Sky Leaf Media

Favelas of corrugated iron in that
Backlash of rural exodus from dawn till dusk
Along the outskirts of the suburbs we tire
Our wheels are spinning and engines raring to go
But the piston just blew a gasket like magic
And the transmission slipped, hence no action
You hike your skirt but fail to reach the first summit
So many cheap tricks and limericks that fall flat

I’ve chartered a trip to Paris to survey the
Bourgeoisie who drink fine wine and dine lavishly
While the sewers are spewing proletariat
Pestilence from either side of the famed Isle de
From the house of parliament to the tour d’Eiffel
There’s a ruse that’s rousing discontentment in the
Masses when mass has failed to hatch its divine plan
For the poor and hungry with no education

But booking the passage and initiation
The rites for the rights to ride the blinded white horse
Is not always so easily granted by chance
But taken by the snake who obstructs Heaven’s course
If not Heaven then surely the rivers of Earth
If not Earth then surely the measure of mankind
Because there’s a light outside which shines like the sun
And the greatest gift is learning to open up

There in the field is a plot of barren soil
That each day I must break my back over and toil
As my father did before me and his father
A vicious cycle of diminishing returns
Like this land that was once so rich and bountiful
Has been reduced to sand and the crops lie fallow
What are my children going to do, for their time
Is surely in rapid succession after mine?

On a night about the sun they spat solar flares
Luminous streetlight insomniac maniacs
Who’d lie back on our cradle made up of asphalt
Frigid cold that had been teasing these intellects
With smiles frozen in their respective concealment
In the moonlight of the month of May it’s raining
Cascading down ridges on rigid plastic roofs
That cooed a sound like distant memories: heart beats

We traverse mountain passes and snake through jungles
With a constant-ever-steady-and-even-ness
That grounds-down our movement as we reach for the stars
And rounds-out our love if at times we are apart
Because the basis for this journey is free-will
Commanding cooperation that brings-about
An ever-lasting recitation of poems
And such will be until the ultimate-ending

I had a story I wanted to share with you
But the clad-iron press denied me every chance
I advanced on my own accord accordingly
To a time and the space where things falls into place
The courts were short and the magistrate was too tall
It’s true; I slipped right through the confines of the law
From Easter to Christmas and between my birthdays
I’ll be here, with you, thick or thin, clearing the haze

We had a good run for a while but it ended
Certainly I don’t regret or shed a tear here
The palm tree shakes and coconut fruit falls from it
Perhaps life can often be very much like this
I’ve milked the mother cow from sun up to sun down
And there’s nothing I can say or do to summon
A fight-or-flight response because in you I found
The peace from our beginning that was forgotten

Who knows when our hearts will be united again
To spend the hours in an overnight embrace
Hip-to-hip, face-to-face, nose-to-nose with eyes-closed
With your feet suspended mid-air between my feet
And our arms entangled with your breasts in my hands
For the same dream we share night after night on land
Garden of Eden quivering with ecstasy
Touching the naked expanse on our quiet breath?

Recall the call-to-arms that led me into war
There’s nothing I could imagine I wanted more
Than to be back home with our children and with you
But Uncle Sam had other plans for our young men
War is nothing more than a sordid tour-de-force
Congress to chief: zero accountability
A man who dies in war: a flower-bloom no-more
Just a number on a list with digits shifted

Hidalgo, Napoleon, Hitler or Wilson
Infamous names on the wall of fame or of shame
Justifying a cause ‘cause the story’s the same
Infringement then resistance then opposition
Japanese internment camps and Tet Offensive
Subtle or obvious, all these acts of aggression
Are a violation of basic human rights
Cradle to grave: historical embarrassment

If you should have to regulate population
First, consider the following alternative:
We were surely created from an act of love
He and she copulating under the hot sun
Mouths-open, tongue-on-tongue, thrust into position
Linen-or-cotton over velvet-and-satin
Sheets of passion whipping in the temperate wind
A love that’s never-ending; how did hate begin?

You ask how I would love you in this condition
During a state of emergency and crisis
When millions of victims are caught in the cross-fire
How can our love be like Osiris and Isis?
There are depths to my answer and so I’ll reply
Taking into account that the world’s gone awry
There’s a revolution with bloodshed on both sides
That’s why I stake my claim that my love will not die

I carved our names in bark on a tree in the park
With my grandfather’s knife that he had left to me
While this keepsake keeps the memory of him warm
It’s a pocket knife from his Second World War tour
If the symbolism isn’t strikingly clear
I’ll spell it out like the letters of your name here
No matter what hell exists in the government
My path to freedom is as simple as your kiss

Yes, an instrument of war can be used for love
It’s said that it is below as it is above
For example, the words I employ are sharp
Like Cupid’s arrowhead designed to pierce your heart
The finer point is I was engineered to live
As a leader and a warrior, and of what?
Of the army of courage and navy of wit
To prove love that fills a void: no top, no bottom

Light the fire: give it fuel: open the channels:
Take the one: divide the two: penetrate the gate:
Condense the solar plexus: ride the electric kick:
Boil the water in the cauldron: stoke the flames:
Release jade mist: capture heaven mist: mix: contract:
Relax: hold your partner: let her blossom: breathe in:
Repeat: keep her near: feel her quiver: breathe out: smile:
Tantric process: lesson one: don’t close-up: open

I picked this orange from the tree for its beauty
It was perfectly round all-around the midriff
Just what I wanted and not a moment too soon
Its succulent juices sweetened my palate’s zest
Are you so different who I saw in the distance?
I passed by, made passes at, passed up, and passed back
To see if there was something to investigate
My conclusion: I may be too late if I wait

I’ll buy us a cottage on the side of a hill
We can look down all day till the sun runs away
I won’t look to the East, not North, South even West
Only to you, my love, who takes my breath
If there are droughts, I’ll make rain, if poor, I’ll seek fame
If too busy, I’ll resolve to simplicity
Because sharing life with you, for me, is plenty
And any more would be excess I would ignore

In the spring I will leave on a mission of faith
Don’t distress because, my love, this is just a test
If our love is strong then no war can break our bond
If our love is pure then no distance separates
The trails of war are arduous and annoying
Lining the pockets of aristocrats with maps
What I want is to expand the territory
Of my love for you under the full moon’s glory

We talk a while: I dream a lot: we start: we stop
I draw a bit: you color in: we complement
You felt so close: I sent a post and you read it
That gave me the charge to incite a full riot
The king was slain: the military was disarmed
The wealth was redistributed to the masses
All of the dead were burned and I spread the ashes
But it cost the time I could have been raising kids

You had one eye wide open as I showed you a slide
It was rough around the edges but soft inside
The image was so poignant you began to cry
Literally sobbing from your one open eye
I retracted the picture and you asked me why
My response: I didn’t know if it was too much
You wanted the picture perfect moment again
I complied because a woman’s will is my bliss

If you told me to go, you know that I’d stay, but
The part of me that remains is my heart’s content
Helen of Troy: the face that launched a thousand ships
Your face has the power to keep my love grounded
Sticks and stones can break my bones during this conflict
But my spirit is impervious to bullets
I have called your name in every language
But none as beautiful as the tongue that’s native

What’s the precise difference between love and war?
Love keeps a person resilient in times of need
Love rears its children and cares for the elderly
Love is central to the piety of family
War is the scourge of society and the self
War is a fire that consumes a state of good health
War is a condition that spends a nation’s wealth
The difference between love and war is intent

I wrote a song for you: I wrote a poem too
I wrote a word: I wrote a letter: I wrote two
I wrote about our love: I wrote about your eyes
I wrote about my thoughts but some I keep inside
I wrote a book: I wrote a manifesto too
I wrote it down: I wrote it up and sideways too
I wrote what my heart was telling me all along
I wrote “I love you” one hundred million times strong

Give me an inch and I’ll take a mile and then
I’ll pace up and down the length and breadth, then again
I might be gone for a moment, tending to work
But when I finish it is back to our business
You want to share a moment but I share my week
We could go to the Bahamas; this trip’s on me
We could fly over Aconcagua if you like
I’m happy to do this once, happier to twice

Tell me your inner-most desires, well, or don’t
Show me all you’ve kept secret, or keep it hidden
This is the measure of love, not of a doctrine
You open your heart when you are good-and-ready
Sleep all day or stay awake all night by my side
I won’t judge or put you on trial, not by a mile
I’ll just remind you that the only president
Is that which commands the heart and the lips to kiss

You say you want some change: I’ll see what I can do
Full-fledged revolution: end global pollution
Redress the state of greed and address poverty
Healthcare for everyone: slave-wages abolished
For you, no problem: from the top to the bottom
I’ll satisfy every wish for a single kiss
The problems of the world are translucent like love
I see it clearly: a cloudless day: a bright sun

Call me on the phone if you really wish to speak
Better yet, call me close; I’ll heed your beckoning
If you need a break, I’ll leave you for seven days
And if one week is not enough, I’ll go astray
The power of love is the volume to respect
A volume you turn up when you need extra amps
Or a button for mute when love calls for silence
Boundaries are what make love much more exciting

On a lovely day like this, there is suffering
Fear, scarcity, paranoia and depression
Mass killing and religious discrimination
Corruption, lies, deceit, distrust and violence
On a lovely day like this, there is happiness
Love, sex, laughter, passion, friendship, hugs and kisses
Family reunions, holidays and good food
Children playing carelessly: restoring balance

You shook me like an earthquake to my very core
I erupted like a volcano with rapture
Your love is like an asteroid from outer space
The impact rearranged the oceans and terrain
I am unrecognizable compared to some
Who’ve never experienced gravity of love
A force like a tsunami that washes the coast
And in its stead leaves beaches of golden-white sand

The greatest soldiers are surely soldiers of love
They fight on Earth yet they descended from Heaven
They’re angels suited to battle against demons
With wings on their backs and halos above their heads
They were born in the jungles but live on mountains
They’re the poets, musicians, painters and sculptors
The mothers, the fathers, the sisters and brothers
At the heart of the matter, they are what matters

I’m going to be fair-and-square with you this time
And I’ll grant you just one wish so please keep in mind
There is nothing as sacred even in Heaven
As the love that two people create between them
If it’s riches or power; it’s easy to get
If it’s admirers; they come by the dozen
But if I might impose one simple suggestion
I’d wish to end the ignorance so prevalent

I’m tumbling into the sea like a banshee
Crumbling to pieces like the coast of Na Pali
Geography lesson: “No man is an island”
But I feel stranded on this rock without a friend
Not to mention why I came here in the first place
I traveled halfway around the world when you live
Halfway around the world the other direction
I might as well make the Kauai, Hawaii my grave

I told you the truth; I guess that was my mistake
Because the ways of love aren’t the ways you can fake
Believe it: I love you, no matter what you think
Don’t believe and fall victim to skepticism
I rolled my R’s for you; I should have chosen French
At least I’d know not to expect a second glance
I should have chosen any other, but my heart
Made the choice without considering pros and cons

It’s dark here so please allow me to explain
I lit the candle of our love and let it fade
It’s quiet here so this should be easy to hear
I blew the whistle; the sound was too loud for you
I made allowances; you made allowances
In the end we are both right back where we started
They published a new dictionary so I see
Antonym of love is fool: a picture of me

I’m cast away in dreams where you’re not here with me
In your place is a bible, a pile of sutras
A catalogue of every nation’s history
Every research book with its bibliography
Every song, every painting, every invention
All the sun and seeds needed to plant a garden
And mountain-fed spring water that is crystal clear
But it’s not enough without you here too, I fear

Political-Religious institutions
Eco-Geological new frames of thinking
Taoist-Confucian-Buddhist middle-path vision
Electro-digital-hyperspace multi-mainframes
Alien-government-conspiracy theories
Hedge fund-money mutual-investment banking
All of these are just the same: a pile of garbage
In comparison to our love it’s all rubbish

Perhaps it’s best if we avoid that tendency
You don’t want my money; well, that sounds good to me
You don’t want a new house; you’d rather climb a tree
All I hope is that you might save a branch for me
I’m going out on my limb here because my luck
Has been much better than it seems to be today
But if I were a gambling man I’d go all-in
Because loving you is worth failed embarrassment

I had a dream like Martin Luther King Junior
But now you tell me that I should have stayed awake
I had some things I was intent on telling you
It was no fantasy, just a vision I couldn’t shake
When I tried to substitute another for you
I wound up feeling down, looking really stupid
If anything is a testament to my idea of love
May you find it in my words, not my crash-and-burn

This just in: we got an important announcement
War’s been declared on his majesty’s government
If you shutter to ask who’s behind the attack
You might be surprised to learn it’s the citizens
They staged an armed insurrection in the plaza
They appointed their own officials with new laws
Because of the national deficit of love
Who on Earth would want to live in that condition?

Yes, it’s true; I’ve done my homework to impress you
Why would you want some ignorant schmuck with chutzpah?
I’m formally trained in Judeo-Christian “lit”
Over six million forms of communication
I’m like C-3PO of socio-culture
Sure, I know some choice words in Hebrew and Yiddish
But I’m not trying to haggle with your heart here
I’m blessing our future in an ancient language

I know about Inti Raymi and the Inca
The largest American civilization
That the capital moved from Cuszo to Lima
And we’re reaching Machu Picchu’s celebration
Corpus Christi, Mamacha Carmen and Temblores
Day of the Dead and Puno’s Candelaria
But what I haven’t learned from books are the customs
Would you please teach me the ways of Latin love?

I’m bettering myself while I’m besting the rest
I want to be first to give my application
Just check, you’ll see, my credentials are impressive
Unbeatable I might say; let’s not get ahead
The job requested, humble and faithful servant
A line of work I’m quite inclined to excel at
It’s been my dream; give me the opportunity
I promise you won’t be disappointed in me

Show me a picture of your home and show me more
Show me a glimmer of your heart; that’s a good start
Show me where you lay your head and where I lay mine
Show me how you want me or ease and let me guide
I’ll mold you like clay with these knowledgeable hands
And when your muscles unwind like a rubber band
Don’t get anxious; conversely, just lean into me
I’ll hold you when you transcend into a goddess

Writing from the sidelines of a terrible war
I can’t discern who might be winning because
Death is devastatingly astronomical
Why didn’t we resolve the conflict with worship?
If you’re sanctimonious, where’s the evidence?
My God is benevolent, with many names
Manitou, Brahman, Allah, El and Jehovah
I refer to Her as love: a state of being

Who is the God of war? Ares, Badb, Camulus
Donar, Eshara, Futsu-Chushi-no-Kami
Guan-di, Hudar, Indra, Jarovit, Korrawi
Mars, Nanaja, Oro, Resef, Septu, Turris?
I’m not sure; I find the list very exhausting
The notion in itself seems thoroughly inept
I’d much rather learn a different discipline
Like making you laugh when life seems too serious

I’m somewhat of a metaphysician and why?
Because I question this supposed causation
How I came to love you is a proper instance
In fact I did not come to love but fell in love
Granted, since this force compelled me, I did nothing
But is love a question of performance or pose?
I like to think a greater force brings you to me
In conclusion, love is the easy way to be

Freud, Jung, Maslow, Pavlov and Piaget were great minds
Plato, Socrates, Zeno, Aristotle and Leibniz were wise
But they have never explained the feeling of flight
The sensation I get every time you’re nearby
That captivates my attention more than sickness
More than government and religion together
More than any force of opposition because
My love is a seed that grows on its own; plant it

This love is the stuff that fairytales are made of
A classic Italian recipe: bruschetta
But that’s the appetizer; wait for the main course
You’ll melt like butter in my alfredo sauce
This love is the stuff that dreams are made of; wake up
I’ll toss up the sheets like insalata caprese
Nudge you from your siesta with lips to your ear
And whisper this: it is time, my darling; let’s eat

I hired a workforce of slaves to heed my plea
Although the chain gang consisted solely of me
I took up a shovel and then starting digging
Hoping that this Earth would fill the hole in my soul
I found turquoise, malachite, jasper, tigers-eye
Ruby, pyrite, gold, silver and even diamonds
No amount of labor yielded the stone I liked
Amethyst quartz was close but rose quartz was absent

I poured my heart and soul into this endeavor
But in the process it seems that I’ve forgotten
All circumstances are orchestrated by force
Try as I might, I’ll never overpower it
Much like the tide, it comes and goes without notice
When I’m feeling high its force ignites my zeppelin
When I’m feeling low its force rockets me to bliss
A force with no beginning or end, what is it?

Some call me miracle-worker; I don’t agree
Every time I try to manifest anything
I wind up disappointed in my vain attempts
Because I’d rather have freedom by extension
I’m no wizard, no conjurer of illusions
Pretty sure I don’t even count as a yogi
What I have always wanted remains out of reach
To have a swami of love; tell me, do you teach?

This tea is delicate; its flavors are subtle
I take a quick sniff then inhale the impression
I’m contemplating David Hume’s book, the Treatise
I take a sip but don’t swallow it instantly
Instead let aromas unfold on my tongue
I taste Earl Grey, not my favorite; good when mixed
It reminds me of my business growth and success
But your love is the sugar and cream that’s missing

I feel very weary like a diabetic
Someone, anyone, please call the paramedics
We’re going to need an ambulance to revive
The sense of your spirit sequestered in my mind
Blocked it out so long, I had a bad reaction
The blood sugar would never make circulation
I’m dead in the water and it’s a big ocean
To be floating aimlessly without direction

I was the greatest archer in this hemisphere
Well-known as a marksman with a large entourage
We went from town to town as an outlaw posse
Sheriffs that challenged quickly learned a lesson
The banks were empty and the saloons were dry too
We robbed the place blind and robbed the blind just for spite
Towards the end it occurred to me like lightning
That I had completely overshot my target

The dark side of the moon has its own dark secrets
Maybe the government has secret moon bases
If so, it makes my transgressions less sinister
My only crime was denying myself the course
The rapids cracked my canoe and it bottomed out
I took to land but the thickets were quite wicked
Flying was not an option because you wanted
Your space; your wish is my command; over-and-out

If we can draw parallels like Pythagoras
We might see that some lines may never intersect
But that’s just a mathematical theory, not life
It’s true: I’ve bent the rules of physics many times
What I find is that anything is possible
If the heart is pure and the mind is developed
The only impasse to love are the forces of
Greed, hatred, or any malicious quality

I’m almost done even though I just started this
After running in circles, tethered to a stick
Nothing to eat, nothing to drink; no nourishment
No time to sleep, not even rest; only back-breaks
My muscles are tired and my lungs are straining
Is this the price for some hidden light at the end?
A sign of the times: all things in moderation

Alexander the Great expanded his empire
It’s said he was given a vimana and he
Owned a submarine made entirely from crystal
Conquering not just land, but the skies and the seas
It’s also said that he died of a broken heart
If he could accomplish a lot with elephants
And a band of dedicated death-battalions
I wonder why Saint Peter died on the cross

The answers herein are infinite regressions
Military campaigns are easy to explain
We all seek love but today we’re fighting in vain
Because we fail to recognize we’re much the same
To say one last thing: I cannot offer to you
More than I have; not the stars, the sun and the moon
Just my hand in which I hold the key to your heart
Like I said: it’s not the end, but it’s a good start