I stood and watched
The distant stars
Appear at my doorstep
Welcoming them in
I enquired how the journey
From the farthest far was
Their memories were still fresh
But unfathomable for
A being just like me
With such a paucity of wit
However, I was willing to learn
I yearned for knowledge
They quietly understood
And led me away
To further my education.
The words we’ve learnt are never enough
Language comes up short every time
A paucity of terms for all our feelings
A weakness in letters drags us down
The silence between means much more
Than the ideas loudly spoken
Subtleties, we fail to see them
Prefering to see generalities,
Only the outer skin not the inner being,
Feelings, thoughts, and fears.
We are more complicated,
More nuanced than our lazy minds will admit,
Than our shallow thoughts will allow.
What right do we have to justify our decisions?
Decisions that affect the lives of others
Are they deceptions of ourselves or do we freely deceive the other?
Are we manipulators of the highest order or empathic at our core?
Do we ask for atonement or proceed blindly and unfeelingly onward?
Does time heal our guilt?
Do we dream an alternate reality to appease our mental strife?
A reign of serenity
Breaks the monopoly
Of the monotony
A deafening quiet
Eating a diet
Of disturbing riot
A relinquished life
Ending the strife
Of the dull cutting knife
A silent chord
That rings in my ears
Dives into my soul
Drives away all my fears
A silent word
That means all to me
Flies into my heart
Cries out loud to be free
A silent horde
That bears down on me
Creeps into my thoughts
Drips blood so easily.
My mise-en-scène baffles you
Misunderstanding all you have before your eyes
With eyes wide open, but still blind and unseeing
Your body reflects the lack of insight
With bruises and blood
Where enlightenment should be
It’s a performance for the unknowing
A show for the ignorant
But if the questions do not exist
Then, the incomprehension remains
Intact to the core
Never flinching or shrinking
A concrete block inert and inane.
A whispering wind
Blows through the strait
An age old wanderer
Sighs at the fleeting tantrum
Time resistant waves
Ebb and flow along the coast
The ships sail no more
Firmly tied to the shore
Anchored to the war
Chained to the sea floor.
I sought an ideal
Something on which to cling
It became a slippery slope
A faded broken thing.
A tired, fractured hand
No longer able to hold
That initial flight of fancy
Now left broken and cold.
A-wandering I will go
The blooms around me
Follow my every hesitant step
A foetal-like pose
Protects me in faintest hours
When I am not strong
And the ways very long
Stretch out to reach the end of days
A long dreadful grasp into the unknown
I have known so very little
Have learnt what I can
Growing each moment
And shrivelling the next
Attaining a mountain prize
Delivering my dream
To earthly surrounds
Spreading my roots
Everywhere myself I see
But nowhere am I seen
It’s a beautiful chaos
Living invisibly.
