songs for sad barbarians by frank genghis

7/26/2019 Songs for Sad Barbarians by Frank Genghis

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SONGS FOR

SAD BARBARIANS

By Frank Genghis



I am everything

I am the world

I am an islandI am separate

I am alone

I am nothing

S

Earth is my god

Rock is my kingdom

Metal is my domain

Iron is my will

Steel is my resolve

Silver is my tongue

Gold is my heart

Diamond is my intellect

Dust is my destiny.

S

Blinded by the glare Of my stupidity

Horrified by the ugliness

In my soul

Deafened by the roar

Of my own ceaseless chatter

Disfigured by the scourgeOf my vanity



Maddened by my own

Raving ignorance

Humiliated by the ruthlessness

Of my prideBankrupted by a life

So dismally spent

Crushed by the weight

Of my insignificance

Ravaged by the barbarity

Of my own self-tormentAnd pulverized by the hammering

Of an endless hellish moment

I yet sleep content

S

I lay among the thistles,

Upon a slab of ancient rock –

Where the chill blasts off the mountains

Pinned me to its frigid block.

A great peak reared before me

Like a dark and solemn thane;Long I importuned his mercy,

To release me from my chains.

But my petitions went unanswered –

Deaf as stone that peak remained;

Who can say how long I‟ve lain here? Who will sing Prometheus‟ name?



S

A Toast!

To thee, who hath ventured far and wide

To grace my halls with dance and song –

To flock like sheep to shepherd‟s side,

To prance and play „til night draws long,

To wallow in the merry tide –

I hail thee, brothers – well met, well come!Be thou prudish princes of the realm,

Or palsied paupers in thy ruts,

Or knights with bright and beaming helm,

Or peasants hovelled in thy huts,

Let one and all be overwhelmed

Tonight, with equal fill of guts!

Be thou monk of maudlin temperament,

Or farmer fielding prickly pears,

Or poet penning lone laments,

Or suitor swamped in dull affairs,

I beg thee shed thy dark raiment,

To giggle and let down thy hairs.

Be thou scoundrel, saint, or simpleton,I charge thee drop thy yoke of ills –

To revel „neath a happy sun,

To feast and drink „til thou art filled

With thoughts egalitarian,

Thy woes abed, thy worries chilled.

S



When the moon came up

I went to sup

By the rocky fjords of Norway.

But old Tiw came downAnd kicked me soundly

Till once more it was Tuesday.

I sat casting runes

When Woden chose

To play me early Wednesday.

But I lost the scoreWhen old Thor roared

To give it up on Thursday.

I shook and cried

As Frigga tried

To console me late that Friday.

So I fled that wold

Like some poor skald

Back to Helheim early Saturday.

And there I counted my losses

To those Nordic tossers

Till Baldur brightened the way.

S

The wind that moves across my brow

The sun on my cheeks

The rain on my crown

The frost that forms upon my beard

Remind me how is best to live.



S

The glint of cedars in the snow

The unmapped woodThe unmarked road

The distant waft of forest smoke –

These are things I love the most.

S

It is good to air your underwear

In the warm country breeze –

To watch grass grow, and critters go,

To rock gently in the twilight glow;

To run naked through the trees.

S

Joy in my heart

Lightness in my step

Wisdom on my brow

Poetry in my head

Love in my bed

S

I am shagging on the rocks

Wild and free

A modern-day outlawUnhinged and unlocked



A howling barbarian poet

Raging inflammatory

In a flaccid age of mediocrity.

S

I seek a lonely summit

Beyond the realm of earthly ken;

Yet by what means may I know it,

When I‟ve the thoughts of mortal men?

S

Just how do you suppose

To set your mind free?

Are you seeking some kind of divinity?

Perhaps you long for greater reality?

Or maybe just immortality?

Just how far afield

Does your eye perceive?

Are you chasing the elusive mystical tree?

Perhaps a vantage beyond conformity?Or a position of invulnerability?

To just what degree

Does your blessed heart bleed?

Is it possible to love unconditionally?

Perhaps you strive for true equality?Or maybe just reciprocity?



To what depths of the world

Will you willingly creep?

Do you aim for total humility?To place you pride upon its knees?

Or suffer some sort of infamy?

Just how dark indeed

Can your white lies be?

Are your words devoid of all falsity?Can truth withheld best serve the peace?

Or maybe earn impunity?

Just how smoothly

Turns your carriage wheel?

Does grace glide before your every deed?

Do your motions and mind act compliantly?

Or only when there‟s need?

Just how loud

Is your cry of liberty?

Do you dream of ears for life‟s symphony?

Perhaps in musical works

you have found them already?

Or do you hear only that which agrees?

Just how firm

Is your hand toward enmity?

Is your gentleness thatwhich makes you most mighty?



Maybe your strength is measured by austerity?

Or perhaps it lies in the fear that you breed?

From what angleDo you face your adversities?

Do you challenge your demons fearlessly?

Perhaps you muster your courage occasionally?

Or keep it safely under key?

Just how do you supposeTo set your mind free

When thoughts come and go quite sporadically?

When ideals drop from heights

Which no eye can perceive,

Leaving scarcely a trail,

Save perhaps

Or maybe?

S

Darkening skies

Brisk winter air

Warm woollen underwearFresh minestrone

Fine red wine

Uplifting tunes

Room to move

A pinch of tobacco

An outdoor fireSpace to breathe



No more do I need

S

Balmy spring days

Fresh smells

Painful memories

Old wounds

Forgotten freedoms

Remembered dreamsBroken fetters

Long-awaited release

New roads

S

Summer rain

Rolling green hills

Distant misty mountains

The smell of dark moist earth

Dappled sunlight through the trees

The adoring eyes of a beautiful lonely woman

A slow cruise down deserted country lanesA lazy afternoon of sweet earthly delights

Red wine, pasta, old French records

Coffee, joints, bright conversation

A fire bath beneath brilliant stars

Hot new romance

Deep sleep



S

Fire in the rain

Smoke and mistCoupling like phantoms

Heat on my hands

Cold on my face

Sparrows and crows

Competing for crumbs

Green hillsBlack skies

Bright flowers trembling

Against a dark forest wall

Music dancing

On the restless winter wind

S

Grey skies

Endless nights

Silent fields

Absent wives.

Farmers stretched out shiveringOn empty, fallow beds;

The windfalls of the harvesting

Like autumn leaves have fled.

Cold, damp sheets of blackened earth

Spread loose across the sleeping land

As winter takes in icy handThe lonesome, tossing husband.



S

Cold winter morning

Led ZeppelinRarefying the cool country air

With pagan rock

Blasting outcrops

Breaking levees

Electrifying fields

Wiring farm boysFlaming sheepskins

Branding cattle

Raging bulls

Rousing gods of rock

Cooking as I breakfast

On cold has-beens

My rider an empty cup

My groupies all grannies

My roadies run out

My brothers disarmed

My songbird flown away

My stairway to heaven

An escalator to a frozen hell.

S

Heavy metal

In the mountains

Gunshot ringingThrough the valleys



Hard rain drumming

On the hillsides

Thunder battering

The prairies:

I‟m just a lone cosmic cowboy

Stirring mischief up with beans;

Raising big old mutton chops

And ruminating on the greens.

S

Strange clouds today –

Like corrugated snow

On a frozen blue lake.

Cicadas sing

And wind sighs

I am alone on a mountain

As large as life

The world below seems alien

And yet familiar

Earth seems near

And yet farLove feels close

And yet distant

My ego wants to roll down the hill

And rock into town;

But I know I would be silly to ignore my real

friends,The birds,



Who love me for being nobody.

S

The saddest lake in the world

Full of dead trees and drowning fish

Surrounded by silent yellow hills

Oppressed by dull leaden skies

I feel empty and full

As I drink in my fillOf this lonely scene

No way out of it

But to experience the tragedy of life

And to laugh at it through the tears

S

Crocodile-infested waters

A simpering mermaid at my feet

Serpents riding waves

Lazily onto shore

Black spirits

Moving languidlyAcross the land

Haunted by white devils

Trees and cacti

Merging imperceptibly

Into one

Strange ancient bird-criesFilling the empty sky



With arcane longing

Mangos raining from the heavens

Like tears of golden mana

Eagles hoveringLike Nature‟s silent, deadly Luftwaffe

Poised to strike.

S

Ocean of humanity:I swim through it,

Meet countless drops of water,

Each a tear,

And would drown in sorrow,

Were it not for the sky.

S

I gaze about at the faces of man,

As numberless as grains of sand,

And count among them countless friends

Pretending cruel indifference.

S

Crushed by a falling petal

Blown away by a gentle breeze

Devastated by distant bird cry

Shattered by a helpless sighToppled by a floating fragrance



And torn to pieces by your loving caresses....

War seems by far the softer option.

S

Tears have broken down my barriers

And swept aside my sturdiest defence;

Tears have rusted through my armour

And breached my tallest battlements.

Tears have burst apart my damn walls

And turned to mud my solid keeps;

Tears have pissed on my ambitions

And undermined my dreams.

Tears have slaked my raging inner fires

And quenched my monster‟s bitter thirst;

Tears have dampened all desires

And left me drowning on the earth.

S

Have you ever felt a sadnessThat you couldn‟t explain?

When there‟s no reason why

And there‟s no one to blame?

When your soul‟s full of clouds

That just don‟t want to rain?

When the world gives no more pleasureAnd you‟re oblivious to pain?



It‟s the kind of misplaced sadness

Of a bird without a tree,

When it wakes up in a cage,

And discovers stumpsWhere wings should be.

S

I once dreamt of a dark wooded world

Perfumed with forest smokeResonant with non-electrical sounds

Free of cars and factories

Where smiths worked metal with their own sweat

Where carpenters used hand tools

Where stone masons ruled

Where critters were not afraid to mingle with men

Where experience was the only currency

And love was the only reward.

Then I woke up to the nightmare.

S

And so there I suddenly was

Deep in mountain country

Holed-up in a nice clean hotel room

For well-heeled WASPs

Living on borrowed time



And used-up funds

Peddling around on an unregistered bike

Looking like a Vietnam veteran

Or a dangerous outlawTrying to find some peace and quiet amid

The growing roar

Of White Man‟s fear

Backed into a corner

On the run

A lone wolf trying to hideAmong suspicious sheep

Feeling misunderstood and unappreciated

Struggling to stay sane and pure and positive

In a world turned cold and ugly and indifferent

Trusting no one and rightly so

Dreaming of medieval carnivals

And simple pagan values

Working outside the clock

And having to justify it every step of the way

No longer able to squeeze myself into the

Tightening mould

Of rising economic pressures

Burnt out from the struggle

Suffering severe spiritual malnutrition

Looking for a home out of the rain

A place to settle into stillness

Commune with forest nymphs

And daydream all night long

Praying my brothers and sisters might one dayWake up



Throw off their shackles

Step beyond themselves

Their fears

And the rule of evil uncaring regimesHoping for a brighter day and oblivion

All at the same time

Feeling all alone and missing my girl

Even though I‟d just left her that morning

Wondering whether there‟d be a place for me in

HeavenIf I checked out of this Hell

Through the barrel of a gun

S

I gotta get a posse together

Roll the money train

Live hard and free

Sing loud and soft

Blaze a trail back to grace

Take in the sights along the way

Help the poor and unburden the rich

Cry unashamed and die laughingI gotta get a posse together

S

There are saints

I should gladly beheadThere are well-doers



I would happily penalise

There are sheep

I should dearly love to see bled

There are shepherdsI‟d be simply thrilled to misguide

There are rebels

I would most heartily encourage

There are lepers

I would most warmly embrace

There are hell-raisersI should be most eager to manage

There are devils for whose very souls I do pray.

S

I finally ran out of road

Used up the last drop of fuel

Hit the bottom of the ink well

Made my last cup of tea

Opened my last tin of beans

Fried my last egg

Sprinkled the last pinch of salt on it

Soaked up the last rays of the sunStruck my last match

Lit my last candle

Printed my last page

And started my last fire with it.

S



It‟s time to end this pain inside:

To remove the barb lodged in my mind;

Time to lance the boil upon my soul;

To drain the abscessAnd suture the hole.

It‟s time new life stirred in my lungs -

Time to loosen the noose

From which I‟ve hung.

Time to find new balmsTo daub on my rash –

For the old ones corroded,

Left me blistered and cracked.

Time to close the cabinet of medicines

I have opened in desperate times;In answer to my malaise,

Seeking salves to self-wrought crimes.

Time to put away the bitter pills

I have swallowed for so long;

And to look for kindly compounds,

By which I may grow strong.

Time to clear away impurities,

And to undress insecurities;

Time to empty out old baggage,

And find luggage I can manage.

Time to purge the heart of poison,



And to fill it up with wisdom;

Time to drop the yoke of anguish,

Beneath whose weight I‟ve so long languished.

Time to burn away the tattered clothes,

And find a suit of crimson robes;

For my garment – the body –

Has grown old like the road,

Down which I‟ve long trodden,

With no memory of home.

S

In your hour of need,

When your blessed heart bleeds,

And your soul is a string

Hung with dull leaden beads;

And grief sits like a mask

On the face of all tasks,

And your spirit is wine

That‟s been spilt from its flask –

Don‟t forget that your power Draws its strength from the hour

Of the sun, once more come,

Oh my sulking sunflower!

S



In the midst of your gloom

When the world has ceased to bloom

And your hearth fire has grown cold

And your songbird‟s wings have folded And all things seem so unjust

And there‟s no one you can trust

And you‟ve failed to keep your promise

That you‟ll be true and you‟ll be honest

And you‟re digging through despair

Like it‟s some shrine in disrepairAnd your pain has grown unbearable

And you‟re sure it‟s quite irrational

And the wise man in you is sleeping

And his friend the fool is weeping

And heaven seems so far

And you don‟t even own a car!

And the prophets are all wrong

For Armageddon has come and gone

And the terror has grown stronger

And the midnights have grown longer

And the nightmare‟s just begun

Though you know it‟s a re-run

And you‟ve lost your remote control

And you know not one kind soul

Who will share with you your dream

Of Channel One with peaches and cream

For your sweetness has run out,

And sour milk is all that‟s about...



When your tower‟s turned to rubble

And your belt has lost its buckle

Please remember: life‟s a bender! –

And be sure to have a chuckle.

S

Each and every day

I feel a little lighterI shine a little brighter

I grow a little stronger

I think a little longer

Each and every day

I recall a little more

I stand a little taller

I sit a little stiller

I get a little fitter

Each and every day

I venture a little fartherI play a little harder

I listen a little deeper

I see a little clearer

Each and every day

My smile becomes a little broaderMy peace lasts a little longer



My wings spread a little wider

My imagination grows a little wilder

Each and every day

My voice rings a little truer

My heart beats a little surer

My spirit soars a little higher

My love starts a little fire

S

It is tragic to see

Why we take our lives

So seriously.

And yet what is more absurd

Than a lifetime made dull

From all dramas withheld?

S

If I would take my life‟s control,

When by a reinless course I‟ve steered – To see my truant ways resolved,

No more the wayward charioteer –

Then would I, of all charge absolved,

Find Freedom also auctioneered?

I am a roaming charioteer:There‟s nothing in this world I fear.



On freedom sold, no purse can hold

Me standing long the set career.

If I would climb the freedom pole,And fetch its flag down „fore my peers;

And with it buy a life pre-sold

On frigid rules and frozen tears;

Then, beholden, might I yet behold

What barter may not commandeer?

I am a roaming charioteer:

There‟s nothing in this world I fear.

I‟d sooner hold the beggar‟s bowl

Than pawn what wealth I true revere.

If I would choose a road less cold

Than something smoothly engineered;

And still through lurid lands strike bold,

With waving sword and stainless cheer;

Then, checking all „gainst Chance‟s roll,

Might I not lay Luck on its ear?



By Fortune‟s dole, I yet ride tall;

While luckless crawls the scrutineer.

If I would man a safe patrol

Against every gremlin gathered near;And always seek the higher knoll,



From where all dangers might seem clear;

Then would not every mile drag on,

With caution ever in the rear?



To Safety‟s lull I‟ll never fold;

And never is the joyride drear.

If I would force my flighty foalTo serve a master more severe;

When instinct begs to bury whole

The harness on its youthful years;

Then how might I persuade a stolid

Steed to lurch down lanes that veer?



For frivolous the path unfolds,

When pony is my eyes and ears!

And yet:

There‟s wisdom to be had, I‟m told,

In hitching horse with bridle gear;

For careless cars seek reckless goals

Unknown to prudent pioneers.

If I would find my resting soul

By travel‟s end, in distant year,

Then I would gladly stand parole,And wear the harness I‟ve long feared . . .



For even cars are chains of gold

Which weigh down roaming charioteers.

S

There trudged a mercenary‟s wife, Forlorn and friendless to her kind –

A single sword sustained in strife,

A wake of wounded brought behind –

Across the battlefield of life,Her husband‟s broken bones to bind.

She found him by a bleeding brook –

A vein which war had vainly bled;

He rested on Death‟s sturdy crook –

An inch above his final bed.

Though living yet, his body shook,

For Life‟s government had fled.

She stole him softly in her arms,

As if to rob Death of his kill,

And wrest him sure from mortal harm

With tender words and gentle will;Yet few can best Death‟s lethal charms

Less match his touch: much gentler still!

Said she:

“Don‟t leave me yet, my love! –

„Cross bloodstained fields I‟ve fought! O‟er burning bridge; through snake-filled grove



Was bitter passage bought!

To all I‟ve pledged a bloody troth

Who‟d bar me from my lord!”

Said he with barely-whispered voice:

“Oh wife, What do you here?

Can you hear not the splitting noise

Of battle drawing near?

Begone while there remains the choice

Of loving yet what‟s dear!”

Said she:

“‟Tis you alone, my love,

Who rests inside my heart.

Alone, „tis you, my fearsome knight,

Whose horse doth draw my cart.

„Tis your sword only, burning bright,

Could drive me to depart.”

Said he:

“Then hand it now to me,

For I would have you gone!

I am a selfish man, you see,

When all is said and done.

My battle‟s never fought for free –

Thus every fight is won!”

Said she:

“And yet you take the field,While righteous men do cower.



And knaves, by oath, their fealty sealed,

Fall faint „fore Doubt‟s dread power.

Irresolute, you doubly wield

Your truth, when faith turns sour.”

Said he:

“‟Tis I who am the knave,

For courage marks its bench

By welcome of the warrior‟s grave,

And faith that finds no blemish.No hero-act could be less brave

Than fear of Death‟s stale stench!”

Said she:

“My love, „tis noble sure

To give yourself to blame

For virtue less than godly pure

When all‟s done in God‟s name.

While Death bangs loudly on your door

And offers little gain.

While arms are broke and ribs are sore

And legs are limp and lame.

What man can honestly endure

The stab of mortal pain,

And fearless face his God‟s stricture

With less than mild disdain?”

Said he:

“Such pains are pittance fee

Against the due rewardOf justice done that‟s heavenly



When every tally‟s scored.

My fallow faith, my knavery,

Are points to be deplored.”

Said she:

“And who are you to judge

The sums of the divine?

For who can surely reckon much

By things to which we‟re blind?

The dream which sets us on the march,A paradise to find?

The stars which steer us by a touch

Impalpable to mind?

Nor can one stand without the crutch

Of earthly ties that bind.

Forgive yourself the burdening hunch

Of weights so ill-defined!”

Said he:

“Life is a struggle to

Throw off the earthly thrall.

To sit content within its stew

Is no sustenance at all!

And to make of ignorance excuse

Is to rest upon one‟s laurels!”

Said she:

“My love, I do not doubt

That life‟s a hard-won battle.And more for him, who fights without



Commitment, follows trouble.

And yet, I fear, for those devout

In seeking lofty saddles

Must face the kind of holy boutThat sends the saints to prattle.

If you would every demon rout

Amidst the outward rabble,

Then restlessness will find you out

And ever mock your mettle.”

A silence fell upon the land,

As though the battle had withdrawn;

And fainter pulsed the dying hand

Of the mercenary fallen.

He raised a smile in final stand

And held his wife as newly born.

Said he:

“My love, your gift is gold:

Your words have set me free!

How came a woman, born so bold

To love a cur like me? –

A lawless wretch, in loving cold,

You sided yet with me?”

Said she:

“What could do otherwise

A mercenary‟s wife? –

For one must choose to take a side

When sideless men choose strife.When battle brings no greater prize



Than surrender of one‟s life.”

S

I sat with my girl

In the burning sand

As a sun of angry red

Set its eye on the land.

And I wept as I stroked

Her blistered hand,For I was broken

And burnt-out man.

S

What a strange life this is!

So little time in which to live!

A Library to read

Volumes to write

Scores to compose

Epics to recite.

Marathons to run

Worlds to exploreOceans to sail

Skies through which to soar.

A Void to consider

A Self to know

A Kingdom to build

A Garden to grow.A Maid to rescue



A Dragon to slay

A Queen to seduce

A Family to raise.

A Universe to discoverA Population to meet

A Planet to unite

A God to greet.

These things I might do

In just one lifetime‟s score

If I were everyoneAnd dying no more.

S

Here lies a happily dead man.

He had a punk time on Earth.

He lost countless battles but won the war.

He faced his nemesis and shadow-boxed its

black arse.

He took some wicked photos of Hell.

He wrote some mean articles about demons.

He drank more coffee and smoked more fags than

anyone else.He enjoyed the flesh but let it go without

complaint.

He had a porno life.

He did it his way, always.

He wants to thank you for coming when he did.

You‟ve been a sexy audience.



S

I am Oroboros, the Serpent King.

I am your darkest nightmareAnd your brightest dream.

I am the perfect form

Containing nothing.

My beginning is my end.

My reign is an endless cycle.

I am the child of my own creation.My crown is a life bejewelled

With countless glittering moments.

S

songs for sad barbarians by frank genghis

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