Category: Poetry

A Lament for Poets; 2016

The poor old woman lifted up her voice again,

“The fowler had taken all the blackbirds away—

“They all were gone, and I knew not to where.

“I looked for them; truly I did.

 

“There was one I saw several decades ago

“But he had flown far away; the Skylarks

“Such pretty voice, yet also very common,

“Now warble their tunes from time to time—

 

“But, as I had sung about the blackbirds—

“Not the Jacobites,—When my crown was lost,

“There had recently appeared at my door

“A thrush, who though not as pretty a song as the skylark

 

“Had the dignity and pearly sheen of feathers I like.

“My heart was refreshed by seeing him,

“Though I had wished I would see more,”

Said the poor old woman, knitting upon the hills.

 

The Eight Ronin Centurions; A Dream

Eight-hundred men were killed

Eight-hundred were sent to the war.

The emperor sent the eight-hundred Ronin

To the battlefield

So he could seize control of the citadels.

 

Their death would send an outcry

Throughout the kingdom.

Their death would be heroic,

A testimony of loyalty to their emperor.

 

The eight-hundred were slaughtered

Without much fight.

Swords clashed, iron flashed

Mounts hurdled over children.

 

In the towns children were slain

Elderly were thrown to the ground.

The 800 Ronin defended the village

From twenty-thousand mongols

Who landed their ships upon

The beaches of the Rising Sun.

 

The eight-hundred fought hard,

But in two hours were swept by the hordes of the Mongols.

They killed, among them, seventeen-hundred.

Each Ronin had killed two.

Three Hundred and Thirty two Ronin had killed three.

One Ronin had killed four.

 

The report got back to the country

As the Prince was in the citadel with his father

Who expected to be lauded a great hero

For the fame awarded by these Samurai’s loyalty.

Instead, the peoples held outside,

Never knowing the misdeed that was done.

They mourned the Ronin, but did not give honor to the king.

They did not even know that the king’s honor was why this act was done.

Therefore, the peoples wept for the Ronin.

But none knew it was the King who sent them into battle.

For his honor…

 

But none understood how it made the king honorable

So it did not bring him any honor,

Nor dishonor.

Apology

When I’ve worked so hard

And gotten very little…

When I’ve spent years studying

And the American Christians fiddle,

 

I am not good with them

Nor with the unbelievers.

There is a sort of person, however,

Who I can reach with my rivers.

 

I am sorry that I cannot

Snap my fingers and make everything good.

I am sorry that I cannot

Teach everybody what I should.

 

I am sorry that I worked so hard for nothing.

I am sorry that preachers preach for gain…

Yet, when I needed something

Everyone called me a human stain.

 

I am sorry that I have controversial thoughts on war.

That we ought not to go and fight,

It is what I say round about when I roar.

I am a lion who sounds like a kitten, right?

 

Every radical thought is given to me by God.

Even if you go to war, you do not wage it with kid’s gloves.

Because then when you do, something worse will come.

And when it does, no man, woman or child on earth will have fun.

Cabbage

There is a smell like cabbage

Wherever I go.

Like the smell in the Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

I ask about it, and nobody seems to smell it.

Like the potatoes in the freezer,

That weren’t there,

I was told, “There is no smell.”

They are lying, of course.

Everyone smells it.

 

It was at its worse in the County Jail.

Where immigrants lined in rows of hand cuffs,

Chained together. Under Obama’s administration.

I smell it more often under Trump.

 

It smells like cabbage.

But, of course, I’m crazy.

 

If I die, I die.

If I am lobotomized, I am lobotomized.

If I have sex with a beautiful red haired woman

Every day for the rest of my life

I have sex with a beautiful red haired woman

Every day for the rest of my life.

 

Regardless, I won’t second guess myself.

I would rather Christians stop praising this.

 

Let us end it by law.

Not with guns.

I Do not Want My Nation to Go to War with Iran

I do not want my nation to go to war with Iran.

Why? Because then everyone would suffer.

 

If I said I would destroy Iran,

It would only be a threat

Backed up by a promise.

 

I would, as it were,

First spend years to get you to see my side.

Not months.

Not hours.

Years.

I would slowly show you that if Iran gained nuclear weapons

And our whole world went to war, it would profit nothing.

Entire crops would die.

Entire populations would be destroyed.

Therefore, I would show you what war is.

I would spend the better part of my career,

As a general, showing you why you cannot have a World War.

 

Then, as a measure, I would tell you my stratagem.

It would be simple.

Any country that would start a World War

Swiftly, I would win over its allies,

And destroy that country, right down to the last man and child.

It would be swift.

It would be painless.

I would not torture.

I would take captives.

Those slaves I would treat as human beings…

They would work, eat and till my pastures

And be as much a part of my people as my people.

They would follow my laws.

They would live good lives

And eat, drink, marry,

And after several decades, they’d be allowed to return home,

Them and their children and their children

If they’d desire.

 

I am not Daniel.

No. I am not Jude.

I am not a Prophet, like Amos was not a prophet.

Rather, my wisdom is my prophesy.

 

I would not wage a war

Unless the citizens were corrupt

Of the country I invaded.

I would not wage a war

Unless it was punishment,

Exacted on that nation.

It would be swift and merciless.

I would not fight for territory.

It would be a rod.

 

But, before that, I would do everything in my power to keep China and Russia

Out of a conflict. And if diplomacy failed,

If they’d stubbornly hold onto Iran’s defense,

I would not fight. I would silently bow out and would not resist.

The reason why is that the trees are precious to me.

So are people.

War is a measure fought to punish a wicked nation

For its crimes.

Frankly, as a measure, I do not believe my nation is righteous enough

To punish yours, nor yours righteous enough to punish mine.

But, in my estimation, I would give everything, even my credibility

But not my soul,—never my soul, for such is more precious to me than the whole world—

But my credibility I would give to prevent such a war that would destroy everything good and lovely.

I love you.

Enough to understand why war is fought,

And that if I were killed by you, I would not be angry.

For war is the ugliest thing in Human Existence,

And if it’s fought, it needs to be fought.

 

No chemicals. No biologics. No nuclears.

Only because there would be other innocent countries that would suffer

Even more if they were used.

 

Frankly, I am disgusted.

I want Trump to not attack you.

I had envisioned a plan that would take years

To unfold, and I would work everything in my power

To prevent the whole Earth suffering for one country’s sins.

That was why my strategy was severe. Because I loved you

Enough to not want you or I to suffer World War III.

 

And there will not be a World War III,

Will there? I hope not.

Because my foreboding was to tell you

What war is. First. It is not humane.

Second, my foreboding was to broker peace;

Not to solve all of the Earth’s problems.

Men will kill each other in all places and all times.

It cannot be solved.

But, one nation does not have to make all men suffer.

 

 

 

My Thoughts on War

I said something controversial.

So, here are my thoughts on war.

 

Do not fight it.

But, if you do,

Do not spare the rod.

Do not wage it with kid’s gloves.

If there is a war that needs waged

Wage it;—bring slaves home from the country.

Murder, rape, pillage.

Do not fight it with ethics,

As war is the abandonment of ethics.

The time for war is a time for every egregious crime.

And if a nation does not measure up to that punishment

It ought not be fought.

If the citizens do not deserve to die,

If the people do not deserve to have their houses destroyed,

Their children dashed across the rocks,

Their elderly slaughtered,

Then do not wage a war.

 

Doubly, if war would be a catastrophe,

Leading to suffering for all mankind,

I doubly say such a war would be foolish,

And if crimes were to be committed by one nation on another

Rightly, it would justify those crimes if it meant

The whole Earth wouldn’t erupt into suffering

If otherwise no action were taken.

 

War is punishment.

War is a legal time to commit the most heinous crime

The most heinous deception,

The most heinous fraud.

It is nothing more, and nothing less.

If we do not treat it as such,

Whole generations suffer.

Subconsciousness Relic

There is a relic called earnest love.

The redeemed know it is so.

Remember the relic, and hold fast to it

Lest you torment your heart with fear and solitude.

Regarding the fierce storm of love

Replenish it with touch, when with your friend

Whom you are naked with, two souls

Lost in the barrens of this world

Fulfilling the commandment

“You must love your neighbor

As if they were you.”

Fulfill the commandment,

“Two will be one body.”

It is priceless.