The pride of humanity
all glorious consciousness
upon a red carpet of vanity
this slipstream of existence
glimpsed but momentarily
through a blur
they loosely call reality
with a cry to the most high
through a clear blue sky
“Why are you hiding from me?”
Is Love
just another
four letter word
given a death sentence?
Is the weight of Hate
greater than a feather?
With Anubis guarding
a mythical entrance
to a heavenly existence?
You’ll need to travel light
if you wish to transcend
beyond the broken ground
of this forsaken Placebo Town
The Seamstress
in a state of distress
Her beautiful dress
delivered all disheveled
to the wrong person
at the wrong address
“I saw the best minds of my generation
destroyed by madness, starving
hysterical naked, dragging themselves
through the negro streets at dawn
looking for an angry fix.”
~ Allen Ginsberg
THE PERSISTENCE
The gleaning
seeking fallen fruit
after the harvesting
Neither sowing small
nor reaping big
The art of just surviving
Street wise shaded eyes
failing to disguise
a festering fever
of hidden trauma
Is this life but a test?
A trial by unholy fire?
Upon a Dragon’s Breath
(and the Persistence of Grace)
This existence
an enigma
A never ending search
for perfection
all wrapped up
in a shroud of destruction
From a mirror shattered
humanity’s bloodied
and battered reflection
Like a Rising Stone
A time for life
to seek
to be found
to feel
to be touched
to hear truth
how sweet the sound
to taste goodness
goodness to be tasted
To love
and to be loved
Without the Divine
a lifetime
truly wasted
I must admit
that I was rather upset
and even a little bit jealous
when Buffy the Vampire Slayer
walked down the aisle with Angelus
I beg your pardon!
That’s a conversation
that never happened
Like Dylan
at the crossroads
selling his soul to the devil
for a musical bargain
Creation;
God imagining everything
. . . including mankind
Natural law set in motion
Life;
A supernatural sensation
Mountains of gold
Rivers of sunshine
In all of Earth’s garden
it is only man
who communes with angels
and is troubled by demons
The shallow mellow
The deeply fried
The prosperity blessed
The fashionably dressed
The stolen
The taken
The cast aside
The slave
the child soldier
the child bride
The broken and forsaken
The dignified
and self satisfied
upon that open highway
… a mile wide
Mountains of gold
Rivers of poison
David Redpath 