Beware!

Beware!

A stab that went too deep
A wound never healed.
A thought that took life
though born in the gutter.
A look that could kill
sprung to life through strife.
A mind given to impressions
warped, twisted, diseased.
A word uttered without thought
leaves chaos in its wake,
destruction felt through the ages,
sails torn,
courses diverted
forever.
That decisive act
borne of confidence
shatters the timid,
annihilates the unprepared.

Beware!

What you thought was carefully crafted
falls down - 
dominos poorly stacked.
The plans you fashioned
on the backs of others
spins, attacks and devours
you.
That victory today celebrated today
tomorrow the foundation of your shipwreck.

Beware of the tide
and where it may lead,
down highways and byways
that bring you to your knees.

Crazy Bud

Crazy Bud

Look at you!
Wow!
Is that you?
Really you?
Well well well
you really made it
didn't you?
You did the impossible - 
but you're crazy after all.

An embryo too tightly wound
to show the beauty you carried
axil fragile
likely to break
but you held on
stubbornly.
You had no power to conquer the mind
but you wait to conquer the heart.
Though you came in slow
your growth was sure
and so we waited
and look!
Here you are.
No resting bud 
are you
to be deceived by the coming cold
you fought through storm and sleet
to whorl most boldly.

You did your best
passed all your tests
and trials
to bloom 
and strike 
and die
to make way for another,
someday.

Would You Take It?

W0uld you take the road less travelled even if you had to leave everyone and everything you know? Would it be enough that this is what you are meant to do? Or would you huddle in fear of the unknown? These are some questions that we may be confronted with when we have to take the unpopular route. Those roads that make us more uncomfortable but in conquering offers redemption. We have to consider if the risk is worth pursuing something that has the possibility of so much loss. But when we must choose, which road will it be…

The Road Not Taken
                       by Robert Frost


Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Ordinaryville

Ordinaryville

Here things are quite slow,
good?
the rush of excitement
from doing something great!
does not exist here.
You will find no perfection
only the ordinary.
There is no excitement going off
at all hours of the day.
There is nothing life changing,
just 
life 
changing
day by day.
Here
there are many cracks
many broke things
yet - 
you will find neither cracked nor broken souls
just people living.
There is no perfect angle
of yourself
just yourself
as you are.
You will find survivors
without the fairytale ending
death is real
and the dying necessary.
there are less insta happy
more gratihappy.
No svelte form to hide the horrors
that this world can inflict.
The living has been transformed
by wind, rain, heat and snow -
all intrude 
and we must concede.
We have enough control,
to survive for as long as our time here allows
then we must go
move on from this town
to find our next home.

Change Your Conversation

Change Your Conversation


I'm not leaving until you bless me...

I will fight 
fight
fight till I die.
I'm not gonna leave
until I change my life.
No more will I hide in this cave
too weak to breathe
too weak to live.
No more in the shadows 
I will not be ashamed.
I look to the east 
I see my sunrise
like a lion I will roar
for  the sake of my life.
I will break 
the wall that I hate
I will not listen to your blasphemy.

Get up!
We must get up!
Leave the places I have walked so many times
leave the circle I keep walking.
I cannot stay
any longer
I must go!
I must move the stone
roll it away
to come out of my cave.
Just a splash of vinegar
will clean the palate
remove the mucus of discord.
I will sit still and talk no more
the same story of old.
I will not be the way I was - 
changed -
I have been given a new vision.
The path I walk
I walk not by sight....
though dark and cold
- at times -
I move forward.
Though I see other travellers
I cannot stop.
I cannot stop to talk
I have a new mission.
Like a caul 
I am covered with my purpose,
I must walk tall.
My way is filled with traps
but I must be nimble.
I must make it to the other side
so I must leave you all behind.
No I will 
never to come this way again.

But if I do...
it is only to remind me that I was you.


I will Feed You

I will Feed You

I see you
struggle to make ends meet.
I hear you cry
in pain, scarred and battered.
Shattered by disappointment
you lay prone
borken.
I smell all the anxiety pouring out of you
boring a river of gloom.
I taste your fear
as it jumps out of your chest 
and attempt to cut you down
to nothing.
I feel your roughed form
deformed 
twisted into a million shapes
as you try to fit into those tight spaces.

Here let me feed you
a bone broth of optimism - 
you have a future.
No storm can get you here
no drought shall find you dry
empty.
When your tears flow
enough to drown ten thousand
I will send out the rainbows
to remind you of the promise.
When you think your are empty
you will be filled,
nourished for life.

I will remind you to keep going
keep living 
keep being.
I will be there when you reach far enough
dig deep enough.
I will be the gratitude
that feeds your optimism.

Can You Change the World?

I thought I never wanted to change the world, until my eyes, my heart and my mind were opened to what the world is really like. But then I looked at my own condition and felt defeated. Can I really change the world, when I cannot see beyond my own condition? Here is a poem by an unknown monk – this is largely speculation – that may cause you to think differently about how and even if that is possible…

I Wanted To Change The World
Unknown Monk 1100 A.D.

When I was a young man, 
I wanted to change the world.

I found it was difficult to change the world, 
so I tried to change my nation.

When I found I couldn't change the nation,
 I began to focus on my town.
 I couldn't change the town and as an older man, 
I tried to change my family.

Now, as an old man, 
I realize the only thing I can change is myself,
 and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself,
 I could have made an impact on my family. 
My family and I could have made an impact on our town. 
Their impact could have changed the nation
 and I could indeed have changed the world.