Men in Black

A halting walk. A forceful pace.
They cease their talk. They steel their face.
With withered hand they touch the veil.
They understand the empty shell.
Then file away and know too soon,
That Death will play; they'll hear the tune.

A soul unseen, that won't be back.
They'll lie between the men in black.

A forceful pace. A halting walk.
They steel their face. They cease their talk.
They touch the veil, with withered hand.
The empty shell, they understand.
They know too soon that Death will play.
They'll hear the tune...and file away.

Sweet Dreams

Lying here, I think of you.
I wonder where you are.
There's not a thing that I can do,
But wish upon a star.
The air I breathe is not as sweet
Unless I'm by your side.
The world is cold. I feel no heat.
My lust for life has died.
It never is just like before;
Won't ever be the same.
And even now I want you more.
And now, I say your name.
It's getting late and soon I'll drift,
In sleep, I'll think of you.
And dreams will take away the rift
That separates us two.

A Fowl Finger

While walking in the forest night
Across a moonless bog,
I came across, in the ghostly light,
A stranger there in the fog.
He blocked my path as he approached,
His stare never leaving my eyes.
He probed my soul, and then encroached!
It caused my pulse to rise!

"You have trespassed upon my ground!
You've tainted my expanse!
Your soul to me would now be bound,
But first, I'll give you a chance!"
He put his finger to my chest,
And then he said to me,
"A riddle is to be your test,
The answer will set you free!"

"What burns like fire in darkest black
For travellers on a wayward track?
It's lust for rich and poor alike
Will grow the instant Death does strike!"

And then a sort of twisted grin
Appeared upon his face.
An evil shown from deep within,
From some corrupted place.

"Ti's Hell!", I cried, "You devilish beast!
The answer was there in your eyes!
I'll not become your bloody feast!
You've given away your disguise!"

He dropped his head, and then he cursed,
And changed back into a fiend.
To answer his riddle, I'd been the first.
My slate had just been cleaned.
He wheeled about and did not linger.
He had just lost the fight.
He bid farewell with a bony finger,
And disappeared into the night.

If I Could

If I could write what's in my heart
I'd tell you all my pain.
But, I don't know just where to start.
I feel it's all in vain.

If I could say what's on my mind
I'd empty out my sack.
Too many memories left behind.
Too many more come back.

If I could show you how I feel
And let you see my soul,
You'd see a wound that will not heal;
An unrelenting hole.

If I could have the things I want,
I'd only need a few.
But fickle fate will tease and taunt,
And never give me you.

If I could be, just for a while,
Right where I want to be,
I'd take a beach; a sandy isle,
Somewhere across the sea,
Alone, just you and me.

Altered Memory

I saw her just the other day,
And barely caught the face.
Her memory had been stored away
In some forgotten place.
She looked at me but didn't know
Who I had grown to be,
Or maybe didn't want to show
That she remembered me.
I watched her for a moment or two,
But shied from being rude.
I searched for something, just a clue,
That gave away her mood.
She acted different than the way
That I remembered her.
I didn't expect her looks to stay
The same as how they were.
But something deep within my mind
Said that she hadn't changed.
The truth, it seemed, I'd left behind;
The fact I'd rearranged.

My mind replayed a book I'd read
About how thought proceeds.
What we perceive within our head
Is changed to suit our needs.
Then all the things I held as truth,
My mind began to ponder.
Conceptions I had formed in youth,
My ignorance, they were under.
I thought on this all through the night.
Without sleep I went long.
What I thought wrong just may be right,
And what was right is wrong.
This madness pressed upon my brain,
Possession, the final intent.
My sanity drowning in lunatic pain,
No reasoning left to dement.
My soul was weary with the fight.
The war then came to naught.
I saw that girl again last night.
She wasn't the one I had thought.

Simple Love

Her smile could calm a raging storm,
Or melt an icy heart.
Those eyes so innocent and warm
Could tear a man apart.
A poise as graceful as a queen
Yet gentle as a dove.
They say an angel can't be seen.
She's one from heaven above.

But now that smile has gone away.
Her heart no longer stirs.
She left it to another day;
A time when I was hers.
That little flame that used to play
In eyes so deep and blue,
Has slowly died and gone away.
But to her man shes' true.
She vowed to follow wherever he leads;
Through sunny sky or rain.
When simple love is all she needs,
Seems all she gets is pain.

Eulogy to the Unborn

You'll not get to run through the green with bare feet,
Or see the white puffs in the blue.
But now you can run and fall at His feet,
And give Him the credit He's due.

You'll give no account for the word or deed;
For the thoughts that were formed from within.
You went home to the Lord while still as a seed,
Being chosen, He covered your sin.

The Kingdom, for me, is dark through the glass,
Yet, you see the truth face to face.
But my fleshly vision will very soon pass,
Then, I too will see by His grace.

The truth is unknown. Were you sister or brother?
You left with the story untold.
Perhaps you were taken to stay with each other;
Two lambs in the heavenly fold.

For now I will keep both your memories with me
And think of the place where you are.
Then I'll know for sure, that one day we'll see
Each other, in a better place by far.

Dedicated to the Campbell children who are patiently waiting.

If I Could Stop Time

If I could stop the spinning hands
That sweep the wretched clock,
Or yet, the hourglass' sands,
If somehow, I could block.
If time would still at my command
And hearken to my rules
I'd be a man in much demand
For madly racing fools.

If I could take our children's looks
And freeze them in their ages
I'd have their lives in story books,
Yet, could not turn the pages.
If I could break Death's stranglehold
By turning back the date,
I'd kill a wish of one who's old,
Who yearns to see their mate.

So I'll not dream of stopping time,
But carry on my way,
And live my life, not quite sublime,
From day to fleeting day.

Release

I wield this pen with tired thumb,
So weary from the fight.
My wrist is weak, my fingers numb,
Alone in candlelight.
The pulse of tension will not cease;
In sleep, I will not sink,
Unless my thoughts can find release,
And flow out in the ink.

I Saw The Sun

I saw the sun one early morn
While going on my way.
Like light the instant one is born,
The sun is to each day.
The pains of birth are to the mother,
And so the child alike.
The one gives lifeblood to the other
And makes it's heart to strike.

As I continued on my path,
And as the sun rose higher
The world was given a shining bath;
A cleansing, as with fire.
The early childhood of the day
Was warm, and bright, and pleasant.
The morn that kept the heat at bay
Was soon to turn adolescent.

At noon the sun beat on my back
And scorched the desert sand.
I realized now I'd lost my track
In this wasted barren land.
The anger of the sun I felt.
It brought despair, then fear.
I stopped, I bowed, and then I knelt
And hoped that God would hear.


By evening time the sun had dropped;
Was sinking in the west.
I slowed my pace, and then I stopped
And sat to take a rest.
I fell asleep. I had a dream.
I walked beside a clear blue stream.
The grass was green. The flowers bloomed.
The clouds were drifting by.
But deep inside I felt so doomed;
Like I was going to die.

Then I awoke and looked around,
And there beside me on the ground;
A body lying in the dust.
The sun had turned the skin to crust.
The face I saw I knew so well.
I hung my head and cried.
For long ago within this hell...
It burned me till I died.

Progeny

A young boy will look at the girl by his side.
He'll give her a handful of posies.
A young man will gaze at his beautiful bride
And give her a bouquet of Roses.
Two forget-me-nots, I've given to you;
The yield of our labor and sowing.
And when we are gone, as all must soon do,
Our flowers will still keep on growing.

Written in Stone

Back when it was written,
No future was known.
A prophecy, true, made the call.
The chisel was smitten
To write in the stone,
"A Good Man Remembered By All".

Traces

A tuft by the trail,
A broken egg shell,
An empty nest up in a tree.
A wing in a web,
Driftwood in the ebb
That widens the shore by the sea.
A track in the mud,
A spot of dried blood,
A tire mark that once was a toad.
A pile of old bones,
Some moss covered stones
Once laid in a square by the road.

As life melts away,
Surroundings decay,
I can't stop the crumbling alone.
But time will erase what once was a trace;
A piece of my memory, soon gone.

Seed of Revenge

Late one night while I lay sleeping,
Came a caller slowly creeping.
Deep within the cerebral cleft
An evil seed, by Death, was left.

The pressure grew as days went by.
The Reaper knew that I must die,
And yet he filled me with false hope.
To cling to life, I'd grab and grope.

Then came the day for me to die.
I saw the reaper standing by.
He started to laugh, but then grew dumb.
I too had seed... and a dark green thumb!

Homecoming

I went back home the other day
To see what did remain.
Could sense the place from far away
As I got off the train.
A mile away, but as a child
I still could hear that sound.
That wailing whistle, long and wild;
The trembling in the ground.

So off I walked down dusty road.
So long since I had been.
Returning to that old abode
To see my folks again.

The road went past the Simpson place.
I loved that girl of his!
I won't forget her smiling face.
I wonder where she is.
Beneath that tree in their front yard,
Her hand, I used to hold.
It seemed I held the winning card.
Somehow... I had to fold.
There's not much left; a stony wall
Right where the house once stood.
How did it look? I can't recall.
Right now... I wish I could.

When soon the house came into view
I almost turned and ran!
So scared of being overdue.
So scared to be a man.

Could almost see the neighbor's boys,
Who gave me my first pup.
I thought I heard my mother's voice,
"Come on child, hurry up"!
I listened long, but heard no sound,
Except the gentle breeze.
The old swing lay there on the ground
To rot beneath the trees.
The doors were locked, and windows too.
I'd seen enough today.
But one more thing I had to do
Before I went away.

I walked on out into the field,
Under a lone shade tree,
And saw the graves that death had sealed,
Yet time had set me free.
Then I recalled what Daddy said
The day he breathed his last.
"Son, carry on when I am dead,
And put me in the past".
I said a useless last goodbye
And left them both in peace.
My mind had let them finally die;
A bittersweet release.

My past was left around the bend
To die in rot and rust.
Then gently blew the summer wind
To fill my tracks with dust.

I, Driftwood

Driftwood, Driftwood, where have you been?
I've circled the world, and I've started again.
Driftwood, Driftwood, where will you go?
I drift with the tide. Please don't ask. I don't know.

"Something's in the water dad.
Out there beyond the bar"!
"You might as well forget it lad.
Tis passing by too far.
It's just a piece of drifting wood
That's washed away from shore.
It soon will sink, and that for good,
To never rise no more".

While floating in a moonless sea
With darkness for my sight,
So suddenly, it came to be,
I saw a distant light!
A growing flicker on a beach.
There's laughter, then a shout.
The waves once kept me out of reach,
But now, they'd turned about.

I'd been adrift for many days,
But that was in the past.
The shilhouettes around the blaze
Would be my hope at last!
I finally washed upon the sand
And caught two watchful eyes.
And even in the stranger's hand
My heart began to rise.

To have a space all for myself,
Was all I could desire.
To just be placed upon a shelf,
...Not cast into the fire!


Dawn creeps from the East.
The drifting has ceased.
And no one remembers
The smouldering embers.