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Mongrels and Misfits

Page 8

by Beth Patterson


  When the ice you tread is fragile in the endless winter night

  And below its frozen surface are the memories within

  The water will still haunt you until you give it some release

  As a wound must bleed to cleanse itself again

  Celebrate your anger, and be baptized in your tears

  For a wisdom lives within you, as only you can know

  Prepare yourself for battle, and your flight into the storm

  And you must take some fire when you go

  Like the kindness of a stranger who sees you safely home

  Your fury will propel you to that freedom you desire

  That spark that once eluded you now illuminates your smile

  And it comes when you take fire

  When the need for instant comfort leads you to the poisoned stream

  As it strips you of your armor and lances you with pain

  When the mask you wear of silence bears a stoic web of scars

  And there are secrets you no longer can contain

  When a phantom terror drains you of the life you never knew

  When your spirit of survival is exhausted to the core

  When the sadness of unlearning lies behind your tired eyes

  Of one who’s seen it all and then some more

  Celebrate your anger, and be baptized in your tears

  For a wisdom lives within you, as only you can know

  Prepare yourself for battle, and your flight into the storm

  And you must take some fire when you go

  Like the kindness of a stranger who sees you safely home

  Your fury will propel you to that freedom you desire

  That spark that once eluded you now illuminates your smile

  And it comes when you take fire

  It comes when you take fire

  It comes when you take fire

  Incubated in her chrysalis

  A life-sustaining iron coffin

  They proclaimed that that was the only way

  That she could ever survive

  They tried to turn her beauty against her

  By deeming her a fragile creature

  She did not know that she could roar

  Or had fangs to keep herself alive

  When she wakes from her hibernation

  She’s going to remember that she’s a tiger

  By some mortal revelation

  Her fortitude revealed

  The truth will emerge with velocity

  And she’s going to remember how you treated her

  She will break the shell with velocity

  By her claws we are rebuked

  And by her stripes we are healed

  She will wake from uneasy dreams transformed

  Into more than just some giant insect

  Her eyes will burn with terrible knowledge

  Upon a better path

  Ready to destroy that phase

  Cocooned in such an ugly bastion

  But now she’s queen of her own jungle

  And no one may escape her wrath

  When she wakes from her hibernation

  She’s going to remember that she’s a tiger

  By some mortal revelation

  Her fortitude revealed

  The truth will emerge with velocity

  And she’s going to remember how you treated her

  She will break the shell with velocity

  By her claws we are rebuked

  And by her stripes we are healed

  They saw her stripes and saw a brittle butterfly

  Because she kept her claws a secret

  They only saw in her a withered wing

  And said she could not fly

  But with breaking dawn and crowing cock

  Their mocking turns to consternation

  It will be their turn to beg for mercy

  And their turn to thrice deny

  When she wakes from her hibernation

  She’s going to remember that she’s a tiger

  By some mortal revelation

  Her fortitude revealed

  The truth will emerge with velocity

  And she’s going to remember how you treated her

  She will break the shell with velocity

  By her claws we are rebuked

  And by her stripes we are healed

  Holy babe, do you dream,

  Sleeping in a humble cattle stall,

  Of the same ancient world

  Which all human babes recall?

  In wooden trough, your destiny is cast,

  The timber your support from first until the last.

  Mary, who bears the Word,

  Shepherd and magi before her bow;

  Holds her son, as she will

  One night thirty-three great years from now

  In mother’s arms, the first and last to be

  In such most sacred ring, transformed all are we.

  Joseph, no seed of yours

  Yields this tree of life by prophets told

  This sapling’s wood you will

  Build into a fortress for our souls

  Flesh counterpart to Father above

  For God to walk with men

  You teach Him with love

  So, let us then rejoice

  Tiding of great joy to all who dwell

  Kneel and sing now your praise

  To our tree of life, Emmanuel

  Planted that we may likewise life provide

  And transformed that we may

  In paradise abide

  We sunlight and shadow

  Magnetic wildness unsurpassed

  I am powerless to the passion

  That overtakes my senses

  The brighter the light

  The greater is the the shadow cast

  My eye is open to the truth

  My heart to consequences

  In the hand that fate has dealt us

  It’s the Two of Cups we hold

  And though your hands are bound,

  There is freedom in your eyes

  And if I left the cup untasted

  And you left the tale untold

  Then we would never know

  The love that law defies

  We are one falling star

  Brilliant, brief, and blazing hot

  Locked in a lover’s leap

  With every nerve aflame

  If we cannot choose our fate

  Our else ignore the caveat

  We can still choose to rebel

  Against the hierophant’s own game

  In the hand that fate has dealt us

  It’s the Two of Cups we hold

  And though your hands are bound,

  There is freedom in your eyes

  And if I left the cup untasted

  And you left the tale untold

  Then we would never know

  The love that law defies

  Dance in the eyes of judgement

  I sneer at the inevitable

  Dangerous, sweet lesson

  There is no knowledge without price

  So we will drink of this cup

  Which very well may be our downfall

  Cast out of the garden

  No enlightenment without sacrifice

  In the hand that fate has dealt us

  It’s the Two of Cups we hold

  And though your hands are bound,

  There is freedom in your eyes

  And if I left the cup untasted

  And you left the tale untold

  Then we would never know

  The l
ove that law defies

  Symmetry and balance

  Hold nature in their talons

  They set a harsh criteria

  Of the sacred and obscene

  They say life will fulfill us

  By the things that do not kill us

  But I never knew the life

  Of part man and part machine

  Like Vulcan or Hephaestus

  Your persona is asbestos

  No flame will be permitted

  Without your exclusive will

  With a visage of Narcissus

  And a mind that takes no prisoners

  How cruel is our Creator

  To leave His promise unfulfilled

  Lonely spark of hope is sought

  A miracle cannot be bought

  My room upstairs a hermit’s lair

  With just my sketchbook and my thoughts

  I ask the gods of reason now

  Some mercy could they please allow

  Compassion’s crumbs on twiddled thumbs

  I beg to have my turn somehow

  The half moon shines a proud display

  It cruelly mocks me while I pray

  The mirth below an undertow

  I only turn my face away

  Frozen in my silent stare

  While others take the lion’s share

  No matter how I shatter now

  Convince myself that I don’t care

  The roads I’ve trod, the paths I’ve taken

  Paradigms of progress shaken

  I’d trade it all for a shred of stability

  Having loved the seeds I’ve planted

  Just this once may I be granted

  A taste of what the real world seems to be

  Refusing to give in to grief

  And clinging to this mad belief

  A heresy, insanity

  I always thought would bring relief

  My cold bed coaxes me at last

  To rest my head from thoughts amassed

  What can I lose, each day I choose

  To hold out for the unsurpassed

  Viceroy, pretty viceroy, what are we posing as?

  Who is it we are pretending to be?

  I promise I won’t speak my thoughts when I see you

  As long as you swear not to tell yours to me

  Boldly displaying my colors of brashness

  The birds unaware that I’m quite good to eat

  But all things delectable are still ephemeral

  And in time the wine would no longer be sweet

  Viceroy, pretty viceroy, what are we posing as?

  Who is it we are pretending to be?

  I promise I won’t speak my thoughts when I see you

  As long as you swear not to tell yours to me

  Glorious part of the splendor that moves me

  To shed my disguise, the American dream

  “Your buildings and your eyes,” but it’s back now to improvise

  Finding my way again, swimming downstream

  Viceroy, pretty viceroy, what are we posing as?

  Who is it we are pretending to be?

  I promise I won’t speak my thoughts when I see you

  As long as you swear not to tell yours to me

  Caught in the middle, a lunatic riddle

  The bovine jumped high by the light of the moon

  The laughing dog rises, illusion surprises

  And now that we’ve finished this dish, shall we spoon?

  Viceroy, pretty viceroy, what are we posing as?

  Who is it we are pretending to be?

  I promise I won’t speak my thoughts when I see you

  As long as you swear not to tell yours to me

  We strip the willow and suffer the heat

  That threatens to render this show obsolete

  The the breeze dances in through the grueling night

  Like some laughing dark-eyed Creole delight

  I wished for a rose by some other name

  But found one sweeter still that was called by the same

  Surprise secret wink from a keeper of lore

  Is it any wonder that I dreamt of more?

  Vin rouge et mousse espagnole

  Je suis reveuse, mais j’ai bornée au sol

  Je serai libre si tu lis mes paroles

  Vin rouge et mousse espagnole

  We are not kissing cousins, we ignore the hype

  But who cares of the ignorant stereotype?

  While the diatribe makes up appear asinine

  I seek out the fruit of a different vine

  Some things that possessions can never replace

  A hot, humid night like a warm, wet embrace

  Rasping cicadas, a dusky bayou

  A chorus of frogs and the strangest juju

  Vin rouge et mousse espagnole

  Je suis reveuse, mais j’ai bornée au sol

  Je serai libre si tu lis mes paroles

  Vin rouge et mousse espagnole

  Welcome, stranger

  I seem to have lost my way

  Nights keep me pondering, aimless and wandering

  While I must appear strong by day

  Welcome, stranger

  Can you help me release this fear

  All I recall is the sound of my fall

  With no one around to hear

  But I feel no pain, no bite of sorrow

  No regrets, no jealousy

  Just a weary resignation

  Of a hardened mentality

  Welcome, stranger

  You seem to be lost as well

  They say to me, ‘Misery loves company,’

  Only time and distance will tell

  Welcome, stranger

  Please now, don’t get me wrong

  We may drink of some wine to help pass the time

  But I know that I’ll never belong

  But I feel no pain, no bite of sorrow

  No regrets, no jealousy

  Just a weary resignation

  Of a hardened mentality

  When I am old, I will swear like a sailor

  Well-meaning neighbors will deem me as strange

  I’ll dance on the roof, and I’ll be living proof

  That some things with age never change

  Things with age never change

  I’ll reek of perfume and wear unseemly shoes

  My jewelry offensive, my hair will be blue

  I’ll wear too much makeup and cheap vintage clothing

  Much as I looked at age twenty two

  I looked at age twenty two

  I will gather my skirts and sit by the hearth

  And all the young people will come visit me

  I’ll serve them all whiskey and tell dirty jokes

  As true to my youth as can possibly be

  I’ll offer them archaic words of wisdom

  Tales of when chivalry was alive

  Though I hardly bore much witness myself

  Last seen at age twenty five

  As sane as a loon and as sharp as a sausage

  I’ll raucously cackle at each Halloween

  I’ll take frequent naps and be cranky as hell

  Just like the person I always have been

  The person I always have been

  I’ll chase meddling kids from my porch with a stick

  Smoke from a pipe and wear a black shawl

  As you can see from my grand fantasy

  I don’t intend to change much at all

  Intend to change much at all

  But I hope to gain wisdom to tell of it

  And be foolish eno
ugh for the hell of it!

  This strange celebration would eat you alive

  Only for its indifference did I survive

  I’m lost in a world where glory is not what it seems

  Two souls vying whether to fight or to pray

  On wings of thin paper glide swiftly away

  Once you saw visions and now I’ll make you dream dreams

  And I’ll carry this torch to some other place

  To keep this destruction at bay

  Dark wings beat wildly inside my ribcage

  Til it opens...and they all fly away

  I have tasted the sweetest of things

  Against my lips, the fluttering wings

 

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