yes...

I wonder if the sun debates dawn
some mornings, not wanting to rise out of bed
from under the down-feather horizon...
if the sky grows tired of being everywhere at once,
adapting to the mood swings of the weather...
if clouds drift off, trying to hold themselves together
make deals with gravity, to loiter a little longer...

I wonder if rain is scared...of falling, if it has trouble letting go
if snow flakes get sick of being perfect all the time...
each one trying to be one-of-a-kind

I wonder if stars wish... upon themselves before they die
if they need to teach their young how to shine...

I wonder if shadows long...
to just-for-once feel the sun...
if they get lost in the shuffle, not knowing where they’re from

I wonder if sunrise and sunset respect each other
even though they’ve never met...
if volcanoes get stressed,
if storms have regrets,
if compost believes in life after death...

I wonder if breath ever thinks of suicide
if the wind just wants to sit still sometimes...
and watch the world pass by...
if smoke was born,knowing how to rise
if rainbows get shy back stage
not sure if their colors match right.

I wonder if lightning sets an alarm clock
to know when to crack
if rivers ever stop and think of turning back...
if streams meet the wrong sea and their whole lives run off-track...

I wonder if the snow...wants to be black
if the soil thinks she’s too dark
if butterflies want to cover up their marks
if rocks are self-conscious of their weight
if mountains are insecure of their strength

I wonder if waves get discouraged
crawling up the sand
only to be pulled back again
to where they began...
if land feels stepped upon
if sand feels insignificant
if trees need to question their lovers, to know where they stand...
if branches waver at the crossroads... unsure of which way to grow
if the leaves understand they’re replaceable
and still dance when the wind blows...

I wonder
where the moon goes
when she is in hiding
I want to find her there
and watch the ocean
spin from a distance
listen to her
stir in her sleep
effort give way to existence...

by Naima

Flowers of Evil

When the low, heavy sky weighs like a lid on the spirit, aching for the light...
And when, embracing the horizon It pours on us a black day which is sadder than any night... When the Earth is turned into a dripping dungeon In which hope, like a bat, flutters blindly, And bruises its timid wing and tender head against the walls and rotted ceilings,
When the rain, stretching down its long streaks of water imitates the bars of an enormous prison,
And a silent throng of loathsome spiders come And weave their webs inside our brains...
And suddenly the bells swing angrily and hurl their hideous uproar into the sky like a band of wandering spirits,
who wail relentlessly...
And long hearses, without drums, or music move in a slow procession through my soul...
And defeated hope bursts into tears...
As the fierce tyrant anguish sets his black banner on my bowed head...

-Charles Baudelaire

The greatest speech ever spoken....

I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible- Jew, Gentile, black men, white…

We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each others’ happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men’s souls; has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind.

We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery ,we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in man; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all.

Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.

To those who can hear me, I say “Do not despair.”

The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

Soldiers! Don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you; who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder!

Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men—machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have a love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate!

Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural.

Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!

In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it’s written “the kingdom of God is within man”, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power.

Let us all unite.

Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill their promise. They never will!

Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people!

Now let us fight to fulfill that promise! Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance!

Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.

Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite!

Proclamation...

Upon a land of sarcastic freedom...
purging of the mind through words...
indulgence in purpose...
greed...
as we rot from the core...
stinking fumes of opinionated conception...
you think your own thoughts are worth thinking?
the word of god...
the hand of man...
uncreates...

The Self...

people often talk about what it is to know oneself,
but in there search they are inhibited by the notion the there is one absolute answer to such a question,
i have come to realize that its not really about knowing oneself
but understanding the evolution of our own unique personality, the how and why's that make each of us who we are,
learning from mistakes and taking our own understanding of the world and comparing it to that wich we see around us,
only then can we truly see what it means to be ourselves,
to be truly free despite the things the world demands of us,
all around us are things designed to chip and wither,
our spirits are hungry for the truth,
there are answers but they lay in a world that we could have created but chose not too, not as a whole but by those who think themselves worthy of binding our spirits with the things that we "should be",
i dont know, maybe i seem negative but frankly i dont care, id rather die then be anything less then myself in any form,
at no point in time am i who i was just a moment before, never will i be what i am now again,
but whatever i was, am, or will become,
i will never give up,
and even if i die never having found the things i truly want,
at least i will have been true to myself, no matter what the rest of the world says...

No Title

They say this world is is not meant for heroes
i say, why not?
They say this world is not long for romantics...
then what are we here for?
Why settle for less?
when there can be so much more
just because you cannot see it
doesn't mean it isn't there
as the world fades away
as our muscles strain and atrophy
these words flow fluid upon life's final breath
i love you
please don't forget me
ill always be here
forgive me
please don't go...

No Title

Long ago at a point in time far from here,
so far in fact that it is impossible to reach,
so it is purely speculation or an elaboration of the mind,
conscious thought, imagination, and hope...
but for these words alone,
echoing upon the walls of eternity, a memory of the future,
a beautiful dream that fades with every breath,
passing beneath shallow salty waves,
our fate,
our destiny,
the things we think and choose may one day become of themselves,
words inspire,
thought creates,
but greed consumes,
scarring the things that make us whole
and leaving only need,
a solitary voice murmuring in the darkness...