Blunt Blade

Sprawling

The feeling of pride
Pretend it quells
Masking painful thoughts
Practice hides the smell

When the thoughts come creeping in
Discipline abides
Forget what has passed
Ego now presides

In failure to hold
Obduracy trend
The legs will give way
Time to end

Sprawling tasteless
Pleasant distress
Thoughts that question
Won’t now impress

Forgetting the duty held
Is the lost regret
For when apples rot
Gone then is the threat

It’s the safety sought
Blinding darkness felt
Deliver the news
Stock the shelf

Sprawling tasteless
Pleasant distress
Thoughts that question
Won’t now impress

Helpless

Honor in crisis
Is earned with patience
Hatred can cut
Diligence

When fear awakes hate
Mind your defenses, hold
Keep your thoughts aligned
Fight the cold

It permeates thickened skin
The fear and the hate
You’re losing your will
Hook and bait

Listen to me
You hold the key

These emptiest
Desperate pleas to your darkest emotions
Helpless they become
They cannot function

And once you are there
Steady your thoughts and your heart will abide by reason
You’re at peace
Champion

The challenge is infinite
Tenacious aim
Emotions betray
Resist the game

Logic is a strong defense
Reason a stronghold
With these you can fight
Hold to your code

Listen to me
You hold the key

These emptiest
Desperate pleas to your darkest emotions
Helpless they become
Demotion

And once you are there
Steady your thoughts and your heart will abide by reason
You’re at peace
Champion

Hatred is gone
Love is an outpour in every transaction 
At peace is your soul
Jubilant actions

Blissful and fulfilled
Darkness is helpless against your defenses
Your love is a strength 
Immense
 

Careless Acts

What might seem solid ground
Is really loose soil
Beware what’s hidden down
It’s fear that causes your recoil

Presuming status quo
You maintain your ways
Complacency your flow
Oblivious to this decay

Careless acts
Selfish tendencies
Willful hatred
Only one to please

And when you look for aid
You find there’s no one
Your callous bill was paid
Without a second thought undone

Careless acts
Selfish tendencies
Willful hatred
Only one to please

All you’re left with
Is a sad frown
Pleading the fifth
As you go down

Forgiveness

The willingness 
to heal
Is a wounded heart
That’s been concealed

With words
I accept the fate
No time to account
For buried hate

No one is here
Alone
Burden of the hide
There is no home

With time, things progress
The space
Retain memory
Providing grace

Til now, conceptual
Disdain
Progress, envious
Thoughts will remain

Longing for the time when 
things were once given grace to hope in peace
Falling without sense of presence 
It’s the patience I lease

Without cause or strife
It’s the blow felt within
Lucid my thoughts
For now thin

Where I’m at
Time will tell
Is it here
Will I be coming back

Who am I
What is this
When it ends
Will I be dressed in black

Why are you
So upset
What have I
Done with tranquility

I betray
Everything
Handing out
Hostility

Slipping into time
I forget all my hope
I lose myself
The firm rope

Where I’m at
Time will tell
Is it here
Will I be coming back

Who am I
What is this
When it ends
Will I be dressed in black

Why are you
So angry
What have I
Done with tranquility

I betray
Everything
Falling out
Gripping gravity

I’ve lost forgiveness
What have I become

All that I have earned
That was once so wholesome

Lost in the waves
Bearing loathsome

Lacking a state
A found sum

All is not lost
I am here, won’t succumb

Justified

The time has come
The stage is set
The race is on
Time to place bets

Strap yourself in
Give it what you can
Forget your repeat
Bet your next hand

The game begins
You slide in place
Focus
Stern Face

You justify means to gain your desires
Those who are there must be with the briars
Scorned are the ones who would question method
They are a brick in the wall most dreaded

Your progress soars
Your head it swells
You’ve come so far
Gains are now felt

Collateral
Laid within your wake
The fated result
Others dismay

You justify means to gain your desires
Those who are there must be with the briars
Scorned are the ones who would question method
They are a brick in the wall most dreaded

Success is ostensibly the outcome
Actually, it’s a shallow hum
 

Hindrance

Funny How
This Ends
Seemingly
Incensed
Brittle it feels
Weak
Glaring Mistake
Far from meek

Loosened Grip
I Stall
Floating Once,
Twice, Fall
Lessons Learned
Your Patience Ends
When it’s gone
No one Bends

To you, to me
There is no difference
Hurt is gone
There’s no hindrance

To you
There is no difference
 

Esperanza

Out in the waste lands
There was a town called Hope
There lived a young girl
She kept a secret hidden

The town secluded
The people lived in fear
They lacked protection
Their every move forbidden

“Esperanza
Please have mercy
We mean no harm”

“Do as I say
I’ve got you where I want
Hold to my charms”

There was no way of knowing
How things turned out this way
She was always a kind girl
Blindly led astray

When a stranger provided 
Talisman control
Esperanza took over
Servants to her goal

As years passed over
Cruelty consumed her heart
Outside decayed flesh
Her soul possessed by dark arts

“Our time is now
She’s frail weakened
We strike, with ease”

“You won’t succeed
My power holds you here
Fall to you knees”

Suddenly from the shadows
The stranger then appeared
Hooded black with a long sword
They collapsed in fear

“I have come here to judge you
Payment for your crimes
Gluttony, lust and envy
Treated as playtime”
 
“But your sentence has been served
You shall soon be free
Esperanza’s my puppet
She belongs with me”

And with that she was taken
Talisman held tight
Wailing, squirming, and captured
Vanishing in haze of black night

Coarse Reaction  

Lessons in time 
Hold your coarse to the line  
And rescind ev’ry action in kind  

Balance is key  
When it’s had for a fee  
But timing once held high
Falls from trees  

Hands across melted snow  
Soon will be cursed  
Tragedy burns your pride  
It Kills your thirst  

Bringing your grit  
Is your last line to hit  
And turns words into poison dry spit  

You try your hand  
But you can’t feel the sand  
And hardship only
Gathers up in your craw for your soul to become canned  

Hands across melted snow  
Soon will be cursed  
Tragedy burns your pride  
It Kills your thirst  

I was the last one in your orbit  
That walked on eggs for reasons  
That I wish to forget  
Sudden and everlasting blisters  
Can never heal with honor  
Without lost debt 
I bend I break  
But I’m still here  
In time, I’ll heal  
I’ll shed all fear