Master of the Obvious.....#76

If you cannot determine a man's value by the caliber of his soul, hispedigree will tell you nothing.

Master of the Obvious....#75

 If a friend, always underestimate a man. If an enemy, always overestimate him.  

American Soldiers

Soldiers were in my town today.

I heard their cadenced feet.

It seemed an embarrassed mass I saw.

Their faces red with heat.

Soldiers slept in our Capitol tonight.

Legs splayed across marble floors.

They turned within their restless dreams

in the soft light from chamber doors. 

Soldiers were at the walls today

long guns with loaded magazines.

Each warrior questioned his response

to any likely scene.

Soldiers faced another night

this time, sleeping in a frozen garage.

Talking heads all smirking said

it beat an artillery barrage.

Soldiers will all soon board their jets

and they will, to their far homes, fly.

May American soldiers never come here again

prepared to kill or die.

 Wisdom

Quarks and Quasars amaze stargazers

staring into space time

publishing papers only the select read.

I have looked into the books

ancient; never new

and have sealed them into my chest.

Wisdom leaps across narrows and steeps

it swims with Leviathan 

and even strolls on two legs.

Truth rests upon the lowly and best

it circumscribes craggy heights

and anchors in the sunless depths.

Knowledge is etched within throats catched

with desire and contemplation

the university of journeys.

Certainty is proffered 

the depth of need

desperation and hope

a diploma unframed.

Listen to me, I am a working piston

stroking with the energy

from the flash of beginnings.

Seek wisdom, purchase it as a ransom

free to live within your breast

treasured forever!

The Resistant Cap'n

On the eve of New Year's Eve

I sat a new bottle of spiced rum

on the floor beside my bed.

I'd been calculating the sum

of my non-productive life

and my mind was filled with dread.

It's wearisome, is it not?

The way the soul cries for

compensation, for something

to grasp; anything 'more.'

I was having a crisis of faith;

determined to take a taste of liquid redemption.

Two o'clock spun up

and I was wide asleep;

in that space between sighs

when that gap before you is deep.

Maybe I stopped caring, ceased to think

looking from reddened eyes, listening to lies.

My fingers reached for Cap'n Jack

lifting the bottle from the floor.

Grasping the neck's cap, I applied pressure

twisting it more and more.

For sometime I labored to open the bottle

but it refused to comfort and reassure.

Ultimately, I surrendered my battle with the bottle

and pressed my face into my bed sheet.

The Cap'n is not my friend.

I had forgotten how to stand upon my feet

and trust in those truths I'd professed 

for years, through cold and heat.

I will not attempt to moralize, my dears.

The lesson here is plain.

No man is beyond the struggle.

Every temptation may leave a stain.

But there is no victory over sin just because

the sealed cap, on the bottle remains!

The Sweetest Moment 

Civil war soldiers, having tasted combat

said they'd "Seen the elephant."

They would see it repeatedly

until it stomped them

gored them

or left them.

From the perspective

of many trips around the sun

I, too, have "Seen the elephant."

The first time it came 

blistering through the sawgrass

it arrived in the form

of one pretending an ally

who told me, simply, he was

going to kill me.

The elephant roared again

when an assailant fired three rounds

past my left ear.

Each bullet buzzed like a honeybee.

I could feel the heat of each one

just before it pancaked into the brick wall

behind me.

The elephant laughed the day

as a building laborer

I tumbled through a hole

in the ceiling of a ten foot room

landing on my back

across an aluminum ladder.

It laughed again the morning

a giant of a drunken fool

stood across from me

and tucked my Bible

beneath an arm the size of 

a fire hydrant, saying the sacred book was his.

I jammed my chin into my chest

and rammed the behemoth in the gut.

I really didn't think that through.

I retained my Bible and my honor

But the elephant stumbled away.

The elephant was not laughing

that November morning

a blood vessel burst 

deep within my brain

doing what neither 

my false friend

three bullets

a fall

and a thug

did not do.

I have "Seen the elephant"

and in so doing have learned

a few lessons:

Take the threat seriously

even when it smiles at you.

Especially when it smiles at you.

Never smile back.

When you once more open your eyes

look at the sky.

Appreciate the color.

Smell the sweet air and drink it in.

Feel your neurons fire

and your nerves react

from your brain

to your extremities.

Listen to the music in the trees.

Feel the goodness of your heart thumping

in your chest.

And celebrate that the elephant has

once more

thundered into the brush.

You must see it at least once more.

And in that final moment, it will win.

But that is then.

This is now.

This time, you are walking away.

And that, my friend

apart from cradling your babies

in your arms

is the sweetest moment in life.

 Master of the Obvious...#74

Until one has been challenged in their ability to simple draw himself/herself erect and walk a straight line for more than five feet, they have yet to face the true aspect of resolve. 

(One may substitute for the above: "...push back that glass of alcohol, resist those pills, walk away from that wayward temptation, etc.")

 Master of the Obvious #73.....

Be careful with the man who does not smooth his soft cap, back to front, nor his hard hat, front to back.

 There is a voice in the wind...

...so low and distant

it may never be

heard.

Most do not listen

being distracted 

by the

drum and scrape of

cities

by the 

lure of 

highways

by the 
distraction of cell phones

and the

seductions and enticements
of life.

The voice does not
address the ear
but the heart.

It is an acquired voice
that is not shy with time
or reluctant to speak
in simple ways
pompous
lofty hearts
surely miss.

But hush...

be still

and you will hear the voice

the small and gentle

whisper

calling 

calling

inviting you to join your heart

to the horizon.

To the endless

shimmering 

horizon.

The Destroyer 

The early morning seemed

unusually dark

like India ink.

You slept a few feet

from my eyes

of fatherly concern.

I had been awakened

by the stirring of angels

and hurried 

to your door.

There was

near you

the Destroyer

who seeks only to

kill

steal

and destroy.

The paternal sword I bore

was unchallenged by his

and within several 

chilled moments

he vanished.

All this occurred 

long ago.

Indeed

I had forgotten about it

until, once more

the Destroyer

visited me.

He comes now

with sword sheathed.

His rattling laughter is his

blade of cruelty.

He reminds me

it is he

that divides us.

You have never told me

my crimes

that stand between father and daughter

ceasing all conversation

all familial affection. 

This night is darker than the former.

Like you

the Destroyer

does not talk.

Conversation has no merit.

He simply sits and laughs.

I forbid him

and he leaves.

Just like that long-ago night.

But every day

the Destroyer finds a seat

smiling with derision

and I bid him leave.

But he returns each day

and has for years.

My crime must be dreadful.

It comes with a death sentence.