Healing Is Still

When the streets bleed
With vibrating violence
We know that only scares the guilty
Hanging like
The victims they laid
Aside in their greed;
Healing shall still be far away.

When grass grows
Over crumbled ruins
Abandoned and exposed,
Rebels of a forgotten war
Who plundered all its worth
Relaxing in their misdeeds
Shall fever in the night
And visions reminding them
Healing shall still be far away.

When flags tear at their seams
Weakened in the wind
Salt licking at the sides
Of metal catastrophes
Blowing weeds that take control
Shall struggle upon the ground
Understanding their due;
Healing shall still be far away.

When the last engine
Seizes from strain
Deep in jungle rain, overgrown
And wildcats become predator
Most feared and most bestowed
Vines and trees, all wide and tall
Laying over all regrown
Healing shall still be far away

[listen on Soundcloud]

Art of War (day 2916)

I made love in a hurricane
I tied shoes to a running bull
I sang songs in a cemetery
I drank beers underground
I walked on rope over running water
I flew high then had to come down
I raced fast on a singletrack
I woke up in the dead of night
But I never
Fell asleep
In the Art of War

Misspent Soldier (day 2711)

They were called away
To a promised future
No clear sight far ahead
Vague plans, subtle promises,
Fame in modern times unment.
They mounted and faithfully
Road into the scene
No one there to greet them
No romantic sending off.
When skies turned blood red,
When comrades lay side by side
When torture was their enemy
No cotton handkerchief blew drying
For everyone was buckled down
Amidst chaos of the finest hour
A mission of uncertainty
And further, urgency
Flew towards in shrapnel
Devastating times of war.
At home awaited news at every hour
Mother, father, sister too
Hot soup for dinner every night
Hot tea to wake up to.

Colours (day 2603)

It is sadness as the day grows
We build walls between us
Habits that never meant to do wrong
But collided mid-space
Like an astronomical war.

I used to like your little ways,
The way you put on your socks
And lit candles
To burn them all the way down
What happened to my colours?

Colours by Ned Tobin

Dear Anne M. Frank (day 2336)

If only you could see the sun today
It peeked between the clouds
Showing off the marvelous colours
– Autumn’s precious gift –
It came and opened up a path
Through the darkened forest floor
That I took with a light heart
Just like you shucking peas!
And each bird that I happened to pass
Came to sing a song
Much like you at your window pane
Finding warmth in a sliver of light.
You would have been in ecstasy when
Upon me four dogs found themselves
Each with legs hardly a quarter their body’s length
And eyes as kind as flowers
Furry coats and eager noses
Which my hand found with ease.
As I made my way back home
The skies began to sing to me
My hair dripped wet
My bare toes slipped around
Oh Anne! I’m sure you would have rejoiced
In the feeling of life softly falling
Against your brow, dripping off
Just as if the world were saying:
“Here, this is freshness and a new start.”
Wouldn’t it be so nice
If we could each believe this truth?
But adolescent mirth
Disdained by the frivolous adult
Shall find it’s way inside today
To keep me on my toes
As I make my way, further yet
Into this bag of potatoes!

Sun (day 1480)

To be the sun.
To scream bloody murder
And mean it in a good way,
To wake up and go to bed so consistently
Time pieces become obsolete
And there are no excuses anymore.
Oh, there are bad days
When fog rolls in,
Or random, insignificant civilizations
Decide to proclaim war
Upon their own protective shells –
An eco-systemic, all chemicals in
Kind of war that pins natural resources
And technology
Against simple biology and physics.
There are bad days when children of the sun
Who suckle auras of its very beams
Become stifled and trampled
Beneath plastic rubbish and footware
In an unmercifully ignorant act.
But then again, there are the good times
Which ignite passion,
A brilliance so glorious
Rapid transformations become
Supernatural and unprecedented.
Good times that feed millions of
Conscious and unconscious
Biological matter the very substance
They require to exist.
When these delicate rays are so respected
And in balance that they provide
Sweet little Gaia an answer.
Oh, to be the sun.

Hell is My Political Agenda (day 1356)

Our political agendas are nauseating.
They’re stuffed so full of capital letters
That the underlying messages of our society –
Hell, even our cultures,
Are suffocated with exhaust stacks and bottom dollars.

If I could have dreamed up a Heathenistic Hell,
I’d put city roads and destruction for progress
Right at the top of that scorched list.
I’d decree land had suddenly become a commodity
We could sell simply because we had a gun that said we could.
Just like young adults unable to find their righteous paths,
Explicit lyrics contaminating the innocent minds,
My Hell would be a prescribed better way, mothers.

Did you feel my heart as it’s ripped out every single day
When land mines help fight swollen populations,
Planted in a war to help save lives?
War to not war! Fight fire with fire!

And in my Hell, in my political agenda I call my country,
I would give us hope, every.single.day.
We would wake up to the smell of progress
And desire to capture it in any way possible
So that it could be shared with anybody we knew.
We would mutually feel good about the loss of our trees,
Because our heads were buried so deep in our electricity
Where we were collectively dreaming about
Ways to continue our progress.

For my simple pleasure I’d have dandelions everywhere
As symbols of true health and prosperity.
I’d pull up my old lawn chair, warm beer in hand,
And watch as all the sinners pulled out their organic chemicals
To spray the evil yellow root to death.
On the cold days when there were no death machines
I’d read my botanical books and let the rain
Wash tears into my Hell.

For me this is the saddest thought of all,
Because in spite all my attempts to rectify ignorance,
I would be a black seed living in my own true Hell.
I would be a puppet, inspired to raise my voice
And told that I do mean something to this Hell.
There I’d be, red faced eating my poisoned earth,
Handed another blank Party card
And told why I should be excited.

San Francisco - 201202 (144 of 809)

Echo War Call (day 1289)

The moments begun to surrender
Time is but nigh, let’s begin.
Found all tools for plunder,
All that’s heard echoes war call.

Infinite darkness upon us,
Army’s madness carries fury.
Screeching, hollering and bloodshed,
Nobody ever remains the same.

Sadness looms like darkness,
Shame is every man’s eternal sin.
Nothing heals in these fields,
Where once grew such forgiveness.

Colonel Frédéric Joseph Archilles Beautenieul (day 740)

Hello my brave and valiant soldiers
At attention here before me
It is my duty today
To inform you of the
Change in sentiment exhibited
By superiors
To declare peace with the world
[insert cheers here]
After 8 years of brave battles
Valiant feats in combat
Extraordinary efforts
And a death toll I dare not count
But may god speed each one of them
[moment of remembrance]
After two weeks of discussions
Behind closed doors
Between both sides of this war
The decision has been made to cease fire
And sort out our differences
With policy changes and peace
[insert cheers here]
This resolution is encouraging
For the future of mankind
With peaceful measures taken
And cooperation in this world
Though we are soldiers
Hardened through years of combat
We fight for peace
Not to smell more blood
[murmur of agreement]
We will remain engaged
At our current bases
Secured around this land
For precautionary measures
Set in place to demobilize the zones
Troops will be sent out
To deactivate bombs,
Warheads, missiles
Any explosives laid in the ground
In this land we’ve all come to know so well
We do not want to have these years of war
Pockmarking this land we’ve all come to know
With dangers and explosives
That can effect generations to come
This will be our main job now
Of which we will carry out
For a time of one year
Upon completion, the situation will be reevaluated
And if deemed appropriate
The orders will be given
To return to our homeland
Return to our families
And end bloodshed
[insert cheers here]
At ease soldiers
The war is over
[insert cheers here]

Colonel Frédéric can be purchased here.

Dark (day 425)

You will run but you cannot escape my all seeing, all knowing eye
Forget not that I see no boundaries, I will peer through that mask
Directly at the shadowed eyes that burn fists of fire through my soul
I will not let you run with your heels of fire digging into my sin
Resting for only little bits of laughter let loose into the blue nights sky
Late the raven calls upon the unsuspecting pray as it lies in shame
Hidden beneath the oak tree, wasted as if perturbed by an inescapable fate

Gather your storms you mighty Gods
Forgive me not for my ugly sins
Forgive the rain for soiling the earth
Giving it light and day
But not I, the doer of dark

In time the noose shall loosen from around the bitter Apollo’s neck
Released from the havoc that only the underground animals shall ever know
Hidden from the gems that ignite the last memories of a dying man
Crying from the birth that has taken place in time since we last spoke
And pacing restlessly along the cold stone candle lit memories
Trying to rid my withered bones of the transcendental war
Do not forget to close the door as you step inside the chamber of health