GALLOW'S SONG

Darkness crawls over the hill
The moon is dark, a bitter pill

Somewhere distant wolves sing sublime
Children of the night, their only crime

An owl's screech over the march
The cry it echoes past stony arch

The square is empty, the people gone
The scaffold looms, its shadow long

Where once huddled a crowd, a man like a rag
Hangs swaying in the wind like a tattered flag

Face gaunt, limbs stiff as stone
Eyes pale and dead, skin white as bone

What was his story, what his crime
Was he falsely accused, or was it truly his time

A thief in the night, a victim of the law
An enemy, a prisoner from the Napoleonic war

His walk to the end, a sight to behold
His final speech, a tale to be told

A call to arms, a cry for hope
No such tidings beneath the gallow's rope

A lament to his wife, his son to tell
A devilish curse, like when Lucifer fell

A crowd stood in awe, or ever more screaming
While amidst them a child, from her eyes tears are streaming

The noose tightened, the portal open
The inferno reels, its forces awoken

His soul now a quarry for heaven or hell
A tale steeped in morals for poets to tell

And his body on earth awaits the carrion call
The rope left to rot for his final fall

Like refuse collected, cast down shallow grave
No words or song left from the cold earth to save

From nearby, the ominous caw
Has the night and its stars frozen in awe

Perched on the grave, beak black and long
A crow recites the gallow's song

Gallow's Song

RESOLUTION MANTRA

Hope you don't mind
I have to pray
To the almighty
And the Gods of the old vindictive ways

Please
Don't let me be an unholy drunk
Please
Don't let me be some godforsaken punk

Alcohol, cigarettes
My biggest excess
Seem to keep me afloat
As the seasons depress

Please
Let me break asunder the walls that cloud my mind
Please
Let me garner my strength to be righteous and kind

For the demons knock
Day in day out
To turn this wondrous young man
Into an embittered old Kraut

Please
Let me stand strong in the face of my enemies, my friends
Please
When the leevee breaks, a little more strength, so I can make my amends

Let them see me
At my best and my worst
So when I leave this old world
Someone's there to carry the hearse

Please
Incomplete as I am, let me make the best out of myself
Please
Let me gather resolve, to undust my hopes, my dreams, waiting there on the shelf

Silent too long
With no song or story to tell
The dry months as they pass
Seem more and more like hell

Please
My body a cage I wish to polish and clean
Please
Don't let it rot or waste away in some false esteem

I'll admit
There's times I've let myself go
Never knew the limits
No heed for high or low

Please
Let me prevail in face of this Herculean Task
And please
Don't let life grant me another mask

I've been hidden too long
Atop a mountain of shame
Let me step down from it
Bear with pride my own name

These words
A mantra for me to keep
Like a solemn vow
Of which I dream about in my sleep

I have to run now
A new year awaits
No rush, no pressure
Something tells me, I won't be too late

Resolution Mantra

Cover of the song Sweet Jane, based on the version by the Cowboy Junkies.

I own nothing.

Sweet Jane

An attempt at a  cover of Veteran of the Psychic War by Blue Oyster Cult.

I own nothing.

Florian Maier