Friday, November 30, 2007

Abuse

Dullness sat behind those eyes
Where once there was a shine of delight in life
Rage rose behind the pitch in that voice
Hands were no longer the tapered fingers of a guitar player
But balled up fists
Black colors where once there had been rainbows
I would have left long ago
Flight or fight had been beaten out of me
The certainty of a hunt
A rabbit going to ground
The slaps, and punches, and pushes
Welts, smacks, black-eyes, burns, swollen cheeks, ...
Just always short of breaks
Solid objects on soft flesh
Dummy, stupid, ugly, fat, useless, whore, idiot, liar, ...
Words
Hot breath with scalding sounds
I put myself between those fists and our children
Tears only private in the daytime
Unspoken knowledge when I’m alone
The facade of doorways
And my own ineptitude
Wide-eyed deer eyes that someone would find out
Until the night I shot him

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Delicate, Strong, Enduring

She enters the room after the storm
Soft petals swirl in the wind with the smooth side down

A butterfly touches down on the flower
There is no weight, the petals do not move
It tastes the nectar, lightly
The flower faces the sun
Warming to the day that it has
The butterfly goes as it came
Almost un-noticed
The furnace heats the metal glowing hot
Huge monster munching jaws pound the near molten mettle
With each deafening sound the steel grows stronger
Until is cooling steel blue-gray sheen
Rolls out reaching a tensile strength
To become the skeleton for skyscrapers
That rock had shaped the flow of the river
But the river had shaped the rock
What was once just part of the river bed
Now stood an island in its stream
How long seemed forever in geolithic times

In a flash, these were the images in his mind
That shone from his eyes to her damp moist orbs
Delicate, strong, enduring,
He whispered his love you in her ears
And the storm would pass for now

Monday, November 26, 2007

Another Side of Epic (coda)

One story’s ending is another’s beginning
What tale there is, was told
But Cykles and old Moss, like the stranger, Death, knew
Life tolls no bell at its end
The rivulets that ran red soak into the ground
And one’s death does not define one’s life
It’s the living of it that does
No one but perhaps save Lord Kyryn believed that Mydaefandymn
Would leave now that the task was done
Old Moss shook his head as he turned to walk back
To his house in the tree
He had seen the future of suffering in the flames of the morning’s light
And smelled the burning flesh and wood
Cykles found the boy and hoped to change one mind
At a time
As was passed to him would he pass down
And hope for the best after
The lifeless lost their lovers, daughters and sons their fathers,
Wives their husbands, and parents their sons
Pride was not measured but the stains on the swords
The winner one day was food for the crows the next
But each day, each hour is all that we may have
What small precious stones that build upon each other?
What collections of mammal hair spun into our garments?
Choosing between red and white and black
We set the fabric on the loom and select the threads
This tale is done, the event is complete
The killings not stopped, nor our minds free from grief
Each of our clothes are stained and none a single color
It’s our next thread that counts

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Another Side of Epic (part 9)

They had forded the Forth
The ferrymen’s boats had been loaded to the gunnels
With men-at-arms
They took what they needed as they went along
The days were short of light and the weather remained cold and damp
The hore-frost had killed what was left afield
But meat for them remained plenty
Anything that was grazing ended as spit-roasted
Old Moss felt what was afoot and traveled the distance from
His tree to the hills above the coast
He hoped against his good sense to help Lord Kyryn
Keep his lands from forever famine of spirit
The boy was squire to King’s nephew Wyllse mac Googan
The flank commander
Googan had been a champion of the King’s father
He struck fear in opponents with his site and roar
Wyllse was known to drink from the skulls of his defeated
Capturing their spirits forever in his blood
This gave him the strength and endurance of many
His prowess with bow was swift and deadly
Mydaefandynm's numbers crested the coastal hills as the low sun
Peaked over the water
Halkoc and his sailors saw a double rise that cold life-less morning
They prepared
Mydaefandynm set his camp
I want many fires tonight, set one for each three men
Set their fears afire as well
All that short day preparations were made for the coming battle
Neither side would take ransoms
It would be till the end
Lord Kyryn’s men were held back
They were only to be used in pursuit not for the main event
That evening the fires raged as the harriers seethed
We go at just after the moon crests, we will catch them unawares
They wait until dawn, they’ll be souls by then
Three to a flame
The boy walked up to the fire of Wyllse to warm himself
Nasty business, huh boy?
Yes sire, they will be carrion by the dawn, the crows will eat well
Old Moss and a distant cloked stranger watched
As the stars did their dance in the night sky
And hills burned and came alive moving towards the coast
Mydaefandymn took the lead leaving the fires licking at the night
The advance men had slit the throats of any outlieing dragonship guards
When the village was surrounded, Mydaefandymn gave the yell
What battle there was, was over quickly
Almost all of the exchanges were one-sided
Aethelrodmyd cut a swath through men with a whistling sword
Sending heads flying to his left and right
He didn’t even need to change his charge from edge to edge
Wyllse met him on the sand with little but blood on his own person
There were no terms but death
Halkoc lost his life as he stood up to reach for his shield
There were no differences between sailors and farmers
All that stood were put to the blade
The ground ran red and was littered with head-less bodies
Short and board swords dripped
The ships were loaded, doused and set aflame
Now Mydaefandymn saw a double fire rise
Kyryn’s pleasure was not mirrored in the eyes of the two others who saw
The dual burnings
The only booty that Mydaefandymn choose were weapons, land, and tribute
Kyryn could keep the grain, his people would be fed

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Another Side of Epic (part 8)

Aethelrodmyd sat as the man wearing cloth spoke
He'd done his deed dealing with traitors whose heads
Had rolled to the wall
Words had no meaning and he eat his meat
Smashing the glowing rock into pieces was a trick
He could do it with his sword
The only skills were with dirk, axe, bow, sword, and targe
Cykles entered into the low smoky light
Holding his hand open
As you would for a dog to smell so that they knew you
Were friendly
He never felt the weight of the air
Each of you are a shard or stand in the twine of the rope
Together you are as strong as a pull
You can create the good for all
Build and hold the fabric of life to grow
Teach and instruct the young, instill with great deeds
End your killing and turn that energy into light
As I’ve given each of you the crystal
He streached out his arms and the stones began to glow
The harriers held their tongues until he finished
They began low, and then howled with laughter
We are not schoolers, we are warriors
Mydaefandynm's few words told all
The men pounded the table with delight in this sport
The future of the ground beneath their feet would not grow green
But red
Cykles knew that the twin stairs leading down into the dark depths of madness
Were memories and regrets
This night would not shine with knowledge
He walked out through the door he had entered
Into the murky darkness

Monday, November 19, 2007

Hi All

Well, I guess this is the new home... After I accomplish a few other things, I will take up the mantle again and post my finished "Another Side of Epic". Thanks for putting this one together Shirley. You're always trying to provide the rest of us a great place to be.