Tuesday, July 27, 2010

To Live!

I stare at an oak tree and think to myself,
"How is it that this motionless, unusual being exists?"
I examine it from roots - to tips of branches... My brain tells me it is alive, as its leaves are green, but my eyes find it hard to believe.
I stare past it, at another tree in the distance. Then, the oak tree comes to life. It bows before me and says,
"Just because I am in the same location, year in and year out, doesn't mean I do not live... This, Man, is my purpose. Look at my branches... what do you see?"
I don't hesitate to inspect once more, and a wealth of things become apparent. Squirrels, birds, lizards, and a multitude of insects.
Then the tree says,
"Look around me... what do you see?"
I respond as if doubting myself,
"Shade?"
And she quickly replies,
"Now do you understand what I am? It's quite simple. You see, I am a home. I breathe life for you and for all... This is my purpose."
How foolish am I to have not noticed this...
She then asks, "And you, Man, I see you day in and day out, sitting with friends, running around, singing, walking aimlessly. What is your purpose?”
Then, just as the town clock announces the hour, the Wind begins to blow, and the tree falls into a trance. She swings and sways and rocks to the rhythm of a song that I have never heard. The Wind blows through my limbs as well, but unlike the tree, I am unaffected. I hesitate to interrupt her, but I overcome my fear and I ask,
"Why is it that you can dance with the Wind but I cannot?"
She responds, as if with a fire burning within her,
"Because that is the Wind's purpose... He plays the lute, that I may dance... Because the Wind is my love. Go now, Man... Go and find your purpose, and like you have witnessed today, wait for your love. And when She comes and plays for you Her sweet, seductive melody, dance for Her and with Her... Until She plays Her song for you no more. And when She parts from your side, fear not... Be at ease, for just as the Wind ebbs and flows, she will also return... perhaps stronger, perhaps longer... and she will play her song for you"

"I am alive because it is so... This is all I need know. My purpose is simple... To Live!"

© José V. Guerra Awe

Crime Scene

A new age Dr. Lector

With a bloodthirsty rage
Impales a red robed body
Of a tender ripened age

With blade in hand he takes a life
One that's now unfulfilled
A recipe that takes its course
And leaves another killed

Four corpses now lay slaughtered
On a board atop his table
Blood oozes like a pulp
From a freshly gutted navel

Flesh acquaints with cold steel
As he slices and he dices
Holocaust drenched in rich oil
Enhanced by savoury herbs and spices

Carnage in the air
Spatter on the wall
Eyes that show no fear
Drops trickle down and fall

Dark elixir from Modena
Is his culminate addition
Sweet smile of acquiescence
As he savours his rendition

Overlooking his art
Head drenched red
Sinisterly salivates
Waiting to be fed


[Death Of A Tomato]

© José V. Guerra Awe

La Selva de tu Alma

Quiero flotar en el cielo de tus ojos

Nadar en el mar que es tu amor,
Perderme en la selva que es tu alma.

Pero me has cortado las alas,
Roto las aletas;
Y peor que todo,
Has destruido la selva.


© José V. Guerra Awe

A Whisper

I've got nowhere to go, but I still keep walking...
The night is windy; clouds blanket the sky and hide the stars.
The ocean - choppy, waves crashing on the shore.
It sounds as if though God is trying to silence a restless earth with every "shh!" of crashing waves.
What was once an ocean bordering a sea of beach towels, chairs and people, is now water serenading his love, the sand. Only the occasional passerby and I are witnesses to the power and majesty of their love and passion for one another... this love affair as old as time itself... fire lit by God.
The celestial blanket curls down a bit and from the darkness peaks out but one lonely star. How I yearn to be with her... My Star... My One... My Love!
And if she was here beside me, I would serenade her as the ocean does the sand, and we would sit here beneath the twilight in each others' arms...
The moon peaks out from behind the clouds, awakened by the ocean's song.
She stains the sky around her orange as she ascends from the horizon like a firework in slow motion.
Just as the ocean calls out to the sand, so does the moon to her love, the sun.
She traverses the heavens, day in and day out; loyal, steadfast and patient... and every now-and-then they are united.
And, the universe and its myriad of creatures all stand in awe and marvel at the power of the moon as it cools the sun's ardent passion.
Just as the moon is loyal, steadfast and patient, so am I.
My heart awaits the day that it will be united with another.
All I have is but a whisper of her... On my lips, on my fingertips and in my heart...

© José V. Guerra Awe

The Child That Life Forgot

There was once a happy child

That used to run and play

With her mother and her father
Every single day

Such a happy family
Were all of them together
They had the kind of love
That lasts until… Forever

They used to run along the beach
And used to walk the park
They loved each other in the light
And even in the dark

She was such a happy child
Well, with all the love she got
But little did she know
She’d be the child that life forgot

On a morning like no other
Grief befell her soul
She just could not believe
What she had just been told

Her parents whom she loved so much
Had died the night before
And then and there she understood
Why she didn’t hear the door

The two things she loved most in life
Were torn away from her
And so she was consumed by grief
For her parents were no more

The only child of only children
She had no one but them
Grandparents had long passed away
And she was only ten

She often wished that just perhaps
She'd died with them on that tragic day
Or that they tucked her in that night
And so her skies would not be grey

Now she’s all grown up
But there’s still a hole inside
And that thought just never left her...
The thought that they had died

She realised quite soon
That the past could not be changed
Her helplessness consumed her soul
As her eyes became enraged

“How could someone be so thoughtless
And kill my mother and father?"
"Did he ever stop to think
That at home they had a daughter?”

She’s shed a million tears by now
And she knows she’s lost a lot
She now knows that she’s the child…
The child that life forgot


© José V. Guerra Awe

Damn The Dam!

Damn the dam!
This electrical plant
That has stirred a concerned citizen
Into writing this rant

Damn the dam!
This plot to destroy
A fountain of youth,
And the times we enjoy…

Damn the dam!
That threatens to kill
The heart of a people,
Against their own will…

Damn the dam!
This rapture of freedom
We must find a way
To take back Toledo

Damn the dam!
That intends to steal
A unique way of life
With one shady deal

Damn the dam!
This threat to our wildlife
That will cleave through this valley
Like a blunt butcher’s knife

Damn the dam!
That we fight against
With all of our vigour
Yet our voices are shelved…

Damn the dam!
For which our sisters and brothers
Have been blatantly deceived
By one P then the other

Damn the dam!
That’s going to show
Into how ignorant an asshole
Any man can grow…

Damn the dam!
That you’re planning to build
We live in this jungle!
You just sit with your guild

Damn the dam!
This “Necessity”
There are many other ways
To produce electricity

Damn the dam!
For which you’re willing to spend
While crime keeps on rising
And our debt never ends

Damn the dam!
Concrete abomination
And greedy politicians
Who seal the fate of our nation

Damn the dam!
HIV of a river
You prescribe this slow death
For an electrical sliver?

© José V. Guerra Awe

The Daylight Moon

The daylight moon awaits the setting sun, sitting at the bottom of a bowl of blue
Howlers roar, parrots chatter; a sea of endless green in my periphery.
From atop this ancient castle, in the midst of a forgotten Eden, I adore you.
You, oh Moon, who waits with such serenity, in that sea of blue eternity.

I stare into your sky blue iris; the wind singing softly in my ear.
Her verse, an ethereal Acapella, it carries a familiar scent.
This scent, this etching; one without compare
Of two Blue-Morpho eyes that wander, luminescent.

As you do, oh daylight moon, I await the starlit archer
That cupid’s arrows he may aim and fire
Shooting stars that from the bowl departure
Piercing through her whom I desire

© José V. Guerra Awe

Day Dream

Today I found my soul in hiding...

Sitting, waiting for the sweet whisper of your eyes
To follow through the doors of my perception.
And when inside, you helped comb out the
Tangled strings of my guitar
And I watched as you
Made sweet sounds of music
To accompany the wind's acoustic melody
As it reverberated throughout my body,
Echoing through the shadows of my loneliness and
Sparking my soul to the point that I became electric.
And in the end I stood alone.
Teardrops running down my cheeks
Evaporated by the sun,
Transported by the wind,
Plummeting toward you
As you sailed past me in my dream.

As I drifted into consciousness
I saw truth written there
Upon the doors of my perception.
It read:
"Pain and Love are kin.
They are inseparable
As man and woman,
Life and death.
To embrace one
Is to embrace the other
Willingly, unconditionally
And without fear."
Such is our reality.
A sun and moon
In sweet embrace.
A Maximum eclipse...
In maximum beauty.

Life has its ways of putting you down...
Gravity sets in and you are grounded.
But down comes the rain...
And cleanses your soul,
It fills the void of your reality.
The deeper the ditch carved into you,
The more the rains of joy will have to fill
When they come thundering in.
I feel the breeze sailing past my ear
Announcing the coming of the rains.
And I can see them in the distance.
Joy-showers storming in my direction.



© José V. Guerra Awe

Conglomerate

"How could we continue to live if we were changeless? To live, we must die every instant."
-Thich Nhat Hanh


My life is built of pieces of castles and huts that once stood within myself...

Buildings that I have toppled over out of necessity,
For they were confining to my true-self; 
Just as an egg-case is to a chick.
I've crumbled them in my own hands, 
Like one does the case of a nut, 
And with great conviction 
I have blown off these carapaces 
To reveal a seed ready to be planted.

I am as ever-changing as a river, 
And every realisation, 
Every revolutionary thought that floods my mind, 
Transforms me.


Master Hanh's words resonate within my mind, 
For my life is a conglomerate of my past...
But this rock will never cease to be destroyed and rebuilt.


© José V. Guerra Awe

Face Of Stone

A face of stone
A face so cold
It shows not one emotion
No smiles, no frowns
No laughs, no cries
A face completely vacuous

Mounted top of flesh and bone
A cumbrous face
This face of stone
A bleak visage without a dream
But from within
A silent scream

This silent scream
A rumbling thunder
It echoes in the distance.
But no one hears it
No one cares
Alarm that goes unanswered

A face of stone
So cold
So lifeless
It shows not one emotion
But perplexing eyes tell truth within
A yearning for devotion

© José V. Guerra Awe

People

People live
And people die
People laugh,
People cry.
People win
And people lose.
People waver,
People choose.
People do
And people don’t.
People will,
People won’t.
People speak
And people mum.
People welcome,
People shun.
People smile
And people grouch.
People feel,
People touch.
People see
And people show.
People come…
People go.

© José V. Guerra Awe