Knock, knock!
   -Who's there?
It's me again!
Your buddy way back when!

And I'm here bring back yesterday
And end what you begin!
I'll undo all progress you have made
And tangle things uncoiled
I'll remind you of your days once lost
And your tomorrows will be soiled!

So open up
  And let me in!
    I swear it will be fun!
      So forget where you've been going,
And get back where you begun!

-Victor Tinsdale

My hands

           Now cold

My thoughts

           Untold

I haven't slept a wink.

A message

           Bold

Inside me

           Holds

Regrets I dare not speak.

But where to go?

Or what to do?

My soul could start a riot

But the truth inside

Burns shame and pride

Remains and I stay quiet.

-Victor Tinsdale

Absolutely an absurdity!

Bantered Benjamin boldly

Countering cold conclusions

During a dull daydreaming day.

Everybody exaggerates excessively

Forming freakishly far fetched fiction

Giving gracious gawking ganders

Having hatred hardly hid.

I invite initial investigation

Jesting jovially,

Knowing kisses keep kindhearted kids

Lifted lovingly like lances lace a lovers lonely lane.

March my men, move! More movement means more medallions!

Never! Now, never nag! Never neglect noteworthy notions!

Oppress opposition or openly overcome obstacles.

Punctuality perfectly prepares perfection.

Quiet questionable quarrels 

Solely seek self-satisfaction.  Suddenly satisfaction settles, sounds spring skyward, sorrows silently stop.

Tremendous temptations tumble

Under uneasy understandings.

Victory veers vivaciously

With wild, warm wonderment.

Xanadu!

Yonder, yea yonder your yoke yearns,

Zoning zealously. 

-Zictor Zinsdale

Be prepared! They always told me,

Truth be told, though, they were boring

Always doing what was told

Never happy, always cold

Always playing by the rules

Never running by the pool

Looking both ways before crossing

Always brushing, always flossing

Sitting still and being quiet

If they're fat they start to diet

Never wanting to be free

Never Caring about me

Which leads me to my point of pondering

Does life have value without wandering

Through the good and through the bad?

Through beams of joy and thorns of sad?

Without regret of dreams unspoken?

For stronger hearts are those once broken.

...But do not think I dare to say

That seeking sin is a-ok,

If you stumble, then get up

Get a move on, don't get stuck

Be the best that you can be,

But know that lunch is never free

Life takes its toll of blood and sweat

Some expectations never met,

But wounds will heal and tears be sewn

Errors fixed,

And unknowns known.

In truth all that I wish to say

Is go outside,

    And live

       Your life

           ...Today!

-Victor Tinsdale

The devil in our Eyes

I see devil in thy eye,
And I see one in mine too.
I try to purge it with a dye,
To take away the hue.
But the devil grows a darker vague,
And renders half my sight opaque,
In angst I cry,
In pain I twist,
I pluck my eye into my fist.
And leave a hole I never missed.

But you
You leave the devil in your eye,
It burns a hole into your mind.
And fills your soul with dark despair,
And leaves an empty longing there.
Eyes for eyes.
Teeth for teeth.
The eyes are for sight.
The teeth are for meat.
The heart is for blood,
And the blood is for love.
But thy eyes are sacred as the dove.

-Rochester Payne

You and My

You can hold signs and yell,
But you cannot change the direction of my heart.
You can throw a stone, or break my bones,
But you cannot break my will.
You can take my fingers, hands, or legs,
But you cannot take my soul.
You can burn my books, my home, my temple,
But you can never extinguish my internal flame.
You can kill me, my wife, my children, my mother, my father, my brother, my sister,
But you cannot take them from me.
You can destroy this country I hold dear,
But you can never take away my fear.
For my fear is of God and him alone.
And my family is mine, given to me, by him, forever.
And my fire burns from his spirit.
And my soul can only be destroyed by one person, myself.
And my will is as strong as my love, and there exists nothing stronger.
And in my heart all this exists, and has always existed, and will exist forever.

-Rochester Payne

The Tear of the Bigot

I stand amongst the fallen trees,
Guns pointing my back.
The mob Catt calls of “Bigotry!”
Are sung like an attack.

My eyes well strong with tears unshed,
For my valiant brethren,
For my family taken beneath their beds,
For whom I wait to see again.

The mob jeers loud at my single tear,
They mock me with contempt.
They do not know my secret dear,
My tear was shed for them.

My crown bleeds red from angry stones,
But worse pain comes from words unknown.
But still I stand, even alone,
Until I’m called back home.

I whisper off my last goodbyes,
And pray my new hellos.
My nerves are calm, I close my eyes,
It’s now my turn to go.

-Rochester Payne

The night is growing old

Said I, reluctantly with fear

No matter how I push away

I know you'll find me here.

Whilst logic fails me

Greed then thrives

And all words lose their meaning

Then in an instant

Change!

Inside my heart,

Intentions prove deceiving.

Control is lost

And passion prospers

Pleasure turns to pain

And so an evening

Once mundane

Has turned itself insane.

-Victor Tinsdale

My Personal Hell

When upon the mountain
And pondering upon eternity
I sipped the dregs of the cup of malice
And pucker was shear delight!

When below the valley floor
I knelt upon the dews of wrath
My quivering lips did touch the elixir
Of a love once true now dead

When among the whispering canyons
I sought to quench my stinging fury
And bury mountains of forced discretion
To appease the masses that plea for silence

When through the clenched teeth
That I once suppressed through the pain
Passes the energy, reverberating through all
Stirring the eternal essence throughout

When all around me flew the sounds
Of living breathing dreams escaped
Then no one sat to sooth and comfort
The wounds that caused my soul to ache

-J. Thadeus Richie

Winter Tune

When from my window singing low
A winter breeze did sooth my soul
And whisping me to sightly slumber
I paused a while to sit and wonder
She walked right by me when she passed
And strode a rhythm loud and fast
A melody, too, did fill my ears
It pleaded soft to drain my tears
The tears I'd held for far too long
Now fell with ease beneath her song
When from my view the dream did fade
I struggled on the other way
Too tough to fight, the tide too strong
I gripped more tightly to her song
The only shred of proof I gripped
Then from my fingers now did slip
I fell head long through time and space
Till morning found me at my place
Beside the window life resumed
But I could not recall the tune.

-J. Thadeus Richie

Your promises hold true and strong

Like wax before a fire,

And the person that you claim you are

Proves further, you're a liar.

Because you cause all those that cross your path

To wilt like dying flowers,

Yet you raise yourself on pedestals,

And talk and brag for hours.

You're the greatest thing thats ever happened

To this tiny town

And yet the breeze blows calm

And sun shins brighter

When you're not around.

And note, your heart is cold

And your desires are all tainted,

Which have nothing in resemblance

To the facade you think you've painted.

But the thing which ails me most

And makes my veins run cold with fear

Is that I share these things in confidence

Alone, before the mirror.

-Victor Tinsdale