Ghouldom

Bring me your dead,

And they will live forever.

Bring me your poor, the impoverished, those who go without

And they will know riches yet undreamt of.

Every need fulfilled, every desire sated.

There shall be nothing that can't be had;

Nothing that could ever be wanted, forbidden.

Bring my your dead,

And they will live forever.

Bring me your weak, the powerless, those trampled upon

And they will be as the might of legends past.

Ancient mountains break, raging rivers turn.

The earth could crack like an eggshell,

All done swiftly, as if by command.

Bring me your dead,

And they will live forever.

Bring me your forgotten, the nameless, those passed by

And they will be known across the land.

Hearts will melt, minds will bend.

They speak the same name, in one voice

Never even caring, or knowing, just why.

Bring me your dead,

And they will live forever.

Bring me these poor, weak, forgotten souls,

Countless hordes that don't even matter,

And these dead shall stay dead.

Yet they can still be of use to me.

I gain much from the poor,

Using their work to further my own.

A great fortune awaits me.

I gather strength from the weak,

Growing my power, bit by bit.

A great force forms in me.

I take the names of the forgotten,

Adding them to my own.

A great future centers around me.

And these dead will merge, a part of me,

As I become wealthy, and powerful, and famous.

I will finally feel alive, if only for a second.

The hunger will return, the emptiness inside,

But I can wait, for I know I will feed again.

For you see, as a ghoul, I will 'live' forever.

Would you like to join me?

All you have to do

Is bring me your dead.

Love-Struck Somewhere Between the Sun and the Moon

I.  There is no sun or moon when I'm without you,
    My life just seems to pause.
    Time loses all of its meaning
    And your love is the cause.

    Each second stretches onward, ever outward
    Into infinity.
    The wait is so agonizing
    'Til you return to me.

II.  How dare the sun and moon try to outshine you
      With their obnoxious light.
      I would gladly sacrifice them
      And live in endless night.

    Your beauty glows eternal, everlasting.
     Its warmth keeps me alive.
    As long as you are beside me,
    I know I will survive.

III.  I'd gift you the sun and moon, if I could;
       It would be a pleasure.
      Yet your true love is worth far more,
      Precious beyond measure.

      Not silver, nor gold, or even diamond gem
      Can equal your pure heart.
      No one could afford to buy you,
      A unique work of art.
IV.  Look at the sun and moon, so high above us.
       There, we will build our home,
       Rivaling Kubla's Xanadu
       His fabled pleasuredome.

       A castle hidden between the clouds and sky,
       A manor house so grand,
       But nowhere will be happier
       Then where I hold your hand.

V.  Only the sun and moon can know the future
      And what tomorrow brings.
      Yet I doubt that they would tell us
      About such mundane things.

      If I have need to know what will be our fate,
      I look into your eyes.
      There, I will see our destiny.
      It comes as no surprise.

VI. The mighty sun and moon cannot control my thoughts
       Or what mood I am in,
       But all my emotions crumble
       At the sight of your grin.

       It makes me laugh, and can dry up all my tears.
       It dispels all the rage,
       All the madness will fade away.
       I fly free from my cage.

VII.  You are my sun and moon, my bright shining star.
         You are the world to me.
         Yet you don't even know my name.
         It's such a tragedy.
      
         Just give me this moment, one glorious try,
         A last chance, then I'm done,
         Under the mysterious light
         Of the moon and the sun.

Eek! A Ratite

Many mornings, on my drive to work, I try to pay attention to what is around me.  For instance, what is on the side of the road. just in case something tries to jump out.  For a few days, two years ago, I had been noticing something unusual.  There was something strange in a pen by one of the houses along the side of the road, just a few miles from my home.  I had passed it many times, noticing anything more unusual than some chickens or a turkey.  At first, I thought if was just a donkey, or some other equine, considering that they also have two ponies in a nearby corral.  Then I tried taking a closer look at the grey, furry blob.  It seemed to be a giant bird.  Now, I have seen some unusual animals on my way to work.  In fact, one of the neighbors to this house in question once owned an African lion (don't ask, I don't remember much about it beyond what was in the news and they owners had raised it from a cub).  An alternate route takes me by a stable that has a pair of zebra, to go along with their herd of longhorn cattle and horses.  Many times, I have had to drive by an elk herd at a certain intersection, with drivers stopped to watch them (although it had been months since I have even seen one elk, and it wasn't even in that field).  So, this morning I drove by the place extra slowly and took a really good look at the pen.  The large grey blob wasn't a giant bird; it was two giant birds!  From what I could see of them, they appeared to be emu, as they lack the typical white patches of the ostrich. Still, I could have been all wrong, but was hoping to be able to find more out very soon.
I did find out after a few weeks.  The owner of the house and pen also owned a pet store.  I never could find out why he had a pair of emu.  Every morning, for months, I would look over to the pen to catch a glimpse of them.  I would do this almost every day.  They would be out there in almost any kind of weather, wet or dry, hot or cold.  Then, after a few months, I heard that the owner had died.  Some time after that, the emus disappeared and their pen was slowly taken apart.  It still haunts me a little that I will never know why he had emus and what would ultimately happen to them.  Two birds wouldn't be enough to start a farm, but then why just two?  Who would want just two emu, if not to start a sustainable herd?  I just couldn't wrap my head around it, and I probable never will.
(adapted from a post from October 2016)

Welcome to My Parlor

This is the first of hopefully many entries in my new literary blog.  This will become the showplace for many of my works of fiction, poetry, and narrative non-fiction.  Many of these first posts will come from another one of my blogs.  This will be my third, or fourth, one.  Like many blogs, this one will be a work in  progress, as I will be continually back to many of my posts to update and edit them.  My ultimate goal is to become a professional writer, with the more immediate goals of entering graduate school to get my Masters in English/Creative Writing and possibly more, on my way to becoming a professor, maybe.  One of the reasons for this blog is to try out many of my pieces as a part of my writing sample submission.  I hope to draw possible recommendations and writing tips through this blog to help my work become the best it can be.  Frankly, I am a little scared in showing my work to the world.  I am also scared at waiting so long to realize what my dreams really are.  Everything about this blog is somewhat new to me, an experiment to show what I can honestly accomplish when I set my mind to it.  Let us all hope to make it thought in relatively one piece.  As I revise and update these works, I will be putting up notices at the bottom of each post, to show my progress.  Some posts will be edited many times, others less so.  Each update will be featured in a different color, although the original text will remain the same one.  I might even have to update this every once in awhile until I get my "voice" clear.  Anyway, I would like to thank you for joining me in my journey.  Let loose the words!