To stand witness o'erlooking
The past I carefully curated
To the truth I left behind
Only to round the bend and
Be greeted by a rhyme

I ran through every corner
Of my mind, tracing each
Left hand path, never finding
Anything more but another
Severed start to the last

Estranged through time to forget
What I had feared
What I had fled
Was once so dear
Was then pure dread

Caught in the recast of a lie
Until I decanted my thoughts
From the remnants lingering
Of dripping shadows that did belie
The heart I had never really lost

The conquerors came
Looking for that
Wellspring of life
Plundering forth
Through the ever
Expanding new world

Until they realized
The fables were allegories
To the richness they pulled
From Gaia and her servants

They found their true elixir
Bred from the tears of
Youth's future as they
Broke on the barren remnants of
Ravaging destruction and
Evaporated into the accounts of
Men in hidden mansions

Man didn't become Krishna
With Oppenheimer's witness
But when he first struck
Black gold
And sold his soul
For a piece of carbon

I find myself within the purview
Of that decrepit estate I know
Too well, held captive in that
Corner where the ivy grows to
Abscond the coursing despondent
Thoughts that seep forth
From my fading steps

Surrounded by the crippling
Echoes of my silent discoveries
Left here in a protruding
Expanse of vacancy to
Become that leaf limbed
Statue of deserted dreams

I found finally a
Stretch of beach
Matching the fractality
Of woes retched
Through the breach
Of digits futilely
Poised to precipitate
From my shaking heart
The barnacles I bore

Watching the waves
lavishly leap to
Lap them up, and
Return to me freshly
Washed pearls procured
From darkened caves

Tickling my toes
In their return journey
Helping me find
The smile I had
Unknowingly exiled

I have stared too long
Through the gazes of others
At my own demise
Spoke through a voice
Not of my own
That lessened a dawn
Unto dusk

I am a child of the stars
Dimorphous dust distilled
From the beginning of everything
What great entropy
Can diminish
any such
light?

You made a deal with the enemy
Based solely on unfounded faith
Sacrificing everything you said
You stood for
And hoped to
Impart to me

False faced figures
Touting hope and freedom while
Laying seeds of destruction
Twenty years in the making

You assured my honest children safety
As they now enter the void of the noose
That was your bare promise

Democracy was merely a dream
The Republic was merely a ruse

Maybe if you suckled oil
  from my bare breasts
Maybe if you mined gemstones
  from my southern lips
Maybe if my kiss to you
  was sweeter
You would have stayed

Your own ideals
And my people
Not withstanding

Now dark clouds once kept at bay
Roll in with the passage of your day
Seeing my sons sprout with hate
That wasn't meant for their hearts
Watching my daughters
Disappear
Once again

Long did I toil in this void vacant, eyes searching for you
Not Knowing what treasure stretched o'er the umbilical motion of time
Once greeted by fiery eyes of defiance to those wielding power
Igniting down deep, action in rebellion towards him named father

Fruitfully exiled to a home made all alone throughout
Lost amidst long rolling waves which scattered dreams from me: helpless
Accepting droll routines finally altered by your growing heartbeat
Finding the moon and sun shining down on the bosom of my quiet soul
Till that cold fateful day I had to release and watch you go

Travelling now loose from my long solace to wander at my own free will
Affording time to glimpse the silent mistress of the night seeing
Your reflection in her honest gaze keeping me apprised
Of your virtue, easing my chipped heart from forced division
Learning now to follow every whim as I make moments matter

I should have listened
To that shadowed prophet
Speaking the truest wisdom
Only found on the other side
And returned home
With all my men
Reuniting deserted families

Trading the blindness
I inflicted to the
Single eye of that
Son of the sea
For the blindness
Of Pride
That took both
Of mine

If I could but return
From these hallowed halls
I would lose it all
All the glory and
Immortality gained
For just a chance
To touch your skin
Breathe in the life of
My two sons
To sit blinded
To perpetuity
For a fullness
Of a life lived

That is the curse of the living
To never learn from the dead

So now, I wait
With ease on
These black banks
Refusing to cross with Charon
Those darkened sea foam waters
Until I am joined
By my two Sons
Serving time until
You both grow old

You may hate me
For as long as you live
But I will use all
Of eternity to show you
The love you deserved
In the time I made lost

So now, I wait

In the eyes of men
A lifetime
In the eyes of gods
An exhale

I waited my whole life to know you
Raised by the waves and rocks
The wolves and lions
Held by the hidden wind
Shaped by the prisonous mountains

Knowing only
Her that I grew from
Her that loved me
More than herself
And yet
I held every breath
For you

You who
Never knew me
Who could
Not have known me
The curse
  Or Blessing
Of being a man
The unknown gift
  Or misfortune
Of being a father

Maybe that is
The necessity
Of it all
The cruel juxtaposition
Of life, and
Maybe that is

What it means
To be a man
What it means
To be a soldier
What it means
To sail from home
What it means
To be disposable

Great men like fragile dominos
Standing in those harvest lines
Falling in ripe swaths to the
Reaper's scythe—Never knowing
The field of flowers
They have left behind

This anemone grew
Under the shade of Motherhood
Seeking the sun of his Father
And when I found you
You mistook me for an enemy
And cut yourself down
On my sharp blade of truth

So I continue now
Not in your name
But in the name
Given by my mother
To break the cycle
Of disjointed sons

I remember standing out there
On those billowing banks
Watching the undulating face of
Poseidon spill smiles while
Keeping at bay the longing of my heart

Watching the ships sail
Filled with dreams and desires
I shall never hold
Slipping off into that longing
Line of earth and sky

To that day when you arrived
All of a sudden
And I recognized you still
Yet you knew me not

Destined to displease you
For your cutting wit
Drew down the rope
To hang my callow integrity

But it could not die
So instead you conjured
From your vicious aptitude
To send me off to Hades
Even as I stood in the
Light of Helios' glow

I was never your son
I just shared your blood
And even that viscid liquid
I have now rejected

The only curse
She could not break:
Wherever your name goes
Mine isn't far

The truest gift
She had to offer:
Wherever my life goes
Yours now is barred