The collected poetry of As I Lay Dying

The other day I was struck by how poetic As I Lay Dying is, which is perhaps one of the reasons why I like them so much. I decided to collect all their lyrics together in one document (from the three albums that I own) and call them poems. I discovered that reading their words can sometimes be just as powerful as listening to their songs. Have a go:

http://denaje.gotdns.com/AILD.pdf (PDF, 67K)

I think my favorites are "Behind Me Lies Another Fallen Soldier", "The Pain of Separation", "The Darkest Nights", "Morning Waits", and "Within Destruction". But it's hard to pick just 5 :)

(Oh yes, happy New Year's too.)

Memories

Morning light hides behind shadowy veils
White snow glistens in tranquil bliss
Remembering anniversaries of days long forgotten...
Forgotten by most, remembered by one:
O holy day when love was quenched
When lifeless tears were shed,
Remember the arms of love that held you then
Remember the light you were given in times of darkness...
Light fades from pale blue to crimson red
Pristine crystals crack under dirty footsteps
The world sleeps
Stupid college students awaken
The day has lived and died
Let it live on in our memories.

Still As Slumber

A remnant of the past,
Out of place in modern times.
I spy a lone soldier standing resolutely,
Partially obscured by midget flakes of black
Yet overshadowed by blooming beauty.
Like a sentinel guarding a fortress
He disallows weary travelers a brief taste of bland.
Yellow bows to red,
Red triumphs over all.
I must take leave now-
Her Supreme Majesty has arrived.

Inspired by a bottle of hot sauce at lunch left over from the night before. Yes, I know I'm weird...

Journey

Birthing, breathing, growing.
Developing.
Seeing, smelling, tasting, feeling.
Experiencing.
Knowing, growing, enjoying, living, rebirthing.
Changing, being, wondering, observing, differentiating, fitting, planning, finding, discovering.
Realizing, separating.
Drawing, thinking, secluding, wishing, wondering, burning.
Hating, loving, hating, questioning, dying.
Dying, surviving, breathing.
Recovering, stagnating, reducing, moving, beginning.
Refreshing, learning, coping, sensing, hoping, refining, finding, missing.
Waiting, worshiping, breaking, deciding, working, tiring, building, sleeping, gaining.
Greeting, meeting, listening, longing, living, loving, falling.
Falling, falling, smiling, feeling, falling, abandoning, hoping, desiring, crashing.
Crying, asking, pondering.
Changing, planning.
Reading, rising, soaring.
Suffocating, telling, breathing, missing, wanting, rushing, lying, deceiving.
Receiving, regretting, despairing, losing.
Asking, thinking, finishing, surviving, living, hating.
Seeking, praying.
Observing, liking, talking, wondering, asking, regretting.
Playing, talking, moving, thanking.
Trying, failing, retrying.
Contemplating, trusting, searching.
Arrived.


I'm not sure if you can even call this a poem, and it was not necessarily inspired by anything except my desire to write a poem using only verbs-each one of which is particularly placed and has significant meaning.

Ode to Wengatz

Wengatz,
O how I love your tantalizing beauty, hidden,
Your walls grand and majestic.
Your non-curvaceous corners
Extrude in painful remorse
Of times long swept away
By those undeserving of feeling.
O how I desire to run to you one hundred footfalls far,
Gently caressing your ungentled brick.
Then turning, swiftly,
Eager to leave you standing as before
With evanescent fingerprints soon to be
Washed away by the ocean's farthest reaches.
O Wengatz,
May you ne'er see the day that
Your fine walls crumble.
May you ne'er see your spirit emptied
Or regrets of a youthful self
Caught up in frisbees and undefinable behavior.
Always will your exterior live in my heart
As a place of brief respite
From the terrifying memories that
Await me in the Gerig lounge.
Live long and prosper.


Inspired by the first Wengatz run of the year, in pouring rain, on 8 September 2008.

To Know Your Glory

To Know Your Glory

Soft underbellies of cotton
Illuminated by angels' light.
A single open canopy
Draping all corners of a sphere.
Imperfections of society
Questioning the very nature of God.
Deathly quiet-
Save for the chatter of hungry insects.
Unmoving. Unfettered.
Wind gently caressing the rhythms of a perturbed mind.
Rays shine forth in glory, now fading.
Color fading from expanse,
Retreating to a single point,
Struggling to live.
Fall away, vanquished by night.
Quiet.
Rest.
Start of a new day.


Inspired by a gorgeous Indiana sunset we had just a few minutes ago.