today two soldiers in line
at subway
standing proudly in their desert fatigues
unscathed, unmarred
very much alive and well
albeit but for the horror
re-playing in my mind
of other soldiers horribly injured
never the same
never to innocently wait
unsuspecting
for their sandwhiches, again

when you lose someone
whatever the reason
theres a pain activated by every passing sorrow
every hint of suffering
as love is eternal
so the anguish
that attaches to its loss

war and strife
justice--justification
passions flame burns like wildfire
seduction by causes
both right and wrong
the taking of life too easily
rationlized
inner-truth eroded bullet by bullet
life by life
until deception of the senses
and inflamation of the passions
severs our connection to the Divine

Rather than retribution
end suffering
by persevering in spirit

adherence to a cause
justified and true
in times of extremes
when pressures are great
becomes an untenable position
only by re-orienting ourselves
beyond partisan motives
can the just endure, survive
otherwise
blind adherence becomes the catalyst
to the seeds of its own destruction

times of turmoil
require sacrifice
that we forgoe bonds
with our own group
only by dissolving, rising above
interests of the body-politic
can we achieve
something
whole and complete

the task of the general welfare
not warfare
is the proper pursuit of mankind
warfare is man at his lowest
mortality/morality
Man, born with a faint flame
by glimmer of candle-light
does he catch glimpses
of the eternal, the real
but his tenuous hold on truth
flickers
and without nourishment
is too easily extinguished
by the winds of passion

deep soul
is what we need
but justification and rigid adherence
to cause and conflict
sever our connection to the Divine

deep soul rings with hollowness
a faint echo only
abandoned
unheard, unfelt
its vibrations once resplendid
pulsating to the rhythm of Creation
a harmony divine
thruout the universe
but in man's hands, now wanes pale
alongside a lonely earth
formely a garden
but now overrun , choked with weeds
posion and debris
corpses stacked high, wreaking of grey stench
all culminating, racing
toward an inevitable destruction
that Truth, Beauty, Light
may be born again
...an old story
retold and repeated
until we get it right...