Dark and ancient truths Which still burgeon in the world today. American soldiers slaughter children. Iraqi soldiers violate women. War still gets fought by civilized countries. Were you offended by Cyrus? Yet our modern wars are fought just the same. Children die in bombings, Women are violated Men slaughter one another. What justifies war? What justifies the crimes attributed to war? War is the supreme evil. What justifies it? When is it justified to commit all atrocious evils? Surely there is a time, But now is not it.
Tag: Poetry
Cyrus Conquers Babylon
Sing, oh wary ship traveler. Cyrus sees your weary eyes As the watch prowls the street Asking for bribes, and stirring the Little townsfolk into their homes. Prosperous was the land you fled to. Prosperous, and kind Until Sin's dark shadow grew over the basin Of the gorges. O! If you only knew our freedoms If you only knew. Cyrus, stir the Medes Stir the Medes Stir the Medes. Cyrus spoke, "I would cut them to pieces "And rip out their throats. "I would ravish the town squares "And purge the evil of this land. "I shall not spare their children. "I shall not spare the rod. "For I destroy even the Babes "When I go to war." O! Babylon! Prepare for war For the peoples desire the law of Yah And scorn the laws of Sin. From the East, from the North From the South, comes the armies Of Persia and Media. Sing o strong ones For freedom is meted And the war shall be fierce. Weapons shall unsheathe their naked steel And in one night the battle shall be lost For thee, o Babylon. For the barren ones in the East And the Barren ones in the South And the Barren ones in the North Are ashamed of you.
Cyrus Conquers Babylon
Sing, oh wary ship traveler. Cyrus sees your weary eyes As the watch prowls the street Asking for bribes, and stirring the Little townsfolk into their homes. Prosperous was the land you fled to. Prosperous, and kind Until Sin's dark shadow grew over the basin Of the gorges. O! If you only knew our freedoms If you only knew. Cyrus, stir the Medes Stir the Medes Stir the Medes. Cyrus spoke, "I would cut them to pieces "And rip out their throats. "I would ravish the town squares "And purge the evil of this land. "I shall not spare their children. "I shall not spare the rod. "For I destroy even the Babes "When I go to war." O! Babylon! Prepare for war For the peoples desire the law of Yah And scorn the laws of Sin. From the East, from the North From the South, comes the armies Of Persia and Media. Sing o strong ones For freedom is meted And the war shall be fierce. Weapons shall unsheathe their naked steel And in one night the battle shall be lost For thee, o Babylon. For the barren ones in the East And the Barren ones in the South And the Barren ones in the North Are ashamed of you.
Odes of Strangers XI; Revised
Trivia, riddle odes And weave webs of lies. Every word you speak is Invented from the world, You make yourself more ancient than Hecate Who stands with her torch. You occupy yourself with every fact that contradicts Strange, ancient wisdom. The Love of the Two Peaches Is constructed, born a twelvemonth ago. Yet, it is born as ancient wisdom. Trivia, your weave a web Of factoids. Wisdom can still be purchased So the ancient accents are known. Paul Revere did ride a midnight ride Yet, Trivia, you make Boston's Massacre Riot control--- It was a massacre. Auld Lang Syne replaces "You're A Grand Ol' Flag" And Trivia, Mnemosyne is silently demented So all acquaintance is forgot. Good men are turned into Joseph, Yet all his mourners are comforted For great lies are being spun by Trivia. It soon becomes apparent The Love of the Two Peaches Isn't ancient. Neither was the City of Sodom one which stood ancient. For there is truth: And it is hidden By you Trivia.
Odes of Strangers XI
Trivia, you riddle your odes And weave the web with lies. Every word you speak is Invented from the world, Making yourself more ancient than Hecate Who stands with her torch. You are enthralled by every fact that contradicts Strange, ancient wisdom. The Love of the Two Peaches Is constructed, and is born seven months ago. Yet, it is created to be ancient wisdom. Trivia, you weave a web Of factoids. Wisdom can still be purchased And the ancient accents are understood. Paul Revere did ride his midnight ride With another. Yet, Trivia makes Boston's Massacre Riot control--- It was a massacre. Auld Lang Syne replaces "You're A Grand Ol' Flag" And Trivia, Mnemosyne is silently demented So the song loses all acquaintance. For the world's history Was written where good men Are turned into Josephs, Yet all his mourners are comforted That great lies are being spun by Trivia. So it soon becomes apparent The Love of the Two Peaches Isn't ancient. Neither is the City of Sodom one which stands ancient. For there is truth: And the truth has been hidden By thou, Trivia.
What’s Ancient Can Fill a Few Paragraphs
What's ancient can fill a few paragraphs Of generations. One hundred lifetimes Spans the whole of human history. The ancient hymns I love Were once youthful And it was not that long ago. The entirety of human history Fills A paragraph in Luke. It was only for five generations That the common man could hear music. How illusion makes things seem so royal And it makes things seem ancient. That ancientness makes them seem more important. To an eighteen year old man The fall of the Berlin Wall Is far away. About as far away as Vietnam Was to me. And certainly they can't know The salubrious nature Which was our freedom. No... because ten years After communism fell The towers fell. And that same eighteen year old Will never remember that, Either.
God of Our Youth
What the devil wants are happy monkeys Silent, with no knowledge of future's past. Dancing with the strobes lit, and faces pale. Exerted with all fun and copulate With the familiar sting of sexual touch. Children to be raised by their bonobos To grow up without knowing what love is. Silent, with no knowledge, no speech, no thought Language simplified to terse chords of A ten thousand word vocabulary. No one works, no one has their property Starved; feeding on the remaining surplus Of past generation's stores of green corn. Breaking down the windows of good people To steal from them their hard earned silver coins. At the end, hell's the deserted cities Its deserts the overgrown farmer's fields Its dried up river beds the State's drained stores. This is Socialism, God of our Youth.
Lie of the Land
He's a zealot, with a cause which he wishes To bring to the nations. He wishes to persuade. The federal agents were called, And they came. They scientifically looked into his life They turned over every leaf. They knew, they had a hunch He was the one who they were looking for. After finding no evidence, Save a lengthy confession They turned over more leafs. They turned his family against him They became their lovers, their friends Their family too. The man was a zealot They thought, And obviously a wicked fool. It must be that he was bad So they infiltrated his family And then they found nothing. After expending resources on it for so long Egos were at stake. For they knew he was the culprit... The culprit of a thousand lies. A thousand rants. He spoke so often And his speech was his crime. So they investigated him And began to censure speech. It soon became that they closed down the portals Of free communication. And nobody but their preferred brand was heard. So, it was heard, and everyone followed it. They danced in their euro-discos And they took their benevolent drugs. They partied till the night was dawn. And the man they investigated Found it lacking. For speech was his greatest ally. Yet, they had broken it For it was to them illegal use of speech Therefore, they prosecuted him on crimes against humanity For speaking an erring word. Every word was weighed in the balance And they pored over all the conversations he had Finding that he had too much curiosity. And that they needed to stifle For he stumbled upon some ancient things Which they wanted to keep secret. Then came the world where alligators were our comforters And men were tried for their speech. The errant man was happy But the man who valued the sacred right to exercise his tongue It was found that he was guilty of the most heinous crime, Not believing in the lie of the land.
To Succeed at Anything
To succeed at anything It takes an intimate knowledge Of the fundamentals. Before you can be called a professional You must know inside and out The most basic things. In writing, those fundamentals Are Prefixes and Suffixes Knowledge of Clause and Phrase Knowledge of Parts of Speech Knowing Punctuation Knowledge of Composition--- Plot for Narrative Thesis for Essay--- Knowledge of Literary Device Knowledge of Justice A mastery of words An ability to read the most difficult language An ability to understand another man perfectly And a childlike joy learning all of it. At any craft, at any profession This analogy must apply.
I Saw Truth with Her Lover
I saw Truth with her lover In the dark; I took my raiment, and galloped far away To where I slew a knight in combat And took his woman from him. I had then found a tree Of which I wished to make her a garland from Yet the tree bled and spoke. He told me of a wicked sorceress Who made he and his lover into those trees. I had found, also, that the knight I slew Had two brothers. I found too many enemies Yet was I angry with the Truth For her adultery; For why would she be in another's bed And not mine, when I was her betrothed? I had not seen t'wasn't her In that bed, but rather the apparition of Morpheus. For Truth, she seemed, slept nude with Hecate Yet it was only a magical spell Which made Truth seem a whore.