This voice. This is madness, isn't it?

Sense niggles, though logic is lost

I can hear its cries

But it shouts louder

And it won't let go

All these unheard echoes

That haunt my head

I give in for a little while

And it eases...for a little while

So I slip my mask back on once more

Smile, laugh, joke

and

You have no idea

What torment screams inside me.

Poppies in fields

Bullet holes ripped through the world

Each one a screaming mouth

A protest to atrocities

A medal of the brave

The ranks of good people who fought to save

Who stood up to adversity

Bullet cases jettisoned in the heat of war

Now cool and buried under a civilian law

How easy it is to forget

To disrespect

That's why it's important to take a moment

A little time

To remember

Remember the fear

The hurt and the pain

The loss

The ones who gave with nothing to gain

The brave that endured

So that we could thrive and be free

A minutes silence for you and me

Echoes of explosions and gunfire for the ones that served

The quiet that can never be preserved

The silence never quenched when you witness people die

Your friends and colleagues

The good times and the highs

Shot down by treachery and lies

Conflict and denies

Trodden underfoot in demented trenches

Ripped overhead by barbed wire fences

How do you quiet the spoils of war?

For the ones that served

One minute silence is the least that they deserve...

© Richard Withey. All rights reserved.

He shot his horse.

In a shallow grave

Foaming at the mouth

Rendered useless and

Suffering

And in concert with

The twilight ascending

In its heavy-set sky 

The light was smeared

With the blood on his hands

His crimson-hued guilt

And it reflected his image

Standing remorseful

But stoic 

As he shadowed the corpse

Silently sorry and cursing

At God for His Plan and

The culmination of loss 

In a crescendo crushed

Pity seeping with apologies

Until his regret was dimmed

At the sight of his wife

Approaching with mercy and

Her braided hair

Weaving her compassion

And draped over her shoulder

On her Guardian's stable rest  

Bringing peace to the graveside

From behind their oak tree

Engraved with their dignity

Aged together and blossomed

And as she placed her hand

On the sway of her husband's back

Steadying his burden and

Exorcising his pain

She gave him the strength

And the permission to forgive

Himself and his resolve

And she reminded him to exhale

The aching despondency 

In-exchange for deep breaths

Of love and acceptance

And with no words spoken 

The funeral was palpable and loud 

Above all, be honest.

At all times be honest.

Your honesty is not something which can be bought nor negotiated - it must be who you are rather than who you can be. Truth cannot have a price tag with you, for then your honesty is only when it is expedient and not when it is necessary to hold back the darkness in this world. Honesty is not about expediency, nor about being insensitive. Honesty is about being loving to your audience - to love them enough to not allow them to be deceived by a lie, no matter how appealing such lie may be.

And be loyal too.

Do not forsake being loyal.

Your loyalty, as with honesty, cannot be something that is bought or negotiated - loyalty is not a part of a contract but a character of your soul. It must be given without price to pay or favors to be given - it cannot have a price or condition. For upon the moment it is conditioned your loyalty is not loyalty at all but rather a supremacy of expediency. Loyal is who you must be, not who you can be in the proper circumstances.

There could be so much more to say, but honesty and loyalty must be who you are. If you are honest and loyal you shall also be loving and strong - for to tell a hard truth is nonetheless loving, and to stand by someone at a hard time takes strength as well as loyalty. These two entail many other things but must be focused upon for they require these other things. Therefore to be honest and loyal is to be much more that solely honest and loyal.

- Mr. DH

In blackest day,

And in darkest night,

Who shall snuff out the light?

Shall it not shine on through the ages?

What darkness shall snuff it out?

What blackness shall quench the brightness?

Indeed, no darkness can banish the light;

Nay, it is the light which vanishes all darkness and shadow.

What dark shadow shall stand before the light of brightest day?

None, for no shadow may withstand the light.

- Mr. DH

Don't put your love in a heart, for a heart can be broken.

Put it in a circle instead, since a circle goes round and round forever.

Don't say I love you, without knowing the weight of the words behind it.

Instead, say I like you, for it is easier to like than to love.

People don't fall in or out of love.

They only fall for what they think they loved.

The out of part comes when they change to someone else.

Your love can be so special.

You just have to nourish it until it is that.

Love, in it's purest form.

The moon and the stars

balance on the beam of your smile.

Your silvery, succulent smile

wets my appetite for promise

and hope trapped in your eyelashes,

awakening a tender optimism

as my life glows in your amber hues.

I yearn to copy and paste your grin

and zip you into my heart as

smile’s vibrant vibes float high

upon the fervent breeze which

you have stirred in my soul.

Laughing countenance radiates

in my core and drinks my essence.

Infinity door slams shut on

the qualms of my past.

The sheath of my skin

knows not the folly of madness

as I laugh freely the way

I remember the rain.

Your smile shines once more

as day breaks on our beginning.

It is my duty to sit here with this dying thing.

Night after night after night.

Is this all life is?

A collection of days that bleed together with only the stink of shit.

Let me die young.

Let me die.

I no longer want to be the silent watcher,

night after night after night.

Let it die.