Those Who Know  aka  RAVAGES

Those who know
The ravages of war
Know it’s hard to ignore
The degree of PTSD, the fierce piercing of fear
How could they ever want that trauma to be here
The waking
The shaking
The breaking
The tears

Those who know
The ravages of war
How could they stand for that destruction to be found
In our cities, in our towns,
In our schools, in our parks
In the words of a song I heard…”Anyone Who Had A Heart”

Those who know
The ravages of war
How could they want this at their door
If the Angel of death
Left a message in your living room, in your yard
You might find it hard to disregard
Saying all this
January Sixth – should have told our leaders something
Gabby Gifford – should have told our leaders something
Steve Scalesse – should have told our leaders something
Newton Connecticut – should have told our leaders something
Uvalde Texas – should have told our leaders something
Las Vegas Nevada – should have told our leaders something
Parkland Florida – should have told our leaders something
Colorado, Colorado, California, Florida, North Carolina
             – should have told our leaders something

Those who know
The ravages of war
Also know there is nothing for sure
Nothing for certain
But we know how it feels when scores of people are hurting
And we know
Beyond using, choosing violence in confronting
That if there is something to be done
About these deadly, deadly guns
We must do it
After all
We’ve taken oaths
And furthermore
We know
          We know
                   We know

Four Words Forward

Work

   Hope

Love

Vote

If we could eradicate apathy
Dramatically
We could take back democracy
Emphatically
We could play a part in starting
To reduce tragedies
To vote is more than hope
It is strategy
Love could decrease the numbers of people
Left behind or hurt
It is not done magically
But by us doing the work
Four words of note to quote
Work

  Hope

Love

Vote

By Grace

By a Grace I do not understand, I was able to continue…she entered in the journal that was me
 (then Edward asked me “what is it you see”)

What are the graces, that helped me face the trauma
In those places far removed from scenes of love
Seen from utter darkness where the blind ones led the blind
Into caverns falling furthermore behind (Deep down)
What are the graces, that placed me in those shelters
Apart from helter-skelter that melted iron minds
There were calming words emerging
That were urging me to pray
That said I didn’t have to say a thing aloud
But hold onto belief
There would be comfort for my grief
If I would only seek, I’d surely find
The Graces
The Graces
The race is given to
Those who endure (true to endure)
And purity is not a thing for real
The Graces (3x) 
The Graces
That take me from my weakest ways to build

But how can I explain or understand
These things I cannot cradle in my hands
What are the graces, that replaced the things I knew
The abuse that for so long I held onto
That said to me this truly was the path
Do unto others
Before they due it unto you
Beware the smiles that hold the hidden wrath
There was shame for(me)not being one with plenty
There was jealousy that sometimes came with envy
There is sadness in the lacking for so many
When I compare the glaring differences
In these instances of pain
How is it that I do not go insane
When the demons in my mind start screaming giving chase
How do I hold the calm look on my face
My answer
Grace

The Kaleidoscope Of Hope

Humility Opens Potential Enlightenment
This is what I think of when I think of hope
Of ways and phrases that enable me to cope
With realities that breath finality
Like smoke from bombs
Scenes where dreams scream beaming nightmares in like
False Evidence Appearing Real reveal shrill false alarms
Prayer is there to make me feel connected, protected
Keep me calm

Help Offered Precedes Elevation
That’s another thing I think of when I think of hope
I think of a rope tossed down inside a well
Where the faintest cry of help is heard
And someone above yells back Hello? Are you okay?
Assistance is on the way.
Wrap this line around you if you can
Hold on while some other helping hands arrive
We will survive together
We’ll be better, just hold on

Healing Offsets Pain Endured
Is also what I think of when I think of hope
Those who’ve been hurt, treated, cured
From major ailments free at last
Focused on this too shall past
When I had surgery on my heart
Intense pain was a part of my life for two months after
Such that I was scared of laughter, bursting out too hard, too much
I clutched my chest, intense the pain
But now I’m free to laugh again

Heroic Opportunities Pursued Effectively
Another grand expansive thought that shows me how to hope
Connecting the compassion
Instrumental to my cause
Because becomes a conduit of love
From core consideration of what’s needed
To restore the reservoir of faith depleted
To elevate, inspire
Extend, befriend, encounter
Openings that hope brings to the fore

Here Our Pathways Encounter
What amounts to final thoughts of mine
Inclined
To what you brought for us to see
Reflections I might give
For as long as I have lived
And as much as you have seen or even dreamed to come to be
Hope helps us find the courage to become the ones we are
Then continue on becoming, each following our own true northern star
We broker hope like bargaining
Pass hope like broken bread
In lives where love is starving
Perhaps they may be nurtured, rescued, fed
From seeds of hope
With deeds of hope
For need of hope

Chase For Place Of Elegance

I recognize how like a puppy
Struggling to be nurtured
Lurching for a nipple I could suck
I was only one
Only one amongst a litter
And I needed to be strong
But what of my other siblings
For want of frenzied feeding pushed and shoved
In spans of searching and of hurrying
Nap wrapped at last replete in mothers love
Dolores as a poet was my mother
She was the one I struggled to make proud
And though there will be others
Goddesses of word
I can only nestle where allowed

The Broadcast

Checking in
This is me
On the radio frequency
Of 12345
Still alive
On a planet called orator
In the great state of hope
From the city called elevation
And the county of elevator
Here I broadcast
Vast Concepts
Connection in the Spirit
Trying to affect the darkness
Of being alone
We cannot touch except through thought
And so, we think we’re on our own
In this realm
I found my breakthrough
Let me take you to the mend
Elevator, elevation, hope, orator still alive
12345 the frequency this is me, checking in

New Skies To Search For Blue In

New Skies to Search for Blue In
    The Ruin of the world some rumored
    Tumor of our twisted tongues
    How many of them cursed and hated
    Whoa what wicked deeds were done
New Dreams to Seek out Solace
    Eradicate the ignorant darkness
    New light, longer, stronger rays
    Insert the hope of certain outcomes
    In Kingdom come of God’s displayed
Where New is Now the Quiet
    I need someone of gentle spirit
    To speak to smoke that stirs my soul
    Like hurricane inside its center
    A modicum of sleight control
New Means to Reach Nirvana
    Frequencies that speak to sunlight
    That even touches those of clouds
    That calls for them to work together
    Yet with no utterance aloud
New Ways to See the Promise
    Look through prisms’ bare partitions
    Invest in new discoveries old
    Work at growing into flowing
    See Intuition then unfold
When New is New No Longer
    Will songs we sing become new favorites
    Taking us to higher heights
    Past those portals where we trembled
    Not knowing what beyond the night
New is the Number Seven
    Revel in each dawning on display
    Rejoice richly rising sun
    Rays become the rhyme and reason
    The time of new has now begun
New Skies in Search of Blue
    The Clues in many books surmised
    Rising tides were rivers run
    Find dreams wherein your hopes might cling to
    The time of new has now begun

 Poems © 2023   Brenardo, all rights reserved.