Homecoming

By: Gus Victoria

His sulphurous smile

Cold and sterile

Burns into your soul,

Beyond tiresome fear

You wait for his approach,

With arrogant strides

The Prince of Darkness nears,

“Welcome home friend”

The thoughts form in your head

Unbidden they come

He speaks without sound,

He sees without light,

Save from the fires of the damned,

“You do not fear”

The psychic laugh rumbles,

“You amuse me so”

To a garden you are led,

On the banks of Acheron,

The Devil’s son.

“Here is the fruit of Paradise

Fallen ever so low.

Look about and see,

There is none here that can,

All are lost,

Cut off from hope,

From all that was,

From all that will be,

They are only aware

That oblivion is denied them.

Fortunate they indeed.”

This a dream you live,

Convinced in your mind-

“This is no dream.

You are Duke of Hell,

Gone far too long above.

You are home.”

Let me show you,

Guide you again

As once before...

I Believed

By: Gus Victoria

Its a losing battle

We fight every day,

The sun rises

And shines on the decayed pieces;

Remnants of a dream.

Nothing now is as it seemed,

Forever unfulfilled,

Left empty the hopes

That moved those days,

Words mean less,

Impact as ghostly as your presence,

A full world awaits,

Ripe and fertile,

Where success grows

Beyond the reach of fear,

For the brave to pluck.

Together we are not that,

I believed in something once,

I believed in us,

That love was more than we,

That my eyes would someday see,

But today I realize

Time has made me blind.

Queen of Bohemia

By: Gus Victoria

Queen of Bohemia,

With endless dreams

Borne on sturdy wings

Lent by Mercury to the faithful servant

That ever in your light

Marches on,

Without cease he marches,

Princess of his heart,

To that once-distant palace

Where you promised him a home,

No throne to be his,

No crown atop his head,

No scepter in his hand,

No power to wield

Over man or beast,

Only a humble heart

Of an innocent girl

He thinks now lost.

Queen of Bohemia,

Will you give life to those dreams

That once filled your own heart,

Will you turn lush again

What time has withered?

Princess enthroned

Will you welcome the traveler?

Your Prince dethroned?

Hold Stranger, Go Friend

By: Gus Victoria

Hold there stranger,

Know not you enter

A realm full of shadow

Darkest doubt

And boundless danger?

The heart is that organ

So fond of betrayal

That guides you here

Where none else may go,

None else may know.

Beyond here is no aid.

No redemption

If failure is your discovery,

No celebration

If glory you wrest instead.

Alone you must travel,

Each step taken

A step chosen,

Each fall

A risk

Each smile

A reward,

No map guides

And no lie hides

The truth you flee.

Do you persist then

To continue on,

To that false dawn?

No fetter slows

And no barrier impedes

Your journey as it grows

From fancy to obsession

Like a pendulum swinging,

Salvation to perdition,

Where will you cease

If here you continue?

Do as you must stranger,

No one writes your story

But you that holds the pen.

Do as you must friend,

No one compels you

To go beyond that singular path

You have chosen.

Stranger Dreams

By: Gus Victoria

The ideal in sacred parchment

Of philosopher nobles

Served as fertile soil

Free of corruptible elements

To the child of centuries

Whose own ideal was stillborn

In an Iberian cradle.

Bellicose and proud was the glory

Of ancient histories

Unknown and unforgotten,

Bent to the future,

Malleable as heated gold,

Worth far more,

Heavier than the leaden skies

That draped the day,

An unknown stranger in his own land,

He walked with vision,

He hoped

And he loved,

Each step on the path he chose

Closer to discovering

That which was hidden at birth,

Felt near

And left untouched,

A force pulling him forward,

Confusing him to action,

Filling a head with dreams,

A mystic chord unbreakable

Binds him to his land,

A future unwritten

Makes him lift his pen,

To write not alone,

But with the voice of his people,

The cry of millions,

He writes words they speak,

He believes works they do,

He sees a future

To share with the world.

In Mexico is the future born.

In Mexico is the world welcome,

In Mexico the stranger is no more,

There he is finally home.

Live and Love. Be Proud. Be Free.

By: Gus Victoria

The past week has been quite important for millions of gay people in this country and the many millions more that proudly call themselves friends and are family to them. The great joy in the Supreme Court’s decision to deem Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional was palpable. Sometimes it takes great moments like this to realize simultaneously how far we have come and how far we have yet to go. A victory, even one such as this, should not distract us from the still sad reality that for many people, in many states, the ruling did very little if anything at all. Also it cannot easily bridge the gap caused by those who with either ignorance or hate choose to deny to some of their fellow citizens a natural and just right; the freedom to love and profess through mutual  lifelong commitment that love regardless of sex.

Those who would redefine marriage do so without an understanding of what marriage is and a depressingly active trivializing of love. To cite God and a sacred scripture as the grounds for that action is wrong on several levels. Firstly it blatantly shows a willfully malicious and selective reading of holy texts. Secondly, it disregards the very clear principle of separation of Church and State that this country was founded upon. Third, and to me, most tragic, it dehumanizes those it seeks to control by labeling them sinners and not acknowledging a very real love.

Love is ancient. It is the fabric of human nature that binds us all to each other and beauty. The divine essence is love and we all carry it within ourselves. From this fount springs forth compassion, empathy, joy, hope, and faith. No one is born with hate in their hearts. Hate is learned. Hate is not the opposite force of love. Hate does not oppose love. Hate inhabits an empty house. It can only be sown where love is not. There it grows if allowed to, if fed more hate. Until of course, inevitably, it becomes a force unto itself. Even then, a true love that delivers in its light understanding can banish the darkness cast by hate.

Marriage, as those behind such an oppressive act of government want it to be understood, is fairly recent and it has nothing to do with love. A marriage in that regard is a simple legal contract. It was created for purposes of inheritance and politics. Its purpose was financial and political. Love rarely if ever figured. If marriage then, taken in that context of a legal contract, is such then there can be no question as to its legality between same-sex couples. Religion plays no part and to deny such legal protection to one portion of the citizenry is against both the laws and principles this country was founded upon.

If Biblical scripture is used to define by some argument of precedent or natural law that such a union must be between one man and one woman it  ignores much. It chooses a few passages throughout the entire work while ignoring many other laws deemed unnecessary, inconvenient, or outdated. Also it chooses to focus, with detrimental effect, on a tiny portion while missing the entirety of the message contained in the rest of the work; that love prevails above all.  Adherents can love, but if someone chooses to love someone of the same sex, no matter how sincere that affection may be, they are by necessity and without argument wrong.  I must allow myself to be wrong for how can I learn and grow if I know everything already? Yet, even in those things I feel right about, I cannot allow myself to use that conviction to deny others their rights. Truth stands on its own and demands no further defense.

It is faith in that truth that must ground our convictions. That indeed love will prevail and those that seek to stop two men from marrying, or two women, will inevitably lose. That marriage will be redefined from its imperfect birth as a cynical legal contract to that which it has always been destined to be; an outward manifestation of an inner truth to be celebrated by those friends and family of the happy couple.

As we celebrate Pride this day and every day. As we mourn those whose lives have been cut short by the depression and weight of unacceptance. As we look to a brighter future let us not lose sight that it does get better. It WILL get better, if only we let love guide us. Hate imprisons most harshly he that originates it. Spread love and be free!

Unconsummated Ideal

By: Gus Victoria

Words, words, laws, words;

Brick and mortar

Of a shining new edifice,

Home of freedom,

Stained-glass windows of hope

Twist the light of a dream

Casting beautiful hues;

Liberty’s glory,

Democratic masons

Experimenting Enlightened ideals

On deep foundations

Projecting strength;

Serene, sublime, eternal...

And a cemetery behind,

Corpses to the soil

Immigrant blood irrigates

Stunted fruit,

Racial inequity,

God absent?

Man present,

Keeper of his brother’s shackle,

He steals now from others

What was given to him,

He closes the door

That was open for him,

War waged,

Burning unquenched,

Illuminating the palace

Built on freedom,

Conceived in liberty,

Made a lie in the struggle;

Unfinished, unconsummated ideal,

A mirage amid the dust

Of human frailty,

A building tall,

Precious to all,

Not undone,

Never destroyed,

Simply and tragically,

Not finished.

Revolutionary impulses,

Justice seeks its course,

Love its mate,

Peace its place,

Duty binds each generation

To place a new brick,

To bury less,

To shatter the shackles

That enslave us all

To finish together

Our home.

The Inexorable March

By: Gus Victoria

The inexorable march of Time

Recognizes no barrier

And is grander than Thought.

It outlasts Death

And grind us all to dust

Marching on

Memory forgets and then

Even the dust disappears.

The fertile youth once

Is no more

Hopes and dreams

That sprang from boundless potential

Are dashed upon the rocks of reality

Sterile, dead.

Love is no subject of Time.

Eternal both,

Without beginning

Without end,

They exist

Boundless and limitless

In power and in scope.

Hope is their child.

Faith is believing

What cannot be seen

And seeing

What cannot be believed.

Faith always dies first.