The Estate of Love

My soul is the estate of our love,
A grand palace of emotional delight,
Ripe with Chandeliers of kisses,
And stately rooms of each touch we share,
Exquisite details,
Never to be seen again,
A pleasure beyond compare,
An honour,
My soul is the estate of our love,
No matter where we are…

SDM

The Great Generation & Our Future

After the last true world war, when men and women paid the ultimate sacrifice to free the world from tyranny and oppression. My grandfather and yours witness to a force of destruction that few of us can truly comprehend. As the dust began to settle a broodish statesman spoke of a spectre hanging over eastern Europe, that of the Iron Curtain that was about to fall.

As this war, which few of us can truly comprehend soldiers on into needless and senseless death I am struck and dumbfounded by the spectre currently haunting our reality and worse that no one cares to or can see.

When Nobel created TNT he blasted his way into our consciousness and left a legacy of both destructive power and ultimate hope. Today however I believe his powder keg is rising the temperature of the middle east; What comes next might well decide the fate of our species.

SDM

Oceans

Sometimes,
When considering the world in which we live,
I shed a tear,
One lone drop works its way down my cheek,
Ever so slowly,
Collecting on the floor,
In a pool of sadness,
A pool of disgust and shame,
At the decisions we’ve made,
Political maneuvering,
By leaders we’ve elected,
Leaders we’ve entrusted,
With the most powerful of duties,
The last 100 years,
The best for our species,
The worst for our species,
With all our fear and hate,
Millions dead;
In some perverse struggle,
Both sides shamed,
Through equally action and inaction,
Progress,
True progress,
Is not marked by technological advance,
It is not our ability to make a more powerful computer chip,
Or to put our species into space,
TRUE PROGRESS,
Perhaps we should call it,
Ultimate progress,
Can only begin,
When we undo the countless errors of our ways,
We can not applaud ourselves,
For our so called advances,
While the planet is still rife with poverty, starvation, illiteracy, greed and aggression,
Our ultimate progress,
The true betterment of our species,
Can only begin when our collective spirit begins to move away from those human plagues,
Ultimate progress can only begin when we strictly call our government and corporations to eradicate these cancers on our psyche.

Ultimate progress means that none get left behind,
And unfortunately,
We’re not even close,
Until that day,
My tears,
Collect in that pool,
Which I pray,
For all our sakes,
Need not become an OCEAN!

SDM

Knife to a Gun Fight

There is a guerilla war underway,
a massive struggle of planetary proportions,
there are quite clearly two sides in this struggle
and unfortunately both believe they are right.
We operate inside the well established rules of international law,
you,
you operate by the rules of a street thug,
a common criminal,
a school yard bully.
This ongoing battle illustrates clearly the newly shaping face of war.
No longer it seems at least at this moment in history,
a convention between two or more states,
it is now a struggle between all well meaning people represented by international instruments which yes must include national militaries and UN Peacekeepers.
The other side of this dynamic uses irrational logic
and those willing to give up their lives to engage in an illegitimate war of terror.
The present looks on you with disgust.
The future will look on you as thieves of the grandest level;
Criminals who steal our most cherished right –
Life!

SDM

STAINS

What do you hope to accomplish,
Instilling fear,
And staining our consciousness with blood,
That of people who have found their duty,
In keeping the peace,
And distributing food,
Selflessly promoting the greater good,
One food stuff,
One bandage at a t time,
You,
From the safety of your cowardly hole,
Proclaim martyrs of those who exact your senseless violence,
When the true martyrs,
Are those whose lives you take,
You lurk in the shadows,
Keeping your face from us,
That you may never be called to task,
For your abhorrent behavior,
You claim pride,
From your hideout,
You claim strength,
From your safe holds,
But, those of rational mind,
Know your crimes against humanity,
And our outrage at your attacks lead us steadfast on our course.

Your pride is shocking,
An assault on our sensibilities,
An assault on our future,
Are you blinded by your own rhetoric,
Stupefied by your ideology,
Caught in your web of lies and deceit,
Its true we are not like you,
Proudly so,
Its true you are cowards,
Terrorists,
Proudly so,
On opposite ends of the spectrum,
You relish death, mayhem and destruction,
We strive for stability,
Trying to correct the inequalities of the past,
We deliver aid,
And you deliver suicide bombers –

Who do you think history will absolve?

SDM

What is...

What is Hope?
Is hope not a powerful human condition which transcends all known information?
Does hope not laugh in the face of adversity?
Or call upon our species for that one more push despite the conclusion of our well documented wisdom?
Does hope not call from within us a force which can only be referred to as an indomitable spirit?
Hope defies logic rationally and yet our desires seem to leave us wanting.
I may hope for a Big Mac, or a Pair of Nike’s, a Phat Farm Jacket, a new Porsche or an old one or perhaps for our favorite politician or sports team to win:
Perhaps it is the misuse of that powerful human condition, the cheapening of an essential spiritual tool which has weakened our societal fabric.
What have we become?
Replacing faith, belief, God and hope with faceless corporations and morally corrupt leaders – BANKRUPT!

SDM

Pursuit of Human

I know the allure of vices,
Their tantalizing effects,
And the draw,
I’ve felt their forces,
And succumb to their ways,
I AM HUMAN,

IMPERFECT,

Attracted to the unknown,
Excited –
I’ve felt the intoxicating effects,
Numbed myself,
Retreated,
But now,
I find myself reaching,
Looking for something more,
That only virtue can deliver,
Love,
Patience,
Compassion,
Strength,
I AM HUMAN IN MY PURSUIT.

SDM

Babylon Concerns Me Thus

Babylon concerns me thus;
Our hearts and minds littered with deceit,
The little lies we’ve told,
Ostensibly for our own protection,
Yet are we truly protected,
Or merely cogs in a very big wheel,
Allowing deceit and corruption,
To mount an unrelenting attack,
On the very core of our social fabric,
This marked decay worsens by the day,
Yet we are blinded by our own choices,
Seemingly irrelevant,
But are they?

Historically,
Our understanding of Babylon,
Is tainted,
As we are,
By our own design,
Either unwilling or unable,
To see through our modern creature comforts,
To realize consciously or otherwise,
Just how close we are,
Living each day,
Not just with the sins of our fathers,
But also our own.

As consumers,
Buying the little,
Seemingly innocuous lies we’re told,
About pimple creams and cars,
Ice cream and clothes,
Soft drinks and even the news,
Hook, line and sinker,
While men in suits,
Predominantly men make no mistake about that,
Sit aloft our bought and paid for ivory towers.

Babylon concerns me thus,
That behind well crafted and delivered media campaigns,
Our ignorance is preyed upon,
And the reward for our continued silence is the tenuous balance we call,
COMFORTS.

Babylon can not exist unchecked – History can and will repeat itself; Dramatically!

SDM

Politics Practiced

We practice the politics of discontent,
Our leaders,
No longer statesman,
In any sense of the word,
Draw power from perceived inadequacies,
Of their design,
Of their competition,
Giving no credit to accomplishment,
And relishing in the failure of others,
These actions by our leaders,
Stunt our democracy,
Taking it from our hands,
The MAJORITY,
And placing it in their own,
The SELECT minority.

These politics are a direct assault,
On you and I,
Though we’ve been duped into believing differently,
These politics,
And their strategists,
Are waging a full out war,
With corporate donors,
And wealthy elites,
Against our sensibilities,
Numbing us to the horrible point,
Of not even voting,
APATHY their best friend,
And voter.

We must reenter our political arena,
Before we’re left as nothing more than spectators,
By men and women no wiser than WE,
THE people!

SDM

War!

War!
Such an easy word to say, three letters, so easy it is almost shameful.
But the real shame is in the way that we seem so oblivious to what’s going on.
The war for the hearts and minds of Iraqi citizens well under way as the crushing of a tyrants regime takes its unnatural course.
But here at home, in North America, a different kind of war is being waged.
A war to win the hearts and minds of the people being asked to foot the bill for the Iraqi peoples liberation.
However, it seems to me, that in this war dissent is not being well received, to voice an opinion contrary to that of histories only court appointed President makes you unpatriotic and disloyal to his worthwhile efforts.
Any dissent, any at all seems to put you in the black book that we all know exists.

The Dixie Chicks and Martin Sheen, The Pope and Jean Chretien and the list goes on...

SDM

Could it Be?

Could it be,
That once seemed far,
Somewhat out of reach,
Is now within our grasp?
That illusive and seemingly always unattainable beacon of hope,
Is right at our fingertips,
Causing our eyes to blink,
A little salivation,
And our hearts to skip a beat? Love,
Sweet love,
An answer to our prayers,
Infinitely wise,
To be cherished indeed,
The candid expression of both self and selflessness,
A powerful recognition of the full meaning of requited,
Tempting,
Inspiring visions of a wonderful today and the magnificent journey to a remarkable tomorrow,
Hand in hand,
Aboard the voyage of the SS Soul mate,
Passionate to experience,
Every moment,
Savouring each sensation,
The tingling of fingers,
And the butterflies in the stomach,
Conversations that mean something,
In fact,
Everything,
As two lives continue to begin,
Ever reaching new heights,
The only limit our hearts desire and our souls passionate dreams;

Could it be?

A questions answered long ago with the special exchange of a thirst for words and an insatiable hunger for knowledge.

Could it be? It is rhetorical –

For here we are,
Lovers touched by the divine,
Forever believing, faith anew the day this love began – Looking in your eyes!

SDM

My Time of Day

Its so quiet now,
at this hour,
nothing to keep me company at 5:20 am,
except for the sirens in the distance trying to keep my attention,
competing with a chorus of birds songs varied both near and far.
So quiet now that I can see the birds vie for their spot at our feeder
and actually hear the small but powerful beaks breaking their various seeds.
Somewhere off in the distance the sun has already begun its daily tango with this side of the earth, its tones changing from red to orange to now somewhere between those and yellow.
In this time,
my time,
as you sleep comfortably in our bed,
I sit out here listening to the hum of far off traffic;
and then out of nowhere a Cardinal arrives,
looks right at me,
takes its turn at the trough and just lifts away as quickly as it came.
Its amazing what you see when you open your eyes.
Good morning!

SDM

Merciful Angel

Luscious,
Each kiss our lips do make,
Spectacular,
Each tender touch,
Wondrous,
The words we share each day,
Powerful,
This feeling we both know,
Cherished,
Evermore,
Bountiful,
The gifts this love does bring,
Blessed,
By the invisible rings we both share,
Delightful,
To know the Angels swagger,
Rejoiceful,
For we have taken from the platter,
Faithful,
As we will always be,
You are,
A heavenly presence on this earth,
An angel of mercy,
My love.

SDM

My African Brother( or sister you didn't say)... A response to your comment...

"I am surrounded by poverty all around me here in Africa. Bono often refers to this as "stupid poverty". We will have the poor with us ALWAYS."

My friend, poverty is the result of benign neglect, rampant greed and the ability of the west to impose the idea of scarcity on the world. There is no scarcity of the things required to live a life outside of the bonds of poverty. As such, poverty does NOT ALWAYS need to be with us. We merely need to find a way to change attitudes not only in the west but also in those countries of Africa with unscrupulous leaders who rape their own economies for momentary gains.

"However, as a person raised in the West perhaps our responsibility to an impoverished world is to teach our fellow pilgrims on this planet how to fish."

I could not agree with you more. My mother is currently on the ground in Malawi doing just that. In fact she has used those same words as have I on numerous occasions. Her husband (my step father) is also working for one of if not the largest medical provider in that country. A point of which I beam with pride for they are not only teaching how to fish, but how to be families, build communities, love and hope.

"We see the big bucks come and leave this part of the world quicker than you can scratch an itch. Corruption is rampant, lies are the game of the day, and stealing is a lifestyle. Where is God in all this? Is there any hope? How do we reconcile the "professional-style" greed of the West and the greed and envy that is prevelant in Africa? Both are wrong. However, we in the West have a responsibility and the privilege of sharing our blessings with that part of the world that is not as privileged."

I agree with you that big bucks come and go every day. I also believe that the systemic greed that capitalism produces as an ancillary effect is what causes the rampant corruption and lies. All in the name of the almighty dollar (soon to be transplanted by a currency in the east, certainly in our lifetimes, care to hazard a guess which one?)

WHERE IS GOD in all this? I wish I knew! I can tell you that I was raised a catholic (now fallen), have experienced each of the monotheistic religions (a point which is clear if you read all of my work posted here_) I believe fully that one day everyone will be held to account for their actions here on spaceship earth. As to your other point, I try to impart what I know upon the world every day, I speak out against greed, lies, etc. I bemoan the failings of Adam Smith and the resultant economies that were devised from his brain. I KNOW THERE IS A BETTER WAY and one day IF MY VOICE BECOMES LOUD ENOUGH I will be able to aid in getting us to a better system. A fair system. A just system. A system which values individuality over conformity, truth over lies, knowledge over supposition, empowerment over oligarchy. In the absence of that maybe if I can convince one person a year and they in turn convince one person, so on and so forth many moons from today that seed which was planted will reap the rewards of the tree of knowledge of that better system.

"The spirit of helping must be of the mindset that we are giving a hand up and not a hand out. This is not a license to encourage freebies and a welfare system. For this type of thinking the white man is at fault. When will the African be liberated from the ties that currently bind him?"

It is an important point that you've made here. I can give money to anyone and watch it fly out the window. But if I can train someone to enable them to provide for their families (regardless of the currency) that is the result. A HAND UP not out. Although it will be forever reaching to aid the next one up (at least in my case). This reminds me of a quote by Frederick Douglas (Do you know him?) ; "Never let any man pull you so low as to hate him." With that in mind, I don't hate the west, or capitalism or the current structures of power that keep the world running the way it is. I do however live each day with the lofty hope that one day the iniquity that these systems have produced can be replaced with something better. I do agree that the white man is at fault for much of the ills not just in Africa but all over the world. However, we must MOVE BEYOND assessing blame, WE MUST RISE UP TO THE CHALLENGE OF WHAT IT REALLY MEANS TOI BE HUMAN and that is to lift up those that we can EVERYDAY.

To answer the last question Bob Marley (a prophet is ever there was one) once said;

"Until the philosophy which hold one race
Superior and another inferior
Is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned
Everywhere is war, me say war

That until there are no longer first class
And second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes
Me say war

That until the basic human rights are equally
Guaranteed to all, without regard to race
Dis a war

That until that day
The dream of lasting peace, world citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion
To be persued, but never attained
Now everywhere is war, war

And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes
that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique,
South Africa sub-human bondage
Have been toppled, utterly destroyed
Well, everywhere is war, me say war

War in the east, war in the west
War up north, war down south
War, war, rumours of war

And until that day, the African continent
Will not know peace, we Africans will fight
We find it necessary and we know we shall win
As we are confident in the victory

Of good over evil, good over evil, good over evil
Good over evil, good over evil, good over evil"

I hope you read this and understand that I agree WE CAN make a difference with GODs help. It starts with you. My Brother,

SDM

Human History

The catalogues of suffering and misery in the annals of human history are but distant memories to those immersed in the luxurious and contemptible consciousness of the industrialized world. In any sense, despite the obvious hardships inherent in the poorest constituents in the global industrialized world there can be no comparison to those living in abject poverty in the non industrialized world. Some hold that the key is to bring industry to those poorest quarters to free them from the very real economic bondage they are in. Yet what good is industry fueled by the blood, sweat and tears of an uneducated, ill advised and under privileged class to those making our Nike shoes, raising the cattle for our Big Macs or stitching the threading in our Gap clothing. There is little benefit save the usurious wages that our corporations pay them. The true benefit of industrialization in these so called 3rd world nations rests in the hands of the captains of industry that we have crowned with trillions of dollars which serves to benefit a very few specifically privileged pockets. A new trade paradigm is required with a new over sight body which assures that such industrialization does not only serve to fatten the pockets of the often times corrupted 3rd world leaders whose aim is not the economic salvation of their people but rather the building of another great palace or another stable of horses. For more than a hundred years we have pushed full steam ahead with industrialization – We have developed cars, planes, trains, trucks and massive freight boats to service our personal and economic needs – Thus, in effect to service industry; However, in that time we have made only band aid solutions for the gapping wounds known to me as a fundamental disconnect in the distribution of wealth.

The strides taken toward an equitable and fair distribution of wealth have failed; Miserably! Moreover, if no measures are taken to correct the inequity the world as we know it is going to face a very real and hitherto unknown economic war which will serve to further widen the gap between rich and poor, have and have not!

The United Nations collectively agreed upon the basic rights of human beings on the planet earth which was a tremendous step toward a baseline of existence. However, the letter and the spirit of that charter are light years apart. The purpose of our lives is not to produce economic wealth but rather a wealth that aids all humanity in its progress in a positive way. To date, though moderately successful, in certain areas, we have failed to right the many issues facing the perpetuation of our species.


We are starving the poor of this planet through irresponsible choices which have no basis in reality, save the enriching of industrialized lives. We are, depriving those who desperately require food and water so that we can live in our society of abundance. We outright lie through the election of our leaders to the poorest in the world using economic theory as justification. Its too expensive, too difficult, or too whatever –

We put a man on the moon! Shame on us for not finding the clothe and feed those all over the world. Moreover, our standards of education, at a minimum should be promised to any and all who desire it.

Since Adam Smith, the Wealth of Nations, has been an important consideration for the world. However, that wealth is pointless, reckless and indeed shameful if we who have profited unchecked for the last 300 – 500 years can not resolve the issues of our poorest people.

In fact, that wealth is contemptible because we choose, choose to leave those that can not keep up with us behind. We are failing as a species, starving the poor, robbing and choking the planet and history will not look favorably upon us if we don’t right the sins of our father, as well as our own.

Our dream, that we live each day is at the expense of others and as such they live a nightmare that none of us could possibly understand. Lets all wake up and face reality!

SDM

Rhetoic

Coalition of the Willing;
At one time 12 years ago, perhaps,
under different circumstances,
where Saddam had been the aggressor,
Small nations,
New Nations,
Needy nations,
Lining up, standing to be counted with their hands out,
A little aid here and a little aid there:
Coalition of the willing indeed.
Is Saddam a criminal? A tyrant? Dictator? Bastard? Terrorist?
No, No answer necessary – All rhetorical – Back for a moment;
Coalition of the willing; Sure with pockets filling;
Greenbacks, dollars and cents delivered by powerful gents who are anything but gentle –
Strong arm, buying the farm, Oh sure whether a gun to your head or the choice of a comfortable bed,
This coalition is willing to close an eye,
To ignore public opinion, to side step international law –
I wonder truly, the willing,
What do they know?

SDM

The Price of Iraqi Freedom?

Missiles cruised from hundreds of miles away,
toward phantom targets that intelligence thought was real,
the earth trembled as mechanized dinosaurs stormed through sovereign territory –
belonging to the people and not Saddam,
yet it seems they paid the price –
TWICE!

Ferociously for decades, a tyrant ran the show,
stacking the deck with cronies,
if you can call those in perpetual fear for their lives cronies.
Industry –
His –
Oil –
His –
Palaces –
His.
All Iraqis paid a very big price.

The mechanized dinosaurs rapidly advanced and watched cities lit up from the sky,
Iraqi’s initially shocked and awed that yet again,
no matter the intention,
their empire risen from the sand through oil stood shattered.
Now tattered,
confusion abounding
I hear the sounds of demonstration
and I stand confounded from the lessons I’ve learned
from a short lived war that still rages in the hearts and minds of all ages –
In Iraq and indeed around the world.

SDM

Flight of the Bumble Bee

Like the flight of the bumble bee my heart takes zigs and zags
rolling through each day empowered by the sub that is your love:
Should I be a tea rose,
yellow, red or white,
you would come to pollinate me,
Should I be a book you would consume me from cover to cover,
so much that the ink would be fading.
Should I be a telephone,
my heart the receiver and you would dial,
perhaps a movie in which you are the star,
could I be these things and more for you this love does grow,
though words could never show:
Fully!

SDM

Reclaim Democracy

Like a prison inmate deprived of food and water,
I feel the solitary confinement of a soul that’s been left in the cold.
Years pass like ages of iron, locked inside the halls of a mind burdened by the promise of tomorrow that seems lost in yesterdays passed.
In a moment of lucidity I can see the stupidity of a system which has at its core the folly of elected officials.
Officials leaving us wanting from the lies apparently told to us for our own protection.
Yet may I project my objection to a system led astray for which millions have suffered on both sides of the global maginot line.
Like the secretly reemerged German army post the Treaty of Versailles,
an army illegitimate is forming right before our eyes.
We vote for leaders electing our collective fate,
but who really puts them there with dinners at 500 bucks a plate.

Inside my mind I am witness to the erosion of the social contract,
as the leviathan of dollars and cents,
preferably American,
slowly but surely secure a greater share in the corridors of power,
not just at my expense, but all of ours
and I am here to state;
RECLAIM DEMOCRACY from the CEO’s,
claim your VOTE back from faceless cash hungry corporations
trying to sell you shoes, TV’s, DVD’s, Food, Pens and even the news.
For each of those have powerful lobbyists in the marble rotundas and your VOTE is supposed to be YOURS.

So from my cell called private property I implore you to consider –

Who’s lobbying for you?
What does your vote really count for?
Are you sure your votes even being counted because I am sure that Phil Knight’s has and I’m not sure why.

I’ve written a cheque, but is democracies bottom line balanced – Ask the folks at Enron or Worldcom.

SDM

Meaning

Short ones,
Long ones,
A hundred words or more,
It really doesn’t matter,
The meaning goes beyond the page,
The ink like blood,
The pages and binding like a body,
In here my soul can be seen,
If you doubt for a moment,
The sincerity, depth and breadth of this love,
Flip to any page,
In any body,
And all the words to fill you,
Take a breath,
And carefully look at all that you inspire,
My confidant, best friend and muse,
Who always shows me the light,
Blessed with talent,
Yet also with your love,
All you need do,
Is flip, pick and read,
I can guarantee,
More than all,
In these words,
Short ones,
Long ones,
One page or more,
You will find the answers that you need.

SDM