sleeper must awaken a message I was told,
From a book that in bold
told me to beware of deceptions, traditions and an 'old man'
To beware of those would take you, use you just for a scam
to support their world, another human pillar to say 'good job (it's just their plan).

They don't care,
a fake smile they wear,
As long as what they want they get,
They'll say anything I won't bet.
The old man gets his fix,
but they'll look for other tricks.
Munch, munch munch.

ADVERSITY

Aren’t we sometimes
left trembling from storms?
if we wait
silent
listening
for faith
peace returns.

The storm descends
overpowering uprooting
but in its aftermath
I am peaceful
I hear a birdsong

a psalm.

Usurper: Wow! Now that has a definite catch to it! I love it!

by yours truly

Devil's children, how they play
Gossip, scratch & bite all day
Frothing, foaming, filled with pain
From bitter lust they can't refrain

Oh what joy to live in hope
And not like those who blindly grope
Who seek in envy to destroy
This gift from God, this blessed joy

Closer, now, I draw to You
With gentle warmth & love so true
And though the black-eyed demons hiss
Our Love is sealed with holy kiss

by yours truly

Stranded in this Universe
Could be better, but how worse?
Why did mother give me nurse?
Such a curse, such a curse

Stranded on this desert Earth
Wretched, foul, untimely birth!
Where’s the laughter, where’s the mirth?
Worthless sham, for what it’s worth

Stranded in this withered Land
Damn the rainbow, damn the Hand
That first helped this bleak soul to stand
First undone and then un-manned

Stranded on this strangled Shore
Neptune gloats, then shrieks for more
How I abhor, o how abhor
This sunken world with no back-door

Stranded in this barren Home
Read the transcript, scan the tome!
Wherein the shameless gods do roam
And spit their drool like febrile foam

Stranded in this hell of Hells
Curse the split-tongued wedding-bells!
Curse the rivers, curse the dells
And bless the caverns, bless the wells

Stranded in this darkling Space
Where to find a human face
In this ill-begotten Race?
Full of mischief, void of grace

Stranded on this wasted Waste
Made in haste, yes made in haste!
How I pine for just a taste
Of something sacred, someone chaste

Stranded in this tortured Mind
Hoping, ‘gainst all hope, to find
Just one cloud that’s silver-lined
Just one touch not cruel but kind

Stranded in this woeful Fate
Unquenched hunger is my Mate
Sick of smiles that come too late
Sick of ‘kindness’ laced with hate

Stranded in this lifeless Life
I raise the blade, I clutch the knife
For all’s against me, all is strife
And Pain’s my sister, Death my wife

Stranded on this gulf Alone
It chills the marrow in the bone
How can God in truth atone
For every slight and every groan?

by Rudyard Kipling

A fool there was and he made his prayer
(Even as you and I!)
To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair
(We called her the woman who did not care),
But the fool he called her his lady fair
(Even as you and I!)

Oh the years we waste and the tears we waste
And the work of our head and hand,
Belong to the woman who did not know
(And now we know that she never could know)
And did not understand.

A fool there was and his goods he spent
(Even as you and I!)
Honor and faith and a sure intent
But a fool must follow his natural bent
(And it wasn't the least what the lady meant),
(Even as you and I!)

Oh the toil we lost and the spoil we lost
And the excellent things we planned,
Belong to the woman who didn't know why
(And now we know she never knew why)
And did not understand.

The fool we stripped to his foolish hide
(Even as you and I!)
Which she might have seen when she threw him aside --
(But it isn't on record the lady tried)
So some of him lived but the most of him died --
(Even as you and I!)

And it isn't the shame and it isn't the blame
That stings like a white hot brand.
It's coming to know that she never knew why
(Seeing at last she could never know why)
And never could understand.

MindyzTaken: *melt* Thank you baby.

Usurper: AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO AWESOME!!!!!!!! WOW!

I was looking at the clouds on a Winter's day
I was thinking how the world has lost its way
How we play an empty game and how we think we're free
How we lie about the truth and the Misery

I was standing in the middle of a pouring rain
I was seeing how there's nothing in this life but pain
How we spend our days within an empty shell
How we dream of Heaven, how we're born in Hell

I can see into the city, I can see the mud
I can see the dirty faces, they are covered in blood
I can see the devil's hunger in the business man
I can feel the thirsty hunger all through this Land

I was blinded by a vision of the world-to-be
I was thinking of a Life that can never be
I was hoping for a place of security
I was sinking in the sand of Reality

But I know there must be some escape, a tunnel through the slime
I'm tired of watching all the rape, I'm sick of seeing all the crime
I've gazed along the open shore, I've looked within my darkest dreams
I've searched my soul to find a door, I must get out by any means

And I'm going over...I'm going over...yes I'm going over

The Edge

I was swirling in the center of a raging flood
I was coughing up the mucus and the slimy blood
I could feel the awful hatred in the angry sky
I could see the naked truth behind the endless Lie

How we spit upon the weak and how we praise the strong
How we trample on the right and how we bless the wrong
How we gave our souls to Satan, how we laughed with glee
When we finally saw the Lord hanging on that Tree

I am sick of living in a world filled with spite
I am sick of utter darkness, this eternal Night
I am fed up with the Dream and the Fantasy
I am fed up with the whole damn thing, you see

A Storm is coming and its gonna be an evil day
The water's rising, gonna wash your hopes away
The wind is blowing, gonna rip right through your head
The devil's smirking 'cause he knows you're already Dead

But I know there must be some escape, a tunnel to the Light
I think I've found a better way, I'm giving up this worthless fight
I've gazed along the open shore, I've looked into the land of Love
I've searched my soul to find a door, I've gazed into the stars above

And I'm going over...I'm going over...yes I'm going over

The Edge

(originally posted here on 2. September 2003, 12:42:49)

Seated in my study dreaming, all the air about me teeming,
Images of lost years streaming, broken strands of yesterday –
Through the pane comes moonlight gleaming on my face, O ever seeming
To intrude with clever scheming, secrets hid in every ray –
Might there be a cryptic meaning in this strange, unearthly play
Shining o’er this brittle clay?

Outside my door the wild wind sleeps ‘neath dusky sky and western steeps –
Succumbs the Summer; Winter creeps into my sanctuary –
Into my blood dejection seeps as ‘round a nook a lorn eye peeps,
And sorrow rises from the deeps to clothe this sad-eyed Fairy –
The silence moans, the twilight weeps, and all the world’s contrary –
Lost ghosts glide o’er the prairie.

In the gloaming, beyond the coast, there march the souls I treasure most;
Beneath the crescent moon a hoste of warriors in the fleeting day –
Of treasures lost I surely boast and place my name upon the Post
Which stands like some unliving ghost upon the edge of my dismay –
I lift the glass and make the toast to ghosts whom I would fain belay –
Old soldiers lost in the fray.

Some ghosts are living, some are gone to hollow holes in lands unknown
Where starlight gleams as cold as stone and black-eyed demons bar the gate –
A curse it is to be alone, lost in that chilling, timeless Zone
Where ev’ry echo is a groan against the calloused hands of Fate –
There is, in sooth, cause to bemoan a Cosmos laid on slabs of hate,
Whose Lord I dare to inculpate.

My ancestors were men of steel and to them now I must appeal,
For though they’ve passed, they are more real than far-fetch’d gods of make-believe –
O shadows flee! O Satan reel! before whose throne all cowards kneel –
I’ll make no parleys, strike no deal, nor let my mind his lies deceive –
Let others yield, their hearts congeal – I’ll never give nor ask reprieve,
Though he doth my soul bereave.

Father, you have gone to the grave, that mystic realm, that far enclave
Where all my future hopes once clave, while still I searched for the Grail –
The Earth takes back what once she gave no matter how we fret or rave,
And what is free she’ll soon enslave and lead along the ancient trail –
Wash now my heart, my spirit lave! O Goddess underneath the Veil –
‘Gainst thee I shall never rail!

I’ve surely lived in Hell-bent haste, as if there were no time to waste –
Each moment might have been encased, and here the pain of loss allay –
But she beckoned, so I raced until I had myself out-paced,
And left my heart and mind un-braced for dark emotions long at bay –
With sadness now my soul is laced in mounting grief too great to weigh –
Against myself I must inveigh.

Riding now on wave-upon-wave, plunging into the nethermost cave,
Where music swells my soul doth crave, once more my heart to impale –
For though I be so bold, so brave, I’m still in truth a simple slave
Who clings to chains within this Nave to withstand the bitter gale –
I cannot walk the path I pave, nor can I gaze beyond the pale –
To be mortal is to fail.

I summon ghosts from far and near to muster hope and withstand fear,
But ofttimes shed a lonely tear while gazing into the Past –
Too long! too long! those voices dear have failed to grace this yearning ear,
And phantoms vanish while I peer into the dismal gloom so vast –
No ripple on the haunted mere reveals the anchor vainly cast –
I am left alone at last.

O come, bright Maiden, lithe and fair, and guide me to thy hidden lair –
For I am yours, I now declare, against impossibility –
Entwine me in thy silver hair and lift the burden I can’t bear,
As I ascend the arcane stair into thy dark tranquility –
I’ll sit beside thee in thy chair and praise thy high facility –
Blessed rare ability!

A puff of smoke, a sip of wine preserve my memories in brine,
And I take oath: I will be thine, O Maiden fair, O spectral Dame –
Take I this Vision for a sign that you, my Lady, will be mine;
Upon thy breast I shall recline, and lay to rest this mortal frame –
Be thou my Love, my true Ensign, for never will I be the same –
My Love, what is thy name?

Now darkness falls, the Vision’s fled – I must bestir myself to bed,
Content to know my soul is wed to the Sylph of my delusion –
For though my Angel now is dead, when all is done and all is said,
She ever lives within my head, and all else is confusion –
These ghosts are rather real instead, and this is my conclusion –
Dare not call it Illusion!

*edited to remove a remark here at poem's end

It was too dark so I kindled a candle.
We were the shadows cast on the wall,
doing their incomprehensible dance.
The night was so long
that the wax in the candle ran out,
but we were not lost in the darkness
because that seemingly endless night
you made fireflies spring from my body.

You were the dream of my hot summer nights,
that dream that came like unexpected rain.
You were the zenith of my rising sun
and the gentle glow of my midnight moon.

Every night your hands left their mark on me
like your feet leave their steps etched in the sand.
Deep in my sleep I would hear your soft voice;
a whisper to wake me in the darkness.

Your warm skin felt delicate against mine.
Your fragrant hair filled my nights with delight.
I imbibed everything wholesome from you.

You were my strength, like the sun is the strength
of trees and mountains. You were my freedom,
like the wind is the freedom of all birds.

William Wordsworth

Usurper: Nice to see some humour on this board! lol
Thanks Greg!

LL @ Usurper Hey you hillbilly!!

I'm a pipe pipe pipe pipe pipe puffin' man
And I puff puff puff it when I can
And it's pipe-puffin' pipe-puffin' time again

So I clean it up & I blow it out
And I'd rather be puffin' than watch Jackie Chan
As only a pipe-puffin' puffin' man can

So I pack it full & I light it up
And I take me a puff like a pipe-puffin' man
An' I reckon that makes me a pipe-puffin' fan

I'm a coffee-drinking kind of man
And I drink it whenever I can
And it's coffee-drinking time again
And I drink it right out of the pan
And I'm such a big coffee fan
Though I never liked Duran Duran
I'm just a coffee-drinking kind of man