Worth It (I)

To clarify confusion... as to who and what... is...

Worth It (I)

Man

          worth it

          with Eden behind, beyond ken

          the taste of knowledge upon your lips

          you seek ever righteous

          to taste Truth no more

Slave

          worth it

          with wrists unshackled of chains

          the warmth of sun, unfettered, upon your brow

          you seek ever religiously

          new chains to bind you

Woman

          worth it

          with spirit reclaimed from vows of possession

          grass 'neath your feet, wind 'neath your arms

          a'flight

          you seek ever devotedly

          oaths of unswerving ownership of life and love

Child

          worth it

          with hands released from miser toil

          clouds in your eyes, books in your hands

          you seek ever entitledly

          the privilege of walls and roofs

Royal

          worth it

          with ascendance to gifted throne

          the weight of noble duty clutched to bosom fair

          you seek ever carelessly

          release from courage

Crat

          worth it

          upon striking that clamorous bell atop

          ladder of effort

          you seek ever, without reservation

          to strike the hands that lift you to peerless heights,

          silent strength

          never extolled from lips that owe naught

Victim
          worth it
          with strings untied from Moirae
          the rush of destiny unfurled
          you seek ever relentless
          entombment within prisons of concrete

Human

          worth it

          upon achieving apex status, on a rock

          in a galaxy, orbiting a star
          the sun

          you seek ever shamelessly

          to orbit your selves

Man

Slave

Woman

Child

Royal

Crat
Victim

Human

          if

          upon the mirror of truth

          you gaze

          thereupon

          reject

          are you worth it?

For no wealth more precious be

          than

                    the truth

                    the mirror

                    me

Alas

Sycophant

          worth it

          with flowing cornucopia sprawled upon your lap

          weight of labor shed from backs broken

          you seek ever ardently

          burdens invisible, no less beastly and unbearable

Ist

          worth it

          with fervent promise of Ever of Olde, verily

          rapturous fulfillment

          you seek ever zealously

          to terrorize others
          thereby denying joy
          to you and all

Warrior

          worth it

          with covenant of blessed sanctity

          allure of sacred trumpet, glorious fanfare, medal of metal base

          you seek ever militantly

          virtuous execution with sword of judgment, by which

          you sever your self from certain divinity

Sycophant

Ist

Warrior

          one and all

          Patriot of Belief

          but

          if

          upon the face of humanity

          you gaze

          thereupon

          destroy

          are you worth it?

Tricks and Sticks Won't Break Me, But Your Souls Will

The truth about truth telling is...

Tricks and Sticks Won't Break Me, But Your Souls Will

I know you.

But you don't know me.

Oh, but you think you do. You think you know me well. Like a book with words splayed upon pages in pristine clarity, I am there. For you to examine and probe and discuss and critique. As if. Any of that matters. Because. You see. I am not there.

I am here.

Where. There are no words. No symbols that delimit what is known. No confinement of what is, for your convenience. For I am nothing. If not. Inconvenient.

I am disturbed. In that way that deep pools are unhinged by frightening nightmares of depths that lay untouched, unwoken. In that way that fell woods are haunting and darker than pitch. I am that shadow, that nightmare, that demon of eternity that seeks judgment for the damned.

Oh, but I am light too. That beam of soft caress that falls upon heavy shoulders, as thunderous clouds break to gasp alight, amidst the gloam. Indeed. I am that warmth of hope, that fire of inimitable courage, that pours into hearts and souls, steadfast against the tumult of life miser and brutal.

Nevertheless. The price of me is beyond the pale of ken. Too steep by far for the humble. So, who pays? Who pays this unfathomable price for the immaterial me?

Me. I pay. Over and over and over and over, I pay.

How?

Myself. I own nothing but myself. So I pay. Over and over and over and over. With. Myself.

You think... such payment... easy?

You think... such payment... sweet?

Alas. No one pays for easy. No one pays for sweet. For easy and sweet are worthless in this world that spins on axes of ego and greed. Indeed. The me that is worthful in this world that spins on axes of malice and avarice, is hardly trustworthy or virtuous. For trust and virtue are worth nothing.

Nothing at all.

So, how do I pay?

By being the only currency of value, among the greedy and the insatiable, among the predatory and the rapacious, among liars, among deceivers, among all who belong immured in immortal ice and eternal inferno. Over and over and over and over.

Until the immaterial me detaches from mortality like a kite flung upon the event horizon... Sundering from my heart and soul... purity, virtue, hope, faith, trust, good.... and memories of all that was, all that is, all that will be... Berefting me of me.... Stranding me amidst deep pools and fell woods and the tumult of life miser and brutal.

Such a price, for truth, I wish, no one. Notwithstanding that such a price, for truth, irrevocably denies heroism, nobility, sainthood; such a price, for truth, incontrovertibly denies inviolable sacrosanctity; such a price, for truth, undeniably revokes authenticity, via truth seeking, truth speaking, truthing... does it not?

For who trusts me... to speak the truth...?

The shameless sinner.
The profligate reprobate.
The impostor. The fraud. The hypocrite.

Am I indeed...?

Tricks and sticks have yet to break me... but, your souls, oh your souls, have, do, will... over and over and over and over...

For no trick nor stick is as repulsively vile nor as loathsomely repugnant... as the souls... who bought me, who ravaged me, who sold me, who plundered me... with contemptible joy and abhorrent delight and ruthless untenable pleasure... For the only currency of value, among the greedy and the insatiable, among the predatory and the rapacious, among liars, among deceivers, among all who belong entombed in immortal ice and eternal inferno... is the depraved exploitation of the noble and the virtuous.

Now... do you know me?

Because I know you... and your heroism, nobility, sainthood... your inviolable sacrosanctity... your authenticity via truth seeking, truth speaking, truthing...

... belong as much immured in immortal ice and eternal inferno... as your shameless sins... your profligacies, your reprobacies... your frauds and your hypocrisies...

... as verily as I speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

More

The truth is nothing, if not, inconvenient.

... the more that we insist - that liars cannot be truthers - and - truthers cannot be liars... 

... the more that we fail to seek, much less see, the whole truth...

... no truth seeker, no truth speaker, no truther - is a paragon of virtue, much less, authenticity - by denying the whole truth...

... there is no heroism, nor nobility, nor sainthood, nor sacrosanctity - in masks that malign, disparage, vilify - our selves and each other on the basis of symbols that arbitrarily delimit inconvenient truths - in service to convenient truths...

... not only are convenient truths that obfuscate the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth - in fact - lies by omission...

... truthers who lie... also fabricate, manufacture, deceive, distort, etc.

Needless to say, it behooves us all to see the whole truth.

... because obscuring the whole truth, ultimately satisfies no agenda of justice...

... regardless of whose - liar or truther - agenda such obfuscation ostensibly serves...

... for the obfuscation of the whole truth is inherently unjust...

... notwithstanding that the obfuscation of the whole truth is ever a tactic of tyranny and despotism in service to regimes of absolutism and intolerance...

... which is exactly how systems of law and order - as well as societies, as a whole - devolve... when societies eschew truth seeking for... agendas of injustice.

- M.

~ * ~

Just Desserts

that sweet nectar

          of revenge

          drips from my pen

          oh that justest of just desserts

that heady aphrodisia

          of blood

          clings to hands

          that judgeth man

                    my hands

                    my hands

                    my hands, indeed

how divine

          sanctity

          of throats 'neath my sword

          that executeth by mightest of righteousness

oh depravity

          it hungers

          it devours

          it sates unfathomable desire

                    licking drips of vengeance

                    drinking blood that clings

                    sucking swords of sanctity

                    dry

no dessert is more just

          than hubris and hypocrisy

          rampant, unbridled, pious

I am but slave

          to addiction

          to ecstasy

          to conceit

                    omnipotence

                    infallibility

                    what more irresistible temptation is there

until 'fore beckon

          implacable certainty

          of eternal reckoning

          for which no man receives mercy

          thus dessert is ever just
                    for he who savors it
                    too much

~ * ~

Note

See also Corruption (tvfs) and Robert Frost 'Fire and Ice' (wiki)

round and round
upping down
sword and pen
truth upend

from Upping Down (poem, tvfs)

Cradling Victims and Hanging Villains

This is the headline of our Millennium.

Is it not?

Is this... not the very black and white reality virulently upheld... here... there... everywhere...?

Which begs the question...

Is reality ever black and white?

and...

How does such a perception of reality serve Human kind...?

Indeed... what are the consequences of cradling victims... and hanging villains...?

In Pursuit of Justice

One man kills another.

It seems black and white... does it not?

Under Draconian Law, the punishment is certain.

The man alive is executed for murder.

But... 

Is this justice?

What if... the man alive is the owner of a small shop who killed a would be thief?

Not so black and white. Is it?

What if... the man alive is a known 'strong arm' of a known mobster who killed a rival? 

Now, it's a different black and white. Isn't it?

What if... the man alive is driving a vehicle when he suffers a stroke, which results in a collision with another vehicle, which kills the other driver, who was not wearing a seat belt, at the time?

Not so black and white. Is it?

In our system of law and order - these three events - receive three qualitatively different responses from our judicial system.

Why?

Because mitigating factors are importantly meaningful - (1) to the events themselves, (2) to the intents of each participant in the events, themselves, (3) to the individual responsibilities of each participant in the events, themselves, etc. - among many other factors.

Why?

If reality is not black and white...

Then... 

How could a just system of law and order... completely disregard such an inherent truth of reality?

Draconian Justice

On the other hand...

Perceptions of reality... as solely black and white... abnegate the value... the merit... the meaningfulness... of mitigating factors.

Whosiwhatsit?

When we decide that reality is solely black and white... 

When we decide that our system of law order should reflect this perception...

We demand... Draconian Justice.

That is - we demand a system of law and order - under the auspices that our current perception of reality is true, certain, unequivocal, and incontrovertible. Moreover - this perception of reality - is that every event that intersects with our system of law and order - is always - solely - black and white.

This system of law and order is one that we've long since implemented and abandoned - as tyrannical and despotic.

But this system of law and order - is the very system of law and order - that is being clamored for - by virulently vehement outcry -

couched within social media campaigns that swath 'victims' in untouchable sacrosanctity -

and persecute 'villains' with vicious conceit and righteousness.

Unjust Vigilantism

The consequences of such stark characterizations of human behavior and human intersections with each other -

are vast.

In fact... this stark characterization of human behavior and human intersections... is exactly why we have an extraordinarily overburdened system of law and order... (the complexities of which are beyond the scope of this post)... 

Because... we've forgotten one critical function of justice...

We've forgotten that justice without mercy and compassion is tyranny and despotism.

Moreover, when we as bystanders to the course of law and order, take it upon ourselves, to function as judges and juries... we ensure vigilante justice without mercy and compassion, by instituting virtual public stoning and virtual public persecution... without all the facts... much less knowledge of all the mitigating factors that scaffold a system of law and order by which we protect our selves and each other from the tyranny and despotism of Draconian Justice.

Case in point: public stoning is a vestige of a system of law and order that we've long since implemented and abandoned... as inhumane, vicious, barbaric, and cruel.

Yet, we've taken it upon ourselves to reinstitute it, via social media, to ensure that we execute our vigilante justice without mercy and compassion.

By our right... as judges, juries, and executioners -

Because we decide that our current perception of reality is true, certain, unequivocal, and incontrovertible -

Because we decide that this perception of reality ensures a more just system of law and order... than a perception of reality that acknowledges the complexity of context and nuance to every human behavior and every human intersection -

Because we decide that a system of law and order that permits mercy and compassion... is incontrovertibly unjust -

We demand... Draconian Justice.

For 'victims' whose humanity is elevated to sacrosanctity.

For 'villains' whose humanity is reduced to vitriol.

The Future of Justice

Human history cycles.

It is ever so.

Because dignity, integrity, and virtue don't make headlines for rags.

Because dignity, integrity, and virtue don't make money for the immoral.

Because dignity, integrity, and virtue don't make blind mindless mobs seethe and broil.

Because dignity, integrity, and virtue don't divert us from:

Corruption.

Greed.

The headlines that should be the headlines of our Millenium.

Instead.

We'll stir tempests in teapots.

Ever self-importantly.

Ever self-righteously.

We'll anoint ourselves warriors.

Ever sanctimoniously.

Ever conceitedly.

Because. It would never occur to us, as self ordained judges, juries, and executioners, that we could be wrong.

Because. It would never occur to us, that we could be ignorant of all the facts.

Because. It would never occur to us, that by elevating some of us to sacrosanctity and reducing some of us to vitriol... that by cradling some of us and hanging some of us...

... that... by our hands... we transform ourselves into tyrants and despots.

Because our judgment is incontrovertible.

Because our knowledge is unequivocal.

Because we are categorically certain - that we possess the absolute truth - by which to serve as judges, juries, and executioners of all human kind - without error or fault.

Because our tyranny is just and our despotism is just and our absolutism is infallible.

More

When judges, juries, and executioners of the court of public opinion... are set against us...

We are the first to decry ignorance of all the facts.

We are the first to demand mercy and compassion.

In vain.

For our clamor for justice falls upon deaf ears... when the pursuit of justice by the court of public opinion is nothing more than Draconian Justice in service to unjust vigilantism.

This...

... is the consequence of social media campaigns of persecution masquerading as justice.

The truth... has never in the history of human kind... ever been other than...

justice without mercy and compassion is tyranny and despotism.

- M.