Mongrels and Misfits

by Beth Patterson

  We are gathered here today to say,

  “You finally got it right ...”

  The year is AD minus ten and counting

  The elements are phasing

  The atmosphere cracks with a restless energy

  The air is nearly blazing

  In all this self-consuming chaos, take a moment in delight

  If only we respond to reach that vibe

  From this vacuum of despondence, there’s a particle of light

  Some synergy we can’t describe

  The universe is on our side

  I have known of sacred water

  To flow from a long-dry stone

  And I have known of boundaries of flesh

  To fade into illusions unknown

  There’s a fleeting afterimage of events before my time

  On which we do honestly concur

  No creation or destruction, just an aura in my mind

  For energy can only transfer

  And I believe that miracles occur

  It’s one true story recognized

  That the soul begins to remember

  A flicker of the truth exposed

  Like some fiercely glowing ember

  The wonder of the cosmos resurrected from a spark

  An interstellar bond, a seed to sow

  Most glorious connection forms a nova in the dark

  With faith and science juxtaposed below

  And love is the purest form we know

  It’s the flow ...

  It’s the flow ...

  Tell me a story

  And I’ll sing you a lullabye

  And we’ll get through this madness, you and I

  When life is epic trial

  Dreams are a quest for paradise

  For if it didn’t hurt, then none of us would try

  Drink of the dew

  Dreams will ensue

  Nightmares in shining armor can’t touch you

  Bring me some willow

  For the fire in my head

  For the cards still mock the solace that I crave

  But even still I play with fire

  For the only truth I know

  Are the shadow pictures dancing in this cave

  This world of thieves

  As each believes

  Fealty, thy name is fool; none deceives

  Give me that old-time indecision

  With a bright and shining scheme

  And you’ve got a basic outline of my plight

  Oh, sweet soul who makes the myth

  Makes the legend, makes the dream

  Please draw the beast within me out tonight

  The divine pursuit of bliss

  In the company of fools

  Would be nothing less than some idyllic scene

  Where youth is wasted on the young

  And wisdom wasted on the old

  And you and I are nestled somewhere in between

  Harp strikes a chord

  Fool is adored

  Still mighty is the pen that draws the sword

  Forward chains and cycles

  Forward spinning wheels and gears

  Face the one direction

  How we meet the coming years

  Forward to the scene

  In which the hero gets the girl

  Forward thinking, forward moving

  Forward fast unfurl

  Momentum, progression

  Past point of possession

  No question ...

  Would I stop at nothing now

  To forward my career?

  From this day forward, I do swear

  To forward steady steer

  Forward past that chunk of time

  I rather would forget

  Forward to that perfect day

  That hasn’t happened yet

  Momentum, progression

  Past point of possession

  No question ...

  And I’ll play forward for the team

  So onward forward march

  Advance to better days ahead

  The grand triumphal arch

  It’s such a touching story

  So please forward to my friends

  And if I may be so forward,

  You can have me in the end

  Momentum, progression

  Past point of possession

  No question ...

  My friend, I can’t explain this

  My world has changed forever

  And I’m scared I’ll drag you down if I should fall

  It’s hard to see the glass as half-full

  Instead of half-empty

  When we know we both deserve to have it all

  I won’t subject you to this drama

  As my life gets an overhaul

  So goodbye, my old friend

  I hope that if I see you again

  We can just go on pretending that life is fair

  I hope you love what you do

  I hope that someone’s tending to you

  The way I was supposed to when I was there

  Goodbye, my old friend

  My friend, it’s still hard to accept

  That now the air between us

  Is frozen; what a tangled web we weave

  When once we were as sisters

  Reduced to less than strangers

  With a stalemate game face on, and I believe

  That when the four winds reveal our true colors

  We may not like what we perceive

  So goodbye, my old friend

  I hope that if I see you again

  We can give each other space with cordial form

  I could have been your ally still

  I tried to help your joy be fulfilled

  But now there’s a chill that never can be warmed

  Goodbye, my old friend

  My friend, according to the book

  This parting is temporary

  Your essential being isn’t really gone

  Were you scared on your last journey?

  Did you suffer long in darkness?

  Will you greet me when it’s my turn to pass on?

  It’s impossible not to be saddened

  As you greet the eternal dawn

  So goodbye, my old friend

  I hope that if I see you again

  You will recognize me past my physical array

  They say we walk into the light

  And all souls as one there unite

  So I know it’s just goodnight when I say,

  “Goodbye, my old friend ...”

  Goodbye, my old friend

  My love, the candle burns low

  The dying blue light dances

  Cruel are circumstances

  As fleeting is the night

  I take courage, for I know

  That fate that did divide us

  Will one day reunite us

  And restore our passion bright

  My thoughts are ever with you

  Somehow if you can read them

  I beg that you would heed them

  And, for now, bid you goodnight

  Now is the hay toil month

  Jack on the Middle Horse has passed

  And the waggoners journey onward,

  But whom to turn to when wheel and axle do not last?

  Back to the sweltering heat of the forge,

  And make them anew

  But forget not I am a water-bearer

  And a wellspring of refreshment, too

  Melancholy I remain

  As the world goes turning on
<
br />   The wheel that never falters

  Brings us to another ending and a cycle gone

  Where the waters are still plentiful,

  But the fish refuse to bite

  And the thunder moon that swells above the shore

  Looks down upon us in impassive spite

  The cart rolls on with its load of hay

  As I make a wish and turn away

  God save me from my thoughts that rove

  To the velvet caress in the calloused glove

  Momentarily blinded,

  Step from sunlight into the dark

  Weaving of the wyrd

  Gaze like a bright icicle,

  I want to be the one to lick it to a spark

  Calling what I feared

  The scent of purpose, smoke, and brawn

  And resentment of rule

  Giant, king, or thrall

  But the iron dreamer sets the wheel in motion,

  Stands alone, and is nobody’s fool

  Work sustaining all

  A shared enlightenment

  Feeds a deeper taboo

  All men free to think

  The presence of the glowing iron

  Quenches and perpetuates the bearer’s due

  Poet bears the drink

  The respite that I still thirst for

  Is the world that never was

  Roots that deeply run

  I would blindly cast my irons into the fire,

  For only handsome is as handsome does

  Both may be as one

  The cart rolls on with its load of hay

  As I make a wish and turn away

  God save me should I ever find

  How darkness rises from a brilliant mind

  Once upon a time

  I gave up my simple gifts

  For a higher coup

  I had seen it all—

  Pirates, gypsies, elvenkind—

  Down in Grand Mamou

  Sinking farther south

  Lessons learned without remorse

  Shamelessly uncouth

  Now in this old pond

  Enemies and friends alike

  Kiss the whip of truth

  Smiling to my face,

  He’d have given half his soul

  Just to see me fall

  Struggle in my heart—

  Muscle the size of my fist—

  Beats the spiteful gall

  Living here is strange

  Sinners eat this town alive

  Will saints ever win?

  All I ask is this:

  Silver platter for his head

  I will dance again

  You once spoke of bliss and paradise as we stood transfixed and stunned

  You found false angels repugnant, and ignorance you shunned

  But now we stand defenseless from your one-sided monologue

  You’ve turned our wine to water; the marketplace your synagogue

  How can we approach you when you’re holier than thou?

  All of us are golden calves and you the sacred cow

  You’ve built your tower higher than the one to whom we bow

  Our piety no greater than the mercy you allow

  Where is the original sinner that we all once knew and loved?

  Your soul is saved, but your mind is gone, your sights too far above

  The god I worship ate with thieves, but you’ve no time of day

  To light the path before us, as our futures you betray

  How can we approach you when you’re holier than thou?

  All of us are golden calves and you the sacred cow

  You’ve built your tower higher than the one to whom we bow

  Our piety no greater than the mercy you allow

  You claim we persecute you with our wicked, earthly ways

  Our troubled tongues unfit to sing our great redeemer’s praise

  Guilt by association leaves your reputation smudged

  Does it not also apply to you: judge not, or lest be judged?

  How can we approach you when you’re holier than thou?

  All of us are golden calves and you the sacred cow

  You’ve built your tower higher than the one to whom we bow

  Our piety no greater than the mercy you allow

  As we walk upon the coals of judgement

  Flames licking at our shoes

  If we ever flee this institution

  Please take me with you

  ... laughing all the way, ha ha ha, laughing all the way ...

  Your words pour out like bitter wine

  That leaves the sweetest aftertaste

  I am drunk on your irreverence

  Until sobered by your grace

  It’s revolving static trauma

  Snowball earth, ironic drama

  Fill my head with a complexity I cannot analyze

  Fill my heart with a longing I cannot verbalize

  Fill my ears with a dissonance I cannot justify

  For I crave your shadow, which no one dares decry

  We’re heading in a hand basket

  Woven by our fellow bedlamite

  For a divine comedy of errors

  Is just truth under a harsh light

  ... laughing all the way, ha ha ha, laughing all the way ...

  Never mind the degree of pleasantries

  We must employ to coexist

  It’s your barely concealed bitterness

  I find futile to resist

  I would take on this dark mission

  If assigned to the position

  Fill my head with a complexity I cannot analyze

  Fill my heart with a longing I cannot verbalize

  Fill my ears with a dissonance I cannot justify

  For I crave your shadow, which no one dares decry

  I danced in the sunlight—you hid in my shadow

  I basked in its glory—you shrouded your face

  You showed me the path to my deepest ambition

  I ran like the wind—you dropped out of the race

  I sang in the moonlight—you slept in the darkness

  I reached for your hand—so quickly you fled

  Like a fool’s game of freeze tag, I never could catch you

  I sought out a bond—I found self-rule instead

  I fell like a stone—you bent over to catch me

  I wandered in darkness—you showed me the light

  So grateful am I, but you think nothing of it

  You were content to just watch me in flight

  Wake up, sir, your color is fading

  I can take you to an artist with a magic spell

  He’ll fashion some eyes in the back of my head

  Maybe some across your lids as well

  Then we could share a secret gaze

  Relief from the symptoms of chronic malaise

  Etch some light into my heavy haunted heart

  And explore the surreal and sublime

  I can see a speck of blue at your neck

  But that will wash off easily in time

  If I bare my unblemished side to you

  Would you hammer out a regimental tattoo?

  There is no heart beneath my sleeve

  A risk to reveal what lies within

  No return when said and drawn

  The ink I chose to stain my skin

  A primal beat, primeval tradition

  But the heart within is on a heat-seeking mission

  I am an illustrated woman of illustrious repute

  A windswept, dappled derelict that decadence forgot

  Magdalene Madonna marked
by needle and ink

  And mark my words, I cannot change my spots

  Barbarian crewman seeks a pallid whale

  A vagrant in search of a pardoner’s tale

  Come with me, sir, before others can brand you

  The sting of penance antiseptic, as I have learned

  To be undone is to never go back

  Rite of passage is a scar you have earned