I travelled down this mazy path
Trying to find….Only reflections, only cold
Darkness, Only a lost son, the journey is long
Blocked at every turn, mirrors are solid, silent and cold.

A scream in the dark, rage from the mold,
I shattered the silent ones, to find what is old.
It enveloped me gently, a lover's embrace,
Elevated me quickly, shatter and made.

Now I am, I will, and can be
All that was, is and will be.

Follow the path that…layed before you.
Week and you will Find
A link to every mind.
Then you will find the peace and truth that is everlasting.

D. Gravitt (GA, U.S.A,)

I travelled through life as misbegotten son
My Soul buried, my heart on the run.
Run it did, a never-ending cycle,
Hate, love, none of the above
The coldness, the darkness, a never-ending cycle…
The hate, the hate…. The circle that repeats.

I am a player in a game. What rules to follow?
Humanity the master??
All around run, run faster.
The game is called life
And I am it's slave.

My downfall was swift, I plunged in the ….
When I reached my center I found that spark
A spark that's everlasting, cant be put out
I grasped then gently, fanned the Flame, it lifted me out.
To the clouds I shot, transformed, transcend.
I am you, we are whole, we are one.

When I was eighteen
You slinked across my path
A black cat even then
A precocious teen
And I was an awkward
One-legged grasshopper
Jumping in circles
'Round you.

We were kids then
With whole lives
Ahead of
And a history
Yet to be
Between us

Once at that same spot
I saw a hummingbird
And sat entranced
By that delicate beauty
Hovering there

You had beauty too
Like that but
More like a jaguar

Winteborne (N.B. Canada)

Beyond my lock-box of concrete and steel
I hear the clamor of caged anguish"
I grumble at first,
But then thank god I've made some peace
With my bit
In this place of shit and blood.

Others spit fury and self-hatred
And wait for their reward.
The attention of hard words and leather-clad hands,
Never long coming.
It's crazy what some people miss.

I see the soul-shattered faces of guys
We call 'the bugs'.
Marching in an endless med. Parade,
Hand out and head empty, they trudge.
I could cry, if they weren't so funny,
There goofy bastards in their shabby housecoats.

When it's quiet here, it's too quiet.
If the medication's just right, I can hear the traffic outside.
Or my hair growing.
In my steel and concrete cage
I watch a ball game and wonder "where the hell is Kalamazoo?"

Later,
Under my bunk I catch Jesus and Mohammed playing Twister
With the dust hares.
(Really, They're too big to call 'bunnies'.)
In the center Buddha floats a few inches off the floor,
'Weather's wonderful. Wish you were here',
written in a circle 'round his belly.

Winteborne (N.B. Canada)

50 FEET TO FREEDOM

50 feet to freedom
Yet time maintains its ruthless grip
20 yards to life
Alas, razor bars my way
My sparrow friend came for dinner tonight
We spoke a little
When it came time to leave
We said our goodbyes
And with a silent lift
Skyward he flew
50 feet to freedom

By Tristan Ryan, The Drum

THE AWAKENING

Conceived of woman
By seed of man
Shaped through life
By disparaging hand

Stumbled in blindness
Down narrow path
Dealt through injustice
Mired in wrath.

Devoid of purpose
Standing apart
Masked in darkness
With crippled heart

Came the awakening
Something new
A touch of compassion
And humanity grew

Each day a lesson
How to be kind
Growth in spirit
Healing of mind

Born was the knowledge
No longer alone
Given birth
Within a circle of stone

Amid tendrils of incense
A dispelling of fears
The magic of Wicca
A gift of tears

My Lady be a Goddess
My Lord is horned
Now may be treasured
Much once scorned

Air, Fire, Water, Earth
Touch upon my soul
Know me as a Wiccan
Know that I am whole

Blessed be...

Dan Worth

TO A FRIEND

So you say
you are my friend.
Well at least
you want to
be.

I ask myself why?
There is no reason I
can see for this to
be.

I look at you, and
I see some one. But
I really don't know
you.

All I know is I
have a feeling
which tells me to
trust you.

So I will give you
a chance, to know
more about me.

And who knows. Maybe
we will be friends
for life

TO A FRIEND

Into the night we
move. With no plan
on where to go.

We see the night as
our friend, but know
not why.

Maybe it's because we
can hide in its
darkness.

Maybe it's because
there is no one
around.

Or maybe it's because
it is how we feel
inside.

Darkness may be our
friend, but it is
a lonely friend.

For anyone who has
darkness as a friend
really has no other

O

As the moonlit night with darkness lingering
Our dreams of yesteryear distant dim memories
To emerge from the shell of life's cocoon
And mothlike enveloped by heaven's luminescent flame.

Imprinting the experiences of life's finite journey
Recirculating the wisdom for genesis anew
Languish in the essence of the spirit's visceral fluid
To awaken within friendship's domain.

Steven W. Zehr