Vast, hollow labyrinth Profound, loud silence Frightening, awful presence A mystic being of omnipotence? Standing still and far away A dark figure therein soared Unearthly shadow floats astray With awe it must be approached What power is innate within? What horrors can it apprehend? How to channel its infinite thought, And not release it from its hell? Admirable and capable ghost A core without a proper shell Its past and stories are not sought Nor what shaped it what’s meant Let’s look and find a useful aught In the rotten soul long here dwelt

Deep beneath dove the roots, The Earth itself and entangled, Strong and plump as they shoot, The mighty tree rises hardened. “No tree is mightier than I am, No tree can bear what I can tell. On solid ground I stand and chant: No harm comes out of my good will. Come, rest and take shade By my leaves and lie thee still. Don’t mind me casting ill charades. My roots are solid and I mean well.

Foolishly and hastily took an oath, To ache and suffer for a cause, Powerless, I cannot fulfill it, Nor to it shall I get close. Forbidden to undo what I have brought, Upon myself or what I’ve thought, I must obey then in fear of pain, Agony, disdain, and eternal onslaught. A thrall I am, and I live to serve, I do as I’m told but not with verve, For I’d rather go back and cease to be, Or stay here—a barren tree.

“Flee! In haste you must go Clear your mind, your soul Catch! Life’s beauty and glow Pray, for serenity’s warm blow” Vested, your hardships, your flaws Bested, ambitions and your goals Tested, flesh, brain, and soul Wasted, breath, heat, and all Void, it was and Void it is Void, before and to the edge Void, is warmth, and cold again Void, is more than nothingness Within Void, beasts that roam, Vermin, swine, down and low Bored, and filthy they endure Till Void consumes the flesh, And their debt is paid in soul

Beat the drums of war to feud Blow the trumpets loud and rude Make way and brace for a magnitude Of the wise fool’s rising aptitude Roaming about for lust and food To him the earth beneath subdued By a dream he breathed and was consumed To bond and see his rule approved He gives but to his own brood And all others are mere crudes Awakened now he rose to brood How time has left him ridiculed

How do I seek answers, If I don’t know the Questions? “Thou shalt not feel guilt” Yet I seek Redemption “Righteous, Kind, and Virtuous” Full of self-conviction “Pure as the running water” Drowning in my illusory perfection While deep beneath the darkness Sprouts my rotten Dereliction Say: “Shall we tell you of those who lose most in respect of their deeds? Those whose efforts have been wasted in this life, while they thought that they were acquiring good by their works?

Silence away my cry Or gaze ahead and pry To fight my fate and rectify The ailments and my weary sigh Or spawn me a fly Grant me what I can’t buy With man’s wealth or gold’s dye— Eternity and I shan’t die Dare The Lord eye to eye Scheme and plot on the sly You lost your way and passed by The only passage—a needle’s eye ”To those who reject Our signs and treat them with arrogance, no opening will there be of the gates of heaven, nor will they enter the garden, until the camel can pass through the eye of the needle: Such is Our reward for those in sin.

On roads of dirt and slime we walked Of hopes and dreams we wished and talked “If given the choice, what would you take for a cloak? Immortal, Powerful, Wealthy or High afloat? Or Ruling, or cruising the seas is what you sought?” Asked the friend, on his limp, as we talked Why have one, if I want all? Why do I choose, if I can call And point to make what’s broken whole