For Tove Lo and Charles Bukowski (and all those climbing Desolation Peak)
 
Lost in the maze,
Drifting through a purple haze,
Harried by an alcoholic daze,
Stumbling through an arduous phase,
Where bleary eyed shots,
Become empty bottles,
And empty bottles become empty years,
Full of empty fears,
That grip the soul,
Shots piercing it full of holes,
Attaining empty goals,
Where dreams become nightmares,
Where nightmares become tempests,
Raging through our world,
Tearing up our lives, unfurled,
Playing with that silver bullet,
Russian roulette, finger on the trigger,
Wond'ring if one should pull it,
Standing there, hand shaking,
Kneeling there, body quaking,
Kneeling there, before the alter,
Collapsing there, as one fails and falters,
Drifting into never never land,
Thinking it is forever land,
Nothing grand about it,
Hard to turn around without it,
Wanting to stand and shout it,
"Leave me devil!"
"Leave me!" in all that revel,
Hoping to see the light again,
Knowing deep down one must fight again,
To simply stand, perhaps with some Samaritans hand,
Helping one up, guiding one through the maze,
Urging one through the purple haze,
If luck has it, nights become days,
If fortune gives it,
We find safe passage,
Through this fluid phase,
Where darkness envelopes one's soul,
Where lightning strikes and burns a hole,
In one's very mind, in one's hapless life,
Where night visions become nightmares, become rife,
With demons pulling to and fro,
Where triggers are pulled, fast and slow,
Where life becomes a blur,
Where thought becomes a slur,
Where awake is plagued by incessant burrs,
Where one walks, but is never sure,
When the silver bullet will be fired,
When one will fall for ever, beaten and tired,
Into that empty, endless pit,
Into that putrid, stinking shit,
Where shots were poured on a bar,
Where bottles were emptied near and far,
Life becomes so unclear,
Sober is nothing less than pain and fear,
With the Reaper knocking on the door,
With empty thoughts beside us,
On that filthy floor.
What more? Is there, can there be more?
Perhaps a light reflecting,
On some distant, far off shore,
Where a bottle washes up,
With a message,
That a coconut is to be eaten,
Not used as a Daiquiri cup,
But once we've been shot to death,
Once we lie in a broken heap,
So terribly drunk and so beaten,
Russian roulette becomes the daily game,
Bottles become bullets that mark the same,
So in that stead, the Reaper sits beside one,
Holding yet another loaded gun,
Full of shots, so many more, so often lots,
Losing one in that confusing maze,
Leading one into that purple haze,
Enslaving one in that endless drinking phase,
Where life becomes darkness,
Where darkness steals away the light,
Where light is shaded by incessant shadows,
Where dark shadows keep one shackled,
Imprisoned by that alcoholic plight.

Your eyes! I stare into those deep dark eyes!
Your eyes and smile, captured my heart,
That smile of yours, makes me realize,
Makes me never want to be apart,
Apart from your gaze, apart from your smile,
Makes me need you more than ever,
Your face, makes me want your magic style,
That magic style, makes you look so awfully clever,
Your heart, your loving arms that break my heart,
Make me want you, even though we're so far apart,
Your diamond smile and my bleeding heart,
Makes me need to feed my hungry heart,
With your love, and your smile, with your eyes,
Your deep dark eyes, strip away my fake disguise.
What is love, without compassion?
Nothing less than shallow, in such shallow fashion.
What is love, when frigid stares compete?
Without hot passion, love will never be complete.
So give me your love, I want your compassion,
I need your love, show me your passion.
What is love, without your smile?
I need your smile, I want your arms,
I need your heart, I want your charms.
It was some fantasy that took me there,
Some lack of love that made me wander,
A sense of magic, your heart, let me care,
Some fantasy, flung my heart, into your heart's blue yonder.
Your eyes! I look into those deep dark eyes,
Your eyes and smile, captured my heart,
That smile of yours, makes me realize,
Makes me realize, I never want to be apart,
Apart from your gaze, apart from your smile,
Makes me want you more than ever,
Your dress, makes me love your magic style,
Your sexy dress, makes you look so awfully clever,
Your loving crush, that squeezed my heart,
Your loving squeeze, that broke me apart,
Makes me need to mend my broken heart,
Makes me need you, even though we're so far apart.
This is where night falls,
Where love goes astray,
When the hoot owl calls,
As darkness casts its magic song,
Before long, lost hope drifts away.
Slipping over love's waterfall edge,
Falling, plummeting, love cascades,
Dire feelings that love terrors dredge,
Awash with honest grief, as  dishonest love invades.
Your eyes! I'm lost in those sea green eyes,
Your eyes and ocean smile, pirated my cast off heart,
That ocean of yours, makes me realize,
Makes me see we're so far apart,
Apart from your eyes, apart from your smile,
Still I need you more than ever,
Apart from your face, apart from your style,
Your deep dark clever, those deep dark eyes,
They strip away love's false disguise.
This is where night falls,
Where love goes astray,
When witchcraft calls,
As darkness conjures magic play,
Before long, lost love simply drifts away.
I drift away, lost in your eyes, lost in your smile,
Lost in your deep blue magic, so all the while,
Drifting out to sea, without you in my arms,
Without your heart, without your charms,
Without your love, stricken with my bleeding heart,
I'm all alone, on that ocean, keeping us so far apart,
I'm cast away, far across that deep dark ocean,
I'm lost at sea, in deep dark love's emotion,
I'm starving, for your deep dark eyes,
I'm thirsting, for your deep dark heart,
I'm praying, to see you without your disguise,
I wish we were together, and not so far apart.
And those eyes, your eyes that stare,
Far beyond that place, where I have gone,
And your arms, caress that place, while no one's there,
Invade that place, where love was done,
Your smile, taunts that space, where apart has won.

November's done, a lonely sum of Gitchigumie's tears,
Full Hunter moon beamed bright, frosty nights arrived,
Earnest winter now, shrouded by those snowdrift fears,
Shrewdly forsaking mosaic autumn, so readily contrived,
Fragile snowflakes dance and tumble, in this polar season,
Big antlered bucks, fat with summer wealth and felt,
Delighting senses, imploring arctic wintry reason,
Entreating starry nights, visions encompassed by Orion's belt,
Come winter's icy spirit, welcome Gitchigumie's winter season.
Sleepy cold, garnishing hearty hospitality, content by one's glowing fire,
December, still richly sleek with winter fat, drivers pelted by a salty splat,
Roaring snow plow trucks, compound winter parking, with snow attire,
Relish warmth near one's happy hearth, toasting St. Nick in his pompom hat.
Stellar tracks 'cross northern skies, wave so long to autumn's falling reason,
Far to the south saguaro stand statuesque, armed in prickly desert guise,
Orchestral horns trumpet winter rhymes, far to the frozen north,
Shun all thoughts of thirst and hunger, though arid desert lies,
Beneath a placid sea of circling stars, portend destiny for all life's worth,
Goodbye to November's drear and gray,
Wave farewell to autumn's falling reason,
Perfect snow staged for this December play,
Welcome now, Gitchigumie's winter season.
Bright shining stars, oh how God's majestic cosmos makes us feel,
Blessed forest spirit, dreaming Turtle Island's snow covered lakes,
Drifting silent through the universe, true north gripped by winter steel,
Abreast of Gitchigumie's blazing heart, akin with winter's snowy flakes.

Once upon a time, as Buddha doth know, so many tragic years ago,
Slowly shuffling up that stony trail, towards Golgotha's echoed crest,
Churning gritty morn, when purity was curtly thrust into a horrid throe,
Dangling thieves seemed redeemed, thus enabled, promised heaven's rest.

Soul food so lovingly laid, on God's empiric table,
Mellowed milk and honey, in a far east Shepherd's stable,
Good seed, sweet fruit imparted freely, as peasants then were able,
Angel voice accosts the blazing star, like some Saga's mythic fable.

Time passed slowly, with each measured step in kind,
Up that rocky path, toward Golgotha's anxious height,
Women clad like pillars, in black garments head to toe, quietly walked behind,
Armoured soldiers blasphemed on Golgotha's zenith, to prove their worldly might.

Pure water, rushing from its sacred source,
Spring water, gushing, vowing blessed untold life,
Delivers Nirvana's manna, destined by a spiritual course,
All life shall witness, as Divine renounces corrupted strife.

Up that desecrated hill, I floundered on that besieged morn,
Cautious steps ahead, convicted men hung nailed, enslaved upon their tree,
Crucifixion trumpeting, hail Roman law, blowing Caesar's triumphant horn,
Spears crossed with swords, upon that place where sovereign sets men free.

Stars shine free, resolving grand mystery, in Creation's crystal night,
Galaxies spiraling, adorning Universe, beyond a Master's solar realm,
Heaven's dome, gems and diamonds sparkling bright, jeweled glyphs all alight,
Kingdom come, enlightened Sage and Captain stand steady, ready at the helm.

Higher trudged that sorry gallery, clutching stressful hems, in morn's vacant light,
Towards the groan of that sad day, God moaned, reverent tears spilled down,
Merciless talons hammered home, flesh and bone gave way, tensions ever tight,
Prayers were mumbled, by those so humbled, before that dawning crown.

Far across the ocean, my gaze was fixed on a mythic stone,
Sunrise shone across an arid land, as spent warriors did atone,
Volcanoes belched their acrid smoke, from a fiery stoic cone,
Birds of Paradise flexed 'round a sacred tree, not one danced alone.

Stumbling upward, gravity pulling hard, down to the petrous ground,
Besotted, trudging, treading onward, towards that acrid summit,
Black birds forlornly soaring, crying, high above those helpless bound,
Storm clouds formed o'er distant craggy hills, while my very soul did plummet.

Deep in the mystic sea, a hermit's cave exists,
Far below the waves, apart from human clemency,
Beyond the throne of kings or queens, blend ether mists,
Divinity exacts a promised land, diverged with love's discrepancy.

Once, a long time past, all that former detritus dead and buried,
Golgotha's might pulled me down, tripped me up, made me fall,
Cries, painful rent upon that stony littered knob, death seldom hurried,
Dreams so spent, often lost, such terrible cost, torment casts a ghastly pall.

There was no song that harried day, no music sang, no Horah or child's play,
Miserable upon our bleeding knees, eyes down cast, thence staring up, we wept,
My breaking heart heaving in my chest, prayed for mercy, on that depressing day,
Dark veils reigned, conjured tempest, emboldened cloud, incorrigible wind wildly swept.

Thus darkness cast its lasting shadow, 'cross mankind's fevered brow,
Yet Caesar reigned, that iron fist grasping, groping, dictating in Creation's stead,
Across the land, flags bound the course, building unholy empire, and still somehow,
Darkness negated Light, future Nero tripped the light fantastic, cities burned as mankind bled.

Deep in the magic sea, there's a place, where Divine is borne,
Where sanctity grasps precious life, takes strong hold of metaphysic helms,
God delivers worldly words, Angels trumpet sacred dawn, blown on a Golden Horn,
Where compassion becomes impassioned thought, light ent'ring supreme astral realms.

Behold! Treasure's veil is lifted for all to see,
Sacred has been given rights to calm a tempestuous sea,
That day upon Golgotha's knob, salvation was born for thee,
That violent day as God did mourn, mankind was chained and flogged, yet free.

Across the endless sands of time, echo stories of mankind's journey,
Some say they've seen the epic, glimmering light of that pineal mirage,
Golgotha's fateful apex has come and gone, disintegrated like mythic destiny,
Christlike, Buddha rests, rooted to the sacred bodhi tree, extant of worldly barrage.

 Dada

Ga ga ma, ala ma ga ma,
Oyo, me gama gayma, oba ga,
Cee, cee, me da ma tha,
Oy toe, moy toe, ga ma ta da.

Be leep, do leep, tu quai, so quai,
Boo ga ma, de boo ga ma, indi may,
Bex, do y da, lex, tex, bo di tay,
Zin baga, haga, lo dee fay.

Zhin mao, geff sta lay ho,
Bin tao, deff bay da go,
Ob scew, zhi gew, in gaw,
Sob tew, be dew, on faw.

Loba, ex, so ex, me do bah sha,
Hoba dee, vin loga dee, en sta,
Oh mani, mani om, nyet, nyet, oh dome,
Vet rune, so sune, di moon, di offa tome.

Zyet neffa, genna neffa, bee na neffa,
Orn fao, moo gao, en zi nee reffa,
Bon too, hawn too, geffa nee, sto.
Wha by gee dah, zin zet gee da, la mo.

Zebba, vie inga dona,
Tebba, zie minga hona,
Zo tet, ro met, in ti na mo,
Bo jhet, un kret, en mi na fo!

There's a storm coming,
Razing continents for all they're worth,
There's a tempest brewing,
Raging furious, 'cross the thirsty earth,
There's a pale horse advancing,
Death's red rider spurring, cursing,
Truculent pestilence is prancing,
Satan is shouting, wildly dancing,
Soon the Serpent will be stalking,
Soon the Reaper will be talking,
Bring out your dead,
Soon Death will be out walking,
Bring out your dead,
A vile monster's coming,
Bring out your dead,
Monstrosities brazenly drumming,
Bring out your dead.
War is stewing,
Bring out your dead,
Danger's brewing,
Bring out your dead.
Beasts are rampaging,
Bring out your dead,
Rats are staging,
Bring out your dead.
Demons have breached the castle wall,
Bring out your dead,
Godless men have taken charge of all,
Bring out your dead.
Now the rueful end is near,
Bring out your dead,
Now darkness is what good men fear,
Bring out your dead.
War planes are flying,
Bring out your dead,
Children are crying,
Bring out your dead.
All good things shredded, so austere,
Bring out your dead,
Journey's end is near, it's clearly here,
Bring out your dead.
Leviathan has raised its ugly head,
Bring out your dead,
Loki has warred in Satan's stead,
Bring out your dead,
Bring out your dead.
Distorted by that gruesome face,
When ravaged folk lay splayed and dead,
Beyond the realm of God's good grace,
Where expired armies lay corrupt and bled,
Once war is expunged by Armageddon's final strike,
Once Doom stakes one final head upon a bloody spike,
Once darkness looms o'er all the earth,
Once hope is lost,
Beyond all earthly cost,
Once death has shackled man in a hellish berth,
Once the dead have rotted away,
Once lasting peace has come to stay,
Pure springs will rush forth again,
Blessings in a sacred place,
Upwelling founts will gush again,
Prayers to wash man's sorry face,
Sun will shine upon earth's grief stricken living,
Earth's glory will heal with bountiful giving.
Blue sky will deem a new day is yawning,
Fields of herbs will thrive once the new is dawning,
Gentle deer will graze and mew, at rest with the spotted fawn,
Beasts and birds will roam abundant, wild and free of greedy strife,
Earth itself shall rejoice with Heaven, once all corruptions done and gone,
Purity will once more tend every blessed limb of that sacred tree of life.

Painting umbrellas in my troubled mind,
While urgent rain cascades like lover's tears,
Pebbled sidewalks lie distorted, in arcane kind,
Rainbowed promises falsely soothe my foolish fears.

Along life's perilous nunatak path I wander,
Sparrows flutter helpless in the freezing rain,
Tragic life with all its perfumed dreams I ponder,
As embattled odes conjure ruthless haste again.

"What now?" Spirits querie with sombre tone,
Golden leaves ashimmer, before autumn's gone,
Far across a cajoling sea in the magpie zone,
Spring lifts its vibrant head, e're summer sings its fragrant song.

Now winter storms through my fervent mind,
Cold ice and snow chill my furrowed brow,
Beyond this frigid realm Jacaranda bloom, in purplish kind,
While raging squalls besiege that soft southern mow.

If tenants rent this mindful space,
If vagrants rove this vacant place,
If drifters tread this tattered grace,
Then umbrage piques this pious case.

Still these seasons forebode a coming reign,
Phantom aurora sweeps across a wavering stage,
Seasoned thoughts inspire thoughtless gain,
Still crass, moonstruck calamities, so calloused, rage.

Beyond that tropic, past Antarctic glacial guild,
Beyond jungle thoughts, that insipid dreams instill,
Beyond parched desert climes, that withered notions build,
I stumble blind and anguished, frosted by love's biting chill.

"But then . . . !" Spirit choirs prompt in unison,
Monstrous, hungry whales breach, an iceberg sea,
Hunting tigers, silent tread, their jungle run,
Vipers masquerade, as branches, on the sacred  tree.

Stepping into a void, where darkness dwells,
Flying into the sun, where mysteries are born,
Like Jonah floundered, by giant ocean swells,
Like Icarus discovering, how array is shorn.

Seasoned elements remain, imprinted on my harried soul,
Spirits embellish nightmare screams, ignite Brimstone's furied horn,
Demons cast rakish shadows, 'cross Hell's abstruse shoal,
Angels clash with frenzied fiends,  hellions, supernatural borne.

So arcane love distorts this wicked reflection,
While lover's cries, rampage with thunderous inflection,
Those ribboned sidewalks, pebbled with  distorted fears,
Promising summer song, astride life's many years.

Hope instills a sacred love,
Faith compels the soul to quest,
Dreaming wisdom from above,
As mercy sends the deep to rest.

Thus in my checkered thoughts and dreams,
Life's joyous glory wanes, or so it seems,
Yet seasoned parks, bathed in divine bluebell flowers,
Wake umbrella memories, of painted rainbow towers.