Dennis S. Martin's Blog, page 149

Thinking Small

The tiniest creatures

Will often times cause the

Most irritation for Humankind.

The pesky barrage of the

Infinitesimal pest is a test

Of the tolerant mind.

Consider the flea, the louse

Or the tick,

Diminutive blood-sucking vermin

Who kick and claw

Until they get into your skin,

Inviting legions of their kith and kin

To come along for the bountiful feast,

And drink the blood of the giant beast.

But the most destructive cannot be seen

With the naked eye, no matter how keen.

They breed and grow without procreation

'Til their legions are the size of a nation,

And their needful ways are cause for alarm

As we shrink from their coming

And quake from their harm.

Microscopic beast of evil,

Hidden armies you employ.

Singular is your agenda;

Humankind would you destroy.

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Ready to Take on Life

Give me your best shot!

Take me on up to your highest level,

Then give me a push.

I've been waiting, watching and learning

For four or more decades

To take on the rush.

The elders all say that I'm just a kid,

Still ill-prepared in the ways of the World,

But I disagree, and if you ask me

I'll tell you it's time that

My flag was unfurled.

Just step aside and lend me some measure,

Pass the baton,

Rap the drum,

Play the fife.

This is my turn

And I run with a vengeance

Forward and ready

To take on life.

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Training Wheels

I must have been no more than six or seven

When I learned to ride using training wheels on

A little blue bike that I rode much too fast

And wound up destroying before it wrecked me.

 

I learned to balance in very short order;

Learned to fly without leaving the ground;

Learned the spirit of kinetic motion that

Stirred my soul and set it free.

 

A few trips over the handle bars,

A few dips into the puddles of Spring,

A few slips and slides in the graveled driveway

Resulting in torn pant leg and skinned up knee.

 

Lessons are easy when young and resilient,

And balance is learned at the drop of a hat,

And vision is clear for the future is now

And our day is filled with simplicity.

 

Pity we can't use training wheels

In learning to scale our emotional lives

Where balance is often a fleeting companion

Blinded by sunlight, unable to see.

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Messenger of Pain

No one likes to bear the burden,

But someone has to spread the news

That comes with cat-like urgency

Destroying midnight's restful peace.

 

There is no way to be prepared,

To be the calm recipient

When hearts are ripped and shredded

By this cold and mindless beast

Who stalks the night in Terror's cloak,

Seeking victims unaware,

And plunges them into a well

Of desolation and despair.

 

Waking with a sudden chill,

Bolting upright from your sleep

Filled with frightful premonition

Of a burden buried deep

Inside your heart. Your mind is racing

Through a windswept hurricane.

It is you, and no one else,

Must be this messenger of pain.

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Framed

I was minding my own business;

Wasn't bothering a soul, or

So I thought.

Obviously, I was wrong

As someone else's bold agenda

Crossed my path at intersections

I was unaware existed until now,

This very moment as

Your finger points my way.

 

Innocence is fleeting when

An alibi is needed

And friendship carries little weight

For guilty parties panicking

To take the fall and pay the wages

For their action, unprepared,

Helpless in their weakness,

Spineless, cold and scared.

 

So now you point in my direction

As you seek to transfer blame,

Looking for a sacrificial lamb,

A patsy you can frame.

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A Baser Emotion

With honor ignobled

And courage defamed,

With decency comatose

Fleeing the fray,

We kindle the spark of

A baser emotion

With unlighted candles

Leading the way.

 

How does it build in

Contemptible measure

To seek out the center

And lend it to change?

Where does it find the

Inferior being

And tempt it awaken,

To rise and derange

All the commonplace senses

To indecency?

Setting the Devil

Inside of us free.

 

Fighting a war of

Perpetual motion,

Seeking to rise above

Baser emotion.

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Threadbare Stripped

There you walk in all your glory;

Pride divested, plucked and bared,

Every shred of decency has

Been removed and stashed away.

 

No resolve and acquiescence,

No reserve humility

To rise above the lustful greed

That drives your mind to seize the day.

 

Think back to a simpler time,

To lessons learned at mother's knee,

To times when hearts were open

To the cries of all humanity.

 

Somewhere there along the journey,

As the seasons made their change,

The soil around your labored roots

Was hardened and your soul estranged

From threads of commonality.

Spirits cry to be set free

But get no answer - no reply

Escapes your lips in vain decree.

 

The world was yours to reign supreme,

But you came laden, unequipped,

And you have left your Earthly treasure

Desolate and threadbare stripped.

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Maximum Effort

Do you try?

Do you really try?

Or do you simply give lip service?

Just enough to paddle by;

Far too little to succeed.

 

Dig down deep into your soul

And remember who you're asking.

Lying to yourself won't help to

Realize your fondest dreams.

 

What is it you want from life?

Have you really asked yourself

What goals you're waiting to achieve?

What tangled web you long to weave?

 

Which direction?

What's the plan, the angle

To manipulate?

Who must yield and who must perish?

Who must be left in your wake?

 

Someone wins and someone loses,

And the loser's soon forgotten

Buried in the aftermath

Or left to burn; tied to your stake.

 

You must choose; must really choose

Which direction you will take.

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Sour Grapes

Savoring her sweetness,

The very nectar taken from her vine,

Can make me giddy with delight

As I sip tasty droplets of her wine.

Never wanting to take more

Than she may yield up willfully

Lest her taste be bitter from

The sin of immaturity.

Waiting oh, so patiently for

Sunlight's rain to fill her heart

With sweet seductive fullness

That her shapes and colorings impart.

Longing for her gentle touch

Upon my shoulder, on my nape,

Instilling wide emotions that

My flustered heart cannot escape.

But she has chosen someone else

And I'm alone at close of day.

So, I console myself that she

Was likely sour anyway.

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November Rain

I shiver in November rain;

Never should have come outside.

Each needled drop a pin-prick

Penetrating into tender flesh

Left uncovered and exposed to

Elements so raw and rigid,

So dank and frigid that I'm

Left to question

The very sanity,

The sanctity of my decision.

Perhaps it's time for another plan,

Or at the least, a bold revision.

 

Taking on the elements

With no protection from the cold,

Exposed to late November's wrath,

Enduring every ache and pain,

I struggle forth upon my quest

Seeking answers sorely needed,

Knowing not what lies ahead

As I defy November rain.

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