To Conquer or Be Killed

They've come to burn the ships of meaning--
They sailed to a new world
Blank canvases unfurled
The changeable winds harvested
Upon the salted water bed
To undiscovered countries they were gleaning'
But dimly, dimly on the quantum waves
Promising to make themselves their slaves
To circumstances, chance,
And to the wanton glance
They learn had promised nothing
And only promised nothing
In all its promises and offerings
Where even disappointment plays and sings
The ships are burning on the sand
To testicles of glass that now demand
You only say where you will soon be leaning

Becoming Who You Are

They've gone, the father, mother, children, aunts
And uncles, all grandparents, cousins, dog.
They've gone, the heroes with heroic rants,
The teenage gangs, rebellions lost in fog.
They've gone, the pastors and police, the order
And authority of written law.
They've gone, the business people, every border
And nation, what all elites like to gnaw.
They've gone, the eveners and bureaucrats,
The baby men and women whining, wild.
They've gone, but never gone, like feral cats
And city rats, the ghost of your dead child.
They're never gone, but you must learn to give
Each part its due for you to love and live. 

Golden Arrows

Why read about the life of Goethe? Why
Not read about the lives of common men?
I do not need to read where I have been--
For virtue aims at better men than I.

Why read the works of Shakespeare? Why deny
The local playwright writing in his den?
If there's a chance of greatness from this pen,
The greatest teachers must make my words fly.

The greatest trees grow in the deepest soil--
The deepest, widest roots raise branches bold,
And winds that wrap around the branching limbs
Will strengthen them through their near-constant toil.

The greatest artists mine the purest gold--
The poorest artists give into mere whims.

The Social Justice Warrior Speaks

Before I can be friends with you
I have to know: what did your father do?
Did your grandfather think things right
As we think things here on this very night?

Did anyone they know once own
A slave? Don't tell me that you all have grown
In ethics--that is privilege-speech.
You're born in guilt and sin, that's what I teach.

Your you's inherited from kin,
Your racism's inherent in your skin--
You cannot change, now don't deny
And just accept that you deserve to die.

The problems of the world were born
When your race came about, and now we mourn
What we perceive, through you, we lose,
Much like the Nazis felt about the Jews.