Poetry and Prose for any season

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

Politicians Have No Heart, No Honor

You squawking birds are mute
now that the buzzard has flown in
Taking no notice until we all are destitute
acting as if cold harden statue men

You cowards pretend to bend and weep
as you watch us live in want
Act as if you truly earn your keep
faking caring when you surely don't

Stand frozen as a block of ice
as you allow the enemy to win it
Appease like dimwits playing nice
as you play at having no skin in it ..........Tyr-- 04-05--2014

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

No Reprieve Given For Deeds Forever Written In Stone


Each vision of beauty stands apart and giving its gift
always taking one's spirit and soul to inspire and uplift
As my spirit viewed her beauty that hour and summer day
I stood like a jagged mountain with no clever words to say


Like a child lost in wilderness straying along soaked with fears
longing for words of love to race from her lips to my eager ears
A happiness that sprang from a young and hopefully eager mind
such great joy could a wild young man ever dare to hope to find


After she showered me with her love and beautiful glow
I begged for more and prayed for a never ending show
Alas, fate fickle and ever so recklessly mirrored my shallow way
cast sadly apart and apart we forever did sorrowfully have to stay


Years can not banish the memories and love for her life and soul
present blessings can not erase the gentle memories I forever know
Of days and nights walking by her comforting and hand held side
often the pain strikes so deep its more than this man can abide


Regrets are daggers that slice deep into a man's hurting heart
demanding a sad ending be as firmly held as was the joyous start
I struggle not to let such thoughts force me to weep and moan
as I remember my selfish deeds that forced her to be forever gone

No power to reclaim her faithful love has ever came to me
fighting the sadness that ever seeks to cast my spirit into the sea
Slashing dark spirits that cast my doubts and sins back in my face
while riding the wildest horse that merely finishes this eternal race


I have memories of crowns that are forever ripped and torn
of painful dark robes burning my soul as they are sadly worn
No saving relief in blessed sight, not even an ending date
as my pain endures sitting deep within this wretchedly bad fate...... Tyr- 04-13-2014

As late night hours approach I face memories both pleasant and sad. Realizing gifts I refused because I chose thrills of being bad. Life does not give overs for deeds one ever so deeply regret.
And it does not give easy paths to take to simply forget. We are what we have already done and can only change what may in the future do. Mistakes I've learned not to repeat but can not ever avoid the pain and guilt they increase in measure as days fly ever forward. --Tyr

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

Be Near Me --- by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
translated by Naomi Lazard


Be near me now,
My tormenter, my love, be near me—
At this hour when night comes down,
When, having drunk from the gash of sunset, darkness comes
With the balm of musk in its hands, its diamond lancets,
When it comes with cries of lamentation,
with laughter with songs;
Its blue-gray anklets of pain clinking with every step.
At this hour when hearts, deep in their hiding places,
Have begun to hope once more, when they start their vigil
For hands still enfolded in sleeves;
When wine being poured makes the sound
of inconsolable children
who, though you try with all your heart,
cannot be soothed.
When whatever you want to do cannot be done,
When nothing is of any use;
—At this hour when night comes down,
When night comes, dragging its long face,
dressed in mourning,
Be with me,
My tormenter, my love, be near me.

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

by Tyr-Ziu Saxnot » Fri Jul 01, 2011 2:35 am

Saw a dirty bastard deliberately run over a stray dog today

The man look to be in his thirties and well dressed

New SUV and obviously a dirty rat

Turned around to chase him down but lost him

Damn good thing too

I had violence in my heart

Such a deserving ass kicking and fate decided no way

Fate, fickle and mysterious shadows in a creeping mist

But that guy sure as hell is on my list.--:X--Tyr

See , I've always had a bad temper and usually acted upon it. July 1st 2011 was that post, just three months after my heart attack. A bit of free verse from back then and its not bad even if I do say so myself..

By the way, a week after that incident a guy that saw it and saw me do a U-turn to chase the guy told me the bastard was from out of state and was visiting his neighbor down the street and had left town that day after seeing he had been chased! I asked where the scoundrel was from and was told Cali... I replied a liberal no doubt, just compassionately sending that poor dog to heaven.. Left a request with the guy telling me this information= Please inform me if ever the bastard returns to visit your neighbor. I want to have a special kind of "talk" with that guy's sorry ass. That kind of behavior this man is damn slow to forget or forgive. I still plan on gifting an attitude adjustment... Being generous that way..

Did I mention I love dogs and had one (mine!) deliberately ran over when I was a kid far too young to do anything about it?
I settle that score many years later as an adult and it was pure joy doing so.. Trust me on that!! -Tyr

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

From Kipling


The Ballad of Boh Da Thone
This is the ballad of Boh Da Thone,
Erst a Pretender to Theebaw's throne,
Who harried the district of Alalone:
How he met with his fate and the V.P.P.*
At the hand of Harendra Mukerji,
Senior Gomashta, G.B.T.


Boh Da Thone was a warrior bold:
His sword and his rifle were bossed with gold,

And the Peacock Banner his henchmen bore
Was stiff with bullion, but stiffer with gore.

He shot at the strong and he slashed at the weak
From the Salween scrub to the Chindwin teak:

He crucified noble, he sacrificed mean,
He filled old ladies with kerosene:

While over the water the papers cried,
"The patriot fights for his countryside!"

But little they cared for the Native Press,
The worn white soldiers in Khaki dress,

Who tramped through the jungle and camped in the byre,
Who died in the swamp and were tombed in the mire,

Who gave up their lives, at the Queen's Command,
For the Pride of their Race and the Peace of the Land.

Now, first of the foemen of Boh Da Thone
Was Captain O'Neil of the Black Tyrone,

And his was a Company, seventy strong,
Who hustled that dissolute Chief along.

There were lads from Galway and Louth and Meath
Who went to their death with a joke in their teeth,

And worshipped with fluency, fervour, and zeal
The mud on the boot-heels of "Crook" O'Neil.

But ever a blight on their labours lay,
And ever their quarry would vanish away,

Till the sun-dried boys of the Black Tyrone
Took a brotherly interest in Boh Da Thone:

And, sooth, if pursuit in possession ends,
The Boh and his trackers were best of friends.

The word of a scout -- a march by night --
A rush through the mist -- a scattering fight --

A volley from cover -- a corpse in the clearing --
The glimpse of a loin-cloth and heavy jade earring --

The flare of a village -- the tally of slain --
And. . .the Boh was abroad on the raid again!

They cursed their luck, as the Irish will,
They gave him credit for cunning and skill,

They buried their dead, they bolted their beef,
And started anew on the track of the thief

Till, in place of the "Kalends of Greece", men said,
"When Crook and his darlings come back with the head."

They had hunted the Boh from the hills to the plain --
He doubled and broke for the hills again:

They had crippled his power for rapine and raid,
They had routed him out of his pet stockade,

And at last, they came, when the Daystar tired,
To a camp deserted -- a village fired.

A black cross blistered the morning-gold,
And the body upon it was stark and cold.

The wind of the dawn went merrily past,
The high grass bowed her plumes to the blast.

And out of the grass, on a sudden, broke
A spirtle of fire, a whorl of smoke --

And Captain O'Neil of the Black Tyrone
Was blessed with a slug in the ulnar-bone --
The gift of his enemy Boh Da Thone.

(Now a slug that is hammered from telegraph-wire
Is a thorn in the flesh and a rankling fire.)

. . . . .

The shot-wound festered -- as shot-wounds may
In a steaming barrack at Mandalay.

The left arm throbbed, and the Captain swore,
"I'd like to be after the Boh once more!"

The fever held him -- the Captain said,
"I'd give a hundred to look at his head!"

The Hospital punkahs creaked and whirred,
But Babu Harendra (Gomashta) heard.

He thought of the cane-brake, green and dank,
That girdled his home by the Dacca tank.

He thought of his wife and his High School son,
He thought -- but abandoned the thought -- of a gun.

His sleep was broken by visions dread
Of a shining Boh with a silver head.

He kept his counsel and went his way,
And swindled the cartmen of half their pay.

. . . . .

And the months went on, as the worst must do,
And the Boh returned to the raid anew.

But the Captain had quitted the long-drawn strife,
And in far Simoorie had taken a wife;

And she was a damsel of delicate mould,
With hair like the sunshine and heart of gold,

And little she knew the arms that embraced
Had cloven a man from the brow to the waist:

And little she knew that the loving lips
Had ordered a quivering life's eclipse,

Or the eye that lit at her lightest breath
Had glared unawed in the Gates of Death.

(For these be matters a man would hide,
As a general rule, from an innocent Bride.)

And little the Captain thought of the past,
And, of all men, Babu Harendra last.

. . . . .

But slow, in the sludge of the Kathun road,
The Government Bullock Train toted its load.

Speckless and spotless and shining with ghi,
In the rearmost cart sat the Babu-jee.

And ever a phantom before him fled
Of a scowling Boh with a silver head.

Then the lead-cart stuck, though the coolies slaved,
And the cartmen flogged and the escort raved;

And out of the jungle, with yells and squeals,
Pranced Boh Da Thone, and his gang at his heels!

Then belching blunderbuss answered back
The Snider's snarl and the carbine's crack,

And the blithe revolver began to sing
To the blade that twanged on the locking-ring,

And the brown flesh blued where the bay'net kissed,
As the steel shot back with a wrench and a twist,

And the great white oxen with onyx eyes
Watched the souls of the dead arise,

And over the smoke of the fusillade
The Peacock Banner staggered and swayed.

Oh, gayest of scrimmages man may see
Is a well-worked rush on the G.B.T.!

The Babu shook at the horrible sight,
And girded his ponderous loins for flight,

But Fate had ordained that the Boh should start
On a lone-hand raid of the rearmost cart,

And out of that cart, with a bellow of woe,
The Babu fell -- flat on the top of the Boh!

For years had Harendra served the State,
To the growth of his purse and the girth of his p]^et.

There were twenty stone, as the tally-man knows,
On the broad of the chest of this best of Bohs.

And twenty stone from a height discharged
Are bad for a Boh with a spleen enlarged.

Oh, short was the struggle -- severe was the shock --
He dropped like a bullock -- he lay like a block;

And the Babu above him, convulsed with fear,
Heard the labouring life-breath hissed out in his ear.

And thus in a fashion undignified
The princely pest of the Chindwin died.

. . . . .

Turn now to Simoorie where, lapped in his ease,
The Captain is petting the Bride on his knees,

Where the whit of the bullet, the wounded man's scream
Are mixed as the mist of some devilish dream --

Forgotten, forgotten the sweat of the shambles
Where the hill-daisy blooms and the gray monkey gambols,

From the sword-belt set free and released from the steel,
The Peace of the Lord is on Captain O'Neil.

. . . . .

Up the hill to Simoorie -- most patient of drudges --
The bags on his shoulder, the mail-runner trudges.

"For Captain O'Neil, Sahib. One hundred and ten
Rupees to collect on delivery."
Then

(Their breakfast was stopped while the screw-jack and hammer
Tore waxcloth, split teak-wood, and chipped out the dammer

Open-eyed, open-mouthed, on the napery's snow,
With a crash and a thud, rolled -- the Head of the Boh!

And gummed to the scalp was a letter which ran: --
"IN FIELDING FORCE SERVICE.
Encampment,
10th Jan.

"Dear Sir, -- I have honour to send, as you said,
For final approval (see under) Boh's Head;

"Was took by myself in most bloody affair.
By High Education brought pressure to bear.

"Now violate Liberty, time being bad,
To mail V.P.P. (rupees hundred) Please add

"Whatever Your Honour can pass. Price of Blood
Much cheap at one hundred, and children want food;

"So trusting Your Honour will somewhat retain
True love and affection for Govt. Bullock Train,

"And show awful kindness to satisfy me,
I am,
Graceful Master,
Your
H. MUKERJI."

. . . . .

As the rabbit is drawn to the rattlesnake's power,
As the smoker's eye fills at the opium hour,

As a horse reaches up to the manger above,
As the waiting ear yearns for the whisper of love,

From the arms of the Bride, iron-visaged and slow,
The Captain bent down to the Head of the Boh.

And e'en as he looked on the Thing where It lay
'Twixt the winking new spoons and the napkins' array,

The freed mind fled back to the long-ago days --
The hand-to-hand scuffle -- the smoke and the blaze --

The forced march at night and the quick rush at dawn --
The banjo at twilight, the burial ere morn --

The stench of the marshes -- the raw, piercing smell
When the overhand stabbing-cut silenced the yell --

The oaths of his Irish that surged when they stood
Where the black crosses hung o'er the Kuttamow flood.

As a derelict ship drifts away with the tide
The Captain went out on the Past from his Bride,

Back, back, through the springs to the chill of the year,
When he hunted the Boh from Maloon to Tsaleer.

As the shape of a corpse dimmers up through deep water,
In his eye lit the passionless passion of slaughter,

And men who had fought with O'Neil for the life
Had gazed on his face with less dread than his wife.

For she who had held him so long could not hold him --
Though a four-month Eternity should have controlled him --

But watched the twin Terror -- the head turned to head --
The scowling, scarred Black, and the flushed savage Red --

The spirit that changed from her knowing and flew to
Some grim hidden Past she had never a clue to.

But It knew as It grinned, for he touched it unfearing,
And muttered aloud, "So you kept that jade earring!"

Then nodded, and kindly, as friend nods to friend,
"Old man, you fought well, but you lost in the end."

. . . . .

The visions departed, and Shame followed Passion: --
"He took what I said in this horrible fashion,

"I'll write to Harendra!" With language unsainted
The Captain came back to the Bride. . .who had fainted.

. . . . .

And this is a fiction? No. Go to Simoorie
And look at their baby, a twelve-month old Houri,

A pert little, Irish-eyed Kathleen Mavournin --
She's always about on the Mall of a mornin' --

And you'll see, if her right shoulder-strap is displaced,
This: Gules upon argent, a Boh's Head, erased!

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

Distant Thoughts


Diamonds shattering just behind her family's door
for the life of her dear father is no more!
Fate set it's seal too early upon her young life
results of a great tragedy born of mental strife

Death brought shadows blocking out healing light
no more beautiful sunrise as all is darkest night
Wickedly it's daggers into that soul deeply cut
misery and pain sole companions in this tragic rut

So very relentless are such deep heartache blues
often birthed on strange paths one did not choose
Father lost in desperation of mental illness's haze
poison taken to end his painful and confusing days

Silently reading from the one great spiritual book
a mourning , soulful repose daughter now took
Seeking solace as she gazed into another realm
a journey on rescue ship , beloved Savior at the helm!

Tyr- 05-26-2014

Written for a contest ... subject was the girl in the picture, reading a book while sitting under a massive tree. She was looking up and away in the picture..

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

One Day's Magic

Gifted was the magic of words given to me
a sword to cut with or defend as I see
Weapon for good or even evil should I choose
in either I may still cry and sadly lose

Yet should I be insightful and choose good
all may not turn out well but O' it should
Cutting and slicing useful acts to defend
those we love , care for and so 'oft befriend

No great righteous spirit has been gifted
a heavy burden given not one gayly lifted
A price , for seeing and then daring to act
a duty to truth and a crusade based upon facts

One day's magic seems so great a fantastic gift
that is until it's true burden cuts in so swift!

Tyr , 06-20-2014.

written for Freddie's contest, One Day's Magic.
A truly great idea for a contest....

A burden that would crush any person having it,
for man alone can never ever use such power. It would
corrupt his soul and lead to his very destruction IMHO.