The Argument
“I have to go with her.” She stated, firmly.
“You know that everyone has a place, and your place is here.” The calm voice responded.
“There is no way I am letting her go down there alone!” She shouted angrily.
The calm in the voice changed to compassion. “It is already decided.”
“Then undecided it!” She urged, “because I am going with her and there is nothing you can do about it.”
“We need you here. There is no reason to send you.”
“If you don’t send me, I’ll go anyway.” She continued, holding her ground. “I’ll turn to the dark side. I’ll do whatever it takes to stay close to her.”
The calm voice laughed, because they both knew she would do no such thing.
“This is no laughing matter.” She elevated her voice.
“I can see that.” The voice said, taking her request more seriously. “Fine, you can go but come back immediately.”
“I am not coming back immediately!” She demanded. “I am staying to see her through this.”
“She needs you that much?” The voice changed from calm to concerned.
“We need each other that much.” She hadn’t expected the words to come out with such feeling but they did.
“Fifteen years.” The voice was no longer calm or concerned but spoke with the power of a final decision.
“The whole time.” She begged.
“Fifteen and a half and if you ask for more, I will reconsider you coming back immediately!” The voice spoke with regal authority.
“I’ll take the fifteen and half years with her,” Justine, replied to God. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, my daughter.” God replied, smiling.
I was overcome with the urge to write this vignette about Justine for Jentri. It makes me feel better when instead of thinking we were unlucky to only have her 15-1/2 years, I think we were lucky to have Justine for 15-1/2 years.
The days move on
Clock ticks,
I am alone
alone in the midst of those around me.
Clock ticks,
I hear silence
amidst the voices unceasing round me.
Clock ticks,
I’m in despair
while those around me laugh in joy.
Clock ticks,
The days move on
and drag me along with them.
Clock ticks,
I’m not quite alone
when in the midst of those around me.
Clock ticks,
I speak in turn
Amidst the voices unceasing round me.
Clock ticks,
I’m touched by hope
when those around me laugh in joy.
Clock ticks,
the days move on
And I walk along beside them
Written for my sister Jentri, about how time slowly heals the wound of losing a twin sister.
Nature’s War
Erosion empowered by crowded drops of rain
A flowing energy attacking a dam of sand
A force overwhelming it just cannot contain
Without assistance from God’s unprovided hand
Like castle walls that fall by trebuchet
allowing a swarm of pike-man to rush inside
In an explosion of nature the dam gives way
Leaving a hole that darkness chooses to hide
Three travelers unaware of nature’s war
against a highway made by man’s poor work,
Are captured by the vacant hole before
they realized death was hidden by a sky so dark
Though two escaped, the innocent and pristine
life was stolen from my beloved sister Justine.
Red Tears
A two year old smile approaches the tree
Excited eyes, excited feet, excited hands
He grips the tree but slips and falls,
nose scraped, and bleeding, he cries.
Without hesitation, despite red tears
as he struggles, shakes, and holds tight,
afraid of falling but still he climbs on,
from hand to hand and foot to foot.
On safe branch he sits, looks my way,
The last red tear drops through his new smile.
Authors note: Today I watched my son fall barely more than a foot down the trunk of a tree and my amazement at his strength to try again. There was something special about the moment that I wanted to capture.
J. Abram Barneck.
Copyright © 2010 by Rhyous, Inc. All rights reserved.
Shattered Bottles
The crash of my minds glass containers shattering
Is all that I can hear behind my eyes
The strong outside pressure of life’s matterings
Release the long and carefully captured lies
And more than lies, my demon’s mighty ire
Is spilled and splashed, as if a chemical mixed
With other prisoners to explode in fire
That burn in ways that never can be fixed.
And blackend shards of glass or only found
When they cut and stab and pierce important thoughts,
Preventing rational and happy mental sounds,
A blackened, bleeding, failing cerberal rot.
For now my mind will not but sand amass
My fire will melt and mold the sand to glass.
J. Abram Barneck.
Copyright © 2010 by Rhyous, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Sentinel II
Fake crumbling granite glares downward at me
from wizened stone; he must surely know
I’ve watched him shed his grey; wings free
He’s left his post, while I have watched him go.
I cannot sleep, I dream of gliding stone
that hunts my soul, for I have seen
His sentience, and my knowledge he would own,
control, destroy; hence I must not be seen!
I desire the knowledge of how he lives and flies,
To greet the gargoyle greatness face to face
I can’t escape the power of opened eyes,
I cannot hide. I await him at this place.
But now I know the truth of darkened light,
For I’ve been found; by day I serve the night.
J. Abram Barneck.
Copyright © 2005 by Rhyous, Inc. All rights reserved.
Revised: 3 Mar 2005 11:06:37 -0600.
One Sword
Through biting chill I grip my silver hilt,
A burning cold that tears my fingers raw
The power I face gives fear I’ve never felt
Yet strength within defies all natural law.
His sorcery saps away my hope and pride
Exuding from my life the will to win
But from my heart I get the strength to strive
To fight and win and conquer this villain.
I step in front of all who are in need
And steal from evils strong momentum toward
The frail, the sick, the young, the old, the week
I fight their battle with a single sword.
The most powerful warlock comes for me at last
But I protect too many to ever let him pass.
J. Abram Barneck.
Copyright © 2005 by Rhyous, Inc. All rights reserved.
Revised: 19 Feb 2005 12:35:40 -0700.
Druid’s End
The bitterness defeats his feeble frame,
A frame that magic no more can protect,
For days have passed and strength is not the same;
And what remains is fading intellect.
His wrinkled skin distorts his energy,
And magic leaves his hands in weak arrays;
No more the master of his druid clergy,
His focus lost direction fades away.
But one more evil threatens those he knows
And in his shriveled state he starts to fight,
Though knowing he’d receive his final blows,
Battling one last time through day and night
Though weakened, his wise ways help him to win
Yet grants his death to counter evil’s grim
J. Abram Barneck.
Copyright © 2004 by Rhyous, Inc. All rights reserved.
Revised: 10 Oct 2004 17:37:44 -0700.
Street Ghost
And down their dreary lengths I roam
Forbidden to ever enter a door
I will roam the streets for ever more.
For being a lethargic loaf I’m damned
To forever be exposed to the land
Exempt from entering an edifice at all
Never to take comfort in a floor or wall
A roof will never protect my head
Nor will I ever sleep in a bed
I wasted my life inside my house
A foolish, lazy, languid, louse.
To forever wander the streets, I’m cursed
Could there ever be any curse that’s worse
Than suffering in rain, snow, and cold
And never to end for I never get old.
If I had but lived my life to the most
I’d not be a lamentable street ghost.
J. Abram Barneck.
Copyright © 2004 by Rhyous, Inc. All rights reserved.
Revised: 28 Sept 2004 17:37:44 -0700.
Flee
The giant evil chases,
chases me never slowing
never stopping for a breath,
a breath to live a life
I flee faster for gaining more,
more time in one place,
a place where I can live,
live a moments rest
The giant demon finds,
finds me fast; and fear,
fear for those around,
forces me to flee.
I flee longer in hope,
hope to make more moments,
moments in one place,
One place to live.
But the demon comes,
comes quite quicker,
quicker than I am ready,
ready to leave this place.
I flee farther to escape,
escape forever the demon,
the demon that lives,
lives in my mind
But the demons there,
there where I am,
I am the demon,
the demon that chases.
J. Abram Barneck.
Copyright © 2004 by Rhyous, Inc. All rights reserved.
Revised: 28 Sept 2004 17:37:44 -0700.
