Break the Cycle

Wrath

Upon your bones I could place a curse
a curse which would crush you to dust.
Upon your blood I could place a curse
a curse which would boil you alive.
Baleful woe could I invoke upon you
sores and boils, agony unending.

Your mind I could twist into knots
trapping you within a maze of nightmares.
A future of Stygian agony could I weave for you
bending fate and destiny in wrathful design,
pouring upon your head suffering measured out
1000 fold for each innocent you harmed.

In books ancient and dark, in shadows deep,
I could find the means to call down fire,
Condemning fires from the deepest pits.
From the path of the wise I could depart,
A wraith of vengeance to become, pursuing,
hateful, flaming, visiting doom upon you forever.

How easy it is to conjure rage, to channel hate
How tempting a power is wraith, how plentiful the targets,
How justified would be my fury against you, most evil one.
Such power, sitting within my grasp, beckoning
with what small effort could I seize it,
and grant you the fruits of your deeds.

But what curse could I utter to raise the dead,
what dark power would heal the lives you tore?
Would my rage, my lashing out, in anger I feel righteous
be any different from yours?
And who's child would I destroy, who's light would I snuff out,
who's joy would I shatter into untold pieces of dust?

What wrong would my rage right, what evil cure?
Instead another link in that vengeful chain,
would bind humanity closer still to harsh fate.
I would become you, the one I loathe, in different form.
I cannot give you forgiveness on behalf of those you hurt most,
but there is something I can do.

I can start the healing, I can put down my rage,
I can let the pain wash over me like a wave.
I can forgive, at least for myself.
I can wish you healing for your own pain,
the things which set you on this dark path.
I can be the start, I can unbind the chains of hate.

Off I Go

Into the Forest

I'm going to get lost in the forest,

never to be seen again.

To dance by the moon on the mountainside

To sit in the shaded glen.

I'm going to run off to the forest,

to spend the rest of my days.

To weave vines and leaves through my wild hair

To sleep where the fairies play.

I'm going to get lost in the forest,

that's really the point anyway.

To talk with the trees and the birds and the bees

And walk in the soft wet clay.

I'm going to run off to the forest,

But maybe you'll see me again.

I'll come back in a song on a clear summer day,

To take you away from a world cold and grey,

And then with oaks and the badgers we'll play,

As we both run off to the forest.

I'm still here.

If you need me

If you need me

I'll be the one sitting under the willow tree

I'll be the one listening to the soft song of the brook

I'll be the one gazing at the stars in awe.

I'll be standing still in this world of panic

I'll be singing a song which has no notes

I'll be there, waiting.

If you need me

You'll find me where dreams wake

You'll find me beneath the glow of the sun

You'll find me in the ocean waves.

You'll find me in the colors of a poem

You'll find me in the flight of the wild bird

You'll find me in the melting snow of spring.

If you need me.

Two short poems

Memories of my Grandfather

Lo, the sweet sent of foreign spice plays across the air.
Steam, fresh and sharp, to spread the taste divine across the room.
Match strike, the dried leaves glow with hidden life in the bowl of a pipe.
Against the skin, leather and velvet in the dark library, enclosed in aged oak.

Invocation of the Muse

Sing, oh Muse, of what will be.

Sing, the future, the dream of time,

the path of a man, the charge of a hero.

Sing, oh Muse, of the world that was.

Sing of ages past, brought to life in hymn,

what the world could be yet again.

Sing, oh Muse, of magic in the air.

Sing, of beauty, daughter of truth,

Of song, of love, of poem and myth.

Sing, oh Muse, sing to the world.

Sing of hope, of the woes of man,

of wounds self-made, of healing to come.

Sing, sing the creation of heaven.

Sing until the tide of the world ebbs,

till evil fades in the glow of Dawn.

The Scouring

To stand upon the desert as the sand flies in your face

is to strip away your arrogance with the Earth's uncanny grace.

On a sea of land that stretches flat, below the empty sky

an untold length of endless years puts paid to every lie.

Each grain of sand sings endless songs of ages yet to come

like countless lives which build the land perfected in their sum.

And in each grain is perfect peace unknown by mortal men

To dance upon the sudden wind, to fly then sleep again.

I wonder if those single grains know how minute they are

Or do they view themselves as stars within a sky of stars.

Against the backdrops of such thoughts no ego can prevail

Acceding to infinity, with peace or pointless wails.

Danger, nerd talk ahead.

Today, CERN announced that they have found a boson right where the Standard Model predicts the Higgs boson to be. It's incredibly exciting news, made even more interesting by the fact that this boson doesn't behave quite like the SM predicts that the Higgs boson should. There's much more research to be done, but this could very well end up having the same type of impact that the discovery of electron had. There's a very good write up about the whole thing over that Bad Astronomy, if you want more details. Congratulations to all the scientists and engineers who worked on the project, and happy 4th of July to everyone in the US. 

We are One

I thought you all might enjoy a poem I wrote a while back.

I know you

You were a baby, full of potential

You were a child, full of dreams.

You were loved, you were hated,

Your dreams faced the waves of fate

Your hopes faced the rocks of reality.

You lost those you cared for,

You loved and lost and loved again,

You have seen the best and worst of humanity.

I do not know how your life has been shaped

by the storms of time, but I know one thing,

you are me and I am you.

We are humans, and we are the same,

Beneath the skin, beyond the battle scars,

We are one, you are me and I am you.

We are not at war, we are not enemies,

You are not some horrible other,

You are me and I am you.

We are born, we live and we die

Our lives are like a flickering flame

You are me and I am you.

We believe God is real,

We believe God is an illusion,

We believe in Goddess and Gods and everything inbetween.

And yet,

       You are me and I am you.

Forget those who say that we must fear

Forget those who would rule us

You are me and I am you, and we are one.