Protoman-swe

A Soldier
by: Robert Frost

He is that fallen lance that lies as hurled,
That lies unlifted now, come dew, come rust,
But still lies pointed as it ploughed the dust.
If we who sight along it round the world,
See nothing worthy to have been its mark,
It is because like men we look too near,
Forgetting that as fitted to the sphere,
Our missiles always make too short an arc.
They fall, they rip the grass, they intersect
The curve of earth, and striking, break their own;
They make us cringe for metal-point on stone.
But this we know, the obstacle that checked
And tripped the body, shot the spirit on
Further than target ever showed or shone.

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sculls

The Wayfarer
by Padraic Pearse

The beauty of the world hath made me sad,
This beauty that will pass;
Sometimes my heart hath shaken with great joy
To see a leaping squirrel in a tree,
Or a red lady-bird upon a stalk,
Or little rabbits in a field at evening,
Lit by a slanting sun,
Or some green hill where shadows drifted by
Some quiet hill where mountainy man hath sown
And soon would reap; near to the gate of Heaven;
Or children with bare feet upon the sands
Of some ebbed sea, or playing on the streets
Of little towns in Connacht,
Things young and happy.
And then my heart hath told me:
These will pass,
Will pass and change, will die and be no more,
Things bright and green, things young and happy;
And I have gone upon my way
Sorrowful.

sc1ence

Some of my poems:

SAM

Sam woke up in the security of his bed.
Rubbed his eyes and shook his head.
In the darkness he snuck to the door
On hands and knees across the floor.

A crack of light was showing through,
He saw his mom and wondered what to do.
She was standing there with hands on hips
As a loving smile crept across her lips.

“Get back to bed young man!” she cried.
“Yes Mother dearest of all” he lied.
He stole back to the safety of his room
With visions of his mom riding a broom.

He laid there in the dark thinking
Of the chocolate milk he could be drinking
And slowly drifted off to sleep
Doubting the method of counting sheep.






Truth
So what is to keep me company now?
After the excitement of finding something else
Has worn thin

Reality is a threadbare carpet
Which we dare not throw out.

The problem is truth does not go any further than
Here
At the source is the only place it exists
We become dissatisfied with its simplicity and carefully weave in the threads of our dreams
In an attempt to make somehow more of this place,
This moment we call
Right now.

Right now is the only truth we will ever know.
The past is tainted with desperate
recollections of pain and joy
While the future is drawn in shades of hope and fear.

The clarity that allows insanity to flourish for want of
a lie,
Mischievous truth, lies in wait
For one to open her eyes and
Follow her heart
Which beats only one second at a time
Underneath all the lies
Secure
For now
But still

Waiting
Like me
For the next act to begin. . .



Tara swimming for a moment.

A barely noticeable breeze walked carefully across the water’s surface
Leaving small footprints as ripples bouncing around the protection of your pier.
You turned, twisted a smile, thought nothing of the world
And swam.
The happiness in your eyes made me wish I was the ocean.



closer to the truth.
It is not all sex,
Sometimes there is something else.
Afterwards of course,
Alone.
Lacking a goal,
Undefinable, but certainly missing.
Stopped, with my ear close to her thigh,
I listen for a sign that I am not
Alone.

We both hear the answer.
Looking away despite the darkness,
Foolishly trying to believe
In something more
Than silence.

Looking for meaning in life is an ill posed question.
Why do we need a purpose, a reason?
Why is it so easy to believe in lies?
And why is it, in talking to myself,
I never get the answers I want.

Yet, with my ear inching closer to the truth,
Everything is so clear...

It is times like this,
Ultimately cheap and confused,
With my ears buried in the truth,
That realize I am not listening to her. . .
I am trying to hear myself.


Time

Creativity?
Words spilling on paper like cockroaches searching for shelter when the light switch is thrown
It is not going to work
You cant force it
And still I wonder if I am cut out for it,
Yhe suffering I mean.
And you, if you knew me, would it make a difference?
Would you say
“Stop.”
Or would you sit back and watch me, a moth downward in haphazard circles from the disillusionment of reaching a dream
Only to find a light bulb and burned wings in the cool evening air?
Trying to overcome but never quite succeeding
The way it is
Never over
Or stopped.
Despite all our efforts to contain time
She moves at her own pace
Completely out of sight.
Smile
And then run like hell.

Grunt 70

We've clearly got some very talented poets at Tactical Gamer. Kudos to you all and to Proto for starting this thread.


snippet of a chorus to the 2007 Rush song "Faithless" I found inspiring--

I don't believe in faith
I don't believe in beliefs
you can call me faithless
you can call me faithless
but I believe in hope
and I believe in love
and that's faith enough for me
that's faith enough for me

Penned by Neal Peart, as all Rush lyrics are. Neal is an amazing lyricist and yes, it's only rock and roll, but throughout the years I've found much inspiration in his lyrics.

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|TG-22nd|Grunt



"When force is necessary, it must be applied boldly, decisively, and completely. But one must know the limitations of force; one must know when to blend force with maneuver" - Leon Trotsky

Shafik

Love this thread.

In the Desert/ Stephen Crane

In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter – bitter", he answered,
"But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart."

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Sir-Nerd

Easy Company: [Singing] Is everybody happy? Cried the Sergeant looking up
Our hero feebly answered yes, and then they stood him up
He jumped into the icy blast, his static line unhooked
And he ain't gonna jump no more!

Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die!
Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die!
Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die!
He ain't gonna jump no more!

The risers wrapped around his neck, connectors cracked his dome
Suspension lines were tied in knots around his skinny bones
The canopy became his shroud, he hurtled to the ground
And he ain't gonna jump no more!

Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die!
Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die!
Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die!
He ain't gonna jump no more!

He hit the ground, the sound was SPLAT, his blood went spurting high
His comrades then were heard to say, A HELL OF A WAY TO DIE!
He lay there rolling round in the welter of his gore
He ain't gonna jump no more!

Sing to the tone of GLORY GLORY.

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NOW POWERED BY WINDOWS VISTA 64BIT!!!

When you can't run anymore, you crawl and when you can't do that, you find someone to carry you.

Protoman-swe

No heroes

There were no heroes here
Amongst the men who tramped through
Rutted, quaking moor,
Or crawled, cat-silent,
Over skittering scree
To prove the way.

No heroes fought the blazing fires
Which sucked the very blood from
Ship and man alike.
Or braved knife cold
Without a thought
To save a life.

No heroes they, but ones who loved
Sweet life and children's laugh,
And dreamt of home
When war allowed.
They were but men.

David Morgan

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HBrutusH

Bump. I am NOT reading the 15 million new posts that have come about since I left. :P

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<<<<Magic!!




-F- Concr3te: "Brutus, goddammit, shut up!"

Spulat

One of my more minor works, written a few months back.

"Twenty Seven Bulbs"

Silicon sand to a black morass
Shines an image back that you think is ass
But behind the super polished sediment and stone
Is the real deal man, and it's you're own

Stolid free standin' hard
This free country ain't free so far
I wasted away 10 years of ad-ult life
Let's hope these next 10 aren't rifed

Cause there's a big ol' debt standing on each of our heads
She's a big 300k in somethin' red
7" stilletos bolted to your brain
To satisfy The Man's hungry pain

____
Standin' firm against a strong headwind
That's all in my head, but can be rescind
The days of survival have long since past
So tighten the straps, and firm up the mast
____

Well twenty seven sneaks up on me
Something I didn't think hardly
But ten years back age seventeen
Odd number but an even keen

Sense of where I've come and went
Runnin' no more, no, I'm hell bent
Break them chains tethers and ties
Shake off doctrine slander and lies

_____
(So you can) stand up firm against a strong headwind
That's all in my head, but can be rescind
The days of survival tactics long since past
Kiddo, buckle up boots, and dump out the trash
_____

Silicon sand to a black morass
Shines an image back that you think is ass
But behind the super polished sediment and stone
Is the defacto face of the man you honed

Cause there's a big ol' debt standing on your head
But you can knock her off with a boulder instead
Just keep the idea bulb in your brain assuaged
And see your self out of your own stone-age.

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Inspired by "God's Country", by Ani Difranco. Using a similar beat and timing.

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"This one time, in bandcamp, DrBeat ninja knifed HALF of the Clarinet section before they even knew what was happening! Which you know, the herd needed thinning anyhow".