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Michael

Moderator

Member Rara Avis

since 1999-08-13

Posts 7666
California

0 posted 2012-11-10 09:36 AM

The Michael Machine

Just as programmed the lights come on,
Eyes that see in the dark.
And so I work from dusk till dawn,
Never once meeting the mark.
I comer home tired, alone and sad,
Sit on the empty bed –
Try to convince myself it ain’t that bad,
Only it’s your voice I hear in my head.

I throw the paycheck in the drawer,
Like I’ve done with all the rest.
Sure, money’s good, but who needs more
When you’ve sacrificed the best
Thing that you ever held in life –
What money could not buy,
As now you view the mirror with strife,
Daily force-feeding the lie…

…That you’re o.k., when clearly you’re not.
…That you’ve got it all under control.
But it’s not what you’ve got; it’s what you’ve wrought
That swallows up your soul.
And still you wake, to walk the world
Setting a record pace;
To banners raised – to acclaim unfurled,
Just running from that face…

…You see each time that you slow down,
Velvet and serpentine –
That wreath of snakes worn as your crown,
Working the Michael Machine.
For all you touch you simply destroy,
Calamity in your wake.
Destiny bent like a child’s toy,
Then thrown into the lake…

…Of fire that burns all day, all night,
Through the channels of your mind.
Fires of the damned, consuming all light;
Till there’s nothing left to find
But the unerring, unceasing black
And the echo of lost cries
That always shine, but only in the back
Of those mad, mechanical eyes.

But wait, a stutter – a step faltered,
There’s glitches in the routine
Questioning the cadence, unaltered,
Of things that lie unseen.
That you analyze, as you improvise,
With but logic churning the wheels…
All synthesized to a lifetime of lies,
Never knowing how living feels.

No blood pumps through that cold steel heart,
Nothing garners sympathy.
Taking the act of love to a fine art,
But never knowing empathy.
No, it’s only when someone feels the need
Of me they finally see
The syntax of something that just don’t bleed,
I often refer to as, “me.”

So you can count your days as they slip past,
While I just sit in my private hell;
Knowing this night will ever last,
Even though I play the game so well.
So come crank the slot, lay claim your prize,
Then blame your luck when all else fails;
Watching darkness roll across these eyes,
For naught but emptiness avails…

…Those who glimpse that sparkle in the desert sand.
…Those who choose to follow it in vain.
…Those who can never seem to understand
It will only bring them pain.
…Those who yet dare to look on me –
Fall forever through that hollow void,
Searching for something that could never be
In my graveyard of would be loves destroyed.

Michael Anderson

Death's but a path that must be trod,
If man would ever pass to God.

Thomas Parnell

JerryPat2
Member Laureate

since 2011-02-06

Posts 16975
South Louisiana

1 posted 2012-11-10 10:10 AM

Ahh, Michael, thought I found some glimmer of hope for you here . . .

quote:
But wait, a stutter ï¿½ a step faltered,
Thereï¿½s glitches in the routine
Questioning the cadence, unaltered,
Of things that lie unseen.
That you analyze, as you improvise,
With but logic churning the wheelsï¿½

But, alas and drat, you reverted back to doom and despair.

~*~ If they give you lined paper, write sideways. ~*~

Michael

Moderator

Member Rara Avis

since 1999-08-13

Posts 7666
California

2 posted 2012-11-11 06:16 AM

Sorry to disappoint Jer, but then you kinda set yourself up for that one... it is a Michael Anderson poem, after all. That should've been enough of a disclaimer. Posted another for you tonight... not light by any means, but lighter than this one was. First writings I've done in what seems like forever... forgive the choppiness pls. just trying to tell a little story.

Michael

jwesley
Member Rara Avis

since 2000-04-30

Posts 7563
Spring, Texas

3 posted 2012-11-12 11:02 AM

Loved the opening stanza ... practically a facet of everyone's life at some point or the other, no matter how briefly or long it lasts.
We always bleed upon ourselves at some point, then, most, go on.

as usual...enjoyed reading...

j.

JamesMichael
Member Empyrean

since 1999-11-16

Posts 33336
Kapolei, Hawaii, USA

4 posted 2012-11-24 08:23 PM

Very nice...James

luminosity
Senior Member

since 2005-11-18

Posts 813

5 posted 2012-11-25 10:02 AM

I usually have trouble following long poems but this one held me enthralled...I know this despair, I know this story, I know the light is shining brightly in the sequel

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