Giants On Parade

When we were young

We watched the palace fall out of the sky

We waited for the dragon

Dripping love to make us high

We ran with gods and drank their wine

We ate the dreams of men

We called upon the hearts of Troy

And we shouted in the wind



In time we learned to twist the vine

Escape through smoke and shield

We slept beneath the clouds of gloom

And turned the broken wheels

The steel we wore spoke to our hearts

We drank the blood of youth

We buried blades in waterfalls

And lied to find the truth



We drove our shining time machines

And flew the dragons dry

We carried love across the sea

And vanished from the sky

The bridges burned in purple smoke

Our horses sawed their reigns

We charged across the fields of hope

And cursed the yellow stain



Our cries of "Death to boring lives"

Rang through our fierce brigade

Our hearts were filled with martyrdom

Our hands affixed to blades

The seeds were sewn, the minds were blown

The Piper dearly paid

The whirlwinds dusting kingdom come

Were giants on parade



The fires of torn and tearing down

Now smolder in the rain

And Silence fills the empty halls

Where music filled the stage

Wild poppies rustle in the wind

Where skin and bone provide

The strength to hold the crumbling walls

The years, the crushing tide



 By Tony Whitford
March 23, 2012

The Words Of Our Fathers

 

 

What will become of

The words of our fathers

Speaking

Through atmospheres of impatience

Through lives unattended

Or unexplored

 

What will become of

The message there repeated

Falling

Through attitudes too sure

Through expectations unmet

Through hands held together

In unexplained loss

And love

 

What will become of

The hope in the whisper

Rocking

In a quiet room

Soft breath on his cheek

The gentle beat of a heart against his

Looking into a future

Uncertain

Unprepared

But willing to believe

 

What will become of

The child of the father

Running

From the words they will not hear

Crashing against the hope

Of the other

The quiet room forgotten

The meaning somehow lost

The words that held no cost

 

 

Tony Whitford   7/15/2014