Very intense...

Chrissy

To recognize such a rattle and its source is as the ending suggested...a way back to life :-)

Yipe. Chilling, effective verse, Jude. Well done!

(((HUGS))) and love, Karla.

New form. Why am I thinking of a rattlesnake?

Ron

Bro. Jude: This is prophetic, it really is. Death rattle (I agree with Sherry 110 percent) is telling the world that we have snakes in the spiritual planes pretending to be harmless. We vote for the so called "reformed" snakes; we put "the snakes" pictures in our family albums; we eyeball "the snakes" in the pulpits of the Lord God, and sometimes "the snakes" are the ones we make love to the night before.

"The snakes" steal our time with hard luck stories, not desiring anything but taking up our time to assist them only to turn away and bite us without even a simple "thank you," but we suck out the poison of being used and continue doing our thing. . . .know what I'm sayin'?

This writing is a different tone for you, and I like this slight diversion from "My Jude" (smile). It's not only a warning, but a preparation for us to daily be on guard, but to proceed bravely into the tall uncharted field grasses that not only give us cooling breezes of relief, but also "the snakes" who cherish those cool grasses as well. The world may be a jungle but if we can just get to the River of Life in our journey, it'll be worth treading in the Territory of Tribulations that tests us every day.

Thanks for bringing my sleepy self to life this morning, raising my consciousness and strengthening my faith.

love and blessin's to you,
cynth'ya

The "death rattle" is a warning, always in the back of our mind reminding us that nothing lasts forever, not ever us. For me, the "death rattle" kept making me hear the warning sound of a rattlesnake. Having grown up in Southern California and having spent so much time hiking there, I learned to recognize the marks in the trail of the dreaded "Rattler." As I would be walking through a meadow or up a difficult shale trail, my spirit elevated, my body and mind consuming all the beauty that surrounded me, my thoughts on a higher universal plane, suddenly that sound that brought me back to reality, the sound that reminded me that, at least for the moment, I was terra firma bound, the unmistakable rattle of a deadly snake. Though I was never bitten, I came close a few times. Like having the snake hiding in the grass at the edge of the trail, we remain vulnerable to danger in everything we do, and the road of life seems to be filling with more real dangers every day. This write shakes the soul deeply in those places where primal instincts reside. It is a powerful and awakening poem in a kind of goose-bumpy way, Jude.
Take care,
Sherry

This poem is dark!!!!! Well-done, Robert!!!!!

Sandie May Angel a.k.a. Sandie Angel :o)

Pride has taken a backseat lately. What has happened to this great nation?
Susan

Jude,
I don't know why, but as I was reading this I kept hearing Hendrix's "Voodoo Child" playing in the background. I think
it is your pacing, or rhythm...whichever, I enjoyed the read and
hope to hear this as a recital.

The interesting form and gothic script made me think skeletal... probably my own fixations with neck problems, but could visually see something of spinal vertebrae and discs here! Scrolling down to Sage makes a lot of oral and aural sense to me... this is one to be heard, like that spooky rattle-thing one associates with voodoo. The way things seem to be and as you describe them here, one might think that the whole world is under some sort of curse or spell that is squeezing the very life force out of humanity. But, Lazarus-like, even flesh that is dead and bound can be revived if the creationist spirit is breathed into it. I suppose, for this to happen, there first has to be the universal acknowledgement of need. Realisation is the first step to redemption. The life of this planet needs to be saved from being swallowed whole by venomous jaws of ignorance, hatred and greed for certain sure. Call for George... no, not him... The Dragonslayer!! :)) An eerily comprehensive and consummate write; perhaps it will be laid down so that, in 60,000 or so years, it will be fossilised, giving a clue as to the downfall of the human race. I would, however, rather it be a watershed for the turning of the tides... LOL K xx

Unigue and unusal but as always intense and deep. Your thoughts struggle with the decline of all that once was in this life and the answers are scary...
Fee

You forgot one - Death Rattle in the didactic (good word) ponderings and ramblings of all poets and writers.

There on that high mountainous hillside, wildflowers grow and thrive together. A multiplicity of multihued colors and fragrances bound by one thing - life and death.

All things invariably succumb to the death rattle.

A paradigm shift on this planet, and in this universe, is approaching and everyone will have their own take on it. Thankfully though, there is still One Truth!

I wonder how many times the earth has been reborn?

But ain't life like the commercials tell us.
New house, new car, new tv, new improved dog food, and insurance just in case someone should ever die...

Many of us miss life by anaesthetising ourselves from living..

We can't escape death, but we can start living...

This one made me rattle and shake...hope death does not follow or overtakes the mind of mine!!

Excellent piece Jude!!

Love Tinka

Ace

As long as we are aware of the passage of time , and the finality of life, then we need have no fears..

Interesting format in play here

Peter

I'm shaking...."Death Rattle" rattles the air with shatter proof perspective. Thanks for this. My best, Gloria

Lots of death rattles being rattled these days, all over the globe, and one wonders if the final death rattle will sound soon, or if mankind can somehow silence it.

Now this I can identify with and wish I wrote it...as always sir Robert, excellent...Ed

Ooooh this gave me the ...Rattles... Sorry Dune, errr Jude, stuff I cant get my head in gear today.

A much needed write on a subject many don't want to go there with.
Excellente
Ch'erie
PS How hot does it get where you live in F degree's? I'll convert that to Celcius. We do up to 43c here.
;)Ch'erie

Drifts like scattered confetti in the death rattle of Candomble. Rocks to the beat of Noite Beleza Negra, Festival of Black Beauty. In the embrace of their gods, followers of Candomble possessed by African deities. Legendary power cures the ills of society, punctuated by chanting. Death Rattle is a haunting slave jumped ship and fled the plantation. Death Rattle burns underbrush before cutting stalks of sugar cane. Reverberates with African rhythms and painted dancers boosting the voodoo of West Africa...

Sage

Death rattle was, is and will always be with us. It is our destiny. Excellent poem. I like it's format.

Would that we could...
Excellent, Robert.

Just how I felt, under attack! It seems that the death rattle is alive and well in all areas! Excellent thought provoker Jude!