Guardian Warrior

The time for battle has emerged --
I will not live my life submerged
By others' ignorance or spite --
I feel myself renewed. I've purged
Myself of weakness. I'll delight,
Take joy in each and every fight.

I will not hide behind my walls --
I'll drag my horses from their stalls
And strap my armor to my shins
And legs and arms and chest. My calls
For victory will drive the sins
Out of this world. Here life begins.

I'm not too old for battle, I'm
But halfway through my given time --
I'm less than halfway through my day.
I've oiled and scraped off all the grime
Of every past defeat -- betray
Me and your hair will never gray.

I never will again retreat,
And you will but enjoy defeat
If you don't understand who I've
Become -- I'm bold, my mind is fleet.
I feel within me a new drive --
Behold your King: I now arrive.

Phosphorescence

Behold the light that in its purity
Blinds all who look upon it. See
That shadows make the light reveal
The images that seem to steal
Away when we look on them. Your
Imagination makes the door
You see as much as light reflected
Off of its face that you rejected
As mere illusion. Light betrays
What lies beyond our final blaze.
First vision, open to illusion,
Condemns you only to confusion.
You have to love your inner light
To gain philosophy's insight.
Without that light, we are content --
Revision brings enlightenment.

Daily Walk

This dog is too much company. I want
To walk alone, to be in nature, hunt
For flowers I have never seen, alone
With wind and leaves. Is that a jagged stone?

I cannot look, I must move on. To lay
Down on a stream shore, watch the water flow
Across the rocks, the turbulence at play
With light that scatters. Wait, is that a crow?

I cannot look, I am pulled on. I stand
When I must stand, I walk when I must walk.
I cannot be -- I bow to each demand --
I thirst for silence and am made to talk.

I tire of turbulence, exhausted I
Am dragged along through life. I can't deny
What I assigned myself. The bright sunshine
Oppresses me in ways I can't define.

Leading My Chariot

My horses, black and white, on wings they flew --
A panther and a snow leopard will do.

A Year With Dreams

I'd like to spend a year with dreams
As dangerous as tigers starved from drought,
So dangerous you'd hear the screams
As flesh was torn off of the bones of doubt.

I want to shed the pretense of the night,
The moon's false face
Which grants a trace
Of light that's not its own.
I'll hold out 'til the morning bares
Herself. I'll feel the groan
Reverberate the skies. Who dares
Take on the sun and fill up with its light?

I want to lure the tigers with my blood
That drips down off my fingers to the mud.

Shall I strike out in bamboo fields?
Shall I allow myself to strike
Out, hoping that such danger yields
A lesson from that lonely hike?

The tigers lurk behind the bamboo grass.
I see their eyes.
I hear their sighs.
I smell their breath.
I taste the death
Of my past life I left to dream. I pass
Into another life where all my vivid dreams alone
Bear grapes abundantly; for only then can I atone
For all the times I failed to give dreams mass.

I want to take the tigers of my dreams
And harness them and drive them with a whip
And leap them over all the rapid streams
And raise myself and never lose my grip.