The Giddiness of Love's First Glances

Was it not a gentle eye to be sought
where canvas of love's truth is wrought
and in a counted sequence makes
the footsteps' course that hearts do take?
There he comes in swaggerous form
belying confidence through quiet horns;
trumpetting praise in crystalled eye
perceived the harshest in the night
and most at peace by brightest moon
whose rays we mirror in fragile swoons.
For shame do we allow our hearts to feel
the darkest part of night before appeal
in words that quest beyond the sigh,
but not, we pray, receive a nigh.
Alas, walk on 'til gentle speaks
of deeper thoughts that make us weak
without the last begotten phrases
to loves' ever forgotten hazes.

Winter is Come

Summer's breath goes West
As air pushes Eastward still.
Land turns snowy white.

Love as Dark Matter

The ever present enigma of swirling masses twists unforgivingly through the emptiness of the verse, sucking away meaning within the limits of its event horizon. Once inside the borderland, what happens to the self disciplined existence of the present if laws are shattered beyond repair? Spiraling into a chaos of disbelief along with every physical fiber condensing into a singularity of immense proportions and imagination causes enchanting equations of improbability of which dreams are barely conceived. A pulse quickens as the mind numbs when thinking of such unrealistic circumstances, even when the very enigma traverses the expanses of the next frontier.

Isn’t it here now? Aren’t we caught in the hole sucking away all laws already? Love has its entangling web stretching into and out of each soul in indeterminate forms. If caught, the subject of love’s illusion shades every aspect surrounding the victim’s life. All fairness diminishes into the chasm and existence sits back to the emotions swirling around the imaginary boundary between the two spirits caught by the inexplicable magnitude drawing them together; and may the powers that be forbid such numbers to grow beyond a duality. Matter and gravity condensing into a single point presupposing attraction of adoration breaks conditions imposed by the regulations of life, creating an event horizon of peril.

Once created, the brink of love lays seeds forevermore even if disillusionment wipes the slate clear of all colors. The pulse still strengthens when the object is mentioned. The mind still feels when a name is realized. The stomach fills with giddiness when their fragrance appears out of no-where. No amount of hatred overturns what once controlled the essence of a heart’s content. The pull of the hole can never be broken and delicate balances exist ever after --

Leaving even the strongest of will torn asunder by the violent intricacies of love. Herein does my world lie. The shades of day transcending to night, or the colorful dawn of the early morn, bewilder the progression of day to day affairs when others interpose personalities along the way. Several have I encountered, and their vortexes have begun the undeniable draw upon the strings already spoken for. I cannot deny the beauty of that peril, nor the adventurous intrigue they offer even when I cannot answer their unveiled aspirations; of which they suppose are hidden well enough. To what do I give reason for the attraction felt from me to their inner essence? Perhaps that is the question that should be answered, for the black hole I feel must reciprocate in some manner toward their draw, as black matter inevitably balances itself in a verse of indeterminate size.

And thus, I’m left unanswered. The feeling of falling even when claimed persists despite my recollection of the undeniable, if I were attempting to deny. I swirl in a delicate dance of shadows in a universe of light, skirting the event horizons of love’s cunning intent.

Faith

"I will not deny... I will not deny... I will not deny..."

He sat with his eyes closed, legs crossed, and palms together. The room sat barren around him, its cold walls lifting higher than the light of the candle could penetrate. Something about the darkness of the corners gave the sense of infinity within the enclosed space. The chanting continued.

"I know the truth... I know the truth... I know the truth..."

The nameless, robed in a fraying grey suit, remained motionless in the center of the room: arms before him in a closed oval, knees hovering next to the candle whose body never changed or dripped, face as serene as the limitless ceiling. His demeanor, aside from the persistence of his sayings, emitted power of sorts. Yet, the power was hampered by his will, clung near his body only and wound tightly to a specific purpose.

"There is only now... There is only now... There is only now..."

Powerful words sheered through the emptiness and the flame danced a little more wildly. The man pulled apart his hands and instantly the flame ceased its attempted flickering. The subdued light pierced cleanly to his face, brightening the pale features immune to time. He opened his eyes: pale grey rimmed with whitest white. The air grew colder.

"No one can stop life... No one can stop life... No one can stop life..."

The flame before him grew in intensity, illuminating every inch of the room from floor to ceiling. The depth of the darkness vanished in but a moment and the grey walls became yellow. A smile creased his gentle face.

"Love is the Ether... Love is the Ether... Love is the Ether..."

The light changed to red and the warmth of his truth spilled forth from his body. All the remaining chill from before vanished and the walls became transparent, revealing the endless expanses of the universe in twinkling eyes eons away from his fortitude of solitude. With his essence, he pushed the warmth into the vastness, the emptiness, the loneliness until all he mustered dissipated into the cold, dark, solid room again.

His smile waned with tiredness. The pressure of darkness closed in around him again. He closed his eyes. The flame came back to life with struggling breaths of its own.

"I will not deny... I will not deny... I will not deny..."

Elements of Choices

Sunless setting in the west
Darkened skies awakening eastward
Reddened southern ways shout
To dirty northern stubbornness,
Of which chanting strengthens
Tears dropping from ocean's heart
Allowing wind's calloused sigh to
Warp the fiery passion searing
Landscapes of the Earth.

My Earth is mountainous struggles,
trembling beneath the watery hearts
of discontinuous aspirations
hoping for a reviving breath.
Circles of circles, three by three...
Till next moment of tremulous steps
the awakening enlivens my lips
to kiss hello, goodbye, to myself.

Finding an End

I wish the end was as clear as a novel where turning a page proves the finality of a period. Unfortunately, life doesn't grant such simplicity. A candle's flame, dancing in fickle illumination and warmth, can disappear at any moment and suddenly never work again. Even popular television shows aren't guaranteed a solidified ending.

What about things that really matter then?

Life itself is too deep to really try to find an ending. Who truly knows when life ends? Sure, the beating of a heart and intake of breath are classic symbols of sustained living. Neurons firing in the brain, still causing the eyes to take in the very last images of the world, is possibly a better scientific marker of life. Even so, no-one can logically determine what happens to our experience after our bodies die (if there even is an experience of 'living' after death...). This isn't what concerns me, though. This topic is far to philosophical for me to tackle.

The end I'm finding is a chapter of my life. I feel it coming. I understand the significance. I notice the symbols swirling around in mystical illusions so near yet buried from my perception. This chapter has no pages. There are no words describing the moving of time and shifting of my world. Only the arbitrary emotions, whimsical and fleeting, carry the weight of this end.

What's ending?

Honestly I don't know. Then what is changing?

Life. I'm understanding my desires on a deeper level day by day. I'm discovering motivation, ambition, and pride. I feel and comprehend a jealousy for freedom I didn't know I had. I know how to be happy, even when I'm not. (The difference for this was a matter of acting and suppressing. Now I truly am happy when I want to be.) I'm harboring a better sense of kinship with my loved ones and finally seeing who truly is friend. But I also feel shifts in relationships because of this. I'm wondering if these tumultuous emotions are playing too deeply when their existence should persist only topically.

I have fear for this type of change. I'm afraid of this ending, of this beginning. The steps that come are heavy... and good... Which pace will I take to get to the next chapter? And with whom do I discuss? My head? Heart? Soul? Or someone entirely different, unbiased, and detached?

I talk to words, and search inside their meaning. I see their intricate worship and fend off my decay. Perhaps I will see something soon in the lyrics of my life. Look forward to it, and help me research.

Beautiful Reverie

Awaking to a world of illusion:

The sky shimmers to the cadence of hearts: beating in, beating out. The rhythmic procession shatters the gentle clouds hanging below the fading lightness. The sun hangs ominously bright at zenith, the moon lithely winks in the eastern darkness. A shimmerfly dances in between the two celestial bodies.

Its wings flitter with the light, spiraling in and out of existence with the waves of light. Purple glimmers and green sparkles appear for the merest of seconds before leaving sight, but the shimmerfly's body hovers peacefully in the sky, gazing down at the empty grasses waving in the zephyr.

The stalks have faded to brown in the dryness of the fall, matching the mood of the air as it mystically swishes through the reeds and sings in a hushed whisper. The words feel familiar, but they don't say anything coherent to languages still spoken. It's a wise tongue, a harsh dialect, and a hidden language, however lost to time and the races. As I listen to the swaying I hear the familiarity and try piecing it together, attempt feeling out the lost words, but my ear keeps me away from the truth.

A hawk squawks nearby, hidden in the shade of the forest trees that rose without notice.

A dog barks down the hallway.

Awaken to the world of truth?

3 Article Synthesis Paper for English Comp Class

On The Outskirts of Society

When does the choice of another have detrimental outcomes to the innocent? When do uncontrollable circumstances take away every personal right? When can one go through the public educational system, receive a degree, and then be prevented from contributing to their society? The answer is simple and disheartening: when the individual is a child brought to America illegally. Immigration is a controversial political subject which neglects mentioning children of illegal immigrants despite the severity of the problem. The inability to pass any sort of comprehensive immigration reform is taking a toll on a large population in America which is just reaching adult-hood. Perhaps comprehensive immigration reform is not the answer needed immediately, but there exists a bill which has been forestalled that can help these innocent children earn citizenship legally. It is called the DREAM Act, and until it passes illegal children will suffer a life of fear, hardship, and inferiority. The social inequalities suffered by undocumented children must be addressed and solved through the passing of effective reformation bills in Congress.

To be illegal has always been referenced as a choice for the persons who hold the title. Child immigrants hold a special place in society due to this negative adjective associated with their status. This creates subjective intolerance which demeans the self-worth and aspirations the child may accrue while living in America. Unfortunately, the outcome of such denigration affects the society as a whole on many levels. Take, for instance, the complaint many Americans denote when arguing about illegal immigration which claims the illegal immigrants steal jobs away from natural born citizens. This very statement is causing a two-fold effect on children coming to America. The first is clearly engendering an attitude towards all illegal individuals that they should not be seeking out jobs that American’s desire. This then forces their search to mediocre work (in comparison to what ‘citizens’ should desire) and opens up opportunities in the janitorial, fast-food, and manual labor fields. As an assumption, Americans, who are instilled with the desire to always work upwards toward a better position in life, would never desire these types of work. The second effect directly influences many immigrant children to believe they cannot aspire to anything more than what their parents achieved: manual labor, fast-food work, and/or janitorial employment (as examples). As Thomas Faist points out, “Ethnicity is one of the markers that are often used to slot migrants into certain occupational niches . . . [which then creates] a basis of self-ethnicization [or self-engendering as a way of] typifying themselves as belonging to a particular group” (308). This very concept of self-engendering positions is not solely America’s downfall in social graces, but is a common practice in many Western civilizations.

Germany’s school system is possibly one of the most affective at determining a person’s place in society. This has also caused the German school system to be known as one of the worst systems in regard to immigrant children, and not specifically illegal immigrant children either (Entorf 642). At the age of ten, students are subjected to a test which determines which school a child will go to. The test is administered in German and spans a wide range of fields: science, mathematics, language comprehension, literature, etc. Now imagine immigrating (moving) to another country with your parents and shortly after arriving, having very little time to learn the language properly and assimilate to the educational standards of the school system, a test is given which will determine your place in society. Based on the test scores, the only option available is attending the school which prepares children for manual labor. Is this fair? Is it just to treat citizens who have legally immigrated to the host country in such a manner? Upon further reflection, is it right to even administer such a test to a child of manual labor parents, who were not given a highly advanced level of education because of a test they did poorly on when they were ten years old, who does not have the ability to learn advanced material from their caretakers? Understandably, Germany has a different view towards a life’s position than America does; for they take pride in the work they do as appose to feeling like there is something better to achieve. American standards would never allow this sort of system to affect its children, would it?

The answer is yes, America would and does allow such a test to exist, though few believe it is in existence. 1982 saw a distinct change in the attitude toward undocumented children in the Plyler v. Doe case which the Supreme Court ruled that “undocumented children are ‘persons’ under the Constitution and thus entitled to equal protection under the law according to the 14th amendment” (Gonzales 421). Furthermore, Justice Brennan declared that “while education is not a fundamental right, denying K-12 education to undocumented children amounted to creating a ‘lifetime of hardship’ and a permanent ‘underclass’ of individuals” (Gonzales 421). It was very clear that the Supreme Court saw the inequalities upheld by the denotation of a child as illegal in America, but the statute of the 14th Amendment, in essence, gives children of illegal immigrants the coveted rights of naturalized or native citizens. However, the provision only adheres to underage individuals, and when they turn eighteen the rights are demolished because of decisions made many years prior by their caretakers (Gonzales 421). The test then becomes about how well the child can hide his status from the institutions he wishes to attend. This is where the contradiction comes into play: a child who has been given rights and a free education through secondary schools is then thrust into society with a status that makes his very existence a federal crime.

The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act can solve this issue and amend the huge oxymoron the United States of America bestows upon an innocent group of people. As it stands, illegal immigrant children are said to have the highest drop out rate of any minority attending high schools in America. Much of the reason behind this is the lack of opportunity once they have graduated. It is better for them to find a job and work hard to secure a minimum standard of living to help support their family. Most of these children do not attempt to get their citizenship status to be legal. The DREAM Act will undoubtedly inspire these individuals by allowing children two options to obtain citizenship legally. One option means further schooling, allotting five years to earn a Bachelors and then enter the workforce. The other option is to go into the military for two years and then apply for citizenship once returning from active duty (“Welcome”). Both of these options allow an individual to prove their merit (Gonzales 421) and therefore strengthen many aspects of America. Such a bill needs to pass through Congress and be enforced immediately. Perhaps comprehensive immigration reform is not a solution feasible in the immediate climate, but the political leaders of a society which appreciates social advancement, equality and the American dream need to protect people whose choices were never considered when subjected to a life of hardship and social inequalities.

It is not enough to simply look at the social issues surrounding undocumented children. Action must be taken to stave off further social inequalities born from misconceptions surrounding this group of innocent individuals. Treating children of illegal immigrants as fugitives of the law or criminals is unfair to their circumstances. Furthermore, if these children decide to live in the United States of America after receiving a free education, it is imperative that they not impede any facet of American society. They should be allowed to contribute financially and socially with their taxes and votes. Government officials need to pass some sort of immigration reform and it is up to their constituents to push them to vote for reform; and if they cannot compromise on any sort of Comprehensive Immigration Reform then their focus must shift to the undocumented children of illegal immigrants. The DREAM Act is a short term solution to the complicated immigration issue.


Works Cited

Entorf, Horst, and Martina Lauk. "Peer Effects, Social Multipliers and Migrants at School: An International Comparison." Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies 34.4 (2008): 633-654. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 4 Oct. 2010.

Faist, Thomas. "Cultural Diversity and Social Inequalities." Social Research 77.1 (2010): 297-324. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 4 Oct. 2010.

Gonzales, Roberto. "On the Rights of Undocumented Children." Society 46.5 (2009): 419-422. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 4 Oct. 2010.

“Welcome to the DREAM Act Portal.” DREAM Act Portal. Web. 18 Oct. 2010.