Project Type: The BeZine, December 2017, Vol. 4, Issue 3

(Raanana, July 17, 2015)

To be and not to be,
That is the commandment:
To live and dream,
To dream one’s life,
The innocence of original sin
And the sin of innocence,
To love logic for its loveliness,
Its loneliness,
And its lovelessness,
To live forever and to live a day,
To run to and to run away,
To doubt and believe,
To be loyal and betray,
To live while dying,
To accept the question as an answer,
To love but hate that you love
But still to love,
To affirm your contradictions
And yes but perhaps no,
To be and not to be.

© 2015, Mike Stone

(Raanana, April 23, 2015)

If words were what they pointed at
Instead of just pointing at things
And sometimes instead of things,
Then I’d build a castle word by word
And weave a dress for you word by word,
I’d make a mirror and put your reflection in it
Word by word by word.
And the castle would stand on an island
Hidden by palm trees and words
Within words and mountains
Surrounded by a sea of words,
And only my ship of words,
Its sails filled with words like wind,
Could find my island of words.
If stars were stepping stones
From birth until death
And back again,
I’d step across the heartless night
Until I reached the morning.
If clouds were countries
That no army could conquer
Because horses and cannon would fall through,
I’d move there.
If God were a word,
In the beginning was the word He would say,
And if He were real
I’d believe in Him
Because He created my senses
Of things to believe in,
But He’s just a word others say
Instead of the thing He’s supposed to be.

© 2015, Mike Stone

(Raanana, February 10, 2017)

Although there is truth
I will never know it
Or be absolutely sure.
Although the world
And universe above and below
Do in fact exist
I will never perceive or conceive it.
Although all this is true
There is not enough evidence
To make of me a true believer
A skeptic or a cynic
An optimist or pessimist.
According to forensic science
Every criminal leaves a trail
Except for God and His magicians.
All this and less
As we move forward in our time.

© 2017, Mike Stone

(Raanana, August 5, 2015)

Once upon a time forgotten,
Or so they say,
God walked alongside Abraham
On goat paths crisscrossing mountains
When they were still new and green,
When Moriah was not yet named.
But sometime later God took his angels
And his box of miracles to his bosom
Leaving us to our own devices,
Existentialism and science.
Perhaps because our faith was not enough,
Because we understood the letter
And not the spirit,
Because His creation could not create
But only destroy itself,
He left us to ourselves.
We fought our enemies oh so bravely
But, when the enemy was ourselves, capitulated.
Now we live in a moral flatland,
Two-dimensional creatures on a yellowing page
Without height or depth.
We kill because we can,
We hate and hatred makes a home of death.
By the River Jordan,
By the caves of Qumran,
By the hills of Jerusalem,
We lay down and wept for thee, Zion.

© 2015, Mike Stone