The Night

Night came to me
robed in moonlight.
Shimmering, silvery, seductively,
she walked to me

...and by a finger she led me
with the promise of delight.

Night said to me,
 Do not listen to the dogs that bark!
 Be not afraid of the deadly dark!
 Stare into the stars that are my eyes!
 Feel the soft breezes that are my sighs!

She threw a wisp of mist about me
and pulled me after her.
I followed her willingly, cautiously,
curiously, warily, wondering where she was leading me
...but not really wanting to see.

Then her veil was pierced by a ray of light
and I saw there was nothing there
no face beneath her veil,
no arms within her mists.

I heard her laugh as she faded away
 Remember all that you heard me say!
 I'll be back at the end of day
 and though you'll resist with all your might
 you will surrender to the night!

What I See

A world of ididots!  A world of fools!
A world of vainglorious capitalist tools!

A world of pain!  A world of hurt!
A world where everyone's rude and curt!

A world of sadness!  A world of sorrow!
A world where everyone fears tomorrow!

Is this the world in which I must now dwell?
Is this the world I have now made for me?
I begin to fear that I cannot tell
between the nightmare and reality.

A world of schemes!  A world of dreams!
A world where nothing is as it seems!

A world of angst!  A world of fear!
A world where the end is so very near!

A world of words!  A world of rhyme!
A world that's finally run out of time!

Am I now living in a private hell?
Did I really make all that I can see?
I'm just waiting here for the final bell
and when it rings then I will be set free!

The Reason

Let me make this perfectly crystal clear-
the sole and only reason I'm still here,
the main reason that my show isn't done...

I can't afford the bullets or the gun.

This is the only reason I can give
for each breath I take and each day I live.
If fate saw fit to give me half a choice
you wouldn't be listening to this voice.

Instead you'd be reading an empty page,
not another metered musing of rage.
There would be nothing here for you to see
if the ultimate choice were left to me.

But now it's time to stop this rhythmic whine
and go back to pretending life is fine.

Missing

There is no "You and I".
That crawled off long ago
and found a lonely place to die.

Instead there is a "You"
and then there is an "I"...
not together, but separate - not one, but two.

I imagine I should be sad
there should be some sense of loss
some emotion, some hurt, even just feeling bad...

But when I look deep in my heart
there is nothing there - it is empty, cold, and bare.

You can't miss that of which you were never a part.

To Refudiate or Not To Refudiate...

I wrote this many months ago, but decided to post it now.

I normally don't make comments on political figures. My Dad taught me that a gentleman does not discuss his politics, his relationship to his God or the merits of a young lady in public. But when a modern political figure tries to cover a gaffe (Sarah Palin Refudiate tweet) by comparing themselves to William Shakespeare, I have to do something...

So I took the immortal bard's Sonnet Number 18:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate;
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

and changed a few things to ask the question if we should compare Sarah to William:

Shall I compare thee to Sarah Palin?

Thou art more liberal and eloquent;
Rough words do make plain her every failing,
And summer's tweets show her demented bent;
Sometimes too hot the lights of Fox news shine,
And often is her intellect questioned;
And every rant shows her so out of line,
Yet by her followers is unquestioned;
But thy eternal prose shall never fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall time deny all that you have made,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
Long after Sarah and I cease to be,
your words shall live on through eternity.

And with that I think I've said all I need to say...