Thursday, December 2, 2010

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


Wednesday, December 1, 2010

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