I do now know
those ancient prophesies
that foretold long ago
about time acceleration
as the years get accumulated
which a fresher version of me
once scoffed at dismissively
as bitter delusions of the elderly
are not only painfully true
but they are now happening quite rapidly
I can faintly hear
those long ago departed ghosts
laughing at my past naïveté
Ahhh the arrogance of youth
Too self absorbed to hear the truth
from those who have traversed
the same well worn path
Now those spirits get the last laugh
So here I be...
Saturated in irony
as I am now the crusty relic
Admonishing the text obsessed
microchip attention span generation
to look up from their hand held existence
and savor the many diverse flavors
this very finite
accelerated timeline has to offer
Carpe Diem my friends...
Don't be like regretful me...
Off in the not to far off distance
the end of us relentlessly advances
The empire we thought was forever
soon to be relegated to memory
Our once great and proud legacy
corrupted by decadent arrogance
When they pick through the ruins of us
will the judgment of history be kind?
Brought down not by a mighty army
but by a spiritual force we could not crush
The surge began many years before
in a remote region of the empire
A preacher who claimed to be king
was executed for his treason
We thought that was the end of him
We believed we had buried his dream
How ironic that this prince of peace
would take down our war machine
Now we find our glory receding
while the legend of this man grows
They call him the Son of God
They say he died for our sins
Does he forgive our part in his drama?
Is it possible to love your executioners?
Maybe if we had not killed the messenger
We wouldn’t be in our current predicament
Went to the redemption center
to drop off my pile of regrets
The long haired hippie behind the counter
asked me if needed a little help
I insisted I could handle the load myself
being the proudly independent type
He seemed a tad put off by my refusal
with a look of profound disappointment
So he gently asked me again if I needed him
“Jesus Christ!” I said, “Please leave me be!”
With that he bowed his head and proclaimed
“Thou knowth who I be and yet ye reject me?”
Then he faded transparent and vanished
and my dark soul filled with white light
The redemption center is now my cathedral
where I gladly seek the support I once spurned
In our lonely little world of isolation
We need all the crutches we can find
Beneath
the stain glass canopy
the holy types do say
in their pious
sanctimonious way
that Jesus died
for our sins
Twas a real bloody show
He then rose from the dead miraculously
It was in all the papers
but seriously ...
Who asked him
to take
the rise and fall
for Daddy's
flawed creation?
It wasn't us for sure
and to complicate matters
the prophets constantly say
in their ominous dire way
the sequel
when he returns
at the precipice
of the Apocalypse
to save the day
will be even more
spectacular than
the first act
What the Hell?
We flawed beings
(historically a constantly
disappointing species)
need to take ownership
of our self generated transgressions
Deal with the consequences
We gotta carry that damn cross
our various sins crafted
Do not depend on a bail out
of divine intervention
Stand on our own two feet
and not be so reliant
on a power out there
that for all we know
may no longer care
From out of the wasteland
the straggly stranger wandered in
Dressed like a homeless person,
he had quite an entourage with him
Preached about spiritual salvation,
Spoke of a kingdom we could not see
At first he seemed quite harmless
til his words threatened our authority
So we did what we always do with rebels
had him arrested and inflicted with much pain
When we demanded he recant his treason
he very calmly refused to play our power game
Leaving us no choice but the death penalty
that scary deterrent thing we do so well
Thank God that whole mess has been laid to rest
Just another little cult threat we had to dispel
Soon to be forgotten by the desperate rabble
forever chasing flavor of the month messiahs
Pounding the keys again
Peck..Peck..Peck
Letting life's frustrations
fly off my fingertips
onto the serene screen
Tonight my thoughts
exceed the speed
of my compromised connection
The horror of being frozen out
Locked up by heartless tech
Words now bottle necking
inside my clogged hour glass
Oh to have a paper and pen!
but stolen office supplies
long ago
were all utilized
and never replenished
No need for such relics
Or so I thought
when I purchased
this pricey device
I shake rattle and roll
my accursed hardware
Bad idea
Skull and crossbones appear
on my solid blue screen
Fatal error
This is the final
proclamation
The red power eye
grows dim
Signaling the end
of our relationship
All my brain wave residue
I had deposited
on a chip
the size of a gnat
now terminally dead
Gone to that place
in the clouds
where data angels reside
Time to start over again
as I scour my existence
for parchment and quill pen
After my inevitable fall
On impact
I was broken
busted
and splattered by it all
A shattered shell
of former glory
My charred ass
now scattered
across mass media
Search parties were dispatched
earning time and a half
scoured my impact crater
for answers to questions
no one was asking
Experts on me
who I had never met previously
proclaimed definitively
what a hot steamy mess was I
Theologians clad in somber black
decried my complete lack of morality
My story saturated
and dominated
two and a half
news cycles
til a former child star
crashed her sports car
while giving a hand job
to a respected Senator
old enough to be her father
This fresh cultural diversion
effectively turned off
my freak show spot light
Happily back
in anonymity
I picked up as
many pieces of me
as I could find
Did my best reassembly
purely from memory
After a week in rehab
(with that former child star
coincidentally)
I am now reborn
Totally semi rehabilitated
Wrote a best selling book eventually
Now I'm doing a tell all
gut spilling tour
as I rake in the bucks
sharing my sordid past flaws
with my downtrodden fans
who now view me
as some sort of warped role model
and all the while I wonder
while regaling the paying customers
why I did not
think of this redemption act before?
Down we tumbled
through the
false bottom
trap door
we forgot
was there
Thought we were
part of a magic show
til we realized
that these illusions
we relied on
were easily exposed
to those
paying attention
Our hidden wires
we believed to be concealed
were readily revealed
for all to see
Boos rained down derisively
Skeptics from the Peanut Gallery
screamed rude obscenities
Then the mirror shattered
and while we were
picking up the pieces
of our wrecked performance
that damn rabbit ran off
with our hat!!
I met the anti Christ
in a dream state
or maybe
twas just a premonition
So hard to tell these days
Anyway...
the devil in my head
inquired if I wanted
to play for his team
since I have quite
the impressive sin resume
(his words, not mine)
I take no pride in my debauchery
but I won't run from it either
Anyway...
Terms of the infernal contract
were laid out on a cluttered table
My eternal soul
for a case of beer
Back and forth we negotiate
(since that's what con men do)
I propose a bag of corn chips
as a throw in addition
(cause they go so heavenly with brew)
Louie reminded me of my
low salt diet restrictions
and counters with
a personalized brass mug
You see...
I've always struggled
with loose temptation
(being the undisputed master
of absolution rationalization)
but this time my conscience declined
the deal of a lifetime
Going to hold out
for the angels
of my better nature
to make me
a counter offer
and bargain hard for my eternal salvation
