Gates at the End of the World ~ Philip Brent Harris
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Responsible, preoccupied, needs, daily duties, urges to create,
atlas beneath my half sky, inventing my truth in beauty, before I’m late.
Days fast-paced, so full of shoulds and musts to meet and answer.
When so few seek either truth or beauty; they don’t pay the financier.
Is shielding the candle flame from darkness worth the strain?
Will it fill the hole within my soul and make me whole again?
Who asks the question, who seeks the answer, why does it matter?
To be one tiny voice, canary in the coal mine, full of song and chatter.
Will others ever even notice, do I toot my horn enough, too much?
Should I turn away, the impracticality of art a waste, a crutch?
Pain of creation, alone, brings hope and joy in equal measure.
Am I allowed to court my own fulfillment, pleasure, treasure?
Surely the needful life, time and energy and love, given just for others,
should hold satisfaction more than enough, or do we fear it smothers?
Halfway home is halfway gone, as we pace the long road, forth, back.
Can those who feel no need to quest, search, express feel our lack?
Can any, goaded by this gnawing hunger, do others than struggle, strive
To express their truth, their beauty, their highest selves, to feel alive.
So, they must, they will, despite ovens, missing ears and rock-filled smocks.
Joining, if by life allowed, or wandering lost, life filled with bolts and locks.
Living part-time normal, whose standard, driven by unseen forces, no choices.
Sharing inner acres with demons, angels, visions, driven, hoping the world rejoices.
How then resolve which meets the test, what is beauty, what is truth?
All rhetoric and nonsense which holds no meaning in our age or in our youth.
When greed rules, the basest, noble thieves and villains at the top,
media-fed, proud ignorance, mob mentality too rabid, too violent to stop,
till blood runs bright, grim death invited to the feast, an honored guest.
Blood darkening the robe of this fell specter upon the endless quest,
Despite all, head down, humanity crawls on, humbled by staggering blows,
yet art, beauty truth, hope lift our eyes, where light a distant vista shows.
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Peace is Purpose, Nonviolence is Strength, Diversity is Unity, Empathy is Empowerment
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