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Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 3560 Registered: 11-1998 |
Honorable Mention Upwards Mike Silverman You'll find me here, deserted By the soldiers I should lead, I've been wandering these fields Where all the wounded bleed, The stars are hidden always By the flames the bodies feed, The war machines form hallways... And the battles now recede. They sent me discharge papers And sat me on a plane, They said my shell-shocked psyche Was apparently insane, But the pilot is a corpse now And the doors are full of flame, I can hear the sharp report As the mortars hit terrain. The plane is slowly burning And I see the windows blurring With the faces of the wounded In a torture reoccurring. The General has found me... In the flames he stands alone, Hollow sockets for his eyes And wounded to the bone, His uniform is full of gold And silver bars and stars, He slowly opens up his case Of contraband cigars, And smiles oh-so-grimly As the flames consume his flesh, Till nothing leaves a trace of him Save burning flakes of ash. And you'll find me here, deserted By the hopes that fill the well Of multitudes unknowing All the world's a burning Hell. As I wander through the tail of flames That glitter at the door, And step beyond what life remains To settle up the score, I find a vast array of canyons Blowing-out their flaming tongues, Peninsulas of bloated forms Climbing up the rungs Of a ladder that arises to a point That none can see, And who but those we would anoint Now swim a raging sea That circles round the ladder's base Each a straining weeping face That once held office high Within a most respected place, But here the sanguine Lord, The Enemy of God, Turns his three opinioned blades And marks me with a prod, A gaseous laughter issuing From tongue all cracked and dark, He points to where the ladder leads And smirks a wry remark, "None that know self-pity Can ascend or yet embark. They'll linger in this city Long without a loving heart In the self-destroying fire All become a part." Jacob's Ladder burns its way... Arise my empty soul! As I climb, the angels fall To chasms far below, Each a comet spitting tar And blind with solemn fear, And oh the noises welling up Are monstrous to hear. Self-pity, yes... I'll leave it here, And let it wither cruel, It dragged me into Hell But I am not a blinded fool, I've learned that I will not survive This private painful pool. |
