By Torchlight

By Torchlight The Lesser Evils schemed,Chitter-planned throughout the night,‘Let’s call us forth a greater Evil;‘We’ll invoke Compassion’s Blight!’‘Then after all our enemies‘Are stomped into the earth,‘In the afterglow of madness,‘We will then re-confer.’ ‘We’ll lock away the greater One,‘Back in their polished cage;‘When there’s no one left to question us,‘We can finally turn the page.’And […]

Said the Dove with Painful Flinches

The endless counted offenses(Which the sane regard non-senses)Reached the star-born EagleAs he perched above.’By words alone, you’re violent,’A Bigot and a Tyrant!’ Shouted from below himSome who broke a weeping dove.’I know not what you mean here,’Said the Eagle to the hear-ers,’You have had your say-so,’And in your parties formed-‘Did you not demand acceptance?’And has […]

Here There Be Piglets (An excerpt from “In Footsteps of Zebedee”)

Author’s Note: Marsden Zebedee was an explorer and cartographer who was elevated to the position of myth during his time, though the name has become obscure in our time. He lived during the First Age when mankind began to trickle out of the heavens and down the Ranges, when the sky still held a second […]

Fool’s Estate

I stumbled upon this little Drinking Song in a small, brightly lit pub about two days walk from the coast. The village I had wandered into seemed entirely asleep, until I saw the beacon of light shining on the broad main, cobblestone path (street is too large a word). The beacon, of course, was the […]

Companion Guide to Anondendron

There’s a place I’ve visited… The place is Anondendron; it is not gone, but elsewhere. It seems real enough in my memories at least, a bit when I am in the bitter cold because that’s where my feet first met the land, and I warmed my numbed fingers against the grate of a meager hearth. […]

Franklin’s Farewell (An unknown Captain’s Lament)

Once Lionheart, now shell of ghost– A battered rock against a restless coast I’ll leave this world adrift in briney deep. I know not where now I will go, Or what dreams I will inhabit now Or what vistas, calm or churning, I will see My deepest thanks to all of you, Oh kin and […]

Past Where the Briars Grow

I heard the faintest whisper Past where the briars grow Woven ’round the thickets, Where it is not wise to go And I counted ‘pon my fingers (Callused from battles long away) The notes I heard from over The forest’s sharp-toothed gate I can’t recall the words (If any had e’er passed) But so well […]

Father Flood

Father Flood The Papers preached a sudden deluge! A judgment on the land! But we lived our life as always Catching raindrops in our hands “Surely, it has rained before,” Said my Father with a smile. “I’ll cook us up a special meal, “Let’s enjoy it for a while” The scent of cooking and smokey […]

The Tempest Charmer

The Tempest Charmer What is to say of Bluebird Heights? ‘Twas once a proud, majestic town Three fisheries and a lovely beach Restaurants, shops, and surf abound People from each and every corner– Yes folks from all around Flocked to grand ol’ Bluebird Heights To breathe in deep the ocean sounds But this tiny island’s […]

The Elephant and Mindfulness

I recently finished the book Kim by Rudyard Kipling (who, as you may have gathered, is a personal literary hero of mine) and was struck by a particular Jataka or Story of the Buddha’s former birth. I am far from anything resembling an expert or even Greenhorn in the subject of Buddhism, having only a very […]