Right hook to a glass jaw.
Reason crumbles and falls away.
A failure of epic scale,
as we surrender to emotion.

The heart is psychotic
and beyond understanding.
Only waiting brings healing,
No tears will do the task.

Fireworks are pretty,
but are mere distractions.
They say there are drugs
Which serve the same purpose.

Please forgive my eyes
and my overplayed hand.
A stretched out neck
Has beckoned an axe.

{CK}

Forgive me for being heavy handed
It was not exactly my intent.
This farcical merry-go-round
Has given to me a sideways bent.
Give unto me a hand so helping
Seems my side now has a dent.
I see hundreds of mobs waiting-
watching for a chance to vent.

A dark shaft named “worthless”-
Made of iron and not of wood.
Truncated lies spitting venom
Yet words manage to spill blood.
The arrow jutting from my leg
Causes pain just like a flood.
A red fire rages in my veins
Poisoning my thoughts of good.

Forget my face just a moment
and see what shadows remain.
On my dirty face I bear a mark,
That looks like that of Cain.
The fire carried by my blood
Is about to reach my brain,
I hobble towards the iron door
And hope to get out in the rain.

Jonah made a break to the left
And caught himself a big Fish.
Taking a cue from his mistake,
I headed right with only a wish.
Twenty meters away and I collapsed,
The pain, it swells on me afresh.
I see a hound beside the road-
His collar says his name is Jess.

Consicousness is overrated-
In the black you finally stop caring.
Somwhere the rain has stopped,
But I have lost all bearing.
My so-called-peace is left unbroken
By questions of how I’m faring.
“This respite won’t last forever,
But it’s nice” that’s what I’m thinking.

When at last I come back around,
The air is dry- the pain is gone.
Someone cleaned my mortal wound-
The rain has stopped- it is dawn.
As I look down at my arrowless leg,
Bloody pawprints have begun to wan.
I looked hard for Jess and my arrow,
But alas, my friend, he was withdrawn.

{CK}

Powder blows with the wind.
Proud hearts build castles
expecting an eternity
of nothing but bliss.

The artificial edifice
soon falls like a house
made out of playing cards
built on a mere wish.

Take my name from the lottery
I don’t want to play anymore.
There’s too many tickets sold
Promising all too few prizes.

I burned all the bridges
that I had forgot to cross.
So I stand in silken deserts
Watching the dust blow by.

See the dust glittering
as it blankets the wind
forming in it a figure,
One to which I fell in.

And yet another castle falls,
Raising up a dust storm.
The winds whistle a cheery tune
To see the edifice destroyed.

So does the dust dissipate,
and I’m laying on the ground-
Smoke rises from distant bridges,
And the wind whistles loud.

{CK}

Pens pack a punch of which swords can only dream
The weaponless soldier has lost his merit,
But the writer will always have his mouth.
Yet broken dreams of both lay seige to the moonbeam.

We strive and reach for the unattainable
A dreamer left with no time for sleep
Will lose his last mark of sanity-
As the glass of wine falls from the table.

Thus I sharpen my tongue just like a knife
and we will see what blood may flow
In this invisible cirlce we have made.
With many infamous words do we end a life.

I stuck my foot in my mouth and lost a toe
But at least now the bullet will miss,
Seeing as how the target is smaller.
There’s always an upside to our bit of woe.

{CK}

I don’t really know that I have much to say about this one.  However, I do need to mention that this is intended to be a song contrasting four different characters, so please forgive the length. 

Laying in a coffin,
I look at the stars.
The door is closing
I didn’t get that far.
Hammer to iron
As the lid is snugged down.
A face is frozen
in a perfect frown.

I can’t believe
I feel no closure.
Can God hear me
Or do I care no longer?

Just one more nail
To close this door forever
One more nail
To bring these tracks together
One more nail
To heal a heart’s distemper
One more nail
To join our hearts forever.

The rail’s been laid
Crossing this great Land.
Sing us a chorus
And strike up the band.
Coast to coast,
“On with the industry!”
And yet I will pass,
With nothing remembered.

I can’t believe
I feel no closure.
Can God hear me
Or do I care no longer?

Just one more nail-
This lid is closed forever
One more nail
To bring these tracks together
One more nail
To heal a heart’s distemper
One more nail
To join our hearts forever.

Rage has built inside
Leaving a festering wound.
My wound motivates
To bring some small doom.
Destruction is my game
To make me feel better.
This blessed release
Will pass in but a moment.

I can’t believe
I feel no closure.
Can God hear me
Or do I care no longer?

Just one more nail
This door is closed forever
One more nail
These tracks are brought together
One more nail
To heal a heart’s distemper
One more nail
To join our hearts forever.

A man bleeding out
working my forgiveness.
My simple indiscretions
Are horrible offenses.
For my great failing
He is nailed to a tree.
We bring the pain,
And He resurrects at the end…

I can’t believe
I feel no closure.
Can God hear me
Or do I care no longer?

Just one more nail
This door is closed forever
One more nail
These tracks are brought together
One more nail
I die in my distemper
One more nail
To join our hearts forever.

(Breakdown)
You scream of death and mortal decay
For fear and for blood you have closed yourself off
And sink to despair this day.
It is My blood that brings you thus far
And it is my blood that will bring you home.
One more nail in my hand and all will complete
You sing in this hatred when you need My relief.

I can’t believe
You reject a healer.
Can you hear me
Or do you care no longer?

Just one more nail
This door is closed forever
One more nail
These tracks are brought together
One more nail
I die in my distemper
One more nail
Our hearts are joined forever.

{CK}

With upraised fists and chants of Revolution does great change happen.  Bergen once said, “Great changes are easier than small ones”, but what he has forgot is the volatility of tradition.  Iconoclasts are heroes when History judges their conduct.  Yet unknown to us all is that the heroes need villains to be more than mere men. 

“What can you do with a queen who refuses to be served?” a simple man once muttered intently, “A man in a hat is no champion without an audience!”  As the hands shrouded in steel pierce the night sky, the lust for blood has caused men to loose their control.  Revolutionaries march to unseat the dignitaries, and yet when they themselves gain power they are without direction.  When defined by a fight, what is to be done when it is over?

No curtain calls for those on thrones when the night of anarchy descends.  Blood runs in the street and emotions paint the walls as we seek to determine what is of value.  Succession to succession and power changes hands– much like funds in the hand of a bookie.  “Life is a gamble, so you might as well be holy.  What can it hurt to miss a jolly or two in comparison to forever?”

A circular cycle of reigning and revolution.  The queen is forgotten and the ship of state sails on… maybe she will see her error and the people will welcome her back.  After the novelty wears off, the revolution loses its grandeur.  Ostracized by those of might, the fighters lose their sway.  The people are tired of blood!  When we tire of change, we instead seek stability.  And so the pendulum swings yet again as the noose is once more tightened.

Swaying in the breeze, the revolvers hang quietly.  What was once the sway of power is now the drifting of the wind.  One queen has been replaced by yet another, building a castle just to watch the last one fall.  And the kingdom attempts a return to peace… yet boiling under the surface, the seeds of the next revolution are born.

{CK}

Artist in the Asylum: A Cryptic Triptych.

PART III

In my crimson hued sky
the valkyries have descended.
As they begin to feed on me,
Am I really dead already?
To the dead man on the tree,
I yell “can you help me?!”

Pulling through the nails,
The dead man leaves the tree.
Blood pouring from his wounds,
His eyes are now on fire.
As defenseless as I am,
I fear I am about to expire.

The feeders came quickly
Ripping the coat from my chest.
They have seen the undead man
and are not at all pleased.
They scream like banshees
as they guard their prey.

He approaches us very slowly-
His blood falling to the ground.
Bolts of fire shoot from his eyes
and a fierce battle begins.
Bleeding through all the battle,
Only he who was dead remains alive.

He stoops down to the ground,
and picks me up carefully.
As He begins to fly through the sky,
I quickly pass out in His arms.
I awake healed and at home in bed,
surviving what was a terrible dream…

… or was it?

THE END

{CK}

Artist in the Asylum: A Cryptic Triptych.

PART 2

Another day spent in here
amidst my clouded walls.
They stare and call me crazy,
for fighting these creatures.
My creations are attacking
for I gave them their life.

The pack leader climbs the wall
saying he has a key to my soul.
I try hard to bat him away,
But he sits and grins back.
Blood falls from the ceiling
and yet I know not whose.

Passersby laugh at me
as I swim in the sky.
A red rain falls on my face,
and Hell has opened wide.
Those infernal birds return-
fanged vultures instead of sparrows.

Time for another dose
Of the drug I created.
The colors go to war
Who once made me happy.
The smiles that once came
are now razored and gaped jaws.

As I cram in the corner,
a vision appears on the wall.
I see a tree in my red clouds,
With a dead man nailed to it.
As valkyries circle overhead,
I see the dead come to life.

{CK}

Part 3 to come Thursday morning.

Artist in the Asylum; a Cryptic Triptych.

PART ONE

I give myself a hug–
for it makes me feel warm.
All the world is soft
just like the clouds.
Surrounded by a blank canvas,
I feel so at peace.

If my paint is my blood,
They may call it genuine.
My coat is on straight–
Does the collar match the cuffs?
To the tune in my head
the sparrow sings dissonance.

They tied me down once,
as if to draw blood.
But the needle in my arm,
Drew only my words.
Then they took it away,
to develop a drug.

They gave me a drink
that brought swirling colors.
My canvas has become
a fireworks display.
At last I feel smiles
In the inside of me.

So the monster is on the page,
and I sit in my embrace.
If that sparrow doesn’t stop
I will blow up the tree…
The red paint on the wall
It only says “help me”.

{CK}

Part two on Tuesday morning.

For I will heat my home
With the words I speak.
Anger loosed in a moment
Seeking it’s own relief.
This age grows darker-
Darker by the second.
My anger has betrayed
This darkness within me.

The old world without
Infected me- unnoticed!
Much like rigor mortis
Sets in to a carcass.
Sing to me of bloodshed,
or paint some infidelity…
We speak of great lies,
And enjoy every minute.

Strain against the chains
For freedom, she looms.
A Messiah on horseback
Will bring the Earth’s doom.
Kowtow to indulgence
and so seal your fate.
Or fight through fatigue
And so earn a crown.

{CK}