Love.

Posted by Valerian Guard on

I admit, I was afraid to love. Not just to love, but to love her. For she was a stunning mystery. She carried things deep inside her that no one has yet to understand, and I, I was afraid to fail like the others. She was the ocean and I was just a boy who loved the waves but was completely terrified to swim.

Hallowed Ground

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What’s hallowed ground? Has earth a clod
Its Maker meant not should be trod
By man, the image of his God,
Erect and free,
Unscourged by Superstition’s rod
To bow the knee?

That’s hallowed ground where, mourned and missed,
The lips repose our love has kissed;
But where’s their memory’s mansion? Is’t
Yon churchyard’s bowers?
No! in ourselves their souls exist,
A part of ours.

A kiss can consecrate the ground
Where mated hearts are mutual bound:
The spot where love’s first links were wound,
That ne’er are riven,
Is hallowed down to earth’s profound,
And up to heaven!

For time makes all but true love old;
The burning thoughts that then were told
Run molten still in memory’s mould;
And will not cool
Until the heart itself be cold
In Lethe’s pool.

What hallows ground where heroes sleep?
‘Tis not the sculptured piles you heap!
In dews that heavens far distant weep
Their turf may bloom;
Or Genii twine beneath the deep
Their coral tomb.

But strew his ashes to the wind
Whose sword or voice has served mankind,
And is he dead, whose glorious mind
Lifts thine on high?
To live in hearts we leave behind
Is not to die.

Is’t death to fall for Freedom’s right?
He’s dead alone that lacks her light!
And murder sullies in heaven’s sight
The sword he draws:
What can alone ennoble fight?
A noble cause!

Give that, and welcome War to brace
Her drums, and rend heaven’s reeking space!
The colors planted face to face,
The charging cheer,
Though Death’s pale horse lead on the chase,
Shall still be dear.

And place our trophies where men kneel
To Heaven! but Heaven rebukes my zeal!
The cause of Truth and human weal,
O God above!
Transfer it from the sword’s appeal
To Peace and Love.

Peace, Love! the cherubim, that join
Their spread wings o’er Devotion’s shrine,
Prayers sound in vain, and temples shine,
Where they are not,
The heart alone can make divine
Religion’s spot.

To incantations dost thou trust,
And pompous rites in domes august?
See mouldering stones and metal’s rust
Belie the vaunt,
That man can bless one pile of dust
With chime or chant.

The ticking wood-worm mocks thee, man!
Thy temples,creeds themselves grow wan!
But there’s a dome of nobler span,
A temple given
Thy faith, that bigots dare not ban,
Its space is heaven!

Its roof, star-pictured Nature’s ceiling,
Where, trancing the rapt spirit’s feeling,
And God himself to man revealing,
The harmonious spheres
Make music, though unheard their pealing
By mortal ears.

Fair stars! are not your beings pure?
Can sin, can death, your worlds obscure?
Else why so swell the thoughts at your
Aspect above?
Ye must be heavens that make us sure
Of heavenly love!

And in your harmony sublime
I read the doom of distant time;
That man’s regenerate soul from crime
Shall yet be drawn,
And reason on his mortal clime
Immortal dawn.

What’s hallowed ground? ‘Tis what gives birth
To sacred thoughts in souls of worth!
Peace! Independence! Truth! go forth
Earth’s compass round;
And your high-priesthood shall make earth
All hallowed ground.

– THOMAS CAMPBELL.

It shouldn’t be News.

Posted by Valerian Guard on

Common sense isn’t common anymore so they should consider changing it in the dictionary to something more appropriate like “rare sense”. That aside, let’s discuss other types of things that used to be common but are now uncommon.

It’s funny (sad) when news channels or news papers go out of their way to report something very small that’s positive because of all the negative stuff that’s predominant out there (kidnappings, murder, wars, terrorism, etc) for instance “Fireman saves cat from house fire” What a hero! Yes, he is a hero but that’s a fireman’s every day life and he probably thinks nothing of it but to distract us from what’s really going on they spoon feed us stuff like that not only as a distraction though, but because the world has gotten so fucked up where it’s about you and only you, money is life, and so forth that ANY small deed that’s good is fucking NEWS! Can you believe that? Are we ever going to wake the fuck up? This shit back in the day wasn’t news. The baker on the corner giving free bread to the hungry kids at closing wasn’t news, that was my dad doing the RIGHT FUCKING THING.  The woman opening her home to the family that lost their home to foreclosure wasn’t news, it was a person who had compassion for other human beings. Back in the day, the man who gave a few extra dollars to the kid selling news papers on the corner to help him feed his family wasn’t news, it was a man doing something that came naturally to him. All of these instances weren’t headlines in the news, they were COMMON. It was a display of what other people meant to other people, what good was, what it meant to care for others at no benefit to you. Now they are headlines because it’s such a rarity that it needs to be reported.

In this day and age yes it’s great to read something other than the death toll in Iraq. It’s good to read about things that lift your spirits, but it’s also an open display of what’s wrong with this world today. If something astronomical happened, it was in the news way back when and all the fun bits like “Mr. Goldman caught the biggest bass in the Powhatan River”, or “Belle the pig won best in show at the local farm festival” were reported only locally via small print or posters or by word of mouth but NOW it’s all the same old horrendous shit mixed with a side of, “The woman who fed the homeless some of her home made pie.” That’s great, but it shouldn’t be news, it should still be as it was, it should still be so fucking common that it’s not worth reporting.  There should be no gain for you in order for you to care about others and do the right thing. There should be no money involved in order for you to get off your ass and DO something good. This world makes me sick. It’s dark, it’s disgusting, and it’s going to hell in a hand basket.

You can argue that there is good in this world and I will agree but when you take a very close look at the world as a whole, how common is it? At the end of the day most people are moved by greed or anything that will be of their own benefit at their own convenience. Would you even look up from your iphone long enough to notice someone falling onto the train tracks? No one gives a shit anymore. No one pays attention. The good things out there are not enough to disguise what’s really going on here, what this world is coming to and what it already is. The good is mostly gone so when we find it we have to display it in newspapers and on tv as if it’s this brand new thing we are all discovering for the first time. It’s pathetic.

Opportunity

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There is an opportunity in my dad’s childhood town in Minnesota for me. A lot of my family still live there and I go there for a lot of holidays so I have been thinking about taking the offer. Laramie is not fond of the harsh winters there but would support me wither way. I feel I have been planted here in NJ and so my roots have grown quite deep here. My friends and some other family are still here, my favorite clubs, bars, restaurants, events but I am at the stage in my life where perhaps change would be good. I have done the same thing for a very long time and when I think about it, it makes me feel like a robot. The same mornings, the same evenings, the same faces, the same places. The same thing every.single.day. I never thought I’d grow tired of it and maybe I haven’t but when really thinking ahead this is my life here. Can I continue to do this forever? Maybe change to a new home here but things would be the same around me. Then the thought of moving and having to start over at this stage is a little daunting. I have friends there sure and of course I know my way around, where to go, what to do so it wouldn’t be SO new that I feel lost but can I adjust? There is really no great weather to take the bike out and I’d hate to sell it.

Decisions, decisions.

I take my next trip out there during Thanksgiving. Perhaps it will help me decide.

The Steel Horse

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My steel horse, tride and true. She never fails me. She’s swift like a striking snake. Today was a beautiful day and so we rode. A cool breeze sucking me into it’s vortex  encompasses me as we take to a limitless road at great speed. I feel alive as I draw breath from Autumn’s dusk. There is a certain satisfaction, a feeling I only get when on the road with her, my steel horse.