Inside the Worm Read online

  So indulging,

  Was there such a love as I?

  Did deep fire

  Once dwell within you,

  'Fore you opened wide the gate?

  Now it threatens

  To undo you

  Since your love has turned to hate.

  Man of might,

  What hope can hold you,

  What emotion bring to flame

  All that smolders

  Deep within you,

  Hearts unburied, love untamed?

  ***********************************************************************

  Man's Conscience – Shadows in the Wind

  "What are we?" they whisper,

  "Only shadows in the wind.

  Flitting shades of ebony

  In secret haunts of men.

  Hidden deep in their hearts,

  Gazing sadly through the dark,

  What emotion can we stir

  From places bare and stark?"

  ***********************************************************************

  Modern Women

  The blush upon the cheek, the stolen kiss

  So shy and yet so warm received was this.

  How tragic was the sound of anguished sigh,

  For just one touch of such pale tiny hand.

  She smiled silently behind her fan

  And held at bay his passion with one glance,

  While keeping him uncertain of his chance.

  Times changed and so did women it would seem.

  They've given up their femininity

  And thrown away all chance of mystery.

  They're rude and crude, disgusting bits of slush,

  With filthy mouths that make a sailor blush.

  They flaunt their nakedness for all to see

  Proud of their lives of immorality.

  Oh, give us back the girls of yesterday

  Who understood the subtleties at play.

  Take back these plastic women so enhanced

  And let us live the era of romance.

  ***********************************************************************

  So Beautiful

  An angel to look at,

  So beautiful, she,

  With her paleness of flesh,

  Her hair ebony.

  Her lips were as scarlet

  As the lies she told

  And her eyes were blue ice,

  So empty and cold.

  Her manners were haughty,

  Her laughter was cruel;

  Her pleasure was making

  All others the fool,

  And though they despised her

  They bowed to her will

  For the crown on her head

  And scepter of steel.

  But the day that she died

  They all breathed a sigh

  And nobody bothered

  To tell her goodbye.

  ***********************************************************************

  Steven

  Steven came in the dead of night

  And touched her cheek in the pale moonlight.

  Like stone it was, so cold and white.

  Like stone in the pale moonlight.

  He swore a vow upon her blood;

  He swore he would crush them in the mud.

  Revenge swept o'er him like a flood.

  Revenge and death in the mud.

  There was no hand that could have stayed

  This reckless youth who rode unafraid.

  Swiftly he rode; his heart was grey.

  Swiftly he rode unafraid.

  And death came pounding o'er the hill.

  Pounding on horseback with sword and shield,

  But Steven grasped the silver hilt.

  Steven rode 'ginst sword and shield.

  The night birds cried above the din;

  The clash of weapons, the roar of men.

  Death to the villain and his kin.

  Death to the villainous men.

  There's none that fought as well as he,

  Ten to the right, to the left were three.

  Blood in his eye and wounded knee.

  None to the left, to the right t'were three.

  Challenge him not, the battle's done.

  He lay in blood in the rising sun,

  At death's door, but the battle's won.

  Death came with the rising sun.

  ***********************************************************************

  The Arctic Expedition

  There was ice in the wind

  And it stung the face

  As they knelt in the snow

  To offer up grace.

  They were all that was left

  Of the hearty band

  Who set out to explore

  The arctic strand.

  In nineteen and thirty

  They sailed to the north,

  A doomed expedition

  As they sallied forth.

  On dog sled they traveled

  Across the vast waste;

  Through blizzard and ice storm,

  The dangers they faced.

  'Til sometime in April

  The food had gave out,

  There was nothing for miles

  But frostbite and doubt.

  Five died in the first week,

  The second week four.

  The third week went the guide

  And seventeen more.

  'Til at last they were six

  Down to ragged bone,

  With ice on their fingers

  And ice on their toes.

  Death hung over them

  When at last they spied,

  Far in the distance,

  The city of Clyde.

  The storm had just started;

  Ice pelted the men,

  Still they offered up praise

  They'd survived with their skin.

  That night they slept soundly

  In warm feather beds.

  The death far behind them

  In the snow and the sleds.

  ***********************************************************************

  The Battle of Thorny Glen

  Michael lay in the damp of the leaves

  Under the claws of the barren trees,

  His cold grey eyes peering through the gloom,

  Watching the path, silvered by the moon.

  His bow was of yew, the bowstring, taut,

  Cradled the long, sturdy arrow's nock.

  While from his belt the thin dagger blade

  Pressed sharply against his hip and leg.

  Close by his side the rest of the band

  Were ready and waiting, weapons in hand.

  Off in the distance, banner unfurled,

  Rode Sir Reginald, the evil earl,

  With twenty men, all royally blessed;

  Warriors chosen from the best.

  They rode with pride, for they knew their skill,

  Each ready to fight, willing to kill.

  Closer they came, the clang of their shields

  Echoed hauntingly across the field.

  Closer they came and the wind grew still;

  The screech of the owl shivered and thrilled.

  Twigs snapped underfoot, crackling leaves

  Announced their presence among the trees.

  But Michael's band lay quiet and still,

  Waiting breathless in the dark and chill.

  A moment more and the trap was sprung.

  The battle cry, as in legends sung,

  Rang out like a bell against the night.

  Death to the earl's men; 'twas death or flight.

  They fought like fiends in the woods that night,

  Blood on the leaves in the pale moonlight.

  Blood on the leaves and death in the air;

  A blow struck for freedom everywhere,

  And the shouting rang 'cross hill and dale;

  The cheering sounded above the bells.
/>
  Though only one battle had they won,

  And the war had really just begun,

  They flocked to Michael, ready to fight,

  Fueled by the fire of justice and right.

  Zealous, determined to live to see

  A nation reborn; a people free.

  ***********************************************************************

  The Black Knight

  The black knight roared into her life

  And he made the day seem bright.

  Then he used her and he left her

  In the coldness of the night.

  He turned all tongues against her there,

  Though she spoke no harm to him.

  Still, they branded her a harlot

  And abused her for the sin.

  ***********************************************************************

  The Death of Fair Balderin

  The grey of dawn stung the eastern sky

  As fair Balderin laid down to die,

  The wood of the yew in his shattered breast,

  But his heart was calm in the face of death.

  His mild eyes gazed through greenery

  To the distant peaks beside the sea

  And his thoughts wandered back to days of yore,

  To pleasures of youth on that sandy shore.

  The white sails against the purple skies;

  The slap of the waves and the sea bird's cries;

  His mother's warm smile, his father's stern brow

  And a maiden's eyes filled with tear drops now.

  How hard to stop fighting, let it all go,

  Grasping for life when there is no hope.

  While darkness is falling, dying alone,

  Far from the loved ones still waiting at home.

  ***********************************************************************

  The Desert

  The desert wind was howling,

  Throwing stinging bits of stone,

  While out on the horizon

  Sat a rider all alone.

  And far off in the distance

  He could see the caravan

  Slowly be devoured

  By the tons of moving sand.

  It covered o'er their bodies,

  Lying face down where they fell;

  The burdened camels tried to run,

  But they were lost as well.

  The storm passed on beyond them;

  Leaving not a sign of man,

  For the desert hides its murders

  'Neath the raging shifting sand,

  ***********************************************************************

  The Dying Warrior

  Far across the dark moorlands

  The whippoorwill cried,

  While the man in the moon

  Had tears in his eyes,

  For the scarlet clad soldier

  So lonely did lay

  With the wound in his shoulder,

  His face white as clay.

  His musket lay broken

  Beside his numb hand

  And his legs were all shattered,

  His mouth dry as sand.

  As a light mist fell o'er him,

  His tatters were soaked,

  Though his mates had all left him

  Wrapped tight in his cloak.

  And they'd spoken with kindness

  When bidding farewell,

  Still his heart felt bitter,

  He'd wanted to yell,

  To deny he was dying,

  To beg them to stay,

  But a soldier has duties;

  They went on their way.

  Now the red mist was growing

  Before his dark eyes.

  Though he shouted in panic,

  No one heard his cries.

  His heart gave one leap

  And then it was still.

  The young warrior laid dead,

  Alone in the chill.

  ***********************************************************************

  The False Prophet

  He came to the world with a sword in his hand

  And he brought forth the doom of mortal man,

  For his tongue was fire, but his words were sand

  That crumbled away in their hands.

  He was false and unreal, but he looked the part,

  So they followed their heads and ignored their hearts,

  Providing credentials through symbolic charts

  And other mysterious arts.

  He rode on the waves of a passion unleashed

  And crested at heights no prophet had reached,

  While their natural walls of doubt he breached

  With his comeliness of speech.

  But, say, was it he who led them astray,

  Or were they deceived 'cause they wished it that way?

  Sometimes the motives of a handful of clay

  Is impossible to say.

  ***********************************************************************

  The Forgotten Wife

  The pale mirrored reflection smiled

  As she gazed through her darkened eyes

  And on her pallid cheeks a tinge

  Showed madness creeping 'round the fringe

  As the blood on the blade dripped down

  In tiny droplets to the ground.

  ***********************************************************************

  The Gunfighter's Truth

  "My greatest regret," the old man said,

  "Is all the young men I've left dying or dead,

  Down in the dust, beneath the dark sun,

  Because they were proud of their skill with a gun.

  A man's a fool, who digs his own grave,

  Who carries a gun as a tool of his trade,

  And looks at the world through haughty eyes,

  Intent that his name be immortalized.

  And for a while he gets all the breaks,

  But sooner or later he makes a mistake.

  For though he's a bully, he's short on nerve,

  Still he's given a glory he doesn't deserve.

  Convinced he's the best there is around,

  He basis his challenge on judgment unsound,

  And gives up his life, once more to prove

  There's always a better man, faster than you."

  ***********************************************************************

  The Jester's Soliloquy

  There are no more songs left unsung;

  No stories left untold.

  The flickering fires have all died out;

  The hall is dark and cold.

  The table, laid with courtly pride,

  Is flung with careless crumbs.

  The dishes cracked, the cups o'er turned,

  The feast naught left but thrums.

  While from the roughly cobbled floor,

  Where dogs and lords mingled,

  Arose a jester, cap in hand,

  His face sadly wrinkled.

  He spoke to all the slumb'ring hosts

  Whose faces, flushed with drink,

  Betrayed the brute within the man;

  How low the creatures sink!

  "Behold! Before me lies the gents,

  The nobles of our land,

  Those wise and gallant lords who rise

  Above we lesser men.

  Can you not see distinguished brow?

  The wisdom in the eye?

  O' are they not a handsome sight

  Who with the curs do lie?

  Had you but seen them earlier,

  Before their revelry,

  I'm sure you never would have guessed

  At their debauchery.

  Yet there they lay in silk brocade

  All stained with their deceit,

  These saintly men who moralize

  With hypocrite bleat.

  They drink the toast, they eat the feast,

  They bed the maiden, fair.
r />   Their talk is crude, their manners rude,

  No cruelty is spared.

  They taunt their neighbor, mock the weak,

  With laughter they do roar,

  'Til overcome, they tumble down

  To curl up on the floor.

  What pompous frauds to claim their lives

  White as alabaster.

  It's hard to tell just who's the dog –

  And who is the master."

  ***********************************************************************

  The Marble Maiden

  In the harbor

  Stands the statue

  Of the maiden

  Clothed in white.

  In her hand the

  Rusty saber

  Symbolizing

  Truth and right.

  And her eyes stare

  At the future,

  Seeing all that

  Lies before.

  She is watching,

  Ever hopeful,

  For the light of

  Heaven's door.

  Know her justice,

  Sing her praises

  Guardian of

  Gladden's shore.

  Every warrior

  Swears allegiance,

  Undefeated,

  Evermore.

  ***********************************************************************

  The Nazi

  There were eyes that stared in the hazy gloom;

  Hostile eyes across the room;

  Eyes that cried out for his doom.

  Revenge! Rache! Revenge!

  His white, puffy face oozed depravity;

  His eyes were cold with cruelty;

  Master of brutality.

  Revenge! Rache! Revenge!

  His god was hatred, destruction, and pain;

  All races met with his disdain;

  Black and evil son of Cain.

  Revenge! Rache! Revenge!

  Though many years have passed, he's hunted still,

  Cold dreams of vengeance to fulfill;

  Vows sworn in the blood he spilled.

  Revenge! Rache! Revenge!

  ***********************************************************************

  The Prophesy

  Beware, vipers, for his time is at hand

  And all ears listen for his approach.

  He cometh like the wind of Dorman,

  Fierce and wild, like a storm from the desert,

  His gaze shall shatter the strongest walls