Carl Martin Johnson
Poet,  Author,  Slayer of Dragons

© Carl Martin Johnson, All rights reserved

SHE IS LURKING
By Carl Martin Johnson

Creeping ‘round the hallways,
Sneaking down the stair,
Happiness lurks always.
She will take you unaware.

She will snare you with a smile,
Burrow deep into your heart.
Her laughter will beguile.
Melting heartache is her art.

If self-pity is your game,
She will call you out.
Make you grin in shame,
And quickly lose your pout.

But if you become her lover,
You will never cry.
You will hold no one above her,
And embrace her ‘til you die.

 

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LIFE PARTY
By Carl Martin Johnson

Talking without speaking.
Not listening, just hearing.
Wandering without seeking.
Life’s days disappearing.

Shallow soulful sighing
From the stomach, not the heart.
Because of troubles crying,
Rather than tearing them apart.

Breathe deep and resurrect.
Find a braver soul inside.
Stride forth with self-respect.
Fill your world with pride.

Be not timid living.
Your plate is full….eat hearty.
Take all that Life is giving.
Remember, it’s your party.

 

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JOLLY MAGGIE
By Carl Martin Johnson

Maggie was a jolly soul.
She wore a constant smile.
Always the first to console
When someone faced a trial.

She spread her world with cheer.
From her eyes shone morning sun.
All people held her dear.
Maggie was a special one.

Her children she adored.
She was a loving wife.
Harsh language she abhorred.
She had a happy life.

Maggie never cried.
She never had a frown.
Even when Fate tried,
It never wore her down.

But one day she was gone.
She simply disappeared.
Friends searched from dusk to dawn.
The very worst was feared.

Then the searchers found a note.
It said that she was leaving.
“Forgive me dears” she wrote.
She was sorry they were grieving.

She said life was getting short.
And she had yet to live.
Leaving broke her heart,
She must ask them to forgive.

Now somewhere Maggie’s free.
Someplace Maggie lives.
She will find out how to be
And take what destiny gives.

 

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DAMN
By Carl Martin Johnson

Dance deftly driven demon.
Dominate Death’s domain.
Daring deeds do dreamin’.
Danger deserves disdain.

Absolute awful admission.
Absolution as advised.
Angry angels abet attrition.
And avenging actions apprised.

Magic makes men mean.
Maneuvering minds malicious.
Mankind’s malware machine,
Massively meretricious.

Nightwalkers now neglected.
Naberius’ newborn namesakes.
Necromancing nonselected
Nosferatu’s nightsnakes.

 

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TASTE ME
By Carl Martin Johnson

Taste me, taste my desire,
My passion’s spice over your tongue,
As your heat sets me afire,
While my love song’s sung.

Lick up my perspiration.
Let it quench your thirst.
Gorge on this feast of your creation.
In its sweet sauces be immersed.

Enjoy my ardor’s flavor.
Relish my fervor’s seasoning.
My carnal aroma savor.
Pleasure beyond all reasoning.

With hunger and thirst near sated,
I will fill you with my wine.
I’ll be your banquet celebrated,
Each morsel you taste be mine.

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LIFETIMES AGO
By Carl Martin Johnson

 

Don’t leave me here heartbroken.
Kiss me before you go.
Let us part with sweet words spoken,
As we did lifetimes ago.

 

We loved and lost back then,
In times far in the past.
Once more we’re what we’d been.
Seems what we grow can’t last.

 

But afresh our love will burn.
In each life the flame sprouts stronger.
I pray that we will learn
To make the glow last longer.

 

We will go on forever.
Love will one day be true.
Until the twelfth of never,
I won’t stop wanting you.

 

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WAITING FOR THE STORM TO PASS
By Carl Martin Johnson

I’m waiting for the storm to clear,
Though I’m not worried by the lightning.
It’s the thunder that I fear.
I find its great noise frightening.

 

Lightning deals swift death I know,
While thunder just announces.
Dark rumble is the trumpet blow
When the skybolt pounces.

 

In this hard rain I will not drown.
Not here on the high ground.
I must make sure I’m not thrown down
By the huge storm’s booming sound.

 

So I’ll lie beneath this old oak tree
And stuff my ears with grass.
That keeps the thunder out you see,
Until the storm will pass.

 

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THE SAD-EYED WHORE
By Carl Martin Johnson

The sad-eyed hooker walks the streets.
She never sees the sun.
She hopes with every john she meets
That he might be the one.

 

She’s a princess in her fantasies,
Clean and sweetly pure,
With a knight who only wants to please
And make her feel secure.

 

Leaning against a post to rest,
She lights a cigarette.
She vows not to get depressed.
Life is not finished yet.

 

He was coming, she just knew.
Her knight was on his way.
‘Til then all that she could do
Was survive another day.

 

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SWEET SALLY SLEEPING
By Carl Martin Johnson

Sweet Sally slept in silence,
Dreams of flowers in her head.
Far from war and violence.
Far from the torn and dead.

 

Peace came to her in dreams.
There she had no fear.
Sliding down moonbeams,
Bathed in starlight clear.

 

When her young eyes burnt with dawn,
The terrors would begin.
War and killing carried on..
Slaughter without end.

 

In sleep she was secure.
Horror could not intrude.
Dreams allowed her to endure,
Every demon to elude.

 

Her nights survived the day,
With the journeys she must take.
And in the dark she’d pray
That she would never wake.

 

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MY TATTERED FACE

By Carl Martin Johnson

Will I still be wanted
When she sees my tattered face?
Will her mind instead be haunted
By the disfigurement in its place?

 

She adored my handsome chin.
To her I was a star.
Today the face she’ll see me in
Is monstrous and bizarre.

 

Yet my heart is still the same,
If hidden deep inside.
Though mirrors stare back in shame,
Dissolving all my pride.

 

Now she’s standing at my door
With sparkle in her eyes.
They say my beauty is no more,
But her love never dies.

 

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I TOOK THE WORLD TO BED
By Carl Martin Johnson

I took the world to bed
To see what I could breed.
A being of which be said
It would satisfy humankind’s need.

World accepted my caress,
Hot passion in the night,
Praying our lust would bless
What our ardor would ignite.

Having loved, I fell asleep.
The mating left me tired.
I must have slept quite deep.
When I woke months had expired.

The world was joyous crying.
Our child was being born.
In a process mystifying,
The umbilical was torn.

The world held our child high
For the cosmos to admire,
And see in the newborn’s eye
The spark of divine fire.

Then she gave the child to me
To show me what we’d done.
Life for eternity
Would bless this special one.

When I looked into his eyes,
I found the future there.
I saw how Man would rise
In the newborn’s stare.

I knew he held the key
To unlock eternity’s door.
What came from the world and me
Was Man becoming more.

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DAY IS DONE
By Carl Martin Johnson

I have the strangest feeling
Existence is being undone.
What the gods have been concealing,
Has at last begun.

Day is done. Night is coming.

I smell Life’s termination.
Cessation of Man’s being.
A final conflagration
That my heart is seeing.

Day is done. Hear Death’s drumming.

Foundations are fast crumbling.
Civilization lost moral core.
Even the strong are stumbling.
We stand at damnation’s door.

Day is done. And night is coming.
 

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THE NEXT STEP
By Carl Martin Johnson

Does Truth lie beyond Death’s door,
Or is it just another stage?
Will our souls need growing more,
In Being’s book another page?

In the new life what will we see,
And, if seeing, with what eyes?
Will we still seek or simply be?
Is it a life from which one dies?

Do we have matter in that dimension,
Are we spirit only?
Memories from this world in retention,
Or minds erased and lonely?

Will death complete our quest
For who we are and why?
From searching will we rest,
Or from each stage must we die?

 

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FALL GENTLY ON ME, NEW DAY
By Carl Martin Johnson

Fall gently on me, new day.
Illuminate my soul.
Let me find the true way
To make my being whole.

 

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THE MOMENT
By Carl Martin Johnson

This would not come again.
It would quick decide his fate.
He would lose or win.
The moment would not wait.

Would he stand and fight,
Or break from fear and run?
Would he gather all his might,
Or like a coward come undone?

Shouts signaled the attack.
They were many, he was one.
There would be no turning back
Once the fighting was begun.

He knew he’d likely die
If he stayed to face the foe.
He was honor-bound to try,
Or his shame the world would know.

The first rounds cut smooth through.
Yet the soldier felt no pain.
He was aware what he must do.
He would not fall in vain.

With a warrior’s roar he leapt,
Charging straight into the fray.
His destiny would be kept.
He would die well this day.

 

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DO NOT STAY HUDDLED ON THE EARTH
By Carl Martin Johnson

Do not stay huddled on the earth
Complacent where we are.
This planet is our place of birth,
Our destiny is a star.

 

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HURRY SUNSET
By Carl Martin Johnson

Hurry sunset.
Hide my sorrow.
Let me forget,
Until the morrow.

 

Then I’ll suffer in the dawn,
Every minute of my waking,
Struggling hard to carry on,
Although my heart be breaking.

 

I always see her in the moon,
Her beauty sweet and pure.
God grant that I may join her soon.
‘Til then I must endure.

 

So, sunset, grant me peace,
If only for the night.
My pain in slumber cease
While I dream my wrong world right.

 

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ELEGY FOR MY MOTHER
By Carl Martin Johnson

From your womb into your arms,
My first sight your loving face.
You introduced me to Life’s charms
With a mother’s warm embrace.

 

You nursed when I was ill.
Comforted my fears.
Gave your breast ‘til I had my fill.
Dried my boyish tears.

 

I will never feel you’re gone.
You are forever in my heart.
With you there, I’ll carry on,
Knowing we are not apart.

 

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DESPAIR

By Carl Martin Johnson

Despair, get thee from me!
Of we two, I am the stronger.
You’ll not overcome me.

My joy will last much longer.

 

You paint the skies dark gray,
But I can feel the sun.
Your clouds I’ll blow away.
So do not think you’ve won.

 

Find someone far less brave,
If victorious you’d be.
It’s a desperate soul you crave.
That’s sure as hell not me.

 

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STORM RIDERS
By Carl Martin Johnson

Riders on the storm.
Come to do us harm.

 

Into our midst they fly,
Sending us to die.
They feel our life’s a sin,
So bloody carnage they begin.

 

Upon our world they swarm.

 

Fight them if you dare.
Return the demons’ glare.
If we do not destroy,
They will slaughter us with joy.

 

Wield your soul with a brave arm.

 

If we don’t beat them back
From their violent attack.
Mankind will be done.
The final war be won

 

By Riders on the Storm.

 

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SWEET ELUSIVE SLEEP
By Carl Martin Johnson

Sweet Sleep, she cannot find me.
I am hiding in my fears.
She must sneak up behind me,
And grab me through my tears.

 

Sweet Sleep would ease my sorrow.
Rest my body and my soul.
When I wake on the morrow,
My being would be whole.

 

We are lovers starcrossed.
Not fated soon to meet.
On Life’s sea we’re wavetossed,
Our union incomplete.

 

I pray she sneaks into my night
To keep bad dreams at bay.
Should she come, I’ll hold her tight
Until dark yields to day.

 

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