A poem I appreciate greatly

Crucifixion
By Phil Ochs

And the night comes again to the circle studded sky
The stars settle slowly, in loneliness they lie
'Till the universe expodes as a falling star is raised
Planets are paralyzed, mountains are amazed
But they all glow brighter from the briliance of the blaze
With the speed of insanity, then he dies.

In the green fields a turnin', a baby is born
His cries crease the wind and mingle with the morn
An assault upon the order, the changing of the guard
Chosen for a challenge that is hopelessly hard
And the only single sound is the sighing of the stars
But to the silence and distance they are sworn

So dance dance dance
Teach us to be true
Come dance dance dance
'Cause we love you

Images of innocence charge him go on
But the decadence of destiny is looking for a pawn
To a nightmare of knowledge he opens up the gate
And a blinding revelation is laid upon his plate
That beneath the greatest love is a hurricane of hate
And God help the critic of the dawn.

So he stands on the sea and shouts to the shore,
But the louder that he screams the longer he's ignored
For the wine of oblivion is drunk to the dregs
And the merchants of the masses almost have to be begged
'Till the giant is aware, someone's pulling at his leg,
And someone is tapping at the door.

To dance dance dance
Teach us to be true
Come dance dance dance
'Cause we love you

Then his message gathers meaning and it spreads accross the land
The rewarding of his pain is the following of the man
But ignorance is everywhere and people have their way
Success is an enemy to the losers of the day
In the shadows of the churches, who knows what they pray
For blood is the language of the band.

The Spanish bulls are beaten; the crowd is soon beguiled,
The matador is beautiful, a symphony of style
Excitement is estatic, passion places bets
Gracefully he bows to ovations that he gets
But the hands that are applauding are slippery with sweat
And saliva is falling from their smiles

So dance dance dance
Teach us to be true
Come dance dance dance
'Cause we love you

Then this overflow of life is crushed into a liar
The gentle soul is ripped apart and tossed into the fire.
First a smile of rejection at the nearness of the night
Truth becomes a tragedy limping from the light
All the (canonsheavens) are horrified, they stagger from the sight
As the cross is trembling with desire.

They say they can't believe it, it's a sacreligious shame
Now, who would want to hurt such a hero of the game?
But you know I predicted it; I knew he had to fall
How did it happen? I hope his suffering was small.
Tell me every detail, I've got to know it all,
And do you have a picture of the pain?

So dance dance dance
Teach us to be true
Come dance dance dance
'Cause we love you

Time takes her toll and the memory fades
but his glory is broken, in the magic that he made.
Reality is ruined; it's the freeing from the fear
The drama is distorted, to what they want to hear
Swimming in their sorrow, in the twisting of a tear
As they wait for a new thrill parade.

The eyes of the rebel have been branded by the blind
To the safety of sterility, the threat has been refined
The child was created to the slaughterhouse he's led
So good to be alive when the eulogy is read
The climax of emotion, the worship of the dead
And the cycle of sacrifice unwinds.

So dance dance dance
Teach us to be true
Come dance dance dance
'Cause we love you

And the night comes again to the circle studded sky
The stars settle slowly, in loneliness they lie
'Till the universe expodes as a falling star is raised
Planets are paralyzed, mountains are amazed
But they all glow brighter from the briliance of the blaze
With the speed of insanity, then he died.

"The laddie reckons himself a poet." (A line from "The Wall".)

Vapor Trail

A sort of gravity alive in time
when what is and what flows
are not separate but united
in mind, alive in space
in air exhaled from the depth
of a fleshy, angular temple,
whispered in that sacred cleft
echoed through smoky light
and tinted shafts, along pale lips
and darkly granted eyes.

A fire lies within this truth,
the gaze of which I pray
never falls upon the
shining visage of a child,
but upon the withered
patterns of blood-stained flags
buried in sand too dirty
to hide in the glass of time.

Tiresias

I wanted to burn with the fire of pride,
To become a burnt offering to
the God inside.
I wanted to feel alive, away from this,
To arrive in a world free of pain.
I gathered vessels of repentance divine
and felt as though their burdens were mine.
I drank the blood, ate the flesh, carried the tree
To a place of decay.
The path, the Truth and reality of this
cannot sustain ones such as I
who refuse to be skeletal souls,
Peering into blinding light,
Reverent for the gift of death.
To say I want to be free and crushed beneath
An eternal gaze is not a simple scream.
It requires the talents of those stored away,
In rooms made of pillows
And sanitary corridors,
Places where doctors can’t see the moon.

The Lady

Hath not our eyes laid weary
upon the face of earth
that all inherent beings
retain their basic worth
and none that effort cast
can be for evil saved
until the moon has shed it's blood
and the ocean speaks its waves
in whispers
in whispers
to her that shines fairly
within this living dark
a ray of light so nobly born
the place that vision marks
with stars
with stars
to whoever claims her truth
a chest in treasure wrought
the blessing of her wisdom
is all that I have sought