Submission Twenty-Three

The Art of Courage.

You will go off into the challenge lands

Armed only with wishbones and harp strings

Where they will be waiting



You will dance the slow yoga of cherry blossom tattoos

Fending off knee jerk war cries

With a parry of lotus petals and satellite moons



They will throw silent earthquakes at you

And your dreams will be made of blood

You will fall, and you will fall

And you will struggle to rise

Before you fall again



They will see this and call you fear

Worse than sin, the viper’s teeth

Of cancer sucking away their morals

They will flay you with whips made of time

Grind empathy into poison needles

And bury them in your skin pointing outward

So those who love you cannot touch you

They will feed you loneliness

You will not be afraid

You will keep your voice inside

The left pocket of your thoughts

Where it can’t be stolen

And you’ll sing to them



The golden underside of a teardrop

Magpies between the rafters at dusk

The song of the last kite flying without strings



This will infuriate them

They will drown you in gunfire

Strap you onto concrete slabs

Inject their hatred into you

And wail crimson razors

As you turn it into music



They will exhaust their tortures on you

And you will die every second

But it will do nothing



When they can do nothing more

They will finally send you home

And when you return

I will meet you halfway



They will be following you

Nineteen paces behind,

Eyes lowered

Begging for mercy


Created by: Spike Daeley