Carl Martin Johnson
Poet, Author, Slayer of Dragons
© Carl Martin Johnson, All rights reserved
A GOOD DREAM
By Carl Martin Johnson
It’s been a good dream, this my life.
The illusion and the real.
Years sliced off by Time’s sharp knife,
So their loss I do not feel.
There have been many trials,
But they were overcome.
There were hardships and denials,
Yet I did not succumb.
For the most part I’m content.
My fate is not unfair.
I can handle what I’m sent.
It’s no more than my share.
One day I’ll awake
To another, better, sleeping,
In a land beyond daybreak,
With laughter only, never weeping.
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DELIVER ME FROM EVIL
By Carl Martin Johnson
Deliver me from evil.
But not from carnal sin.
Let me keep pleasure primaeval
Until old age sets in.
Flesh holds me willing slave.
I love the joy it’s bringing.
Its fruits are those I crave.
Sweet music to my soul’s singing.
I ask only that my sin
Inflict no pain or sadness.
And that every day begin
With a cheery form of madness.
My debaucheries and my trysts
Are sacraments to me.
As I add each new vice to my lists,
More of my spirit dances free.
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DIFFERENT GODS
By Carl Martin Johnson
Keep the god you love.
Call him by any name.
Summon from below or above,
But do not my God shame.
I am no fanatic.
My God is a good friend.
Never has He been frantic
Though I have often sinned.
We talk, but I don’t pray.
Was given all I need at birth.
He never turns away.
His spirit lights the earth.
When I lay this life down.
He will let me rest awhile.
Some gods rant and frown.
I’ve only seen my God smile.
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LET ME DREAM
By Carl Martin Johnson
Let me dream
Do not wake me
I live well inside my head.
It’s where I scheme
Where my hopes take me
The conscious world would bore me dead.
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BEAUTY IN DAWN’S MIST
By Carl Martin Johnson
She walked silent in the dawn.
Silver mist flowed ‘round her feet,
And rose up an ethereal swan,
Ghostly guardian discreet.
Her eyes looked neither left nor right,
But someplace far ahead.
She emerged like a specter from the night.
Yet she was alive, not dead.
In the new sun she was fading.
Her blue eyes growing pale.
Corporeal for spirit trading.
Soon a vanished tale.
He swore he would come again.
He was desperate to meet her.
She was in life what might have been.
He would not this time mistreat her.
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A PLEASANT PLACE
By Carl Martin Johnson
I just left a pleasant place,
One I will not see again.
I will often its memory chase.
I consider it a friend.
Summer sun made warm the earth.
Night’s dew dripped from each flower.
I felt the world had just given birth
To both the place and hour.
An angel’s whisper brushed my ear
With a poem for my soul.
It was so golden, pure and clear,
My shattered being was made whole.
But I was only passing through.
I had no time to linger.
Yet that lovely place, I knew,
Was God’s song and I the singer.
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HOLIDAY GREETINGS TO ISIS
From Carl Martin Johnson
Greetings! I am Death-bringer.
Let my vengeance freeze your heart.
At the touch of my icy finger,
Your evil souls will burst apart.
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FAREWELL, MY LOVELY
By Carl Martin Johnson
I knew that you would leave me.
I knew that you would go.
I knew how it would grieve me.
Yet, I loved you so.
I held you in my arms,
Praying you would stay.
Treasuring your charms.
Fearing your loss one day.
Then I felt you going,
In the beating of your heart.
The pain that I was knowing
Tore my soul apart.
I am trying to be brave,
Now you’re really gone.
I wait here by your grave
For strength to carry on.
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HEAVEN’S PORTAL
By Carl Martin Johnson
I’ve found Heaven’s portal.
It is not up in the skies.
At least for this poor mortal,
The path lies through your eyes.
I see Paradise in their smile.
Lights of love within.
Let me gaze inside awhile,
If adoration not be sin.
So my darling, I implore you.
Never close the door.
I have great passion for you,
But in your eyes shines something more
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THE SMILE ON IVAN’S FACE
By Carl Martin Johnson
There was a smile on Ivan’s face
Before the day began.
He woke in a state of grace
Because he’d dreamed a plan.
He’d gone to bed with worry
About the world’s hard fate.
Barring remedy in a hurry,
It would surely be too late.
Wars and hate abounded.
People killing one another.
Ivan felt surrounded.
No one called him “brother”.
But his plan offered a cure.
He knew it would succeed.
Yes, he was very sure.
It would satisfy Man’s need.
He was ready now to start.
He’d not done it in a while.
It was coming from his heart.
His plan was just a smile.
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THEY’RE COMING
By Carl Martin Johnson
Now they’re coming! Now they’re crawling!
Creeping through the gloom.
The Reaper’s sharp scythe will be falling,
Sending us to our doom.
I can hear them shifting.
Though thick fog keeps them hid.
Soon this ground cloud will be lifting,
And we’ll see the harm they did.
In seconds they will rush,
Pointing bayonets at my throat.
Hordes emerging from the brush.
Chance of my survival is remote.
All right, it’s beginning.
I can see the first ones rise.
This battle we’ll not be winning.
So hear my last battle cries!
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JUMP UP!
By Carl Martin Johnson
Jump up! Chariot’s comin’!
Goin’ to carry us to the sky.
Jump up! Chariot’s comin!
Get on board an’ never die.
Brothers! Sisters! Give a cheer
Love you’re needin’ s almost here.
Mothers! Fathers! Give a shout.
Goin’ to Heaven, ain’t no doubt.
Swoopin’ down now, out the sun.
Got room for us all.
It will take us, every one
Who hears the trumpet call.
Come on, children..watch with me.
Chariot’s soon arrivin’.
All our souls will soon be free
‘Cause the Good Lord’s drivin’.
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WHEN I FIRST SAW YOU
By Carl Martin Johnson
I first saw you in a dream,
Or maybe the dream is now.
I spied you briefly in a stray moonbeam.
No more would you allow.
I saw the starlight in your eyes.
I heard nightbirds sing your praise.
Your fragrance perfumed black silk skies
And blossomed through the days.
Am I sleeping? Am I waking?
Both my lives you fill.
Every breath that I am taking
Is a prayer you always will.
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MY LIFE SONG
By Carl Martin Johnson
I sing my life song loud.
Hear me world and wonder.
I live and I am proud.
I am Lightning. I am Thunder.
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THE RHINOCEROS
By Carl Martin Johnson
A rhinoceros is coming down the street.
People making way for his advance.
He is a foe they would hate to meet.
Cautious men won’t take the chance.
We know he has no fear.
He looks to neither side.
If, indeed, we hold life dear,
Most will surely hide.
But there are those of us who’ll balk.
We will not be moved.
Nor engage in harmless talk.
We’ll have our valor proved.
He may impale us on his horn.
Then, bravely we will die.
Not cowards were we born.
We look death in the eye.
If our brothers we inspire,
We can stop the rhino’s rush.
The human soul on fire,
No enemy can crush.
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I LIVE IN THE JOURNEY
By Carl Martin Johnson
The journey is my home.
The trek my destination.
I’ve no peace unless I roam
Unchained over God’s creation.
If I pause along the way,
It is only for direction.
I’ll not be a sitting prey
For Time’s target selection.
When at last I stand
On the brink of where I’m going,
Then Life I will command.
I will have reached the Knowing.
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I SAW EMMA DANCING
By Carl Martin Johnson
I saw Emma dancing
The night before she left.
Her movements were entrancing.
No sign she was bereft.
Perhaps a sad look crossed her face
When she saw his empty chair.
Though it would have been such a very small trace,
Only a friend would be aware.
On the rocks they found her body spread.
Under the cliffs along the shore.
We only knew that she was dead.
She would not tell us more.
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THE CLOUD’S GAZE
By Carl Martin Johnson
I was out one windy day,
When I felt eyes upon me.
A cloud was blowing my way,
Up above where it had drawn me.
The cloud was looking back at me
From his perch up in the sky.
He had just a spark of glee
In the hole that was his eye.
He saw a foolish poet.
Of that I have no doubt.
I, too, surely know it,
Though I often block it out.
There was sympathy in his look.
He knew that I was trying,
Searching the cosmos’ book
For truth before my dying.
So I returned his smile.
I felt I’d found a friend.
One who could only stay awhile,
Being subject to the wind.
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SING TO ME
By Carl Martin Johnson
Sing to me of beauty,
Eagles crossing the sun.
Of the warrior and his duty.
Of what Mankind has done.
Whistle me a verse
That makes an angel smile,
That every sadness will reverse,
And comfort me awhile.
Hum a joyful tune,
Full of hope and trust.
May it let us all commune
What is strong and what is just.
Let me hear the human voice,
In a hymn to life and living.
For what we have, rejoice.
Praise God for all his giving.
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THE EMBER
By Carl Martin Johnson
Seeing you here has fanned the ember
In the cold ashes of my desire.
Sparking me to remember
We once had a blazing fire.
I recall your delicious flesh,
The taste of secret parts.
The feeling, again fresh,
Of love roaring in young hearts.
I see from your own gaze
That you’re remembering, too.
That you miss those fiery days
When I made hot love to you.
Let us seek to be alone
Before this day is done.
Rekindle the flame we’ve known
And our fervor be rewon.
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SLIP PAST THE DRAGON
By Carl Martin Johnson
Slip lightly past the cave.
Step softly past his lair.
None but the very brave
Will face the dragon there.
Hear his fiery breathing,
Flames dormant while he sleeps.
Like a volcano’s lava seething,
Until the monster leaps.
He lies in wait for a soul that’s pure.
One that suits his taste.
And when bitten there is no cure.
That soul is doomed to waste.
But if you are of the strong,
You might defeat the beast.
A brave heart makes a short sword long.
A good soul hero of the least.
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BEAU GESTE
By Carl Martin Johnson
He let me see your letter.
It seems you’ve made your choice.
I would have felt much better
Had I heard it in your voice.
But I care for you too much
To cause you pain in any way.
I will no more feel your touch.
Still, your trust I’ll not betray.
Tomorrow we will fight.
The enemy’s moving in.
I’ll wound your man in the night,
Out of sight of the other men.
He will hurt, but not be dead.
I’ll take dawn patrol in his place.
But for this letter, no more be said.
Please make it vanish with no trace.
Only know my love was real,
If this day I am killed,
Let my legacy be what I feel.
And know I died with my heart filled.
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IF MY SOUL YOU WISH TO SEE
By Carl Martin Johnson
If my soul you wish to see,
Gaze not into my face.
It’s my actions that are me,
Not a single place.
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WHERE TIGERS ROAM
By Carl Martin Johnson
Tigers in this jungle roam.
With Man their only fear.
They both call the forest home.
Both hold the lush land dear.
At night the big cat stalks.
He takes his rest by day.
Come the sun, it’s man who walks.
They share their world that way.
A brave few dare the tiger ride.
Their courage tames the beast.
Yet the great cat keeps his pride.
Should man drop he’d be a feast.
So long as Man holds tight,
He is the jungle’s king.
Man’s brain and tiger’s bite
Power and riches bring.
But should Man lose his grip,
He will forfeit life and all.
The tiger’s claws will rip,
And once-mighty Man will fall.
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