LoveCross

He who has never known love cannot know
just how much difference that it can make.
At its weakest, it's a boy with a bow,
but the strength of that much-diluted drink
is strong enough to slay dragons at will.
But love cannot destroy; it's from Above.

And when stripped of power, denied in full,
muddled and confused and thrown all about,
this simple gift is made complex and wool
from the Enemy covers eyes, throws doubt,
and disenchantment make its throne within
the dim remnants of a once-thoughtful mind.

But love remains, and its symbol reigns high:
The oft-cursed cross cuts through the barren sky.

Evil Lives but Cannot Love

Evil is a figment,
so they say.
No man has it in him,
this I pray.
But if no man has evil then where is good?
What makes a man right,
if there is no wrong?
How can a man love
if there is no hate.
The absence makes one weaker and the presence
gives him strength.
The greatest gift is love,
so the Lover said.
So how can we deny evil and its hatred?

Firewater

Fire and water:
each are used by the Potter
to show men the way.
Like Jekyl and Hyde are they.
Some men choose neither
or cheat and say either,
but these sad liars
entrust themselves to the fires
because warm water won't quench a lifelong thirst,
nor douse the eternal flame.

To Write

To write is to release a fragmented peace of mind.
It is to try to describe the magnificent with words
While other mediums gloriously represent
In full color, roaring sound, and special effects,
The stories we so humbly penned on our age old typewriter sets.

But the simple beauty of the written is tenfold greater
Than anything the greatest film could ever boast.
It is scarcely sensual, only requiring eyes,
but yet it captivates and abducts our minds,
holding them for ransom.

The price is set, and only the reader can pay,
He must submit to the gem that someone else did pen.
We abide by another's imagination, and we are witness to his thoughts.
That is the open book we read, and that is reading's charm.
For only it can offer a clear view into another's muddled mind.

Now or Never

Life's a game of give and take.
It never stops and lets you break.
When you think this life can get no worse,
then you're dealt a hand that wins the purse,
and you cycle through the happiness,
then fight through the loneliness
to learn that life's one long
uninterrupted undulation.

Enjoy the moment, savor its flavor,
and learn to live
for a life that stays good all the way.
'Cause when this one's over,
the cycle ends forever,
and you'll live in the always now or always never.

What Everyman Needs

A bothersome thing, this ambition is.
Unfeeling; love it knows not at all,
but it is a conundrum that can't miss.
Success runs a reward with its rampancy,
and its earthly conquests are unbounded.
But as the prize stacks, the vacancy grows
inside the closed heart of everyman.

It destroys, but it is needed in full.
For without it, we cease to care, to love.
Every river needs a gulf to call
its own, to replenish the strength its lost,
and find a reason for flow, for life.
The Shepherd's our refuge; he won't let the frost
of death or fire of life claim us forever.