Excerpts


The Bliss of Ignorance

I cling to childhood
the last remaining thread,
just barely hanging on
or perhaps even only
the memory of that thread,
long since severed
when life was yet magical,
warm and pink and new,
and the world held no power over me

I try to turn away from
the uncaring or oblivious gray
the world uses to encompass me
but it is all around,
and the only escape is forward
through the ever-darkening gloom



Desdemona

Is there any sense of emptiness so terrible
as missing the person lying right beside you
whose breathing you can hear,
whose warmth you can feel,
whose darkened silhouette you can see
against the backdrop of cold, uncaring night?

She is lost to me, unmercifully stolen away
and as did scorned Achilles slay Iliums son,
would that I, too, might sate the rage
that burns within from the loss of one such as she,
to remove this Hector who stands before me,
and drag his bleeding carcass in my wake,
through the dirt and refuse, for all to see
(but Im not bitter)

My greatest strength, my greatest weakness,
she is both my salvation and my doom
just to be near her
the sound of her voice, haunting me;
the scent of her perfume,
rekindling passions I had thought burnt out;
the sight of her flawless beauty,
stirring up emotions that clench my heart
and tear at the fabric of my soul
it drives me insane

It is folly to love her, I know
but it is hopeless to deny how I feel:
I miss who she is,
I miss what we were,
I miss how I wanted us to be
she shouldnt count at all
yet the world means nothing,
and she is everything

To believe a love should not have been
makes no difference in the lessening of its passion;
ask the moon to withhold the tides,
tell the sun to not burn so brightly
as well to save your breath,
for it is the nature of the heart to love.



Dysentery

All behind me come the swine,
evil, angry, and grunting
blood drips from their ravenous maws,
and their fetid stink assails my nostrils
they are ineludible and will not be placated;
I toss them some few truffles as I have gathered,
yet they shall not be deterred.
I double over in pained horror
as the fear courses through me;
I know there shall be no escape
from this tiled chamber of hell.
Violent snorts of mucus echo all around;
I feel the demon boars nipping at my flanks,
and I feel certain I am lost
yet then, at the very last,
a swirling vortex of salvation
seizes the evil, angry, grunting swine
and sucks them down
into a watery doom
I am safefor the moment
there will be others.


Fondled Grapes: Survival of the Fittest

They are strong,
they are noble
but most of all, they are in love
he takes her from the gulag,
and they journey far,
to a better life in exotic lands

Listening to the hot, sleepy desert music,
she feeds him grapes,
he feeds her strawberries,
and they wash it down with wine
Pomegranate? she asks in offer;
he accepts and enjoys

Lying on the beach,
where the desert meets the sea,
they watch the moon rise from the ocean
overcome by the magic of the moment,
he spits out his seeds and cries:
Embrace me!!

She scoffs at his weakness,
disappointed by his altruism,
and beats him to death with a stick.



Another Mans Wife (Reprise)

I realize as I gaze into her eyes
she can see straight through to my soul;
I know I can say anything to her
yet no words are necessary
I need only hold her in my arms
to know, though our love is forbidden,
it is pure and somehow right

But it is always the same
basking in the glow of the love we share
then her husband walks in,
and it all just suddenly seems dirty.