Vassal Keep
Come in from the outside
And join our little group
For we are building room for you
A cozy little coop
To protect from outsiders
We will lock and bar the doors
Inside you’re free to socialize
But stay inside of course
We’ll nail the shuttered windows up
To ensure privacy
We’ll watch over you night and day
That is our guarantee
It’s home sweet home
So settle in from trouble and travail
Your safe within these social walls
We built them like a jail
Universal Tides
I dreamed I saw my sum of life
As if an ocean, large and wide
And stooped to quench my thirst with haste
But found it bitter to the taste
I pondered in this in state of woe
How were its contents tainted so?
And took it in my heart to trace
The source that spewed such wretched waste
At first, upon my journey found
A river wide, and swift, and brown
“Ah hah!”, I gasped, “the putrid source!”
“But who can turn it from its course?”
“Its current is too strong to fight.”
Then saw I it, my course in life
I said, “But surely it can change?”
And ran upstream -- until I came. . .
Upon the place wherein it started
Where several streams, and each one parted
Each not too large, but still to blame
I saw in each a choice I’d made
Then from these streams I traced them long
To find what made me choose so wrong
These streams split up in several factions
‘Twas then I saw these brooks were actions
Unlike the rivers mighty flow
These brooks were shallow, soft, and slow
To change their course was no big feat
Still what had made me be so weak?
It wasn't far, I found the reason
A place where water pooled in season
These were the source which gave brooks motion
The overflow of pooled emotion
These attitudes had fueled my fate
In subtle flawed character traits
But born to this? It seemed unfair
What shaped me thus, in pooled despair?
For seemed to me these had no source
Till rain drops fell as teared remorse
Yes, every bead were little thoughts
Which rained on soil pure or not
But do thoughts happen all by chance?
I searched and took a second glance
Above were clouds condensing drops
I saw how motive formed my thoughts
From subterrains of mortal mind
My heart’s desire bore fruit in kind
To will, to be--a single ply
One’s fix doth light or dim the eye
Though focus is of nature born
So spirit cleaveth to its own
Thus war within my members these
Two masters no man can appease
To change one's nature, what a task!
“How is it done?” I prayed, I asked . . .
Then came a voice as if within
“My grace's sufficient for thy sin.”
“In time my love will cleanse your heart.”
I cried, “Oh Lord, but where to start?”
He said, “Be patient, I have blessed”
“The water is your consciousness.”
“For in this cycle water rises,”
“To form new clouds on life’s horizon.”
“But when!” dear Lord, my soul did cry
As thunder came my Lord’s reply
“Through trial of fire I purge the soul.”
“Believe, and I shall make you whole.”
“Behold the sun be as mine eye.”
“Its pounding flames shall mistify.”
“So, broken heart to alter bring.”
“Yet all in all ye lack one thing.”
“The tenor love--its all you need.”
“So watch your words, your thoughts, and deeds.”
“Put each one in their place, dear brother,”
“For one alone can't cleanse the other.”
The Man of Mirror
The labyrinth of life perplexing
A puzzle that demands dissecting
Its narrative an allegory
Shall be likened unto this story
* * * * *
Part I
The First Realm: The Prisoner and The Soldier
* * * * *
There was a forlorn man of drear
Who lived within the land of Mirror
A captive in a prison cell
Amnesia suffering as well
The past he could recall no more
His captors having beat him sore
Remembering no crime at all
He cursed this unjust bitter gall
Then learned the king had placed him there
Whose edict cause him such despair
As hate for his tormentor swelled
He swore he’d seek revenge unquelled
Tormentors flogged him near to death
So much so, they could see no breath
And left him in his cage as dead
Not locking it--but left instead
When he awoke to his surprise
He found the door ajar--likewise
The guard outside was fast asleep
And stole to freedom from his keep
* * * * *
Running
Naked
Bleeding
Sore
Tired
Parched
Needy
Frore
He came upon a distant plain
Wherein soldiers were being trained
A rebel force to oust the King
Whose leader promised vanquishing
The man of Mirror joined a brigade
To seek his vengeance by the blade
Armies arrayed--the forces clashed
The rebels fought with great panache
And quickly overcame their foes
Their leader swift the king deposed
And threw him in the selfsame jail
Wherein he suffered much travail
* * * * *
Part II
The Second Realm: The Slave Merchant, The Thief, and The Noble
* * * * *
And thus they crowned the rebel king
Who granted spoil plundering
As conquered army they enslaved
The man of Mirror performed their trade
A rich slave merchant he became
Until the new king seized the same
And left him without ways and means
Bringing the poor man to his knees
* * * * *
And so he turned to larceny
Breaking into the treasury
Stealing his wealth back from the realm
Whose lord he’d helped usurp the helm
* * * * *
And so the thief garnered his wealth
Buying nobility through stealth
Yet secretly funded revolt
Through letters rebels did consult
Betraying the king to their hands
Who crowned their leader o’er the land
And granted him his retribution
Warden of penal institution
* * * * *
Part III
The Third Realm: The Warden, The Slave, and The Treasurer
* * * * *
As such he approved brutal beating
But sweet revenge was fast and fleeting
The new kings favor quickly clave
Reducing him into a slave
* * * * *
They stripped him bare
Erased his name
Mere property
The man became
A bondsman to the treasurer
Of royal stores--an auditor
With his life in his master’s hands
He longed for freedom from his bands
Then one day found the ledger off
And saw a way to ruin the toff
Sending a courier to the king
Apprised him of embezzling
The edict swift
“Arrest the thief!”
“This honest servant”
“Make him chief.”
Quick spread the news
His master fled
The man of Mirror
Placed in his stead
* * * * *
Who corresponded with his liege
All profits of slave trade to seize
And so was issued the decree
Great fortunes filled the treasury
As favor grew, achievements grand
His renown spread throughout the land
Thus for a time had everything
Until a coup replaced the king
* * * * *
Part IV
The Fourth Realm: The Rebel
* * * * *
The new king’s reign was harsh and cruel
Upheaval plagued the tyrant’s rule
Who soon issued a baseless warrant
The man of Mirror fled in a horrent
Fed up with corrupt monarchies
He stirred up an insurgency
And gathered troops from every quarter
Laying siege to fortress borders
The battle quick--outcome decisive
The King dethroned --no more divisive
Sent to prison--his reign ended
Man of Mirror the throne ascended
* * * * *
Part V
The Fifth Realm: The King
* * * * *
Unjust caste he rent asunder
Giving soldiers rightful plunder
Filling all empty positions
With his soldier’s just ambitions
Yet within his noble reign
Subjects started to complain
Subordinates shirked their duties
Corrupting his regime’s beauty
So he replaced unfit stewards
Punishing all evildoers
Making new laws just and good
Rectifying all he could
But these acts weren’t well received
Rebellions began to seethe
And so his rule was overthrown
Back to jail--beaten, alone
* * * * *
Part VI
The Sixth Realm: The Prisoner
* * * * *
Near to death he fell asleep
Dreaming in a state soul deep
Within the ethereal plain
A messenger appeared ordained
His face obscured by blinding light
The man of Mirror explained his plight
“Life makes no sense--how can this be?”
“So much misfortune visits me?”
The being said, “Open your eyes”
“See your tormentor undisguised”
“Behold the face which is your own”
“Seated on a golden throne”
“The Rebel, Treasurer, and Servant”
“The Warden, Noble, Thief--all fervent”
“The Slaver, Soldier, Prisoner”
“All justified desire’s verve”
“Yet never looked beyond the pelf”
“Through empathy to see the Self”
“Imprisoned in the passion play”
“Your monodrama’s disarray”
“You cannot build true happiness upon another’s sorrow”
“You cannot find contentment in the past nor yet the morrow”
“The evil which you do, you surely do unto yourself”
“The measure which you mete becomes the same cards you are dealt”
“To break misery’s cycle you must leave the ego’s rut”
“And see yourself in others, for in truth all souls abut”
“Behold the face of enemies, as looking in the mirror”
“For you were every person in this labyrinth of drear”
‘Twas then he saw the Warden that he hated had his face
The beatings he endured, in fact, had order in that place
He was in fact the Soldier who helped overthrown himself
The Slave Trader who sold him into servitude for wealth
The Thief that robbed the treasury was none other than he
Which brought about the warrant, and which caused himself to flee
He was also the Noble who conspired insurrection
Betraying his own self with his own hands to cause ejection
His escape from the prison had accomplished his enslavement
Removing him as Warden sold in ransom as the payment
He was the selfsame Servant that informed against his master
By doing so condemned himself--the author of disaster
As Treasurer he seized the wealth which he amassed himself
As leader of the rebels he usurped his throne and wealth
“I sent myself to jail!”
“I issued my own warrant!”
“I sold self into servitude”
“Swept up in vengeance torrent”
“And yet from my perspective, I felt justified each time”
“A simple lack of empathy has fueled my karmic crime”
“My character determined by my outward circumstance”
“The virtue in my heart was farce--self-righteous arrogance”
He cried, “What kind of man am I?”
“I change with every wind!”
“Can one escape life’s labyrinth,”
“And find freedom from sin?”
“How does one parse the mortal plain?”
“The complex web of life’s domain”
“Conundrums born of smoke and mirrors”
“Wherein the guise of self appears”
“With paradox of id desire”
“A selfish dualistic quagmire”
“The tail we chase is our lust set on fire!”
His spirit guide instructed him that soon he must return
Yet without recollection till his lessons he had learned
He said, “One’s core identity”
“Are constants they embrace”
“In vast varying circumstance”
“Which settings can’t erase”
The Man questioned, “How can I learn, if mistakes can’t remember?”
The reply, “Learn through empathy rather than pain’s live ember”
“If one avoids distress they feel it doesn’t cure the schism”
“They must heal separation of the soul through altruism”
“One cannot learn from life unless they see beyond the shell”
“One can’t enjoy true freedom, lest they leave the ego’s cell”
“When you awake you will forget this very conversation”
“And yet you’ll carry with you your desire’s aggregation”
The man of Mirror awoke within the prison--door ajar
He stared long at the opening, but then he closed the bars
Something inside him made him feel beyond his present pain
To see the guard’s humanity and error their need would fain
Considering their jeopardy, if he himself escaped
He felt for them as if for self his heart for them agape
But when the lock click shut the sound of thunder filled his head
Within his mind he saw a Soldier break his sword in dread
The sound echoed atop a Slave Merchant unlocking shackles
A Thief dropping large bags of gold, a Noble’s ebbing hackles
A prison Warden filling bowls, a Servant share his master’s woes
A Treasurer give counsel to repeals burdensome taxes
A Rebel raise a flag of truce, a King his own power reduce
Vesting it in the people’s voice and democratic axis
* * * * *
Part VII
The Seventh Realm: Liberation
* * * * *
The man of Mirror stood in his cell as walls began to crumble
The prison bars all disappeared along with dimming rumble
He stood before the messenger whose face was cloaked in light
Communing on the astral plain wherein all souls unite
One cannot tell with human tongue
The truth which passed between
Suffice to say a light engulfed
As if they shared one being
Then like a supernova
Essence permeated all
Revealing all within the Self
True Love empyreal
