It's in clouds

scudding so low I can clench them.

The sky can't be wrestled into possession 

any more than my soul can balance

on the summit of a needle-point. 

I tumble down the escarpment,

ad nauseum,

to where the soil clots in my hair.

It's where I learned to climb.

Every so often

I want to scamper back up,

barefoot over boulders

to get the forest out of my feet,

rappel back down and drink 

with cupped hands from the wild stream,

to taste erosion from the rocks.

You’d think when people made crackers,

They wouldn’t shatter,

But here we are,

Early hours of the morning,

Eating defective crackers,

With cheese, salsa, and laughter,

Cause these pseudo-chips are mocking me,

And the entire row keeps breaking,

But it’s okay,

Because even when things seem to fall apart,

We’re always there together,

Picking up the crumbs,

And making things better.

the shadow on his face like

a comfortable parasite,

gulping to grey fatness.

his skin, pale as the surface

wilts lonely, desperate for

the fondle of dawn.

the future hangs overhead

and feeds the creature.

he knows, her breath is moist

with sweetness, able to

slaughter the shade, able to

beckon the warmth again.

her majesty brightens the

phantoms he projects and

he tastes the moment with her,

gentle licks of salvation.

When we've taken vengeance on our enemies

When they have taken vengeance on us

When the battlements that used to be our homes crumble

When the world is darker and much less humble

Then we have truly lost our way

We will have lost the right to rule any day

Our simple pleasures will be lost

Our children taught to be soldiers at what cost

Our skies will darken with machines of war

The ground will bleed under military law

And we will have realised much too late

That war was the only means to seal our fate

Understanding is what is needed now

Empathy explained to those who don't know how

The ones who have never been shown any compassion

Who can only hate in measured fractions

Some people don't understand how good life can be

They can't relate to the simple joys of family

So we must show them how

Educate them with a new vow

That human life is sacred and should be revered

Murder, rape, terror and fear are seeds of destruction

They are the reckless paving stones to our undoing

And until we stop the process of an eye for an eye for an eye for an eye

The peace of our world will always be denied...

How naive we are to think this can end with more death

More terror, more casualties and regret until no-ones left

Except the grieving and angry of the innocent forsaken

Who will then perpetuate the cycle of the broken

And rise to fight in the names of the deceased

Now blinkered and in rage they no longer want their war to cease

They no longer listen to innocence, they no longer see reason

On all contents they continue to fight through the blood of the seasons

And we begin to disintegrate amongst the grief and the wreckage of our lives

Our world becomes so inhospitable that no one survives

And if by chance that we do

Would this be a life that you would want for you?...

Revolt...

Copyright Notice © Richard Withey. All rights reserved.

- My condolences and thoughts go out to all the people who have suffered needlessly for any war, for any act of terror (and greed) in any time.

There is something about the sea breeze

and how the salty air

succumbs my brain

into a hazy daze

of gratefulness.

My thank yous

rock with the

tos and fros

of the easy,

gentle

waves.

I stand exposed in the open,

in the stillness, leaning

against the gusts, defiance

is the stitching woven strong

within my sails

and the eye is dark,

and the night is drenched

with fractures in my will.

I feel the sting when

currents brush against the breaks,

hoping to shatter wide,

that the wind might whistle

comforting tunes of sorrow.

and I will sway to the song,

embracing a purpose attainable.