Oxymorons

I closed my eyes and opened my mind,

I saw you in the cold, wrapped in a warm blanket.

I was far away behind you,

But you turned and were closer than before.

I took one step and walked far after,

You were sitting and leaned back to a time to come.

I didn't know how to play but in boredom I whistled,

You strummed your tunes endlessly, to sadly deaf ears.

~mithrandir

"Peculiar Travel Suggestions are Dancing Lessons From God"

-Mr V (and le petit chat)

The shepherd who missed Christmas

It was a cold and dreary night when the shepherd woke,

Alone, neither man nor sheep, there was naught but smoke.

He cursed at everything available at hand and made for the door

Hurried tracks, shoddy packing up and the planning was poor.

"What would have scared the Moses out of them..."

He wondered and something above him shone like a gem.

"You... are late... aren't you now...the Lord's been born"

The shepherd looked like somebody had popped his corn.

"I'm a free man...I don't abide no lady or lord !" said he.

The voice coughed irritably.

"Your compatriots arrived to be witness to the birth of a God."

Eyes weary he barely caught the last word.

"Most poorly organised and publicised then"

The voice had had enough of the world of men.

"All these gods, they come and they go..."

"With millions and millions in tow..."

"This one will be different...this one is God for mankind"

The shepherd huffed," What god is difficult for a commoner to find"

The voice said," He is going to preach love and peace..."

"Really! who milks the sheep eh? who makes the cheese?"

"I don't want no lord, show me a God who can find his sheep!"

The voice was a symbol of silence allowing these words to seep.

"In due time he will look for you, leaving aside all the rest."

The shepherd snorted, winked and gestured in jest.

"Though you have missed him, he will seek you."

"When he does, I shall prepare him good bread and some stew!"

The light was now dimming, this seemed a lost cause.

He fired a last one,"Best let the big G find me or old Moss"

A feeble voice now spoke, "This is heaven we are talking about."

"Green pastures and a bright sunshine, now go away and don't shout."

The light was gone and the shepherd was all alone.

In the distance many stars now brightly shone.

The shepherd inhaled in deeply the sacred night,

And was glad of this sacred sight.

He was of simple mind and of simple need,

Good food, laughter and sleep and no better life to lead.

~mithrandir

"But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most?"
Mark Twain

Homelessness

Man walks out of the house,

The streets are made of laughing people,

The sun is low and the ears of the man are full of laughter.

People laughing in joy,

People laughing with other people,

People laughing at other people.

Man walks out of the house,

And it begins to rain,

The streets are full of umbrellas and raincoats rushing by.

The rain is acid,

The rain pours through,

The rain fills him like a bucket without a base.

Man walks out of the house,

He flicks at his lighter, though he does not smoke,

The gas is low and the flame is extinguished.

Smoke fills him,

Smoke curls around him,

Smoke is his only companion.

Man walks out of the house,

He is filled by an overwhelming void,

The emptiness is oddly comforting.

Life rushes in him,

Life flickers in his eyes,

Life leaves him without saying good-bye.

~mithrandir

"He who cannot give anything away, cannot feel anything either"
~Friedrich Nietzsche

Some water and two islands

A little cat sat at the beach one night.

Drying her paws after a night soak, stretching away in the sand.

Dreaming in the silence a million things that could fill up the bright moon above.

A little cat sat at the beach one night.

Never was there such a meeting of two nearly equally matched entities, the sea and that little cat.

Kneading away at the sand with her paws, she made mountains and castles and demolished them all.

I saw a little cat at the beach one night and I smiled my years away.

~mithrandir


“What's your name,' Coraline asked the cat. 'Look, I'm Coraline. Okay?'
'Cats don't have names,' it said.
'No?' said Coraline.
'No,' said the cat. 'Now you people have names. That's because you don't know who you are. We know who we are, so we don't need names.” 
― Neil Gaiman, Coraline

As he stood by

The beautiful flower she grew

Soft child of the grass golden was her hue

Shade from the sun and warmth when cold

By a gnarled mangy tree, the years make him old.

The beautiful white doe dances by

Without fear of the sly looks or the arrows that fly

She dances without cost and sings as she sighs

She curls down at dusk in a warm grassy knoll

By a gnarled mangy tree, his friends make him whole.

Careless children, tramped on by without glance or stare

Saw only a petal upon green leaf

Tore they down that blessed gown and raped as they went by

Soft water’s child and friend of all

Light as a whisper heavy was her fall

The gnarled mangy tree, he wept without end.

Whispers in the dark  and cold metal snaps in place

They watch with rapt attention as the fair doe moves about in grace.

A life that was meant for peace and play

With a flash and a bang, a bloodied body on the grassy knoll she lay.

The gnarled mangy tree, he had had enough.

Invoked he the wrath of the wind and fire of the sun,

Tore he his hair and snapped out a bark and let out a run.

Each limb fora hundred bullets and wizened old bark for what was left in that gun.

With a voice from the first sun and moon, he let out a roar and an ending groan

With a hideous cry he fell…the gnarled mangy tree, now is no more.

-mithrandir

Looking and Seeing.

A nomad sees a tree,

The shade is enticing.

A man sees a house,

The home is inviting.

The rich man sees the sky,

The heights are alluring.

The poor man sees the corner,

The two walls are life saving.

The dying man sees his life passing,

The sequence is revealing.

The dead man sees nothing,

The seed now is growing.

~mithrandir

" Two men look out through the same bars:

One sees the mud, and one the stars."

~Frederick Langbridge

Onwards

I woke up one morning,

And found myself in a deep sleep.

I reached with my toes,

Searching for some semblance of reality.

I reached the edge of the bed,

And was sucked into a deep chasm.

I fell endlessly, my scream rang silently,

I landed into a fleshy carcass,

My eyes opened and it was a new day.

I stepped out of the house, 

And felt it disintegrate into ashes.

Detached with only the shirt on my back,

And worn out shoes, I stepped forth to find the world.

I traveled the narrow alley ways and the deep blue oceans,

I immersed myself in the throngs of the peoples of the vast world,

And damned myself to the solitude of my own being.

In the chaos of it all, I felt the silent whisper of inevitability,

It spoke empty promises of finding the self and of oneness.

I hung my head down and plodded on.

The darkness of the night and the nothingness of it all,

The bleak stars my solace and the deep shade my shelter,
I plodded on.

"What's wrong with death sir? What are we so mortally afraid of? Why can't we treat death with a certain amount of humanity and dignity, and decency, and God forbid, maybe even humor. Death is not the enemy gentlemen. If we're going to fight a disease, let's fight one of the most terrible diseases of all,
Indifference."

August 11, 2014-Williams

Surreal short stories during odd moments

Sleep came swiftly in the auto after 3 days of insomnia, at that hour it came to the driver as well.

Neither felt the sickening crush of the crash.

The blanket is being pulled away.
You try and shoo away the cat with your foot.
 To realise that she's sleeping by your head.

And that you are alone.

So you stop.The pulling stops as well.

You stare blankly at your feet.

Nothing.

Deciding to go back to sleep, you hear

“Turn the fan down or give the blanket.”

The cat is sitting by your feet.

-Mithrandir