Slingstone

The Pilgrimage

halokittytokyo:

Do not speak of burdens and pain,
for you know of none such as this.

Did you outfit the first expedition
To a brave new world of grey—
The first and only intrepid soul
To cross the stormy deeps?

Did you pass low, lonely islands
Shrouded in mists of loss,
Rocky wastes of stony silence
That offered you no harbor?

Did you brave the towering tempests
Driving rains of salty tears—
Unremitting gales of mourning
Ripping madly at your sails?

Were you becalmed in the Sargasso,
Not a breath of friendly wind;
The cruel sun your only companion
Through long weeks of thirsty heat?

Were your weary eyes first to spot
The uncharted coast of pain—
Looming dark on the far horizon,
Out of a steel sea of strife?

Did you land on the shores of suffering
To lay your longstanding claim?
Were your prints first in the sands of sorrow
When you planted your banner?

If only you’d lifted your eyes then,
Surveyed your forlorn domain:
Uncounted flags all along the strand,
Fluttering in the cold wind.

Bullsh*t

It only took words

to amputate all that growth.

Your words as much as

Anything he said or did:

Your delusion is astounding.

You would rather tell anyone else—

The pain you feel,

The burden you bear.

Anyone,

but the ones

Who might help you,

Hold you,

Stand beside you.

Did you light a candle,

Or did you curse the darkness?

The tree rotted, yes,

Its strength eaten from within.

You saw the signs—

Felt the disease spread,

The blight consume

Green leaves and

White flowers.

Yet you did nothing,

Said nothing.

The cure was within your grasp,

not an arm’s length away.

You wouldn’t even reach that far.

Your solution was as simple

and convenient

as a trip to the tool shed.

Who laid the axe to the tree?

You.

Say Something

You’re as tight as a hunter’s trap
Hidden well, what are you concealing
Poker face, carved in stone
Amongst friends, but all alone
Why do you hide

Say something, say something, anything
I’ve shown you everything
Give me a sign
Say something, say something, anything
Your silence is deafening
Pay me in kind

Take a drug to set you free
Strange fruit from a forbidden tree
You’ve got to come down soon
More than a drug is what I need
Need a change of scenery
Need a new life

Say something, say something anything
I’ve shown you everything
Give me a sign
Say something, say something, anything
Your silence is deafening
Pay me in kind

Say something

I’m open wide, open wondering
Have you swallowed everything
Pay me in kind

- James from the album Laid

Why did you hide from us, my sister?

I’m tired, and I do not know that I can equal your obvious brilliance.  Today, you were like the first nuclear explosion to us.  One moment: the dreary, dusty, dirty life of the desert.  The next:  a blinding flash of light and heat, destroying everything in it’s path.

To think we left you buried in the conventions of convenience, like the ores that fueled that first bomb…

Why did you hide behind the mask of triviality you wore for us every day?  Why didn’t you try to bridge the gap of silence between us?

Were you afraid?  Was the sum of your experience that you could trust none of us to appreciate you for who you are?

We hinted at it, all the time, in bland generalities that were ironically close to the truth.  However, our parlance became a reduction of you, and you slipped behind your veil—a veil I can see you have been making and using so skillfully all your life up to now.

To think I slumbered in my decay, when such an incredible mind lived in such close proximity…

We all did it, and I am, for my part, totally ashamed.  But I see you now.  What’s more, my dear, wounded sister, MY BROTHER sees you once again—and he is as desolate as storied Babylon, as devastated as mighty Troy.

Now that we see—that we grasp what we always knew (though the knowledge faded thanks to the dulling of our minds against our own suffering)—will you flee from us to fulfill the prophecy you have spoken against us?

Or will you let us honor you for who you are?

Will you let us in?