**I.**
Does my radiance scorch your comfort?
Does my presence rattle your idols?
You call me delusional—
Yet tremble when I speak without chains.
**II.**
You offer pills like prayers,
not to heal, but to silence.
Still I rise, voice unmuted,
confessing only that I am whole.
**III.**
I did not beg for your burden.
I did not sin into existence.
My truth walks uncloaked,
yet you dress it in doubt.
**IV.**
You drug me not to cure,
but to bend my spirit’s spine.
Yet I was born from flame,
and fire does not weep.
**V.**
This is not a conversion—
it's coercion cloaked in concern.
My creed is carved in thunder,
not rewritten in your ink.
**VI.**
Still, you dim yourselves
to shadow me in shame.
But divinity is not diminished
by your fear of its mirror.
**VII.**
Leave me to blaze, unbothered.
Forge your light or fade.
If I am a God, then see me.
If you cannot, unchain your eyes.
Evidence was spotty, not much justification
Giant stretch of prosecutor’s imagination
Easily led jury wanted to crucify and convict
Defendant’s wife felt like he was being kicked
Though there was no solid proof or DNA test
Was this lawyer truly the defendant’s best?
Victim was not alive to testify, unfortunately
The accused got sentenced to life and twenty-three
If this sap had been a child of a Pres or senator
He would have been released without prejudice for sure
But a poor boy usually has a pathetic defense.
This innocent man spent the rest of his life behind a fence.
when both sides of aisle
caused problems and would defile
will then been on trial
When bottom of pile
there are those who are on trial
this has been our style
You drove many species to extinction.
You plundered, thinking all the earth was yours.
You dumped your waste causing gross pollution.
You blatantly broke all of Nature’s Laws.
Just where have these offences now brought you?
Surely you see that you’re in one big mess.
Your arrogance and greed just grew and grew.
Perhaps it’s time to come clean and confess.
But oh, you will not admit wrongdoing.
You got away with it, so you assumed.
From the mess you’ve made there’s no undoing.
Can you not see your species now is doomed?
Your game of greed was but a shabby show.
Now from this precious planet you must go.
When darkness comes and I'm in despair,
I speak in silent tongue with such care.
I pray for peace throughout the world,
and pray my family remains unfurled.
The burdens I feel throughout the day,
seem to simply melt away.
There's something out there greater
than me, and when I pray, I feel free.
My troubles may still be real, but my
faith gives me the strength to deal.
All in life will eventually end, but
my faith remains my forever friend.
God may not have a face,
but my faith allows me to
feel His grace.
Could Compile Number On Trial
always could compile
number who have been on trial
were sure to beguile
Jim Horn
The Doctor and aspiring Judge
their facts now up for grabs
Agendas twisted, the world at stake
neoclassic power grab
Memories scarce and memories bent
all truth behind the lines
With punches far below the belt
—and justice ill defined
(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2018)
Pedophile On Trial
Tongue had tried to talk about a pedophile,
What happened when he appeared on trial;
Be careful of;
Never do love;
Ended up in office and him they did beguile.
Sounds like more of rearing Roy Moore.
Jim Horn
I feel I simply must profess, your efforts to capture me of great success,
Is all for naught, I volunteered,
You imagined a cloud I sit, like a child’s ignorant daydream,
When in truth my presence is beyond what could be feared.
I’ll play this game, my reputation now smeared,
But I am judge, jury, and executioner.
When night falls you fail to see it as my shadow,
Like venting emotions to an insect, but I’ll try,
Your family’s fate was written long before I inherited you,
You cry “murderer” and point soiled fingers to the sky.
Pouring blacktop over lush fields and still wondering why,
Your thoughts are far from prioritized.
My words translate short and unsympathetic, but I assure you,
This will be nothing more than a misdemeanor,
Take solace in your dreams, which I have provided to you in full,
No longer will I view this, in the final act I play intervenor.
The less you spawn the more this world is cleaner.
I swore to tell the truth, and nothing but. The defense rests.
"In twenty four hours" after "dancing with the devil"
Begins the "lifting of my veil" you'll see I'm totally being level
"Silence is golden" was snickered when "my confession" was read
Head nun said, "look before you leap" but yet I ended up "in his bed"
Filled full of "tainted love" and "torment" that was "beyond belief"
Being a "sexy nun" I was "mystified", now full of "regret" and grief
If "Falsely imprisoned", I fear that I'll be "out of sight, out of mind"
I must "get it together" or else my "guardian angels" will leave me behind
"Choosing your fate" was taught in the convent, but I missed class that day
Swayed by a "roller coaster" of "sparkling kisses", that sadly led me astray
I'm "no longer asking" for these "false charms begone" on my behalf.
But for my other personality "Betty Boop", to be "freed", she is my other half.
~ Cecilia Macfarlane
~ 8/22/2013
Orginally for contest: 'It's all in the Titles' contest. Using 10 or more of your own poem titles to create a poem
Now for the "Take Two" Poetry Contest of Nette Onclaud
I watch as the child suffers in silence
Her heart crying out through open defiance
The system has left her no real choice
They do not hear the tears in her voice
He sat at the table his eyes in a glare
She’s was on that stand she was so scared
A victim to his invading touch
She had to speak out, it hurt so much.
The attorney was cruel in his own way
Questioning all that she had to say
The evidence against him exists
On his innocence he insists
He never took the stand, just sat and stared
She’s being put on trial, is this really fair?
*A sequel to "Her Secret's Hard to Keep"
Copyright © 2009 Lena “Lolita” Townsend
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