Dimension

Throughout the hierarchy we're seeing
there's more than conjectured to being
as endless enigmas defy
empirical efforts to pry
the shiniest gem stone worth freeing

but still the apostles keep preaching
that data's the dogma worth teaching
despite the inscrutable height
divinity dazzles with light
that places the crown beyond reaching.

Vehicle

I want you to feel breathless
like you just faced something dire
I want your cardboard conscience
to ignite itself on fire
I want your heart to hammer
as it never beat before
I wish my words could do all this
and make you beg for more.

I want your mind to whisper
secret nothings to your soul
I'd love to see the fractured
feeling closer to the whole
you must recoup the innocence
you prematurely shed
I wish my words could do this too
and make you glad you read.

I want the salve of freedom
to relieve your shackle burns
I want your questing spirit
to seek unexpected turns
upon the path that few have trod
just waiting for some wear
I wish my words could pick you up
and somehow take you there.

Declination

I'm expected to attend
a function tough to duck
despite the fact I'm really not enthused
and though I surely wend
my way down, with any luck
I may postpone what cannot be refused.

In the Black

The moon was like a beacon
at the edge of the unknown
the clouds, a seeming mountain
of ethereal vapor blown

by winter winds so bitter
that I longed for my warm bed
but I am not a quitter
so I faced the night instead

and marveled at the vista
that unfolded in the sky
which made me slightly wistful
that soon it would blow by

my kingdom coated silver
by a single pitted coin
the ticking thief will pilfer
perpetually purloin.

Vermin

The galaxies are entities
that's why they're all unique
we can't perceive perplexities
our eyes are just too weak
the faculties of mindless fleas
that find a way to eke
a living on the very brink
of learning how to truly think
by gorging on the blood we drink
from titans that don't even blink.

Prologue

Is it wise to acknowledge things that just are
or a feat to stay coherent
the price you pay for every fresh scar
is lividly apparent

through scribbled lines you're moved to scrawl
upon a dated blotter
the prattle that precedes the fall
like flux before the solder.

Sappy

We gather with love round a blinking tree
to practice our traditional exchange
of packaged presents, ripped open with glee,
and heartfelt hugs of kinship. We arrange
ourselves to see each others faces well,
to fully savor the joy our gifts bring,
when little eyeballs adorably swell
as frenzied screams of satisfaction ring.
Prismatic lights bedazzle those that view
reflections in the ornamental glass
through which the decorations brightly shine
while sentimental assurances brew
like piety throughout a moving mass
or thoughts of home, for which the wayward pine.

Prey

I didn't know back then
how much there was to rue
my youthful eyes bewildered by the light
and now I wonder when
I will (if ever) struggle through
the shadows of regret that hound my sight.

Fruition

Mid the frosty famine December brings,
the gnarly trees denuded by the cold,
a lone survivor tenaciously clings—
determined, it looks flushed, but will not fold;
its flesh a feast of knowledge we once thought
was worth the price projected, so we bought
into the naked lies that we were told

by our burgeoning, adolescent pride.
But who hasn’t bungled when they were young?
Coerced by little whisperings inside
(a snake’s only appendage is its tongue)
we were just too impatient to ignore
the promise of enlightenment in store
which nothing we ingested quite supplied.

As days begin to shorten we are vexed
by unresolved conclusions and regrets,
this rainy winter day leaves me perplexed
but hopeful as the sun serenely sets,
to see this often evanescent fruit
remain so deeply red and resolute
is truly as delicious as it gets.

Apocalyptic Resolution

We’re all still here
though deadlines came and went
I don’t know if I should cheer
or voice my discontent
it was quite a trying year
but I'm not about to vent--
when we think the end is near
we find reasons to repent.

Reign

I hear the drips of water that are splashing in the gutter
unsettled by the misty lies they gutturally mutter
methodical destruction of my confidence is utter

these oracles have prophesied a perilous prediction
that's been a bit corrosive to the core of my conviction
but hopefully we'll all find out it's just a bunch of fiction

for there are many futures we could fabricate depending
on if we stay infatuated with a fiery ending
or whether we precipitate existence worth extending.

Scraps

On certain days there's not a thought
and one can start to feel distraught
unless they saved the overflow
from when they were a dynamo
as any would-be weaver aught
to automatically know

for any crafter learns that rule
and how to utilize the tool
on which the fabric can be fed
when nothing's left to feed the shed
and always keeps an extra spool
to hoard their excess thread.

Standard of Living

We gathered in the church to hear
the little ones sing Christmas songs,
their voices rang out sweet and clear
with innocence so very dear
like angels, here to right our wrongs.

If only we could always be
as those assembled there that night,
removed from the anxiety
that makes it hard for us to see
the purpose that is our birthright,

to raise each generation filled
with knowledge we have learned,
enabling them to truly build
a world where dreams can be fulfilled
and love is all that need be earned.

Due

Each moment is a treasure
to plunder for your pleasure
a trinket to betoken
the wonderment awoken
when precious intuition
accentuates ambition
resulting in a fortune
of which you share a portion.

Saturated

As we lay them down to sleep
I pray the Lord their souls will keep

and still I weep

behind my eyes the teardrops steep
then down my face they slowly creep

and still I weep

there's so much in this life to reap
forsaken for the cruel and cheap

and still I weep

and now we lay them down to sleep
beyond that rift so dark and deep

and still I weep