I am fighting from the heights,
The sun over my shoulder.
I am staring down,
Laughing at my enemies.

Behind these walls of wood and nails
The shrapnel tends to ricochet,
The armor hurtling back
The many missiles meant for me.

The power of my weaponry,
Increased by gravitational pull,
My terror raining down
Like brimstone from this elevated deck.

And in the uncut version
Hordes driven off,
Barbarians and nare’do’wells,
Hell hounds to heals,
That’ll teach ‘em a lesson!

There was only the one problem I would not foresee
When food, water, and ammunition ran out,
And sooner or later they would,
This tree-house
Would be of little use to me.

***

Oh, did you ever have a place where you could go,
A place that was safe from the woes of the world?
Oh, did you ever have a place where you could go?
I never found one.

Did you ever wish for body armor super hero thick?
A wrap-around flack jacket sarcophagus?
Did you ever wish a rhino’s hide coverin’ up your skin?
I am weeping in the closet, invisible,
Hiding in my tree house
Pretending to take on the world!

Have you ever tried to close your eyes,
To visualize suicide,
Meditate on homicide
Contemplate the
Short trip and the long ride;
Been tired of running,
Been tired of hiding,
Tired of hating,
Tired of fighting,
Tired of jumping through them fiery hoops
And climbing up them rickety old ladders!
Promises hovering like so much smoke in the air…
Out of reach, out of touch,
Every rung hung on a wing and a prayer.

Have you ever tried to build a tree-house, my friend?
Have you ever built a tree-house?

***

And with every skirmish of my life
I have fought to take that higher ground,
Forever longing for the victory,
That final upper-hand.

Ashes, ashes, all fall down!
I should have known,
I’d need a better battle plan.

 


Michael S. True
1-3-14