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Poems on the Eve of War
March 18th, 2003 | Sabertooth

Posted on 03/18/2003 10:55:54 AM PST by Sabertooth

Two Towers

Shattered in the blue dawn's early gleaming,
Steel and glass fall down one fateful morn.
Twin Towers burn in fires of hateful dreaming.
We wake to pyres of nightmares newly born.

Now, rebel clerics fan the flaming rabble.
And yet, the Bell of Hope chimes. God, we hear it
Above the evil death-cult's towering babble,
Ringing to our heart, our mind, our spirit.

So to our Towers our streaming faces turn,
Still standing on our bannered City's Hill--
As Root and Branch our enemies can't burn--
As Pen and Sword: the allies of our will.

For God and Country stand our righteous Towers.
The Two are not Jihad's. The Two are ours.



In Their Wake

Up among the ancient Afghan bluffs,
Bin Laden the pretender mulls his plot.
This Allah's Mahdi lost to fate's rebuff:
He called "Jihad!" But echoes jeer his thought.

The Silk Roads veiled about the Khyber Pass
Allure the Conquerors to grasp at glory.
Their blood-caked legions trample down the grass,
With brimstone in their wake, and woe their story…

How Alexander whipped his crimson rains!
How Ghengis Khan raised pyramids of heads!
"I am the Scourge of God!" roared Tamurlane.
All victors; all defeated; all are dead.

Deep in the earth all conquerors learn well,
That only One has conquered death and hell.



Remembering Again

December 7th came again at midnight
Like smoke and darkness from the Rising Sun.
Remembering again, we fight the Good Fight.
Another mourning cries at evil done.

The eagles' realm which holds the Purple Mountains
Has bred a folk upon its heartland grain,
Rained by waters flown from Living Fountains,
Who eat of fruit grown on the moral plain.

In peace our generosity is gold.
Our stature arms ferocity in war.
No Lilliputian tyrant's ropes can hold
The longhorn or the grizzly… So we roar.

Let History warn well the still defiant:
The doomed will dare to rustle sleeping giants



Twelve Eleven

It's ninety odd degrees the world has spun,
Along the path on which it's ever turning;
A quarter orbit 'round the placid Sun,
Has past that dark attack-- Our wrath is burning.

Clocks chime. Bells toll. Let's roll on from the West!
The wheel has turned, and we will spin it more.
Let Islam learn, who woke the giant's rest;
Be with us or against us. Here's the score…

Kunduz, Kabul, and Khandahar have fallen;
The Taliban now reap their grim rewards.
Our daisy cutters flare the poppy pollen,
Cremating Tora Bora's cultic hordes.

And when these fires go cold and smoke rolls back,
When this horizon clears… We'll see Iraq.



Such a Time

When Pope John Paul and President Reagan took
Assassins' shots, what Providence was shown?
When both survive the Eastern Walls they shook,
What unseen ways beyond our ways are known?

When human events flow bloody in their courses,
Are Wallenburgs and Churchills called from shore?
When Major Washington survived his horses,
Himself unmarked, did History mark more?

When Esther found herself the cherished Queen,
While Persia's Jews were facing death's abyss,
Why did she choose to risk her life between?
Who called her forth, for such a time as this?

This Christmastime, Who calls our military?
Who called when Gabriel announced to Mary?



A Christmas Moment

Encamped on crags, the wind brings whiffs of victory
From every burned out cave and smoking hole.
Each ashen Afghan pass betrays a History
Of fallen soldiers' footprints; vanished souls.

While the vanquished and the victors turn to dust,
On hills and plains their battles echo on.
And yet, as swords and plowshares earn their rust,
Beyond these fields Eternity goes on.

So carve your faith on your aortal chambers,
And clamber up the cliffs to serve for Good--
Your hearts enflamed with God's immortal embers,
Allied with what His Prophets understood.

But first…. take pause from all your stratagems--
And wonder at the Star of Bethlehem.



Homeland Hearth

Merry Christmas 'round this spinning world;
You Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines.
In this great battle into which you're hurled,
Know now you're spoken in our prayers and dreams.

The Universe is vast and often dark…
The galaxies are scattered through the cold…
Yet in this Milky Way we see the Spark…
On Earth we witness History unfold.

Sometimes we wake up and the world is changed,
And we perceive a glimmer of His plan.
Our eyes unchained, we glimpse the pre-arranged,
And we accept the cause of mortal man.

You fight that Freedom's Fire will ever burn.
Your cause is ours; our debt is yours. Return.



The Oryx and the Lioness

Young oryx and her lioness arose
And stretched. Our distant ken then dimly yawned:
Her orphan had no dam, yet… love? God knows.
We smiled that cat and kid had purred and fawned.

She hearkened to the antelope as hers,
A roar of Judah's past and future fleece.
Deep in the darkest countenance, what stirs?
What breath behooves ferocious hearts to peace?

Their paths now crossed, her oryx at her side,
The lioness approached the pond to drink.
But nature's other hungers crouch and hide;
In underbrush, a fateful pride may slink..

By other jaws, her oryx lamb was met…
Isaiah's oracle is not quite yet.



Mortal Pestle

The sweating palms of parched and idol lands
Are dropping dates in living dead oases…
Obituaries, nameless as the sands.
The agar augurs ill… of grave embraces.

The headwaters of Eden flow through wastes,
Beneath whose ruined remnants of our dawning,
And under palaces of tyrant tastes,
A pestilence is nursed… and plagues are spawning.

For yawning like the ancient, leprous skull,
That swallows all the kin of those first spouses
Into its void, for better or for null--
The wakened pox descends on sleeping houses.

A mortal pestle grinds tomorrow's fate,
As sorrows issue from the Ishtar Gate.



Bird Calls

An olive tree bestrides a cracking mount
Its blackened boughs bescrawled by dirty talons.
The hour befalls our moments lacking count…
A predawn pall of dark and light imbalanced.

An owl hoots alone. Where is his query?
What urge predates his instinct that he prays?
When awe lives in his eyes that makes him tarry
Upon the branch an instant… Who delays.

A thief would find no watchman there to look,
But in the air's deduced unspoken calls.
The raven caws to find his master's brook.
The owl takes his roost on broken walls.

The cock crows East. Again… impending portent.
The hidden Sun's increased beyond the Jordan.




All poems © by Sabertooth, 2001, 2002, and 2003.


TOPICS: History; Poetry; Religion
KEYWORDS:
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I

Timestream

Here… hush… In days like these, the soft din swells…
A silent voice resolves within the waves,
And epicentral, everywhere, it tells
Of currents and recurrence… wombs and graves.

Between the echoes under whispers, much
Is hidden, little heard, and some is dream.
Swift ears may sift true silences and touch
The babbling drift of time's relentless stream.

What mythic pool has this way overflown,
Precipitated from what endless deep?
What History engulfs all we have known,
And sweeps us to what certain, secret keep?

When memory and prophecy cohere,
They flood the tides that lap across our sphere.


II

Origins and Ends

Awareness to the surface realm is steep;
The broken waters mirror sacrifice.
Awakening from rems of liquid sleep,
Our daylight drops between the fire and ice.

As waters eddy 'round a stone in draught,
And ebon flows of void will sluice some matter,
So time will wake about a turn of thought…
So myth moves from a moment's gravid patter

What notes the light year where you'd find your star?
What marks true meaning of our time or place?
How do you know just where and when you are?
Dark origins and ends still ripple space.

By gravity and surge the clever steer…
The spiral to abyss is ever sheer.


III

Myth Within

Like vagabond ellipses planets trace,
The dancing sprites of ions shell their ova.
White dwarfs and blood red giants haunt our race…
What atom's eve might light a supernova?

Look through the shallow tension of modernity
And plumb the spinning depths down under time:
The quirks and quarks and shards of far eternity
All overwash the present pantomime.

Our conscience is a dream without a slumber,
Where chronons seep and stream from hidden wells.
Whose watch elapses ours without a number,
Where scrolling singularity indwells?

A clarity springs silently, and near.
True myth is drawn within us. Listen… Hear?






For the past year and a half I've been scribbling poems about the War and the Times in which we live. I've been flattered that some of you have enjoyed them, and I thought that, as we're about to fight for Civilization in the Cradle of Civilization, it might be opportune to collect them together.

May God bless America, our President and leaders, and our troops; may He guide our thoughts and keep us safe, and may He bring true peace to Israel and Jerusalem.






1 posted on 03/18/2003 10:55:54 AM PST by Sabertooth
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To: Victoria Delsoul; CheneyChick; vikingchick; Neuromancer; JohnHuang2; Grampa Dave; okimhere; DKNY; ..
((((((growl)))))



2 posted on 03/18/2003 10:58:29 AM PST by Sabertooth
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To: Sabertooth
I've been scribbling poems

no ...you write wonderful poetry....

Thank you for the ping...

May God bless America, our President and leaders, and our troops; may He guide our thoughts and keep us safe, and may He bring true peace to Israel and Jerusalem.

Amen.
3 posted on 03/18/2003 11:14:16 AM PST by firewalk
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To: Sabertooth; coteblanche; SAMWolf; bentfeather; grantswank; fish hawk; g'nad; funkywbr; ...
WOW. WOW.. Awesome writings!

This deserves a:



. . . POETRY BRIGADE PING . . .

Freep mail me if you want off my list

4 posted on 03/18/2003 11:18:59 AM PST by Johnny Gage (We will not tire, We will not falter, We will not fail. - President George W. Bush)
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To: Sabertooth
Art-lovers BTTT!
5 posted on 03/18/2003 11:28:21 AM PST by Nitro
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To: Sabertooth
Bing bang boom

Saddam be doomed.
6 posted on 03/18/2003 11:37:32 AM PST by ricpic
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To: Sabertooth
Let History warn well the still defiant:
The doomed will dare to rustle sleeping giants

Well said.

7 posted on 03/18/2003 11:43:01 AM PST by vikingchick
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To: Sabertooth; coteblanche; bentfeather; Victoria Delsoul; SAMWolf
By other jaws, her oryx lamb was met…
Isaiah's oracle is not quite yet.

I'm sure someone else is going to comment on the fact that you think you're just 'scribbling' stuff down. If you call this scribbling, I can't wait to see what you can come up with by relly trying!

HJ

8 posted on 03/18/2003 12:22:28 PM PST by HiJinx (WordSmith? Nah....)
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To: HiJinx
Preview, Preview, Preview!!!!

relly shoud be really...
9 posted on 03/18/2003 12:23:32 PM PST by HiJinx (WordSmith? Nah....)
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To: Sabertooth
Do I have the Courage

A woman has her head bashed and I stand and stare

A man is run over do I try to care

A child is torn apart by a rabid dog

What will move me to action what will move me

A house is torched and fire flies

A bomb explodes with a violent cry

A child is raped and I hear it die

What will move me to action what will move me

I've have a neighbor and I know he is making a bomb

I have other neighbors and they say leave it alone

I can stand it no more I cant stand it no more

I take action

I am praised by some and railed at by others

Life is ugly, Courage my son
10 posted on 03/18/2003 12:29:49 PM PST by funkywbr
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To: Sabertooth
Ya might think about submitting some of those to http://www.poetsforthewar.org
11 posted on 03/18/2003 12:35:56 PM PST by TheMidnightPoet
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To: Sabertooth
Ya also might want to think about coming over to the birthday party at the Belve: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/867439/posts?page=135

We can always use more poets.
12 posted on 03/18/2003 12:38:23 PM PST by TheMidnightPoet
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To: Sabertooth
Thanks for the ping 'Ol Toothy One ... great poems and graphics ... you make a difference ... good job!

Let's Roll!
13 posted on 03/18/2003 12:42:05 PM PST by blackie
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To: Sabertooth
Sometimes we wake up and the world is changed, And we perceive a glimmer of His plan.

I li-i-i-ke your scribblings! But the depths of feeling are too much to read at one sitting, so I will be back to read more tonight.

Thanks for the ping.

14 posted on 03/18/2003 1:09:02 PM PST by okimhere
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To: Sabertooth
um....could you kinda take me off your ping list, please?
15 posted on 03/18/2003 1:57:31 PM PST by 4mycountry ( Anyone can be average---it takes something special to be weird. I am honored to be weird.)
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To: Sabertooth
Sabertooth, thank you. Your gift is so awesome - and much appreciated on this night. The capacity of mankind to create - beyond chance or vanity - beauty, inspired by God...gifting others with a glimpse of grace...such a gift!

Thank you.

The Two Towers is a battle hymn.

Now, rebel clerics fan the flaming rabble.
And yet, the Bell of Hope chimes. God, we hear it
Above the evil death-cult's towering babble,
Ringing to our heart, our mind, our spirit.

So to our Towers our streaming faces turn,
Still standing on our bannered City's Hill--
As Root and Branch our enemies can't burn--
As Pen and Sword: the allies of our will.

For God and Country stand our righteous Towers.
The Two are not Jihad's. The Two are ours.

Amen.

16 posted on 03/18/2003 5:16:21 PM PST by Ragtime Cowgirl (They have to be carefully taught.)
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To: Sabertooth
Thank you so much for your beautiful poems!
17 posted on 03/18/2003 9:16:46 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: Sabertooth
Sabertooth, you truly are a gifted writer. Thanks for sharing your inspiring poems.
18 posted on 03/18/2003 9:17:54 PM PST by WRhine
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To: Sabertooth; HiJinx
Love your poems, Saber. You are the best poet at FR.

I should also take this opportunity to thank you for the poems you wrote me. Thanks so much. Do you know I keep them on my profile page? Hehehe.

Thanks for the ping, Jinx.

19 posted on 03/18/2003 9:20:04 PM PST by Victoria Delsoul
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To: Victoria Delsoul
I'm glad you enjoyed them, Victoria. I enjoyed writing them for you. Thanks for you very generous comments.



20 posted on 03/18/2003 9:51:46 PM PST by Sabertooth
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