The Poetry Marathon

won’t you come and live with us?
I’ll protect you she says
tears in her eyes.

I pause in painful silence
that a child so young could perceive
needs she should never imagine

I’d rather have my entrails torn
from my bloodied body
heart still beating life into my being

than know this innocent
already knows the depths of fear
palpable yet unspoken between her elders

her future lies in the balance
and I am powerless to protect her
from a mother who has no soul

You ask me if my magic can save you
And I have to tell you no
Magic is only for those who believe
In the power of we

I cannot conjure something that you will not take to heart
Wrap your soul around
And believe can change the world
It’s not make believe

Enchant you? I cannot open prisons
Magic is not the key
You have the power to do that, not me.
If you do not believe, how can I fool you?

Magic is in your sinews and synapses
If you let it wrap itself in the pulses
Impulses brought to bear
Through powers hidden under layers

Delve deep into the mysteries
Buried in your frightened mind
And you will find that magic
Is only for the brave who believe

I will not shrink from being who I am
In these the last days
I am resolute
I will not hide from the world my fears
Less still my love
My regrets for the past
And a future that will not be

In my heart I planned for this
Though I hoped I would be wrong.
Now I am sure with a surety that cannot be shaken
Though I try, and succeed for breathless moments
To forget that I am the harbinger of doom
Black crow to a world that kills elephants
And bees, flowers and the roots of rain forest trees

Knowing extinction of the world we knew
Is inevitable. Tomorrows will not come for us
The bright and shining days of childhood
Are dark now. Where light once pierced the night
Dawn is too heavy a curtain.
I am powerless to push aside the velvet pall.
And reveal heavens that once revealed stars.

I am. You are. We are.
My last, your last, our last.
Minutes are long and bleak.
They do not pass like shooting stars
And leave a trail of stardust
Pain is an overwhelming blanket
Repentance cannot throw from heavy hearts

The hours are counting down
I am each minute wholly here
With you in a world that madness conquered
Stolen tomorrows are not hidden
In the treasure troves buried by the oligarchs
Who delivered us by their evil to these end days
Funeral pyres piled high with worthless treasures

He travels through time without me
loses me as he wanders in decades past
or generations yet to come

I can’t follow him there
see what he smells
paint the views
blank canvases remain untouched

yet touch can bring him back to me
sometimes I hold his hand and hope
and if I’m blessed with success
I pierce the heavens he travels

strains of Moody Blues set his feet to dance
his arms envelop me in yesterday
weave us together in strands of memory
randomly plucked from a mind that wanders

he sails without me now
is not lonely as I who left behind
wander through the world bereft
wondering when he’ll pause again

come back to me just one more time
not to dance assunder but be with me
hold my hand and in my eyes
see love reflected and love recall