James F. Marshall

What happened to you? Haven’t heard your prayers
Since when did you stop listening to yourselves?
Come, come back I have tasted those same tears.
Do not ignore this voice that breaks and delves.
Been hiding for far too long behind distant successes,
Well, now you’re naked with a single crown that dresses.

Though you may still think the king of this Earth
I see nothing but corruption, shallowness and vice
You know this, even your women refuse to give birth!
And now you act surprised as if everything had a price.
You lost your heroic vitality so all you know and do is hoard
Riches won’t heal your soul, like your woman, she’s ever so bored.

How wouldn’t she? It couldn’t care less
about your pension, mansion or stocks,
Not even your plans to save the world seem to impress
“Nothing but you needs saving” she laughs and mocks.
Take a good look in the mirror and be serious
You shall not betray your dream that’s imperious.

For we are Faustian Men, infinity is our realm
We aim for the high heavens where neither men nor gods have been:
To imagine, to dare, to risk, to fly, to overwhelm!
Of these things our children dream of, not to do so would be a sin.
Therein lies your biggest crime oh Men of the West,
To revere nothing but sensible reason, to abandon your quest!

Understand who’s the biggest victim of your greatness.
Power has made you weak, money turned you superficial,
Obsessing with health has afflicted you with lameness,
Everything about your life(style) is fake, your existence artificial.
You’re old before you’re even born, as if I’d care about living forever!
Self-preservation shan’t be glorified and you ought not to be so clever.

Go! Go now to your destiny whatever it may be.
Tend to the soul, strengthen the body, and subdue the mind.
Today be the day we shall see how wrong were we.
No! Say no to paradise and the grind, no longer are you blind.
You see I do not promise you fame, wealth or healing
One thing alone I give to you and that is Meaning.

From this day on you will wake up with a certain kind of fire
that warms, that lights, that cleanses, that burns, that destroys.
This life-giving, all-consuming flame is all you require,
Even if the whole world were to come at you, you’d never lose poise.
For this fire is neither curse nor blessing but divine will
The source of your being, may it give you never-ending thrill.

So see you at the highest peak where the air is pure
Behold with pride all you’ve climbed but always look skyward
This is your Fate: to defy gravity, to battle, to endure.
Only here shall you feel fulfilled and be true to thy word.
Tame the vicious dragon, harness thunder and lightning, and conquer the sky
And when you’re done and won, do it all over again until the day you die.

It has finally came, ecstasy has arrived
As with Lady Luck, I didn’t find her, she found me.
Nowhere to be found when I’m most deprived
Forever playful, appearing only when I don’t need thee.
To the bottom I’ve been until I didn’t care,
And now, precisely now, it’s time for our affair.

Rapture – the lover of all lovers
Both men and women crave thy perfume
From such experience one discovers
The return to the mother’s womb.
Such sublime reward might come as a benediction
Yet, those who won’t let go fall into addiction.

It is in this moment the world makes sense
Enlightened and elevated, we become one with it
No feeling ever felt has been this intense.
“Just a little bit more, give me one more hit.”
Poor soul who forgets itself amidst the delight
Lost among angels, Heaven becomes too bright.

It’s therefore natural she’s so selective
And wisely elects only the most nonchalant.
To them I say: remember her perspective
Remind your fellow Men who forgot what to want;
Do not lightly hand her to them nor promise desire, but inspire
A vision that will ignite their hearts, that puts them on fire.

For you rapture, life’s worth living
I yearn to share you for the whole world to see
A glimpse of God, Lord life-giving.
To you despairing, do not! There’s reason to be!
Go forward without searching, you’ll do by as a simple believer
For here we are, thirsty and alive, bursting with joie de vivre.

Dusk is here. Neither early nor late.
Her arrival’s a breath before the plunge
Night awaits, the cleanest of slates
Into the twilight the duskwalker is lunged.

The wind whispers, leaves rustle
A silence that talks, he listens
Dusk confides, ever so subtle
Her only lover, to him she premonitions.

Trees giggle and the moon gleams
Her end draws near as more stars appear
These are the lights in his dreams
“Duskwalker keep walking, face your fear.”

And so he mutters in tears:
“Thank you for the wisdom and strength
oh most loved of all seers
between day and night, the sweetest length.”

His spirit now ready to face the blackest of darknesses
For when light is to finally dawn, his fate he harnesses.

The forbidden frontier has been crossed
there’s no returning to the garden of Eden
for such power there’s no too great a cost.
Clinically suicidal, Men dubs itself heathen.
Science replaces God, Nature substitutes the Divine;
Nothing can’t be left to fate, all’s a grand design.

A weapon so mighty it frightens its wielder,
fearful of ourselves and enemies we cower.
Forced pacification disguised as a healer
Global powers and manless wars – it’s their hour!
The time of the courageous warrior is long gone
Behind screens and drones we hear its swan song.

For all the physical destruction we’ve unleashed
it pales before the wound burned into our spirit.
A pain never addressed by the High Priest;
to be a god of destruction exceeds our limit.
Stale and paralyzed, all human progress must be halted.
Too dangerous to thrive, our vitality is to be exhausted.

Deep-seated fear and rotten peace rule
the subconscious mind shuns all kind of war.
Overcoming oneself is business for the fool
Who in their right mind would want more?
Disillusioned and defeated, society turns inwards for shelter
Forsake the material world, meditation and TV’s much better.

Outside, we hear Europe’s artillery through the window
and the shadow of Hitler still whispering in our ears.
In Japan, for each atom split a new widow’s been so
America, world’s executioner, sinks in her own tears.
History has been set in motion, It has chosen its goal
Hegel what say you? Men cannot fathom his role.

The great Test lies ahead
millennia of evolution for this moment:
We shall either lead or be led
loyal to God no weapon’s too potent.
Rise, rise! Rally your troops, unite your nation!
Oh masters of destruction divinity lies in creation!

Lone wolf where are you going?
The edge of the world is not far enough.
Lone wolf your colors are showing,
life in the pack will always be rough.
Exhausted from outrunning your cold nature;
kin’s warmth won’t melt your heart’s glacier.

Lone wolf why is your spirit so distant?
One of our own but not the same,
passions once uniting now nonexistant
despite us sharing blood and name.
Dreaming of faraway lands has kept you close
but dubbing us home has wanting you leave most.

Lone wolf why do you act so selfish?
Lovers and stories discarded for naught
there’s nothing left for us to relish.
Leave! Leave now without a thought!
Yet when sadness replaces anger we can’t but admire
your own loyalty to yourself that we so much desire.

Lone wolf what is it you truly seek?
None of what we offer seems to satisfy;
love, power and fame are for the weak
what you crave lies with the gods in the sky.
Lone wolf you ought to remember you’re neither god or beast;
human, like those you despise, you shall never be released.

Escrevo porque não me permito fazer outra coisa
O corpo implora mas o espírito resiste.
Tenho esperança que por estas palavras me oiça
o capricho, esse inimigo que nunca desiste.
Vício meu porque não te vais embora?
Ainda há pouco chegaste e eu não vejo a hora!

De ti eu gosto e de ti eu fujo
Tanto te venero como te abuso.
O resultado final não muda, deixas-me sujo,
Com falsas desculpas e promessas me excuso.
Vício meu porque não te vais embora?
Continuas aqui e nada melhora!

E eis que ganho força para te fazer frente
Com renovado vigor, sóbrio e potente.
Tempo suficiente passa para que não me sinta teu servente,
Mas seduzido pela nostalgia de novo conquistas esta mente.
Vício meu porque não te vais embora?
És noite eterna e eu não vejo aurora.

Foi então que entendi a tua natureza dual
Tu não és hábito, negligência ou problema.
És energia neutra, pura e visceral,
Sublimando a tua vontade componho este poema.
Vício meu porque não te vais embora?
Fica, fica, pois preciso de ti agora!

Oh coveted Freedom, how long have I desired you!
Been selfishly trampling and hurting our enemies.
Now that we’re together I find our love isn’t true,
for all that you gave me were mere life amenities!
Though you make everything sweeter,
Nourishment and oxygen you are neither.

Those that make you their god wander;
users, abusers, consumers, and leeches!
Always on the move, no time to ponder,
disguised as lovers, ensnaring with speeches.
A new place, another honeymoon, one more prey;
Once all blood’s sucked dry, on their merry way.

Oh Freedom, forgive me, for only now I see,
you’re no master but a true servant.
I have been asking too much of thee
when only I alone can slay the serpent.
You shall make me company for the rest of my life
My precious weapon, I’ll be the hand to your knife.

Flying on a winged machine I fear
Searching for my Destiny, it’s near.
The known and the comfortable lie behind,
Looking forward only, I pay them no mind.

Where West meets the East I go
Everyone calls me crazy I know.
Swimming again against the current, oh no!
In the same water where the seed shall sow.

The mind interjects: “what will we do?”
To whom I reply what does it matter to you!
Faith and Fate need no understanding,
On this hill I will die standing.

For all the heart desires is to drink the world
It cares neither for himself or one’s goal.
Drunk with life it wants only to be hurled
Till the hangover comes, the moment is whole.

As Time goes by we forget about it
The once vigorous turn fragile and brittle,
While the young remain unfairly fit
Is this why they care so little?
Then it hits them like silent thunder
Death comes unannounced, quick to plunder.

The son watches, powerless, his makers’ decay
The daughter mourns, helpless, crying injustice.
As Time goes by they were lead astray,
Busy with life, the child has missed this.
Wishing to relive happier days one more Time
Either deaf or merciless, He gives them no sign.

The father holds on, heroically, proud of what he created
The mother soothes, tenderly, happy she’s first to die
For that is the natural course, well fated,
That no parent should look for their baby in the sky.
As Time goes by we learn to appreciate the law of Chronos
Despite the unspeakable pain it brings upon us.

Here, precisely at the end, I see

The light that blinds and the feathery weight.

My body remembers what to be

My heart becomes the perfect mate.

I want to stop, walk. Create, erase.

To take it all in: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Destiny protects me and I won’t forget his gaze

The soul of the world embraces me deeply.