Day's New Start

by C.B. Jerman

My time awake is poorly spent

Each night under the sky is lent

By God. This time is truly meant--

Do good or make in hell a dent.

At will I lie and I deny

and this cold heart I do defy.

But, each new day I spend and die,

Has earth let out her gruesome sigh

The light of each new day that's born

shows me how my soul is torn

Mistakes of old try me to warn

and still the clouds in me do mourn

The rain of time yields nought but blood

A subtle; wretched; flashing flood

The smooth slim sword of pain cannot

Stop time but leaves me here to rot

And so I lay, alone I die.

And creeping comes that shadow's spy

to wrench my soul from out my heart

My anguished whole do I impart

Yet I again watch day's new start

Your Eternal Rock

by C.B. Jerman

I will be your eternal rock

your forever solid foundation

I will never be swayed by

the blow of the wind

and never be washed by

the tides of the sea

I will grow with time

and I will one day be your mountain

Fire and Blood

by C.B. Jerman

The world is filled with fire and blood

Though most fire is just for destruction

The frenzy and clamor of anger and strife

Cause young men to die and take life

Why does the fighting ne’er cease?

Why must the young pay for old?

It’s the rich and the strong

Shaking hands behind smoke

Who smile and send boys to their deaths.

They cite their just God and claim

“Peace won through fire”

And the war-machine wheels start to turn

But the old men don’t see

How the young man will feel

‘Til he’s shocked and missing his limbs

But then he’s simply a hero

A young man who chose honoring life

They never look in and say

What about him? No they can

Only see numbers and lights.

I do not say “never fight wars”

Nor that some wars are not necessary

But the arms of the empire

Exerting its grip causes more

And more old men to falter

And slip and then yell and cry

“We must have war!”

The military is not just for threatening

It’s an extension of leaders’ domains.

These are mothers and fathers

They’re sons and they’re daughters

They’re brothers and sisters in arms.

They will go and die where you tell them

But please make those sadnesses count

They will always defend till the

Very last breath but don’t make

That last breath be for oil

Or bananas or power or influence

Let it be so the world may be just

Have us fight to stop murder-killing

And help children be healthy and strong

For they are what we must look forward to

They’re our pride and our hearts and our joy

We must teach them that freedom and living good lives

Is the legacy of our sacrifice.

We cannot say our fight is for justice

And protecting the weak from the strong

For we’ve taken the strong and turned them to weak

And taken the weak and made ourselves strong.

But the children grow up hating us for their lives.

Because we took  away what was good

We can be the police or the bringers of peace

But let us not claim what we aren’t.

There is life through the phoenix flame deaths

And there’s death in not caring for young lives

Old must foster and teach and 

Must live what they preach

Give us hope and please be our examples.

I Followed

by C.B. Jerman

Slowly I walked through a meadow

there was life as far as eyes see

to my surprise the sun's dim slow rise

was blackened by clouds and a breeze.

I stood still and gazed at the sky

a smile had crept to my lips

for I saw there'd be rain

and lightning and wind:

the quivering leaves and the silence of beasts;

to witness the power and brilliance and awe

and to see the dark maelstrom of chaos erupt

made me shiver and look on with glee.

Just a short moment later a bright flash of light

then a booming a short minute later;

I moved forward then

and a flash and a crack and a flame had erupted near me.

The splinters blew out in directions

as far as my eyes could see

I saw I was safe and then moved with a pace--

deliberate and careful and braced myself

for the heat of the flames

and when there was none I was filled with wonder

and a terrible fear and cold longing.

For her smile and her touch and the red of her blush

and I knew that the flame was then spreading

my hand was engulfed but I did not feel pain--

just amused as I turned into embers.

I felt happy and sad, but--to be honest--glad

that my journey was finally ending.

I was gone far too long

I heard my siren's song

and I followed until I was nothing.

A Light to Guide Her

by C.B. Jerman

Why does she plague me so?

That insufferable feeling that perches

upon my heart and clutches at my soul

ne'er does it give way to easy feeling.

That heart I've felt has never let, but pain

for now I know that she exists

yet I know her heart cannot be mine.

Just beyond my clutches she strides in color:

that brilliant hue that lightens

the gray dull granite of my soul.

So young and soft and full of life

a life that I shall never share

a love that I shall never feel

a heart that I shall never touch

a mind that I shall never know.

She moves not with grace but she has

a powerful vitality--filled with the

full and fiery feeling of life.

A heart beating eagerly,

forever beyond even the dusk of the grave.

Yet not mere oceans stand between me and

this solemn beauty--full of regret and sorrow

for things done past and things now present.

Our lives turn only clockwise:

forever forgetting the seconds past

and never pausing to let us catch our breath.

Gasping into the night, into the future

I know she wanders blindly too

through the maze of life with no clear path.

The only truth that all are blind

but despite this blindness that we all share

some of us can serve as lanterns for others' souls.

My purest wish is to be a light to guide her

along that abyssal maze of uncertainty.

Blackened by experience, yet still unknown.

So young and yet so much knowledge;

So much knowledge and yet so little understanding.

I feel that the fates are cruel in their

pursuit of my knowing.

They laugh at the sight of my struggle

and scoff at my simplest desires.

These desires are so simple, yet so hard

to achieve in the short century of our lives--

a century that passes in the blink of an eye;

an eye that blinks all too quickly.

One moment we're young and then all is lost.

Lost to the mighty fury of our universe.

A universe outside of time yet time-encompassing.

Full of hope and sadness and empty despair

I want but one simple feeling, a mutual feeling

of shared belonging.

I want her to be mine, and I to be hers.

Until we find it, we have always failed.

Such a simple desire yet such a complex undertaking.

Moving through time,

the waves of light wash over me

as I wander alone

along the simple path of my meanderings.