Doug and Shannon, thank you for all that you have done. May God smile upon the paths that you walk daily, as you continue to touch people’s lives.
I Love Thee
One may not love thee so
Yet, given chance to love
May change faces
Locked behind garden walls
Sit thee in the heat of day
Crying the world away
And doors remain shut
In thine hands thine heart asunder
Thou spend thy soul
To avoid a blunder
Walls such as these deter all that come
Yet I stay forth, striving to reach within
Be it to care for thee
Such a mortal sin
Then dead I’d ready be
To care not would be my wrong
And to wrong thee is my fear and my pain
Thus I be so profane
When in thy presence stay I
Wishing for favor in thine eye
Love not known yet love be sworn
In disguise it lay for fear of scorn
Sprouting wings to fly away
For secrets cannot remain
Given chance, risking mistake
And worse, causing pain to thee
I know all at stake
And ask only for you to see
I love thee
Love
Love cannot be held in your hand
Nor can it ever be caught
Love is something that grows like the music of a band
And with each passing moment more love is taught
The best teacher of all isn’t one who knows it best
But the one that learns beside you
While they hold you to their chest
Just to comfort you from the pain that you must bare
And to let you know
They will always be there
Not everyone knows what love is
And not everyone can always be there
But I can assure you of this
The one that teaches true love stays within your heart
And though they may leave for a while
Like the tides or the changing winds
You will keep reason to smile
Because when their journey ends
They will run to embrace you
And this will always stay true
But the one that teaches life’s greatest secret
Cannot ever take it back
For you taught them love
And if they are ever gone there is something you each lack
And for this there is good reason
That person is part of you for life
Not just a season
Lullaby
Sweet dreams my darling
Go and rest your pretty head
Good night for now my baby
Remember what I’ve said
Dreams may last forever
And you can find me there
You can have peace and comfort
And forget all of your cares
I will always love you
And we can sing this song
We can hold each other here
All night long
I will watch over you
No matter how far away it seems
Each can find the other
In our dreams
The Bee
A new spring flower sways in the fresh mountain breeze
And its glamour is accented
By the sun shining brilliantly
Its golden red pedals catch the attention of a bee
And the bee comes down to drink of the flowers sweet nectar
The bee then returns to work
And this continues day after day
Soon the sun grows hotter
And days grow long
The bee watches the meadow
And how the grass turns golden
The flower soon wilts away
The bee hums a sad tune
The favorite flower is gone
The trees change their color
And shed their covering
Time passes unnoticed by the bee
And as it is flying something catches its attention
The bee lands on blue and yellow pedals of a new spring flower
And drinks of the nectar
As anger and sadness fades
The bee becomes careless again
The Perfection of a Rose
The perfection of a rose
Is that of the heavens
Its fragrance so sweet
That none other can have
Or even capture
Its petals so beautiful
As if arranged that way for some greater purpose
Or just to catch your eye
Amongst the troubles of the day
So you might start to wonder why
You don’t stop and smell the roses
A little more often
Things I Wouldn’t Give for a Kiss
I wouldn’t give my life because that may only be taken
I wouldn’t give my love because that you must gain to be kissed
I wouldn’t give a minute of my day because time stands still when you kiss me
I wouldn’t give my happiness because that stems from kissing you
Things I Would Give for a Kiss
I would give my sight because I go blind when I feel your lips touch mine
I would give my inspiration because it is made anew by kissing you
I would give my warmth because I grow cold without you
I would give my tears because they lose purpose in your presence
I would give my life because without you I have no reason to live
To My Wife
Eyes that intrigue beyond the depths of the deepest ocean
A voice sweeter than the songs of the highest regarded angels
A smile brighter than the stars hung in the heavens
Hair smoother than the silks of the Ancient Chinese
A kiss more intoxicating than a bottle of perfectly aged wine
A heart that beats louder than raging thunder with compassion
A will that stands stronger than the tallest mountains
And a mind that thinks the thoughts of the world into existence
Unclear
Here sits a young boy
Broken, hurt, and afraid
Reaching out for love, but being sent away
His own mother being blinded
Ignorant to her husband’s actions
Deaf to the poor boys screams
He cries out to her
Mommy! Mommy!
But still she sits and stares
Perhaps she is afraid of him too
Day after day
And then she realizes she isn’t happy
And again she marries
Determined to make it work
Now things go back to this hell
But not the same as before
But still bad enough
Bad enough to hurt
And when he tries to tell her
She gets angry at him
No longer a boy, but a young man
But still undefended
Left to take the blows full force
Because she became too busy
To realize the truth
And she says she still loves him
But he blames himself for his pain
Undelivered
It seems I wrote this letter
Way to long ago
Before I really knew her
I had forgotten what I know
Must have been in seventh grade
I looked into her eyes
That’s when I felt inside me
She was my angel in disguise
I arranged my thoughts on paper
And folded it carefully
Put it in my pocket
And thought I’d let it be
I went through my da
y
Forgetting what I did
I put my pants in the hamper
And then I shut the lid
So many things have happened
But my mom kept it hidden away
And then she brought it to me
Upon our wedding day
But still it was not time
To end this silly game
So I kept that letter
Hidden in my shame
It seems so foolish now
That the letter I did save
Was to be delivered
When she was in her grave
Words
Words surround us everywhere
They can be wings that lift us up
But more commonly
Become bricks
Shattering the glass floor we stand upon
Leaving us falling for what seems forever
And many times they are more powerful
Than those words that raise hopes
Our enemies use them as weapons
But more commonly
They are misspoken feelings
That a friend may say at the wrong moment
Or they aren’t weighed against the consequences
And most often
Regretted words are hardest to forgive
Now your closest friends you push away
And you detach from those who care most
For fear that they may say hurtful things
And you draw to those who are a lesser risk
And vent your frustration in misdirected ways
I just wish to reassure you
That when all the dust settles to the ground
Your family and closest friends will be there
To support you in all areas of life
So step back and realize your individuality
And that loved ones will help you to expand it
Know that you are beautiful in every aspect of your existence
Life has been given for you to express yourself
And the poetry of life is best written
In words of true friendship
Discuss the poems that you have been reading at RogerLairdWriting.com/forum now.
Legacy: A Father’s Tale
Over a thousand years has passed since The Great Disaster changed the geography of our world forever. Technology has fallen away from the world and feudal society has emerged again. New warriors have taken up the weapons of older times. General Tao Blight has risen to meet his fate and fight alongside them as the leader of Aodhan's First Royal Army. His fellow soldiers and countrymen have freely given him their respect, but they might start to question where his loyalties lay if they found out his true heritage.
Tao has not always belonged to the country he now serves. His childhood home was located in the disputed territories, far closer to the Naichian Empire’s border than the border of the Aodhan Kingdom. There had been a time when his father kept a strong stance of neutrality when it came to matters regarding the feuding countries, but his ideal of neutrality could not persevere when his homeland was the subject of dispute.
Tao's mother was murdered after his father enlisted in the Imperial Military. Her death served as the catalyst that drove Tao and his father to opposite sides of an extreme conflict. Now, Tao is on the brink of ending the war once and for all. But how will he cope when he is forced to face the memories of his complex past?
Join Tao in LEGACY: A FATHER’S TALE as he attempts to create a new legacy and fights for the peace his world so greatly desires.
Preface
Not long after the beginning of the twenty first century, an event occurred in nature that was driven by the actions of men. The scientific rules that govern the world were stretched to their limits. As the rules could not be broken, the world snapped back to correct its position in the universe. The result of this event would later become known as The Great Disaster. At the time of The Great Disaster there were over ten billion humans living on Earth, nearly all perished in The Great Disaster. Many more died in the chaos that followed.
The only portions of the known world that are inhabitable by humans at the time this story begins are the portions of the world that sat on the Eurasian and African tectonic plates. The world bulged out beneath the Eastern hemisphere, raising the elevations of the major tectonic plates in that portion of the world. The African plate slammed into the Eurasian plate, forming the highest mountain ranges ever known and merging the two continents into one. The other plates were mostly covered by water when the polar ice caps broke apart and melted, causing ocean levels to rise. Any survivors in the mountainous regions still above water were evacuated to the sole surviving continent.
Much of the blame fell on the scientific community and, as unlikely as it may seem, all technology and most sciences were destroyed in a process lasting hundreds of years. Society fell apart, rose again, and crumbled, in a vicious cycle. Eventually, groups banned together, forming the new countries of the Aodhan Kingdom and the Naichian Empire. These countries became reflections of the ideals that ancient countries stood for long before The Great Disaster.
Over a thousand years has passed since The Great Disaster. Humanity is a mere shadow of its former self. Feudalism won out as a way of life, and has been practiced with far greater success than had ever been achieved in the past. A great peace was won and it lasted many years. A neutral territory’s leader, in his greed, created cause for war between the last two civilizations on the Earth. Now a new generation of warriors must rise up to meet fate and leave their legacy on the world.
Legacy:
A Father’s Tale
Available Now
About the Author
The author is a first time novel writer. He is a husband and a father to four wonderful children. He has been writing poetry and short stories for many years. The basis of his first novel series stems from his high school writing years, but was mostly worked on in the creative stage over time. He began writing his first novel, Legacy: Beginnings on a regular basis in January of 2011 and just finished writing it in July of 2011.
He was a Machinist who programmed and setup CNC Lathes and Mills for a living. He had 11 years of experience with machining, but lost his career when the economy crashed in December of 2008. Instead of trying to find work in a suffering field, he decided to return to school to study Psychology. He earned his AA in Social Sciences from College of the Sequoias in Visalia, CA in May of 2011. He is currently attending California State University, Fresno in pursuit of a BA in Psychology.
He loves spending time with his family. They enjoy trips to the beach, camping, attending amusement parks, and hiking outdoors. The author and his wife also enjoy taking artistic photographs for fun. They have been happily married for five years and are looking forward to the future.
Other Works from Roger Laird
Legend of Athena(A Story Created for Legacy: A Father’s Tale)
The Goddess Athena is said to have sprang from Zeus’ head fully formed. She had been armed with an Aegis and Thunderbolt by her mother Metis, after Zeus had eaten Metis in order to prevent Athena from being born. But Metis had nurtured Athena within Zeus until the day she could be freed. It is agreed among scholars, that this account of Athena’s birth is nonsense. However another tale is recited that has been traced back to a village in Lybia far before the Great Disaster. The villagers there were ignorant and arrogant. It is said that they ignored the Gods and cursed their name. This village was led by a greedy man. The village was larger than many of the other nearby villages and it was far wealthier to begin with.
The chief of the village decided to start demanding penance from the surrounding villages and asked them to worship him as their God. He used his influence over the young warriors in his own village, to convince them to commit acts of war against the other villages. The chief allowed the men to rape the wives and daughters of the men in the other villages. This menacing tyranny lasted for many years.
The chief would call out to the Gods and taunt them in order to undermine their existence. The Gods did notice the man’s actions, but decided to leave them uncontested. They considered his sphere of influence over the villages to be of no consequence to them. They figured that the man would soon die and things in the area would calm again soon after.
One day, the Goddess Metis watched down on the chief as he performed a ritual. The man had tied up three small children and was dancing around waving a dagger at the sky. He dared the Gods to act against him. Metis had begged her husband Zeus to intervene but Zeus turned her away. Metis continued to watch the man. The man then committed an act so obscene, so vile, that it has been banned from the telling of the story. From the shock and grief of the Goddess Metis, sprang a young child. The child was not a naked newborn babe, but a child of middle age on the brink of adulthood. The child leapt right out from the earth holding a small dagger. The chief laughed at the small child, thinking of committing the same act as he had against the other children. The chief took a small step toward the child. The child caught the meaning in the man’s gesture, and knew that he had committed the atrocity that had caused her to be born so perversely. The child moved in a flash, swinging the dagger, and the man’s head fell to the ground.
The villagers had heard this commotion by now, and had come to see what was causing it. There were no children in the village in recent years, due to the crimes that had been so commonly committed against them. The women were far outnumbered by the men. They all stared, blank faced, at the small colorless child with blood dripping from her dagger. Their devotion to the false God Chief welled inside them and they howled for his loss. They moved on the child, but they were no match for the justice she represented, and every head in the village lay on the ground when the child was still again.
The child stood, shaking and crying, from the weight of the acts she had committed. The Goddess Metis moved down from the clouds to comfort her daughter. “This is your purpose in the world, the just punishment for unspeakable acts. I am sorry I bore you for this purpose daughter, but you need to know that you have the choice of what to do with your power. You have the ability to choose when to use your power; you have the ability to use it for good or for evil. You can guide the fates of the men and women around you for good or for evil. But most importantly, you have the choice to return to the heavens you came from, to rest, when you feel your work is done. If the planet ever needs you again, it will call you forth just as it did today.
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