Of Masks and Tombs

I like masks

They comfort

They hide

They hug your face

And when you wear a mask

No one can see

When you smile or frown

No one can see

What your face looks like

No remarks of beauty

No marks of deformed

No they cannot touch you

When you wear the mask

And mask not only

Hide your face

So they cannot know you

They can never know you

But these beautiful masks

These wonderful masks

They make it so

That no one can see

No they will never see

When you cry

So wear the smile

And go about your business

Wear the smile

And don't let them see you slowly decay

Slowly die

and cry

Don't let them in

Don't let them know you

Don't let them see

Man's eyes have always been weakness

Do not let their weakness come to me

Masks are heavy

Masks are warm

They sit upon the ground

All hard as stone

And upon them are carved the words of smiles

And upon them are carved the lines of eyes

And upon them are caved 1990-2025

And beneath them the earth saggs and sighs

And beneath the earth there lies

Sleeping under all that

There where no one can see

There where the mask has hid

There only there

Can we cry

Pieces of Potsherds

I shall not let that sorrow inside

I shall not let the clouds bear fruit

Falling fast towards parched ground

I shall not give this same relief

Unto my aching heart, my grief

I shall not let the dam held shut

Be broken open before the world

Whose eyes of pity, whose eyes of scorn

Whose eyes I despise, I shall not break

I shall not let that held back fall

I shall not break I shall not shed

I shall not show I shall not cry

I shall not cry, no, no, I shall not cry

No mark to mar the mask of smile

I shall not bear my shoulders down

I shall not look forlorn to earth

I shall not look forlorn to heaven

I shall not look forlorn to man

I shall not cry, I shall not cry

But keep this ocean in my soul

Let gale winds rise, let storm seas toss

The floodwaters come, they rush they roar

The dam is breaking, the eyes shimmer

No! Hold firm! Do not let it show!

A deep breath. Eyes burn and they close.

And as the sea dies down inside

Everything falls into the black void

The soul becomes so small

And drifts without sight of end

Through the obsidian nothing

Floundering, slowing, lathargic, dying

No more feelings no more sorrow

No more anger, joy, peace, hope, true

But no more sorrow, no more crying

There can be no broken dam without a dam to break

But times, there are times,

When this floating, floundering soul

Finds itself in a sudden squall of sorrow

And screams to be known

When comes the hour of the blade

Let the tears now be blood

Let all the words that need be written, write

Let the soul return to darkness from this light

The Weighing of the Soul

Come now, iron bracer firm

Cast in adamantine bands

Beat your steel spikes through the holes

Drill through iron into my soul

Come now, chain of lead

Child of serpent and steel

Forged in anguish, cooled with tears

Yet burning red always as you sway

Embers in your searing wake

Come now, O Weight of My Soul

Let me kiss the too fimiliar burden

Lay upon my back the whip, the iron, the sack

Upon my shoulders, yoke me to the millwheel

That al my days I should stumble blind

In circles grinding the stones together

Yet never a step closer or farther

Come now, sweetest blade

Shall I fall upon thy cool call

Come now speedy end

As all the pillars come down

Come