The Plundering Tide

 
Freight cars rain
Scattering plumes
Rich, with lives well-squandered

As nightfall dwindles
Beneath their endless
Arching cries

There are no sirens
Only a great span of silence
And the plundering tide
Brought forth, by eager hands

Havoc ascends
In murderous clouds
Heaven-bent
For their heinous jobs well-done

As tattered lives
Cleave to vengeance
Simmering with the hatred
Of legions, floundering
Within the waves of grief  

A Traitor's Thoughts

 
I bear traitorous thoughts
In the sneering eyes
Of swift passersby

One glance
One quick swill
Is all
That is truly required

To retain the entire narrative
Of a turncoat’s cowardice
Yearning, to revise skin

I hold traitorous thoughts
Earlobes that quake
To mankind’s
Every tune

My words blossom
True to their own flair
Instilled, with their own customs
That singe away, at timid hearts

I hold treacherous thoughts
That lead frail minds
Through a maze
Of unending distress

Block by Block

 
It was
The fuming carcass
Rusted with passing time

Where scores weaved
Thoughtlessly
Beneath its crumbling stature

Cowering
Drew death ever-closer
Within the clutches
Of concrete misfortune

It neared without a sound
Unsparing
Sly and callous

Like a maiden
On the prowl
Seductively
Swaying with malice

Block by block
It all tolled the same
With selfish reveries
Billowing, heaven-bound

Preserve yourself
Was the endless scream
Heard from each shade
Of wayward sons

Regard your own
Was the bell’s daily toll
A cause, hoisted high
A beacon for every
Child of squalor

The Quiet Earth

 
Will the world hoist high
Its shredded banners?
Raised proudly to waft
In the foul gusts of war
Once again

For our corners of home
For the gallant forebears
That stormed sure and bold

Carnage prevails
Time after time
And no one dares recall
Never sparing a second of remorse

When the winds howl
In the final uprooting
Will clarity taunt
Our fleeting cries?

A quieter earth shall turn
In spite of
The many that were  

True to Their Silence

 
Placid grey waters
Mimic the sullen clouds
Swallowed
By the unending chorus
Of mankind’s inner strife

They’ve grown cold
Dormant and silent
Never sparing an instant
Of pigment or sound

As young and old
Carry on
Hopeful for the rays
With eyes stern and vigilant

For just one strand
One glimmering
Shred of hope

Yet the seas remain
True to their silence
Sealed until the hour
Our anguish
Is torn asunder

The Triumphant Slaughter

 
Our blind firing floods
The hull of our vessel
Until the hour
We topple over

Shell casings
Butchery
And all

Crude yearnings
Billow high and thick
Coiling the flare
Of panoramic daybreak

Yet sirens mourn
Untiring
Ever-vigilant, proud and shrill

Mountains of white
Shall surely triumph
As stoic remains
Of the blissful life that was

Unconscious

 
I’ve seen them before
Those scarred sandy roads
The endless trails
Of discarded youth

Withdraw
Withdraw
Safety, dwells within

Familiar words
Singe heartlessly
As burrowing vermin
I’ll harbor day to day

Withdraw
Withdraw
Safety, rings true within

Home falls desolate
A spanning desert of peril
Where slews scour hopeful
To reap the scraps not wanted

Withdraw
Withdraw
True bliss remains within

Yet it all grows so immense
And to withdraw
Means certain death

A Matriarch's Greif

Far too soon
Their worlds fray and split
Their firm soil, given way to the mighty deep
As the bitterness of greif creeps within them
Nestled inside every nerve
Pulsating luminous, as the cruel remnants of sorrow

Far too soon
Their eyes fall crimson
Soaked in anguish, shuttering and cringing
Breathless and frozen
Their heartache suspends them
As they turn away, binding themselves
In exile from sufferage, and the surge of utter loss

Far too soon
Sons wither and falter
Their sisters consumed, with a volley of hellfire
Within a mother’s chambers, their faces cry vendetta
Yet her intuitions cry forgiveness
To mend the ever-growing chasm of despair

But far too soon
Our memories dissipate
Stolen by the trivial
Squandered on the greedy
And their mal intent

I wrote this back in July after the shooting at the movie theater in Colorado. I decided to post it in light of recent events. I hope everyone is doing well this evening, and if you should decide to go out tonight, then please stay safe.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/guardian-of-the-inkwell/id584542847?mt=11