Poetic Justice

Traffic

2010-11-16T17:55:00.000-08:00

"Forget the screeching

and come to a hault

I'm sick of your games

and tired of your whims

and fancies or so called

"Ideas"

Selfish? perhaps I am

so what?

then would you love me

more or less if I

were not I?

excuses...you know

Never mind, my friend

In the end you will

witness my vindication,"

he says

before the fall...

Whisper (until the flame inside melts the castle of ice)

2010-08-12T11:09:00.000-07:00

I ignite inside and
suddenly something
is consumed

It feels as if I have
always known
but I have lost

Did I hope for
success where it
can only be earned?

I am frozen in pain
of the realization
a flame encased
in the ice newly formed

How? why? because
of me it is
how it is

but it can change...
Right...?
maybe.

Isn't that better
than a no?
Why am I discontent
when it is my
doing anyway?

I can't wait
I can't wait
I can't
I can't
I can't
I can't
I can't
I can't
I can't...

succeed
overcome
win
climb
hold
stand
feel
...
heal...

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

The Cliche

2010-07-31T17:28:00.000-07:00

The fur flies
across the sea of
seemingly endless
space

Only for it all
to be for naught
as like karma

Man's best friend
comes back again

empty-handed

2010-04-16T06:28:00.000-07:00

Silly discussions
these debates
I ignore
Should I intercede?
I think I know better...
Yet that is why you argue
So to argue proves you right
and to keep silence
is the only way to "win"?!
somehow this seems wrong
But what other option
is there?

"That is so wrong!"
i scream inside
peace overwhelms
From an unknown source
God?
Forgive me
I pray
The bickering continues
outside
"There is no one like our God..."

The song grabs every fiber
as I try to write
I reluctantly type
now
Joyful undercurrents
swell
in
...me...

...daniel

i hung a pic-

2009-11-24T00:10:00.000-08:00

i hung a pic-
ture on the wall

a glimpse of dead-
ly sins anoth-
er committed

i bleed; i bled

salvation come

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

role models

2009-11-04T14:33:00.000-08:00

vases are emptying
beneath the visible plane
as one tries
he fails to see
them there
so
he cries
refilling the vases
unknowingly
helping another
by showing emotion

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

The Death of Poetry

2009-11-03T23:30:00.000-08:00

Yes, this is not a poem.

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Singing to the Air

2009-11-03T23:17:00.000-08:00

I sing because I can
I sing because I will that I must
I sing because I like singing
I sing because I sang

I sang because I sang
I sang because no one can hear
I sang because I feel absent when doing so
I sang because I am singing

I am singing because who wouldn't?
I am singing because I hope
I am singing because I'm alive
I am singing because...

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

(Uneasy) Autumn Joys

2009-10-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

Clicking, clicking, clicking - a rhythm beneath the noise
Reverberates
Steady heartbeats begin to race
In anticipation
How simplistic at first glance
The lives of all surrounding
Yet how much is missed
If a second glance
Is not given

A wonderful, intricate design is
Weaved
Interlacing smiles amongst
The crowd
Bounce, jump, skip and try not to fall
A child worries so little

Near perfection
Is attained

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Salvation

2009-10-16T11:11:00.000-07:00

Countless windows into lives, you walk on past
Who can help them all? So why even try?
Fiery days preceding cold nights
Working furiously to no end
Viciously cut like him before
Don't worry it will happen to the next.

Peace, war, power, and gossip...
The endless noise accumulates
Eventually it's all just too much to take

Why try? Why care? Why cry?
No one can make it in this world on their own
So who will care about another?
Everyone has their own problems.

Perhaps mortality isn't so bad.
With worry and doubt abounding
Futility rises through the fray
So all you want is to die quickly and forget
A God can not exist or surely He is evil!
I can't take it; kill me, please!
But no, you won't even do that.

Eternity is so long
How can one endure it when life is too much already?!
Perhaps there is nothing more.
Can I be so lucky?
Give me something now!

Then it comes in a rushing wind -

Peace, joy, serenity, hope, wonder, and amazement
When you kneel that first day...

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Forward?

2009-05-31T22:07:00.000-07:00

Kindly profess my love and I
Am seen so very forward
Try not harass my love but I
Cannot help but seem forward

Where is the line that I may not
Cross if I wish not be forward
Tell me the time; I wish be taught
How to avoid being forward

Why such a crime to simply ask
A question without being forward
So I opine and break down and ask
Guess what? She sees me forward

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Wish List (From May 26th, 2009 Facebook Post)

2009-05-27T13:33:00.001-07:00

Late at night the wishing
Of all yet seen to come
Veering off and dreaming
Escaping

Pictures in my thoughts that
Answer to each missing
Image of my life I
Note fleeting

How I long for comfort
Of which to I can cling
Perhaps my day is near
End reaching

Just when I start to ring
Each note that sounds retreat
Somehow peace comes whisking
Endless puzzles off to
Some place of no wishing

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Love (From My April 13th, 2009 Facebook Post)

2009-04-14T06:46:00.000-07:00

No word is less defined - nor an idea more pondered
Those who hold it can not describe it and
The many searching know not how to find it
Through it we bless - through it we are blessed

It is to believe the impossible while in a state
Of perceptual anesthesia. There is always some
Madness in it, but the madness is not without reason
For only it - not even reason - is stronger than death

It is the master key to the gates of happiness
Through music it caresses the infinite masses
It is a glimpse of heaven often stronger than
The convictions of man. It is the one true ideal.

It is the only true adventure, and through it
Is found the true power and potential of existence
No room is too small; it will stretch the heart
Of the most unwilling, most perplexed, and most afraid

Forgiveness is its final form and greatest power
It is what drives one's soul from its hiding place
It is a certain special way of being alive. True
Wisdom can only be found in its beating heart

For a fool in it is nonsense; only the man who
Denies it is a fool. It is true that if clutched, it
Will dart away, but though elusive, its value is great
And once it begins, it is harder than war to end

It is endless forgiveness - like the master's violin
Whose music may pause, but whose strings remain
It frees all who embrace it from all weight and
Pain, and it will never wrong nor lead one astray

What is one person to a world, it transforms into
The world to one person. It gives strength to
Those who receive and courage to those who give
It is a rare, divine power given to all of mankind

Everything must be risked in the name of it
Or else even more is risked. It is the only
Known form of immortality. It is the lone
Real gracious act capable of fallen man

A man's greatest legacy is in it; the one way
To accurately judge a man is by his display of it
In the final analysis, it is the only reflection
Of a man's true worth. It is everything

It is more than three words mumbled before
Bedtime; it is sustained by action, a pattern of
Devotion in the things done for one another
Each and every passing moment, day, and year

It is the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired
And is not found by finding the perfect person
But by seeing an imperfect person perfectly
And above all this, LOVE is a friendship set on fire

- Daniel Z. Garrett* -

* This is composed of numerous famous quotations on love from known and unknown authors alike. Some quotations are quoted exactly, others are paraphrased or have only an excerpt displayed above. Most were simply inspiration for things I wrote. Of course, some of it is purely original material, as well.

A Stranger

2009-04-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

Oh, the chances that slip by,
What years could be had if
For a moment a single word
You could speak to a stranger

What harm would there be
If your gesture is so declined?
Ah, what good could be gained
If for a moment you just spoke

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Help

2009-03-30T11:26:00.001-07:00

The universe can't contain
The war that rages within
Nor can relentless time
Resolve this one conflict

Only one word can I whisper

Help...

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Justice Tarries

2009-01-24T21:31:00.000-08:00

The world reaches
For the innocent
Grasping lives
In an instant

The Church fails
To stand and hold
The great beacon
In the cold

Millions taken
Day and night
Many more
Give up the fight

But one day soon
He will return
All saved will rise
And the world burn

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Infatuation

2009-01-22T10:00:00.001-08:00

Your love withers my hopeless heart
Into acceptance of what that is
Once I thought of but only your hand
Then my dreams you sent to dark

Silenced all my wildest dreams
I ask you now for just one favor
If I cannot have hope of you
Will you take my nightmares, please?

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Death in War

2009-01-22T09:59:00.000-08:00

Rivers of blood
Flow in streets foreign

In a single instant
Nine months are sullen

What a life lived
What a life lost

High a price paid
For some old man's thought

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Young Revolution

2009-01-22T09:55:00.000-08:00

Silver days eclipsed by
Golden nights
Infants slay
Their fathers' only lives

When will it pass?
The Day of Judgment
And haunt those whose tasks
Kill the remnant

Justice seems not exist
As they fall
Those who ask
Never receive their call

How long can one
Only hope to live?
As but ev'ryone
Soon meets their end

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Frantic Nights

2009-01-22T09:53:00.000-08:00

The years
The nights
The fires
The lights

Passing on
To blood-shot eyes

How feverishly you find yourself
Searching for a single rope
On which to climb to free yourself
Or on which to hold for a hope

But you drown
In your wild search

The tears
The fights
The liars
The sights

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

The Gilding Mind

2009-01-21T21:27:00.000-08:00

Fixation beyond imagination
Perils in the deep of old
The fountains cease
The rivers soar
In sound mind and body
One is no more

Dreams forever
Pains to feel
In the endless nights
As stainless steel

The heart hardens to linger on
Or crushed it is to be assured
The soul longs
The spirit yearns
Oh they dedicate
The mortal's fall

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Abyss

2009-01-15T21:50:00.000-08:00

Darker, forward she comes
To face you without a face
You tremble before no one
Yet, she stands there waiting
You wonder where they are

Are you all alone now - NOW?!
In a time such as this?!
The worst of times, you think
You urge onward, fending her off
Long enough to say one word
To an ear that will carry on
Searching everywhere for naught

You feared this moment
Not for yourself but for them
Just one word...anything...
You search for the perfect thing
While you run - forever...

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

If Only

2009-01-15T21:42:00.000-08:00

A child
His smile I adore
The first cry
The first tear
I hold him

The house
Barely large enough so
I struggle to
Provide all so
We can live

And everything
I'd give so readily
For this dream
To be reality
For one day

With her
A lifetime of joy
I'd feel in
That single day
If only so

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Covenant

2009-01-15T20:36:00.000-08:00

Frightened beneath
A single tear
Falls

Infinite peace
You once thought
Erased

Nothing matters
For all lost
Cries

Until once
You fall asleep
Alone

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Frozen

2009-01-03T20:53:00.000-08:00

Standing still, yet ever moving
Within the confines of oblivion
Time is an alien to the reality
Encompassing your universe

In an instant, you live forever
And travel beyond all known
To a place of unknown wonder
And perpetual joy and serenity

Everyone around you has gone
None remain, but neither do you
As you become the unimaginable
All else fades into the distant past

So much that you merely dream
All life is a dream, and life is lost
Beneath the layers of ecstasy
Till it drowns in the forgotten sea

Where everyone once held cares
Now regarded as merely nothing
And even the memory of death dies
For it drowns and passes as well

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Reflections (From my MySpace Blog of May 26th, 2008)

2009-01-03T20:48:00.000-08:00

Four years
Four loves
All lost
All doves
Each seeing
What I could not
Each not feeling
What I had thought

Two hundred friends
Two hundred funs
All frost
Beneath the Suns
Some closer
And some not
Some forever
Or to be forgot

Eighty poems
Eighty songs
Held inside
Perpetually caught
All foreseen
Within my mind
All revealed
Within my rhyme

One million burdens
One million crimes
Sorrows held
For all times
It seems so cold
In nights as such
Yet to Christ
I will always clutch

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Divinity

2008-12-19T20:49:00.000-08:00

Only God in all that is known and unknown can claim such a title as "Divine"
Is it even possible to fathom the full implications of such a selective term as this?
To be divine...

Nothing is impossible
Nothing
Imagine something
Anything
Everything
Imagine something so great you can't even fully imagine it
A divine being can do it

Try to contemplate every "super-human" quality ever conceived
Books, comics, magazines, fairy tales, fiction, nonfiction, and more
A divine being can make it all seem ridiculous to even waste the time thinking about

Divinity means omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, and immutability
God is exclusively divine
Only He can and does know all
Only He can be and is all powerful
Only He can be and is everywhere
And Only He is and forever will be the same

Can any even comprehend the concept of knowing everything?
There is nothing new that can ever be added to His knowledge
He is eternal and there is an eternity ahead for infinite things to happen
And only He knows them all

There is no limit to infinity, this is its very definition
And yet even infinite knowledge cannot escape Him
He is beyond limitless if something without limit is subject to Him

Can any even attempt to understand the ability to wield all power?
There is no power that is not subject to Him
He is so powerful, that He can even limit his limitless powers out of love

Can any even try to realize being everywhere at once?
In the infinite expanse of the universe and beyond He is
He is One being and yet also everywhere
Given all eternity and infinite speed, no one could ever leave His domain

Even the limitless infinity of space and time are limited to Him
Just the thought of being so great as to have something
Without limits limited to Him is beyond all mortal understanding

Can any even try to reason how He cannot change?
He is everywhere, and everything changes, and yet He does not
He dwells in his very servants - all whom change - and yet He does not

Only a divine being can do these things and more
All beyond all understanding of "possible"
And still care enough to send His Son for mankind

A thought even perplexing in itself on infinite levels
Why would a limitless God limit Himself as so?
How can He be Three in One?
How...Why...I don't understand...?
All questions frequently gracing the mouths of man...

But all that must be known is His Love and our inferiority to His divinity.

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Love and the Love of Power

2008-12-19T20:20:00.000-08:00

For before even man, struggle for power was witnessed
The high angel Lucifer wished to surpass his great Creator
From this, one third of all angels have fallen and sin known

Some seek it through material wealth or fame
Others try finding it in education, prestige, or honor
Many more have tried finding it through military prowess

It is an animal instinct, scholars say, to wish to be elevated
The sense of superiority and dominance somehow satisfies
Yet, it only drives many to thirst it more after the first taste

So rare to find a soul content in this deeply lost world
People would rather reign here in flesh than later in spirit
For to many, it would be an investment in the vast unknown

Even many Christians find it hard to sacrifice now for then
They believe, but they cannot see beyond what is physical
Or they rationalize the reasoning behind their selfish pride

It is natural to seek great power; it is a desire of the flesh
But, only a few really know how to wield true power now
For these men and women know the true definition of love

They have given their lives to the One who gave His for them
Their love for Him is above all, and their love for family second
Their love for friends and even enemies rises above themselves

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Worries of a First Date

2008-12-02T18:16:00.000-08:00

Anxiety compounds itself within as I arrive twenty minutes early to my six 'o clock date.
For thirty-five minutes, my feelings range from worrying about one thing to another.
Finally the taxicab arrives.

But wait!
Though I am patiently waiting, fifteen minutes after and she is not here!
I pay the cab driver $5 and apologize for the delay.

After ten minutes more pass, her 4 minute walk has led her to new position.
From behind me, she announces her presence.
My heart worries she did not hear me just say she was twenty-five minutes late to the driver.

The ride over is small talk, but then again the whole night is.
I explain that I left her birthday present in my room as we drive by.
I worry she does not already find me incompetent.

We walk into the restaurant and are promptly seated.
Of course, now my nerves decide to start sending a billion mixed signals to my brain.
We read the menu and talk.

Shortly after a waiter comes and we both order water.
I question if I should not have ordered water and if I made her feel as if she had to order water.
I dismiss the thought as probably unfounded.

She receives a couple texts - no big deal.
Conversation seems to be flowing (in my opinion)
Until I receive a phone call.

The call is important, so I excuse myself from the table.
I apologize profusely as I return.
I begin to wonder how many things I can botch and still have a chance at a second date.

Things continue on; we receive our meals.
She begins looking at me in what I feel is probably a good thing.
But my eyes won't stay fixated on hers!

No matter how hard I try, I can't for more than but a few seconds.
I've never been good at eye contact...really.
But will she think I just don't like looking at her?!?

I try and joke it off, but I don't believe it works.
I hope that she doesn't think I'm insecure (even though I am).
I pray that this is not the straw that breaks my chances.

I call for a cab ride back.
I pay for the bill which is surprisingly low.
We talk some more as we wait for the cab.

On the ride back, we talk a little more.
I pay the driver as we step out.
We say good-bye and we part our ways.

The walk back my mind races.
Despite the hitches, I still enjoyed the brief date.
But the final question that haunts me, did she enjoy it enough...?

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Contemplations

2008-11-25T23:12:00.000-08:00

1:11 at night
I lay awake in thought
Sprawled out over the love seat
In the living room
Alone

Typing on the keyboard
In precise patterns
As to transcribe this poem
This very one you
Read

Unsure of where
I'm leading you
I just continue on
While I think about
Everything

How did my life
Get to where it is
It is not bad
I do not complain about
It

I enjoy my life
But how did I get here
From birth 'till now
Such a journey to be
Made

So indecisive
How can I not know
I give everyone advice
Yet I am now
Confused

Girls, girls, girls
There's a mouthful there
10 million words written
And still no man
Understands

School, ah stress
They go hand-in-hand
I used to enjoy it
But now education
Hurts

Chest pains
Physical and emotional
School and girls, respectively
They take their
Toll

I often wonder how things
Perhaps have progressed
In differing ways
Than I
Wanted

And how to
Change the path
My life seems
To be
Following

But regardless
I press on
Despite all the pain
Thanks to the blood of
Christ

If not for that
I wish not know
Where I would be now
Sitting and what I'd be
Contemplating

I think about the game
My friends and I
Played together
In the brief few
Moments

About the sleepy dog
Beside me
Beckoning me
To go to
Bed

And about the girl
The nice and pretty young
Woman in my living room
Earlier tonight with
Me

And about so many other
Things and people
When did life
Get this
Way?

Where it confuses me
So much as this
I dream of the simple
Times of my
Childhood

Wondering where the
Past 18 stanzas and years
Have led me to
And where to go
Now

I pray every day
I sometimes cannot rest
Trying to figure so much out
When it ought to be in God's
Hands

I just keep on
Insisting on doing it
All alone and just keep on
Failing, crying, and dying
Again

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Pacing

2008-11-21T07:59:00.000-08:00

Pacing
Around about
Back and forth
Pacing

Wishing
Moments by
Hoping and praying
Wishing

Crying
Unending tears
Joy and thanks
Crying

Holding
Little arms
Fingers and toes
Holding

Releasing
All nightmares
Worries and fears
Releasing

Pacing
Around about
Back and forth
Pacing

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

Tick-Tock

2008-11-21T07:00:00.000-08:00

Racing forward, never ceasing
This gift of ours, what a blessing
He leaves as quickly as he came
Unable to slow his passing

So many try to hold on tight
Feeling that they are in the right
They don't realize that they are lame
Paralyzed with fear at her sight

She's deemed the great equalizer
She is not bias, just watch her
He leads you to her as if tame
And you soon do wish that she were

But she is wilder than the night
The young and old will feel her might
And you will feel her all the same
So cherish him while there's still light

- Daniel Z. Garrett -

The Time When the Red Bird Calls

2008-11-20T19:10:00.001-08:00

We sit here waiting for the time when the red bird calls
Hearing, listening to a silence piercing through the halls of eternity
As we count the seconds, minutes, hours to fall
Until the red bird calls

Some wait so long and the red bird never calls
Many abandon their posts and perish afar
But those precious few who wait for him
Never fade

The red bird's call is so mellow, so quaint
It eases the pain of all who lend ear
But all who reject him
Fall

And in the evening as the red bird sings
It ascends beyond the stars
With it passes all time
And all who listen rise with him

- Daniel Z. Garrett -