my heart's intent

who made you
judge and jury
of my soul?
dissecting my heart
autopsied intent
proclaiming it vile
the cause of love's
dying breath
and death

sleeve adorned
feelings galore
marred in innocent
banter judged
as slander
deemed to be
uncaring
insensitivity
unaware

how can you know
the intent of the soul
of another
sojourner?
words paint in
dimension's bounds
granting a view
only unsettled
ground

assume evil and
evil you find
veiled in composition
sublime
scathed scandal
hurtful ramble
judged actions
accountable
at birth

why must i
sell myself again
and repair
a vow unbroken?
proclaimed guilty
vile motive
professed
"i wasn't even there
your honor"

since you know
the intentions
of my soul
why don't you
know
the whole
of my love
for
you?

my words have life
all on their own
free
of interpretation
no parenthetical
secret guise
hidden
in obtuse
gesture

my love rests
in your hands
unchanged
but burdened
by fetters
and lashed
by cold lament
that thou knowest
my heart's intent

© 2007 BY W. GARY FORRESTER

face the fate

i search my soul
a journey low
for purity
to bestow
.
a sage for peace
prosperity
quite rest
for burden's lease
.
i delve in inner
solitude
remarkable
ingratitude
.
i seek composite
fortitude
to linger on
with attitude
.
i stand before
myself in fear
of nakedness
unrevealed
.
i long for grace
to share anew
a gentle touch
a healing dew
.
the world she moans
in burdened song
the battles long
bitter wrongs
.
mankind has sung
a mournful dirge
to calm the storm
of deadly surge
.
the hate it seals
the fateful doom
a viper's sting
in deadly gloom
.
a cry for peace
on deaf ear lies
baneful noise
solemn cries
.
cry we must
before we die
inside our souls
justice lies
.
reach for truth
inside of me
fear not the wrath
never flee
.
poisoned man
in hatred scorns
the innate peace
each heart adorns
.
i pray for right
humanity
empowered sight
so all can see
.
a new found way
in peace abides
the human race
in love survives
.
i long for how
i might repress
enigma's war
on righteousness
.
my heart does bleed
for mankind's ill
of hatred's fateful
merciless kill
.
live in peace
at one with all
make no excuse
for the warring call
.
absolve the hate
that feeds our fear
and alienates
what is not clear
.
i cannot rest
apart from those
who share the vest
of human clothes
.
we taste the sweet
and bitter life
that is our lot
in common strife
.
both you and i
we and they
alike we stand
before the grave
.
we face the fate
we share the same
at last we pine
shorn of fame
.
at peace we lie
at last at rest
the hateful vows
all in jest
.
we share the earth
now and then
at peace and rest
soon in the end
.
wisdom cries
and longs to share
beauty in word
and deeds declared
.
her glory it shines
in dignified clay
creation's bright hope
sanctified way
.
together we walk
varied in path
choosing our way
in peace or in wrath
.
no matter the road
we share our need
we cannot pass
life we must lead
.
i long for peace
no wars no greed
standing as one
united and free

© 2006 BY W. GARY FORRESTER

as a child

words of truth are plain
vision unrestrained
the mind of the child is sane

spoken thoughts relate
simplicity is innate
unsocialized rebate

innocence shines through
acknowledging the view
of the unpretentious few

no feelings to disdain
retrospect in vain
righteousness remains

secret thoughts abide
in the heart and pride
hidden deep inside

we struggle to be free
as a child we long to be
unjudged vehemently

responsibility
erodes the honesty
eruditely

hold the tongue in fear
of failing to appear
amicably austere

denying open care
relationship unshared
kinship left unbared

give as to a child
requite humble and mild
mete in peace unriled

live in childlike ware
pretensions undeclared
every soul made bare

© 2006 BY W. GARY FORRESTER

a day of rest

i long to see a day of rest before
the curtain falls abreast the stallion’s mane
swaying long in graceful spray along
the soldier’s marked and hated strained disdain

we murder those who in constitution forged
diversity outside the accepted norm
in freedom’s name we crush the human score
conform in death if not in hatred’s swarm

the champion of freedom mounts his steed
to conquer all impeding corporate sway
smite the prey too blind to understand
the wisdom found in wealth’s pursuing way

with philanthropy we paint a formal guise
to mask the stench of capitalistic pride
no longer drawing the breath of freedoms mirth
the enslaving machine takes us for a ride

well-beaten paths are marred by cloven hoof
the devil’s minions spread their greedy seed
a generation spawned in opulent crime
ethics slide to situation’s need

for those who fail to comprehend and seek
to be what god bestowed their souls to be
we weigh upon the scale of pleasure lost
and strike the gods as sacred casualties

the warring dollar feeds on blood alone
scared of no ones market yet unsold
funding death in guise of greater good
rhetorical blather truth as yet untold

we stroke our brows confused by all who seem
to hate our simple peaceful godly lives
and why they strike at what they want to share
the peace and joy of all that we contrive

the blind man sees with darkened soul and yet
prevails in truth that hides in brilliant light
unseen by eyes that squander precious gifts
and take unto themselves what’s not their right

as conquering kings we stride upon their land
and crush the necks of all who fend their crest
we most possess the will and might to win
in spite of freedoms prayer to not oppress

we’re led by pawns at rich men’s beckon call
empowered by the population’s severed head
prey on hopes and dreams of working men
who trust in history to work in their stead

we sent you forth to secure a sacred trust
inviolate our virgin faith untouched
you raped the solemn oath your voice had sworn
and reaped a corporate harvest sins unblushed

the grand experiment lies wounded now
scorned and shamed by an awful heavy hand
the world turned cold by pompous raw conceit
away from god's once blessed promised land

turned from us the world seeks unity
her champion the still elusive peace
diversity of souls entwined in life
a partnership in common earthly lease

so end the wars we perpetrate upon
the worldly brew that stews in haste
to find the cause for their demise inside
the confines of our sin and wanton waste

let us create a place where stallions run
in peace and solitude where all can pray
and put away the implements of war
i long to see rest restored in that day

© 2006 BY W. GARY FORRESTER

hate in the name of the god of love

a small extent is our commorancy
a global epoch joined by consonant sin
assuaged and lynched by ills of deceitful quag
a lewd melange consumed in bosomed mirth
the salve for festering wounds of common fear
the looming spectre of mortality

camaraderie reborn in dread commons
a living share of fabled faith's millstones
fellowship in chastened polity
forbidden thoughts of creativity
suppressed by the blind man's guilt and finality
scorned by the mass of genial confederacy

all common souls cry out in fealty
each disparate entity seeks unity
strike the intemperate antagonistic foe
heathens of independent thought revoked
daring to question the gods of sovereign truth
they always hate in the name of the god of love

bound together by fetters of flesh and bone
the spite foments the clans dilatory demise
bitter blood thickens the caustic brew
we hate for the sake of utter continuity
we sever the arteries of humanity
thus suicide in the name of longevity

looming mystery is all that prevails
the generations pass from soil to soil
history ever widens her mortified tale
forever veiled the contentious chalice pales
beyond the grasp of reason and pondering
shrouded in the depths of eden's grave

© 2006 BY W. GARY FORRESTER

truth manifest

all subject to interpretation;
or are there absolutes?
and if there are absolutes
can they be truth?

your way or my way
their way or the highway
i only know that i don't know
the way only the pursuit

flatulent dogmatism clouds
a fog of petulant vade mecum
veiling through virile remonstration
the sojourners longing view

thought is left to deconstruction
objective logic perilously exposed
subjectivity is the nature of faith
constitution of the unspoken rue

broken down component parts
smaller the atoms' nuclei implodes
truth manifest in the beating heart
innate genetic chain given clue

soul of man in it's minute part
finds truth and absolute hope
unknown knowing truth is found
god speaks.... "i am"

© 2006 BY W. GARY FORRESTER

a lament

a whisper in time is all that's given
a gentle ripple in the wind blown sand
fallacious foundation, solidity riven
shifting breeze across the strand
a near silent expression of all things living
the passing time leaves death at hand
calling all, the melancholy bidding
wait not to make thy stand
for each has once then all is hidden
beneath the trodden wayfaring land

© 2006 BY W. GARY FORRESTER

enigma

'tis not to be known
in the depths of the soul
where another man's enigma resides
hiding in malignant travesty
armored in the minds keep
guarded by fear and insecurity

delving and prodding
lovingly evolving a relationship
springing to life in revelation's elation
bared and exposed showing the known
safety in experienced throes
burdened with burning truth

convalescent brooding deep in the mind
of each sinner's sinister sine
parallel worlds aligning blindly
inching t'ward colliding realities
praying for unspoken commonalities
to bolster the dungeon's gates

longing for the confessional's balm
freedom from secrecy's false calm
stifled by the repugnant humiliation
tell the tale is the heart's grisly swell
absolution from the crushing weight
the millstone of silence' gate

deep in the soul is truth's all
the piercing awl of humanity's call
shared by all the confessional's trawl
digging deeply with cleansing scrawl
the bludgeoning curse of nature's law
laying the stones of guilt's appall

but cursed and foolish are they
who fail to pray and prey on illusions way
seeing not their own mottled clay
modeled by day to keep at bay
another's curiosity in willful sway
exposing the truth delayed

outed now by forceful skirmish
the feared day of another man's soul
laid open the veins of vulnerability
exposed to the blade of despair
cast not the first stone crafty sinner
Cain's lot is a wretched snare

know not but only the knowing
that enigma lies within us all
man's burden is a hidden weight
known but to the singular soul
trust only the truth in knowing
each man's commonality is the fall

© 2006 BY W. GARY FORRESTER

a dirge

she stands in the prairie an edifice of reality
empty and shorn of her glory
a symbolic gesture of the soul sequestered
bygone relevance of the storied

now silent to her history lost in modernity
sands of time bemoan in effigy
a signpost proclaims the new world's disdain
unchecked cloying entropy

like an elder recluse ignored by pertinent youth
devalued and shorn of machination
her beauty now questioned by bountiful obsession
with self-reliant actualization

she stands now solemn a shrine for the fallen
lonely and absently devolved
devoid of purpose sacrificed on the alter of avarice
primordial resolution absolved

© 2006 BY W. GARY FORRESTER

god waits

living a marketing nightmare,
god in his underwear
clutching a hyundai's bumper
bared and shamed,
re-crucified and re-slain
grimy displayed blunder

trampling grace in guileless expose'
revealing fraud behind the curtain
scarecrows and tin-men parading bobble-head jesus
christ on whole wheat,
messiah's only skin deep
comedic rhetoric flows

prince of peace reduced,
six digits on a license plate
faith in cuteness,
meaningless shit
emptiness or worse,
poisonous death

bear witness to barrenness,
plasticine saviour
molded by powerless hands
grasping at absolutes
in history's well,
full of the corpses of theologians

fundamentalist conservatism's unyielded demise
liberalism's meaningless disguise
standing on violence or standing on nothing
arguing for unknowable truth
trying to make faith into factual base
a recipe for righteousness

lost in the heart of every breath
god weeps in the soul of creation
we see with blinded eyes
knowing life and death evokes
the science of unknown
origin

my god your god your rule mine
bible torah koran
my truth your truth no truth in line
nothing but turmoil at hand
shaken to the core of our being
god waits

© 2006 BY W. GARY FORRESTER