So is this how it ends.
All those multitudes of dead, mummies and corpses reminding us,
storm is coming, like earthquake and tidal wave, such a terrible fuss,
wake oblivious to gaunt nature crying out, dismiss all natural trends,
watch beasts rise up, grip a terrified world by the throat,
conflict never ends or mends,
it's coming  . . . it's coming like a cyclone . . .
like a legion of winged Archangels approaching . . . 
swords drawn, blowing sacred rams horns, 
leading that primal charge . . . 
it's coming . . . it's coming soon . . .
a barrage is coming . . .  nay a flood  . . . a flood of blessed love,
wearing a crown of amity and olive branches,
apprising piety of faith, delivering hope,
beneath the scarred and bleeding feet of this wretched world,
blessed love surrendered,
once again submitted,
 admitted by a peaceful dove.

So this is how it ends,
Last post, followed by one minute of grievous silence,
Remembrance done, bombs and guns roar again, shatter a clear and peaceful lens,
Angels mourn in seventh heaven, devils chortle, immortal burning words their parlance.

Set fire to the world,
Babylon's ancient forests trembled, hearing war's fervent trumpets blaring,
Raze trojan flags, so much for freedom and goodness, terror thus unfurled,
So much for peaceful understanding, so much for compassion or human caring.

Listen closely, foreign ears nailed to the ardent ground, our world gaffs and laughs,
Oh Armegeddon's whore! Declaring victory while supine peace lies chained and yearning,
Annihilating divine, oblivion crucifying truth and prophets like sacrificial calves,
Images reborn again, lives forged by history, hammered pure, adorned in mystic learning.

Job turns o'er and o'er, prophets wail from lost forgotten graves,
As war trumpets belch, blaring combat, declaring "peace is saved!",
Nation razes nation, all o'er this war torn globe, endless rants and moral raves,
Simple folk cower in fear, behooved by strife, peaceful love forever craved.

Moses walks naked past stern sentries, down Jerusalem's cautious street,
Aloft, his enchanted staff held high, offering atonement like a sacrificial lamb,
Noah contrives yet another ark, embarking ere the storm, past God's shimmering feet,
Survive this coming flood, Babylon shall perish, drowned in a sea of unforgiving blood.

Trump it, as yet another fatal hand is dealt,
Dice roll, tumbled hand to mouth, trusting wanton chaos, thus the devils fed,
Cast a pair of snake eyes, fumbling o'er a measured field,  'cross green napped felt,
Gambled lives, those lost pennies and disregarded prayers, lying flensed and bled.

So this is it how it ends,
Peaceful love nailed high upon a  blessed wood, so mystically crossed,
Tattooed egos feint, executioners pocket fame and silver, such technique co-depends,
Repose in serene pastures, shepherded by restful sleep, journey's end embossed.

So this is how it ends,
Dreamy rainbows dashed into dust, crashed by lifelong mistrust,
Exteriors finally stripped away, a recipe of empty lonely trends,
Trek past blazing stars, a barefoot crossing, o'er a prickling starry crust.

So this is how this story ends then,
Godzilla, rising up out of raging torrents, from deep within a burning sea,
Modra, venting billowing smoke, blazing 'cross a torn and blackened fen,
Afire! Afire! Heaven and hell are burning! All up in smoke as far as God can see!

So this is how it ends,
Dreaming rhymes and poesy life,
Praying Archangel Raphael complies and Gabriel attends,
Gravity's mystery, rending lives in two, with its razor knife.

Ponder, all around this sadly tainted world, a tumultuous fight,
So many blistering fears, church doors barred and locked up tight,
Yet still! Deep in the secret folds of a Sacred glen, a Hallowed wood,
Fervid lovers passionately loving there, as blessed lovers do and should.

So this is how it ends,
Earthward we go, then somehow, e'en fly,
Fording God's thoughts and universe, as far as universe extends,
Kings ope Heaven's gate, such rewarding light, where Angels repose and lie.

So this is how it ends, purity finally rising up, all hail!
Mountains crumbling o'er a billion years, degradation an everlasting down,
Rumbling stumbling, lava and ash falling heavy along that conflagration trail,
Submerged in aloof oceans, soaring o'er pearl stars, seeking golden crowns.

So this is how it ends,
Stars spiraling into nova, singing sacred songs on that destined day,
Awake! Venture into odyssey reciting sacred verse, a perilous valley death so rends,
Ethereal palaces and caves, hermitage implanted across this spectral milky way.

So this is how it ends,
Planting seeds under a generous moon, a Holy light in its Sacred guise,
New being new again, so newness vibrates, as Creation so intends,
Variegated Souls all soar, committed to deep space, majesty must surely surmise.

So this is how it ends,
Struck dumb by bolts of white lightning,
Blinded in conflict, never healing, battle never mends,
Reeling naked in murk, deathly silent, so dark and frightening.

So this is how this story ends,
Rendered speechless, tortured under a scorching sun,
Singed and marred, scarred by living and learning trends,
Quickstep 'cross scorched savanna, time unraveling 'til fully undone.

So this is how life ends,
Queer rapping, strange tap tap tapping, no belly laugh or dance,
Order entranced, advancing t'wards a deep abyss, conjoined with tainted friends,
Pray cap this trap if wisdom dare, higher profits ne'er merely gain a sweet romance.

So this is how forthright less romance ends,
When eyes go blind, digits no longer colouring inside specific lines,
Clenched fists stir great boiling pots, war drums flout immoral current trends,
Haunted masters blow haunting horns, raising cheers and beerhall steins.

So this is how it goes,
Apocalypse soon, jacked-up by qualms of negative human fears,
Is biblical relevance truly out there? Can any being really know?
What next? Prayers, pillars of salt, braised pork ribs, more cold beers?

So is this how it ends?
Desert owls perching, detached in that parched arid zone,
Sorcerer's eyes blink twice then thrice, feathered heads turn and bend,
Mythic wisdom, so wise old owls hoot, calling Gaia's name with a Holy tone.

So this is how it ends,
Noble rainbows attached to feathered dreams, fading into black,
Prismatic sceptres dividing, projected through a shattered lens,
Spectral visions trace primal screams, marauding down a primitive track.

So this is how it ends,
Lost and cloaked by shadows, staring out through a glassy mist,
Moments of clarity, trickling mem'ries that blessed compassion sends,
Stumbling through life's fragmented mimicry, reflections in that precious gist.

So this is how it ends,
Wand'ring naked in this unusual place,
Wond'ring, is this what fruitful destiny rends?
Glissade down that rocky path, rememb'ring love's familiar face.

So this is how it ends,
Lifetimes swimming upstream, against a ripping tide of years,
Gather courage, valiant ho! Try not to flounder, try ne'er to offend,
Crossing a great divide, eyes fill with tears, oh! past sorrows, so many fears.

So this is how it ends,
Just one more changing season, too fresh for me,
Smiling, I salute life, "Some other time then!",
Spoken words, 'tween love and me.

So this is how it ends,
Walking lone, stepping into coal dark night,
Blinded by my journey, such heart stopping trends,
Rise up! Prizing into heaven's eternal light.

So this is how it ends,
Mem'ries hang in a rainbow sky, stumble from nothing into everything,
Thus a juncture, time reacts to life, simply stretched, spells bend,
Kissing moments of being, embracing starry heaven as my soul sings.

So this is how it ends,
Lying wrapped and bound, still and dead upon my funeral pyre,
Conflagration into ash, leaping flames that lick the corpse, so send,
Eternal souls, rise in faith above a sombre sky, honour this razing gyre.

So this is how it ends,
Freed silence, bleed from this temporal place, waking another universe,
Slipping from darkness into light, as  goodly light surely intends,
Speed well my friend! 'cross mysterious time, a trip so benevolently terse.

So this is how it ends,
Waiting for absolution, dressed in that nighttime mist,
Departing from epic into epoch, as fateful eternity lends,
Light and hope retaking, remarking in psalm on love and life's vital tryst.

So this is how it ends,
All those things, accomplished well, an adventurous lifetime,
Bright shining successes! Those abject failures, thus destiny descends,
Placid night ascends, twinkles 'neath my starlit feet, shutting dim eyes one last time.

Comments on Charles Bukowski's poem 'My Madness'.

Oh Charles!
How alien we are in this alien world!
Flopping around in life's sizzling frying pan,
oft times wishing our heads were resting on the guillotine block,
waiting for the executioner's dull blade to fall,
relieving us all of this tar paper shack syndrome,
plaguing us,
haunting us,
stalking us,
from this waking world,
deep into our midnight dreams.
Oh if poetry might fly us to the haunted moon!
Send us to barren Mars!
Where, like ancient Martians,
we would strut about in thin skins,
armoured by life's shiny exterior,
breathing filtered Martian air,
dreaming filtered Martian dreams,
writing filtered poetry about filtered home.
Filtered masters vying from filtered castles,
deeply betraying us, plundering the very Kingdom.
We stand roused, deeply angered by such dishonest depths.
So it is, in this timeless moment,
remarking as we stumble half-blind through life,
typing lazy lines that surely make sense,
composing exploding prose,
erupting poesy, chimed with errant rhymes,
filtered through this  widening mesh of unsympathetic chaos.
So vast measures of neglected poor chew on stale bread,
drink drops of rancid beer from discarded flattened tins,
like homeless folk, while Czars sip Napoleon brandy,
wandering masses of chaff strewn,
astray and lost in filthy dark alleys,
wanting wheat and bread,
sleeping hungry,
waking parched and thin,
seeking fish and loaves,
craving a helping hand, wishing for friendly smiles,
hoping some ray of enlightenment might lead them safely into tomorrow.
Finally, in such pending dark,
laying bruised and shaven heads down,
hard on a soiled brick of baked red clay,
reposed in ragged soiled clothing,
blanketed under slabs of discarded cardboard,
slumped next to some stinking dumpster,
that thin shield of steeled comfort,
lying fetal, drawn up by their poverty,
stirring confused thoughts into thin soup and stew,
conjuring rich and creamy visions.
"Surely there must be some other fool more foolish than myself."
Statements waking us in the dark of night,
outlined by nagging disturbing rays of street.
Some outraged mugger suddenly raves over me,
Spitting anger, seething hatred from his blood red eyes,
knife blade glinting in a ray of mirrored violence.
Once robbed, laying stiff, oozing blood and courage,
left for dead in that tawdry rubbish lane,
wooden nickels and thin dimes whipped from worn out pockets.
Perhaps we rise again,
pull that filthy collar of worn out coat up around half-deaf ears,
trying to keep out life,
imagining with all one's might,
something beyond that hellish beast.
Growling clarity,
intent is ever clear,
never charity,
with each dawn,
followed into waning day,
nipping at homeless calloused heels.
Oh brother! Why hast thou forsaken me!
What sin have I committed?
What prayer have I not recited?
Why does such a rich world shun me as I beg for mercy?
Such is life I suppose,
for poor and homeless,
all those disadvantaged souls,
still breathing and sleeping,
freedom beyond their reach,
murmuring words and phrases,
fluttering unheard into soiled gutters.
If sun doesn't get up tomorrow,
perhaps I will find atonement,
understand how in my failing,
how all this failure,makes the world go round.
If stars blink out,
one by one,
or two by two,
maybe I'll wake in that impending dark,
think to myself,
"This must be heaven! Mother's womb! Must be that place where I am reborn."
But hark! Which person isn't reborn each time they wake?
Lo! In such adverse darkness?
Who doesn't begin life anew?
Each time they stumble, after every fall?
Picking themselves up,
wiping themselves off,
wondering if they are alive,wandering in some advent dream,
ambling into that ample light of each newly filtered day!
So in my own madness,
beating drums and blowing whistles,
witnessing the falling sky,
singing cradle songs while the crippled earth weeps and cries,
I strip myself bare,
dance naked with erotic Venus.
Surrounded by filaments of egomania,
illuminated by silver shards of feral light,
wrapped by reflections from the laughing moon,
Venus strokes my aching soul.
Rumplestiltskin arm in arm with my madness,
clapping wildly, entranced by this lunatic feat,
heralded by licks from dancing flames,
magically spinning chaff and straw,
into golden baskets, 
in hopes of fish and loaves.

So this is how it ends,
With everything busting out,
With nations busting out,
With politics busting out,
With armies and warfare busting out.
Nature is busting out,
Here, there, and everywhere,
Busting out,
Busting out of the old,
Busting into the new,
Busting in the old,
Busting out the new,
People everywhere busting,
People everywhere busted,
People everywhere bust,
Bust this crusting!
Alaska or bust!
Busted Alaska isn't pristine anymore either,
Wild salmon busting along a broken paradigm,
Grizzly bears busting along desolate rivers,
Past broken fireweed and bunched-up cleavers,
Birds busting through climate change into bursting extinction,
Oceans busting into hurricanes and cyclones,
Forests busting into carbon as they flame and flare,
Worldwide busting with a whole lot of bursting and fussing,
Busting social norms and laws,
Bursting a busted bubble with extended claws,
Busting out into space through a sacred worm hole,
Busting into dreamy inner space rediscovering that elemental place,
Busting into chaotic ingredients,
Bursting into chaos and confusion,
Busting through darkness,
Busting into light,
Busting through life,
Bursting and busting.

Kisses Sweeter Than Wine

Once I dreamed, upon a time,
Love dreams, love now such a distant rhyme,
I miss love, love's tender touch, so much more than fine,
I miss love's smiling eyes, love's passionate kisses, headier than fine wine.

While lost love weeps, awash with silent burning tears,
My polar heart drifts, castaway on floes of frozen glacial fears,
Astray on love's northern icy sea, helpless watching explorer love tack away,
Blown by a loveless hurricane, tidal love drifts far lamenting every loveless day.

Abandon fleeting love, such a ship of exquisite joy it was,
Possessed by my harried soul, I sail onward with hands upraised,
Praying happiness accompanies thou, hoping joy sings as joy sometimes does,
Honest love shall not part from an open heart, love's precious kisses forged and praised.

Goodbye is not a word I care to speak, it's love I seek, love's immortal power,
As sun sets o'er breaking ocean waves, I wish for love, such precious love I adore,
Atop a beacon tower I glimpsed love, dim love far out at sea in that twilight hour,
Hark! from this broken shore, despair heard precious love wailing, forever wanting more.

Precariously perched on the edge of darkness, staring into distant time,
My ethereal heart fluttered, each shallow breath stolen silently away,
On that varied horizon, love's icy berg rose then tumbled, trimmed with frozen rime,
I heard my lonesome self cry out, "Oh love, I raise my white flag, I surrender, so stay!"

If I might fly, if treasured love so measured might ne'er falter or tragic die,
I'd spread my feathered wings, albatross across a languid sea in search of thee,
I'd search for love, if love might show its intrepid face, still never lie,
I'd kiss love, caress love's furrowed brow, surrender love your bleeding heart to me.

If I ever find love again, hold hands with love, kiss love's Aphrodite face,
If ever I walk hand in hand with love again, if ever love cries again while in my arms,
If love e'er says again, "I love you", if love e'er beckons the sun from its wondrous space,
Surely a coy moon will fall from its stellar place, seduced by love's mysterious charms.

Proud love sails exploring seven seas, plying ocean depths in search of thee,
Imprisoned love cries out in desperate despair, yet pirate love never cares,
If errant time e'er divulge love's disparate tale, if algerine love e'er captures we,
Perfect love will recite a perfect ode, as wand'ring love rejoices, so true love ever dares.

Brave Artemis poses love atop a rocky crag caroling softly, weathering love's wanton gale,
Blessed spills across rose red lips, gladness rides ahead entranced by Apollo's perfumed breath!
Life grant me sweet love! Desire Artemis! Love's pilgrims sing songlines, pray love will ne'er fail,
Faith Artemis! 'til love drowns unforgiven in life's raging sea, 'til love is silenced by acquiescent death.