Nothing To Nothing

We begin as nothing

 

But can grow into Kings

 

Or crawl deep in ourself

 

And become nothing again

 

This is your life

Could it be stranger

A misfits delight

You’ll fit right in

Don’t you worry

Ignore the dangers

But remember here

The point’s to win

 

As the years

Pave the road to sorrows

Your fears

Buried under lies

Steal what you can

Keep all you borrow

And feel the walls

Crumble in on paradise

 

For we begin as nothing

 

But can grow into Kings

 

Or crawl deep in ourself

 

And become nothing again

 

As you tie rope

To hang all your dreams

Die of hope

And desperation

Death an escape

Now it seems

From mindless madness

And frustration

 

So don’t lead your soul

To the gallows

Don’t leave your soul

To be damned

Beware the cold

Beware shadows

And beware

The red-eyed

Whispering man

Beware

The red-eyed

Whispering man

Beware

The red-eyed

Whispering man

 

You know we begin as nothing

 

But can grow into Kings

 

Or crawl deep in ourself

 

And become

 

Nothing

 

Again

 

 

~CLS~

The Universe Engineer

 The World of My Imagination’s Photo-Prompt Flash Fiction Challenge.

Submissions must be 500 words or less,  and feature the picture and all five words: Spider, Race, Machine, Muscle, & Engineer.

My submission…

 

THE UNIVERSE ENGINEER

In the night the giant, ungainly spider moves.  On malformed legs propelled through dense forest slow.  Rustle of living leaves above.  Crackling of the dead below.

Whisper of westerly wind.  A soft earthly sigh.  With deliberate strides it journeys under branch, leaf, and vine that hides the moon and sky.

A second accursed of spider race now strides abreast the first in midnight’s dark.  Third and fourth shambling arachnids join in time.  As hidden moon ends celestial arc.

Misshapen, mutant spiders all.  A hundred years through forest nights they tramp.  Canopy above shakes from passing.  Leaves fall in darkness like dying bats.

Three younger, less warped walkers find first four at pre-dawn’s hour.  Smaller these be.  Lighter of leg.  Yet, command not the old ones’ power.

Truth revealed in morning’s light.  Sun breaches forest canopy.   No spiders things these walkers.  The legs are roots.  The dark hid trunks of ancient Dryad trees.

These Dryads, this mystic race, a pool they find that Eternal glistens.  Roots bring them near water’s edge.  Silent.  Still. With leaf and branch, bark and gnarl they listen.

The heat, light, and life.  First day’s sun rays calm waters feel.  Then shimmer.  Now hum.  As the Great Machine, with primal gears, turns the cosmic wheel.

Brilliant beam of pure white radiance.  From Void, through space, then stratosphere.  To center of the Eternal pool.  Upon this rides the Engineer.

She, He, It is all things.  Dryads bow.  Leaves in reverence rustle.  A seeming apparition, this Engineer, save, its living, loving, laboring heart of mortal muscle.

Heartbeats of the world.  Of rocks , of trees, of languid pools, sun rays, and moon beams.   Its thump-thump the spinning of the earth, the boiling core’s hum, the harmonic of the great Machine.

Yet, with each beat mortal muscle withers.  Life bleeds from the Engineer.  All Her, His, Its love given unto death.  Sap drips from bark and bow.  Ancient Dryad tears.

Night couples again with day.  Waters caressed by Sun’s last fingers of flame.  Silent now the Engineer’s heart.  He, She, It forever fades.

Return from whence they walked “crippled spiders” do.  A solemn tree upon each back. Engineer’s gifted love felt as ground meets stepping root.  All hundred years upon the track.

A millennium of hourglass sands fall.  Alas!  A call Dryads again hear.  Summoning their race to witness as they have all time.  The Machine of the Cosmos, the Lover of all Things, the Universe Engineer.

 

Word Count – 407

 

 

~CLS~

Mother Earth – Steve Wolf Original (with recording of song below)

Oh Mother Earth

I’m going down

The full moon shines upon

A sea of stars

A flood of light

And I am sinking

Oh Mother Earth

I was thinking

That when I die

And all my tomorrows

Like tears

Fall into the sky

And flicker

And pass me by

And when I leave my friends

The ones I love

Will I never know them again

Or understand

Their tenderness

Their loveliness

Or feel them warm

Against my

Skin

Am I to lie there endlessly

Alone in death

Eternity

Waiting

Without them

Oh I could cry

A million tears

Mother Earth

These are my fears

That I should pass

A million years

Or a single day

Without

Them

Oh Mother Earth

I’m going down

I feel the coldness

Of the ground

The bitter frost

Of deepest space

I cannot bear

To face it

And when I feel this way

Wrap your arms around me

Press you body

Into mine

As if your soul

Could enter

Me

And when I feel this way

Do not say a word

Or dry my tears

Just hold me

And let the years

Pass

Oh Mother Earth

We’re going down

The full moon sets

And sinks

Beneath the dark waters

Of the flood

And all is

Silent

 

 

I finally found Steve Wolf’s original song that I attempted to recreate below.  Listen to the acoustic version by the original author.  Chilling…

Goddess’ Eyes

Dark blue night

Points of light

Dead tree silhouette

Against the sky

 

Blood and birth

Pain then life

Smile of the Goddess

In a mother’s eyes

 

I see the magic in your eyes

I see something tragic in your eyes

 

Bright sun rays

Newborn’s face

Become now Self

For finite days

 

Life and loss

Loved ones die

Shade of the Goddess

In a widow’s eyes

 

I see the magic in your eyes

I see something tragic in your eyes

 

Guilt like Hell

Death of Self

Buried in the Void

Where souls once dwelt

 

Return alive

A truth realized

Gift of the Goddess

In Enlightened eyes

 

I see the magic in your eyes

I see something tragic in your eyes

 

I see the magic

 

I see the tragic

 

In the Goddess’ Eyes

 

 

~CLS~

Mother Earth

Oh Mother Earth

I’m going down

A warm breeze

Dries my eyes

So I might see

The stars

Listening

And glistening

In the sky

 

And when I feel this way

Don’t leave my side

Don’t turn away

Hold my hand

And keep me

From being

Frightened

Of the

Dark

 

The bitter frost

Of endless space

No I cannot bare

To face it

 

Oh Mother Earth

I’m going down

And when I leave my friends

The ones I love

Will I ever

Know them again

Or will I understand

Their tenderness

Their loveliness

 

And when I feel this way

Hold me close to your bosom

And set me down to lay

Forever and

 Ever

 

Press your body into mine

As if your soul

Could enter

Me

 

Am I to lie here

Endlessly

Alone in death

Eternity

For I could cry

A million tears

For a single day

Or a thousand years

Without my

Friends

 

Oh Mother Earth

I’m going down

And soon the sun will set

I will forget

All is silent

And I cry

 

I

 

Cry

 

 

~CLS~

Love to Steve Wolf who wrote the original version of this song, but I cannot, for all the years passed, remember it but as an inspiration.  I love you, Brother, and miss you.

I know

I know it feels

Like your drowning

The cold and fear

You’re sinking down in

 

A last breath

Pray for guidance

Embrace death

Lay in silence

 

I know the pain

Of this passing

There’re no answers

To what you’re asking

 

There’s only Void

What’s beyond

Let go of all

Fear holds on

 

I know it’s hard

Your Ego dying

It cannot serve

The enlightened

 

So say goodbye

This is your moment

End your Self

End your torment

 

I am Void

Am nothing

No nothing

Non-existence

Only consciousness 

To create

Anything

Everything

What sublime

Simplicity

 

 

I know it feels

Like Heaven

But it’s just being

In the moment

 

You can touch

All that you feel

What were dreams

You now make real

 

I know it seems

Like freedom

Yet many souls

Fall prey to demons

 

Sisters, brothers

Hopeless, wandering

Lost forever

Without your suffering

 

I know it feels

Like your drowning

Knowing fear of Hell

You must go down in

 

A final test

There is no guidance

Thier souls for yours

Eternal Silence

 

 

 

~CLS~

Awakening

So deep I had seeped

Into despair

That I knew to survive

I’d have to dare

To end Me and Misery’s

Long affair

So that night ‘fore I slept

I wept a prayer

 

And the Goddess took me

On a walk that night

Up to a mountain

That touched the sky

And in awe

I raised my eyes

And thus cried my soul

At the sight

 

I AM AWAKENED

 

 

 

~CLS~

The Sun and the Mountain

Trapped in my mind

I couldn’t find release

So I sped across the bridge

Left the city behind me

 

I went up on a hill

Looking down over the sea

And I wandered through the redwoods

Searching around for inner peace

 

Then way up on the Mountain

The Sun rests his weary head

And way up on that Mountain

Wake a hundred buried dead

 

I don’t want to find you

Hanging around up there

With them

 

And I never want to find you

Lying down there

Among them

 

When I left the tangled forest

I found that I was not alone

I turned to face a demon

With the familiar scent of home

 

The specter had me shaken

Yet I was awakened by the test

It said I was forsaken

For taken on my quest

 

Then way behind the Mountain

The Sun hid his sleeping head

And way up on that Mountain

Danced a hundred living dead

 

I don’t want to find you

Hanging around up there

With them

 

And I never want to find you

Dancing up there

Among them

 

One foot in front of the other

I stumble down my lonely road

With one last shot of tequila

‘Fore I go into the valley below

 

With your hate-note for a map

And a cigarette to light my way

Shivering in your loathing

I await the break of day

 

Then way above the Mountain

The Sun rears his fiery head

And way up on that Mountain

Rests a hundred native dead

 

I don’t want to find you

Hanging around up there

With them

 

And I never want to find you

Lying down there

Among them

 

Pray I never find you

Hanging around up there

With them

 

No I never want you with me

 

Lying down there

 

Among them

 

 

~CLS~

 

Thank you Linda Sorensen for the wonderful painting of Mt. Vision and my long ago home of Inverness.  What a magical place…

In Dreams

My soul travels

Realms created

Experience magical

Then I return

Only to find here

That I yet dream on

For your eyes

Capture me

As a Goddess’

A dream more magical

Than any

In remembrance

How my heart

Smiles and sighs

 

 

~CLS~

Raging Fire

How many thoughts
How many imaginings
Have I had of you today

How few breaths
How few moments
For me have felt this way

This is not a simple fancy
Nor is it a simple lust
Yes indeed a deep desire
A burning heart
A raging fire

 

Oh your voice
Even a single word
Watching your mouth move

A long sigh
A longer kiss
Oh what am I to do

This is not a simple fancy
Nor is it a simple lust
Yes indeed a deep desire
A burning heart
A raging fire

 

I feel for you
And I burn
I’d burn for you
And I fall to sleep
And I dream
I dream of you

 

Oh how I wish
I could take you away
As I hope only I can do

But it is I
Who is swept by your tide
And oh how I am moved

This is not a simple fancy
Nor is it a simple lust
Yes indeed a deep desire
A burning heart
A raging fire

 

Yes indeed a deep desire

 

A burning heart

 

A raging fire

 

 

~CLS~

 

Listen to RAGING FIRE.

I wrote Raging Fire for singer and dear friend Gailene Grillo about 16 years ago.

Thank you for reading, and listening.

~Christopher