Robert S. Boone

Paradise Within

On the back porch of the world,

the sun kisses my laughter,

Giving me the silent strength

to separate before from the after.

Misunderstood soil shyly

strikes up a conversation.

And I engage my soul,

lost in aimless contemplation.

Whispers bounce from tree to tree

with the squirrels and the Day.

My wonder smiles coyly, with

the abandon of a child at play.

Come with me, wind- walk with me

to a destination erased

By skyscrapers and paved roads,

by noisy ambition misplaced.

The Mind Revealed

I can imagine a world in which I am a King, 

 for the world revolves around me.

I can imagine the seas bowing in awe, 

 when my Fate has finally found me.

I imagine the world feels much the same, 

 and awaits the day that I take the reigns-

The day that all suffering and emptiness cease; 

 for I will bring an end to all pain.

Yet, still, the world looks through quixotic eyes, 

 and still the world turns without my command.

Fires still burn, and hearts- they still ache

 and not a soul has reached for my hand.

Stop!  All your dreams float to me, as feathers,

 and I gather each and am warmed by their glow.

You pass, and you laugh, and you cry, each of you

 as I toil in the fields only Greatness can sow.

Drifting on the wind, I wonder if you see me-

 I'm close enough to hear your sorrow!

Your empty dreams surround me now,

 with broken wishes soon to follow.

It seems your world is not quite mine, 

 and mine escapes your eyes, your touch.

And you, each one, also ride on the wind-

 for your dreams just told me as much.

War

I am at war, 

 and the battle wages on.

I am a man, 

 divided amongst myself.

I see, I taste, 

 I need, I breathe, I witness.

I want, I feel, 

 I kill, I cure, I strive.

Taken apart from myself, 

I’d hardly recognize me.

Yet taken as a whole, 

I am lost inside me.

Do you recognize this man, 

Who can step from a ledge and die?

Do you recognize this man, 

Who can prove truth of a lie?

He is I and I am him, 

A god and yet a man.

Same as you, same as him, 

The one from whom you ran.

Know the man inside, you say.

Aha! But who is which?

Each in his own right, you say.

Like flipping on a switch.

Accusations of the State of Man

To Heather

Human

Hypocritical masses adorned
 with superficial glasses
Lie with every step- you and I, 
 blinded the cloak of Night.

You lie with each utterance, 
 and I embrace my poison words.
You cry with each pin prick, 
 as I fall upon tainted swords.

Never shall I bend to the whim 
 of the low, of the earth, of the soil!
My hands must be pure- 
 and so I laze while you toil.

You, sir, are a hypocrite, 
 for you have eyes and a tongue.
I, sir, am a hypocrite, 
 the highest ladder, the lowest rung.

At conception, with no exception, 
 we're bent towards temptation.
Be it this wrong, or that wrong-
 we each dance to a masked song.

You are human, sir, and so you lie- 
And so live, and love, and let judgement die.

Examination (on the Street Corner)

Who the puppets, 
and who the puppeteers?
Whose steps decided 
by Fate and whose by fear?

Strolling madame, 
you smile- of ignorance and bliss?
Do you see the strings
which bound you by the wrist?

Gentle sir- you, sir-
do you feel the horrible weight
Of those who dance for you-
be it love or be it hate?

And I, a puzzle-
at once eagle and ant, 
A minion, and a master, 
At once reason and rant.

Who pulls upon my strings?
Who flies beneath my wings?

This battle will be won not by spirit, 
But by those who dared create it.

Flight

Lackadaisical thoughts, streaming

From consequences wrought, screaming

Above the whisper of my touch, 

And I find, through the smoke, 

Purity standing next to you.

Through a shift in me, release

Control of me, through me, in peace;

Throw your wisdom to the wind, 

That you may find, in kind, 

Purity standing next to me.

I'll hang my soul upon these trees-

I'll rise to fall upon my knees, 

To feel the song beneath your eyes.

Stars laugh sometimes, and cry

As mortal souls pass them by, 

And dream as our love is wont to do.

Goodbye

Swiftly it comes, 
A mocking stranger in the moonlight.
Surely it comes, 
Laughing at my lack of sight.

I knew of its presence, 
Could feel its breath on my neck.
I knew of its presence, 
A cosmos within a speck.

I bowed, and asked for a dance,
Breathing in your smile.
You obliged, and we danced -
Our inch to their mile.

We knew today, and no tomorrow,
While we loved a lifetime.
You sang in my dream, my soul,
While I danced in your eyes.

The stranger once lurking
Must ask for your hand - 
I've a life to live, 
In this land, or that land.

In that land, or this
You still sing in my dream.
And I dance still, in your eyes, 
My love, my life, my queen.

Cursed Hope

The light of a forgotten concept
Becomes darkness shrouded in fantasy, 
A pit of fallen ambition, 
A pendulum of wasted ecstacy.

This labyrinth dare not taunt my dreams
In wake of such eternal desire.
Blistering step feeds blistering step, 
And lines abandoned streets with fire.

So many eyes upon my stride, 
Dripping with anticipation, 
Hoping, kneeling, praying to the stars
Ignorant of my alienation.

And who are you to feed my soul!
Who are you to crown my head!
Heed the warnings so foul and blatant, 
Lest my ego be wrongly fed!

Yes, these warnings, written in your stars, 
Plastered along your twinkling sky, 
Speaking to you in cursed tongues, 
As Hope and Fate stand idly by!

Believe in what you truly will - 
That I, a king, will die in glory.
But shed no tears amongst the rocks
When the fire inside me consumes me.