Star Traveler

Star Traveler

Sliding through endless stars cold and dark

Ancient memories reaching out

Highways of stardust guiding

Solar winds pushing all

Gravity tugging

Constant movement

Endless search

Where are

you?

 

The Man Looking Back At Me

Rolling into what used to be a subdivision but was now just masses of wind swept rubble, Rob noticed the stranger sitting on the side of the road. Cutting the engine and coasting to a stop, Rob opened the door and got out. Walking around the car he stood above the man who sat idly drawing random runes into the dirt.
"Seems to me you're all alone, my friend." Rob stated matter of factly.
"What makes you think I'm all alone?" The stranger replied opening his duster to display a sawed off shotgun without even looking up.
"It just seems odd, you sitting here, in the middle of nowhere."
"It's because all that I ever had and all I will ever have is here. Here in the middle of nowhere, amidst this rubble and decay." Replied the stranger solemnly as he slowly raised his head to look at Rob. "Besides, why the hell do you care? I didn't ask you to stop. You could have just cruised on through heading out to wherever the hell you're heading to with no mind to me!"
"Listen, fella. I didn't mean anything by it; I was just stopping to see if you needed anything, a ride, something. You just looked like somebody that needed something, that's all."
"Where you headin' to anyways?" The stranger asked sharply.
"Rumor has it there were more survivors of the holocaust and that they are gathering out west. That's where I'm heading, hoping to find my family there. You got family? Maybe you could head out west, see if they are there?"
"They're not there. They're here." The stranger said pointing behind him amid the rubble of a collapsed home. "They survived the holocaust, same as I. Those that survived with us, left, looking for god knows what. But we stayed because this was our home, our life. Then one day while I was out scrounging for food, a marauding gang came, murdered my family for what little we had left. I came back to find them all dead. All I had left was gone. I buried them myself back there and I have no intention of leaving them. So I will sit here, and I will grieve until I have had my fill."
"We've all lost." Rob replied. "Everyone alive today has lost. In this we are kindred spirits, destined to try to find some semblance of what was. I hope to find my family and to find some piece of my former self. It is this hope that I hold on to. This hope is my beacon that I must follow to the end."
"And what happens when you get there and all you see it this!" the stranger exclaimed sweeping his hand across the scene of devastation surrounding them. "Then what? Then where will your hope get you?"
"I have to go. Why don't you go with me, try to find some hope for your own life?"
"Because I am a shell of a man. My spirit is broken; I am empty yet filled with agony. There is no hope left, no reason left. Every night I go to sleep I wish that I never wake, but every morning I am here. In my own hell. No, you go on. Do what you have to do, seek what you have to seek. I'll not be joining you." With that the stranger returned to scribing his random figures in the dirt as if Rob was not even standing above him.
Slowly turning, Rob walked back to the driver seat and got in. Starting the car he drove away, watching the stranger slowly disappear in his rear view mirror hoping who he just met, was not his future self.

Written for 3WW. The three words used are in bold. Thanks ThomG!

Life Was Simpler But Love Is Stronger

Rob scanned the horizon, desolate for as far as his eyes could see. Only the occasional wisp of smoke lazily spiraling skyward in the far distant could be seen. No movement of life. No birds singing or rustling of leaves or trees. Nothing but total devastation from east to west, north to south.
It hadn’t always been like this. His previous life had never prepared him for what he was experiencing now. He had been mildly successful. Married shortly after college he pursued his career with the same amount of energy and reckless abandon that most twenty-somethings do. Still young enough to believe they can change the world, not old enough yet to be disappointed by the cyclic burdens of daily pursuits. But still, he had tried to live the ideal life. Living within their means, he and his wife had bought a nice home, started a family with the birth of their two children and lived the dream. When he left for the business meeting half way across the nation, he had no idea it would be the last time he would talk to his wife, kiss his children or see his accomplishments of a middle class life.
Unbeknownst to him, powers larger and darker than he had ever imagined had invented a future. A future in which mankind itself had become the victim. He was one of the lucky ones. He was able to escape the rain of fire from above. He was able to escape the nuclear terror which had devastated the landscape and left the human race to teeter on the brink of annihilation. Information was non-existent. Rumors and myths were the words of the day. But rumor had it that there were survivors and that they were gathering. It was these rumors which drove him in his quest. He found it his sole thought to find his wife and children. This belief that they were survivors and were gathering with others was all he needed to continue.
Shaking his head, Rob returned to the present. Climbing out of his ride, he took measure of the situation. The world was now a dangerous place, where only the crafty and the hard could survive. Displayed before him were the wrecked remains of the opponent who would have seen him dead, for nothing more than the fuel and little food that his heavily modified car carried. But today was different. Today it would be Rob who would be taking the remnant fuel worth more than all the precious metal left on this god forsaken planet. Removing his newly acquired Desert Eagle from its holster, Rob strode to the driver side of the wreckage and surveyed the broken body of his adversary who lay moaning from mortal wounds. Driven by the animalistic desire to return to who he knew, his family and any shred of his former life, he raised his gun and squeezed the trigger. And to think three months ago he would have thought twice about swatting a fly.


Written for 3WW. The three words used are in bold.

Darkened Void

Through the desolate wasteland of my mind I ponder,

Days spent traveling meadows of painted colors,

Hours spent in the sweet fragrance of love's embrace,

Increasing days yield the horror of shifting memories.

Doubts arise from deep within my hopeless abyss,

These wretched circumstances have left me raw,

From my isolation I peer into a distance time,

Wondering if my love has released her grasp on hope.

Tears of wanting mercy streak my heavy soul,

Overwhelming dreadful silence my only companion,

Challenging my every thought and questioning my reason,

The shifting of time through cold fingers of regret.

My heart breaks with a sound of unequalled thunder,

Reminiscence if the mighty ship which abandoned me here,

Pieces of mortal man's great achievement scattered like broken dreams,

Skeletal remains to remind me of my unending plight.

Humbled and broken I cry out to deaf ears,

Prostrate I fall without an ounce of resolve,

I fear my darkening heart is winning this battle,

Like a tattered sail, my hope wanes, covered in desperation.

For you see, the horizon holds my love, my all, my salvation.

Lost

Across the starry divide I peer
Where heavens coincide with the sea
Where stars dance to the eerie moon
Where echoes of the past come haunting

Time has left me with mocking laughter
I see no end to my dismal plight
I see hope galloping across moonlit waters
I see my life as it used to be known

For ages my heart has beckoned for love
When fields where green and skies were blue
When laughter of joy filled the room
When tears of compassion drowned every sorrow

With increasing despair I wait
My love keeps the rhythm of my heart
My love calms my agonizing soul
My love strengthens my will to persevere

Come my love..........come soon

Eternity

From across the void I travel
Oh how has time spread it's wings
Distant are the footsteps of the past
Silence has become my unwitting partner
How will I ever know your touch again?
Have I forgotten how you feel?
Does the fragrance of your life elude me?
Do I stand a chance to hear the soft whisper of your voice?
Languishing through the stars I hear the faint melody
Just over the next horizon I may find you
A little farther and someday this journey will end
On the wings of despair I persevere
Driven by forces tugging on my very soul
Anguished and torn I continue this plight
An eternity I have searched
For an eternity I have loved
For an eternity I will continue on
For an eternity my love shall never wain
I will find you my love, in this eternity.

A Tribute to the Clippers

Fleeting Moments

As the morning rises on the harbor, a lone ship can be seen rocking gently to the lullaby of the passive ocean roll. So tranquil is the scene that the only movement that can be noticed is the slow and subtle rising of the mist that surrounds her. With the night watch dozing and the crew sound asleep, the perfect silence is only broken by the occasional slap of the rigging. In a few moments the decks and gangways will be bustling with activity and the harbor coming to its frantic life. But for now, the powerful clipper slumbers quietly in a state rarely experienced by even the saltiest sea dog.

Another Tea Race

With the sails full and crews on edge, another race is at hand. The boards creaking and the rigging taunt, only winning is on every man's thoughts. Gale force winds push ship and sailor to the limit as even the gulls seem to labor to keep pace. As the salty sea sprays on each crew member's face, the famous ribbon awaits at the end of the race. For the winner it will be proudly displayed, and will be challenged for at every race day.