Carl Martin Johnson
Poet, Author, Slayer of Dragons
© Carl Martin Johnson, All rights reserved
HERO’S LEGION
By Carl Martin Johnson
Some see crosses, row on row,
See names on a long black wall.
I see souls I want to know,
To embrace them one and all.
I know that we must each die.
Every man owes life a death.
Yet how we leave and the reason why
Mark a warrior’s final breath.
Look out on the Heroes’ Legion,
Brave lives gone but not asleep.
They are awake in Heaven’s region,
Where eternal watch they keep.
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THE AUTUMN WIND
By Carl Martin Johnson
The autumn wind has found me.
It tells me summer’s gone.
Bright leaves are swirling ‘round me.
Time is moving on.
Now comes the butter-colored sun,
Flowing smoothly o’er my skin.
I feel the old year being done,
So the new year can begin.
Days grow short and cooler now,
The weather more a friend.
Life seems easier somehow,
As the old year starts its end.
Perhaps God made Fall to ease us
Into Winter’s bitter night.
Before the cold gales freeze us,
And rend with icy bite.
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CRYSTAL LENSES
By Carl Martin Johnson
Raindrops crystal lensed
Fell soft upon my eyes,
Leaving my vision cleansed
Of the waking world’s disguise.
For an instant I could see things
Before forbidden to my sight.
The prismed droplets served to free things,
Expose shy wonders to the light.
The beauty overcame me,
Made me forget my pain.
I felt love of life inflame me,
Lying bleeding in that rain.
The dreamworld washed away,
But the memory I hold dear.
Ever since that day
Neither life nor death I fear.
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THE REASON FOR CREATION
By Carl Martin Johnson
Man shares this world with many things,
Some living and some not.
Each from the primal ignition springs,
Comprising what God has wrought.
I embrace each grain of being,
Every robin, every stone.
The world that I am seeing,
Tells me I’m not alone.
We are hurtling toward the Divine Ghost,
Our final destination.
I know Man is evolution’s host,
The reason for creation.
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THE ANGRY WIND GOD
By Carl Martin Johnson
Who will brave the Wind God’s ire
When he hurls his mighty storm,
When he flings sharp lightning’s fire
With a will to do Man harm?
What weapon will you choose
To wield in hero’s duel?
What ammunition will you use
To combat the typhoon’s fuel?
Take no sharp steel in your hand.
No sword has ample blade.
If you will take a stand
Use that within which God has made.
The tempest has great power.
It can tear the world apart.
But Mankind will never cower
For we have the Human Heart.
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GHOST WIND
By Carl Martin Johnson
The Ghost Wind blew the sun away,
And thrust in darkest night.
It did no good for men to pray,
Nor to flee in fright.
Its howling shamed the banshees’ screams.
Hell’s demons ran in fear.
Never in all mankind’s dreams
Did such sorcery appear.
If cursed fate placed you in its path,
Beg God your soul be spared,
For if you feel the Ghost Wind’s wrath
Satan’s evil lair you’ve shared.
These lines I write in warning.
Though our doom is likely sealed.
Waste no time in mourning.
This is apocalypse revealed.
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THE WAVE
By Carl Martin Johnson
The wave rolled thunder at the land
Driven hard by tempest’s power.
Deadly fist of the sea god’s hand,
More colossal by the hour.
Spitting white foam at its crest
Like a mad dog’s rabid maw.
All in its path it will digest,
Deep into the coastland gnaw.
Stand frozen at the storm surge might.
Too late for you to flee.
Pray God take your soul this night,
For you face eternity.
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FACE BRAVELY YOUR DEMISE
By Carl Martin Johnson
Can you stop the rain from falling?
The wind from blowing hard?
Are you fruitlessly God calling
While the world is torn and scarred?
Man is arrogant and vain,
Though his power may be great.
What the Divine has put in train,
Mankind must leave to fate.
Face bravely your demise.
You can’t undo what gods have written.
There is no human thing but dies.
We are all by mortality bitten.
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THE STORM’S GIFT
By Carl Martin Johnson
The storm left us a rainbow
To repay the damage done.
We who here remain, though,
Would have preferred the sun.
Yet the colors ease our sorrow,
Bright and vivid hues,
Giving new hope for tomorrow,
Healing for the tempest’s bruise.
Best not look for reasons.
Nature has a willful mind.
She is mistress of the seasons
Without thought to humankind.
It does no good to blame her.
She will always have her way.
Perhaps one day we’ll tame her,
But that time is far away.
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GOOD THOUGHTS
By Carl Martin Johnson
I’ll leave all dark thoughts for now,
Give my tired mind a rest.
Only joy will I allow,
And Mankind at our best.
More blessings I have than trials,
If I only stop to see.
Far fewer frowns than smiles.
More love than hate for me.
When I have refreshed my soul
With the beauty of this life,
Hopeful images will console
As I once more face living’s strife.
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ONLY DREAMING
By Carl Martin Johnson
Could be I’m not awake.
Could be I’m only dreaming.
Could be each breath I take
Is truly only seeming.
No matter..to me it’s real.
I thirst and hurt and bleed.
All sensations I can feel.
All tenderness I need.
So I’ll savor this illusion
Until death interrupts my sleep.
Then I will store this fine delusion
With the memories I keep.
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I CAN FEEL THE COSMOS' BEAT
By Carl Martin Johnson
I can feel the cosmos’ beat.
I will sync it with my heart.
When the two pulses meet,
Only then will my life start.
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