Three Poems by Michael Shlain

 

An Ode to Nothing

 

My shame that I did curse thee once before,

When I complained “Nothing is happening!”

A shaking fist from a frustrated core,

Frightened by the fear of dreams stagnating. 

 

But had I in my blind youthful persistence,

Perceived the truth that lies behind your veil,

That nothing is the wellspring of existence, 

That from nothing, something must entail. 

 

For you are prima mater and materia, 

The dark from which light rises in the morn,

The void that ex nihilo makes millennia, 

The empty space from which all things are born. 

 

No more shall I with my doubt defile thee, 

And in love’s trust embrace thy mystery.

 

 

La Dissidence

 

Shall we dance la dissidence,   

Against the dull machine cadence,       

And artificial music of                   

A world decayed to decadence.

 

Shall we embrace the dissonance,        

Refuse the recommended plans,           

To change direction in the flow,

To spite the looks that look askance.  

 

Shall we destroy the instruments,       

The thoughts that bind us in a trance,

And sentence us in motion still,

To thousands of imprisonments.           

 

Shall we defy the violence,                 

The strings that wail in discordance,

And setting sail against the wind,          

In love to intertwine our limbs. 

 

Shall we commit in confidence,

To dance another secret dance,

For those who have the ears to hear, 

The hidden chords of Providence.        

 

Shall we dance la dissidence,  

Against the dull machine response,      

Without shame and without fault,        

In delicto and in flagrance.

                      

 

The Sorcerer

 

If the world was all mine,

And I had all the answers,

I would write down a book,

And I’d give you a chapter,

And inside I’d inscribe,

The secrets and wisdom,

The formulas pulled ,

From the bones of creation,

To keep you from longing ,

And wanting and sadness,

To have only joy,

And fulfilment and goodness.

 

I would do all this gladly 

If I just had the power. 

 

If the world was all mine,

And I had all the knowledge,

I would bind all the demons,

That held your mind hostage,

And banish the monsters,

Of shame and depression, 

The creatures of darkness,

That keep you in hiding.

 

I would do all this gladly, 

If I just had the power.

 

If the world was all mine,

And I had all its secrets, 

I would write down a scroll,

Of arcane incantations,

To summon you angels,

Of love and of healing,

To attract the desires,

Of your heart’s deepest dreaming,

To give you a world without,

Death or disaster, 

In the days before fall,

Of the Serpent and Garden.

 

I would do all this gladly,

If I just had the power. 

 

And I would give any price,

If I could just have the answers,

And I’d tear up the world,

If it would just yield them to me,

I would do all this for you,

And I would do it all gladly,

 

I would break all the rules,

If I just had the power. 

 

Michael Shlain is a Ukranian-born, American-raised writer and filmmaker currently at large in Europe.