The Wall

     The Muslims wail at the al-Buraq Wall,

where Muhammad caught flight upon some

white winged-donkey, where he was inexplicably 
lifted from the sacred Mosque and placed to
the farthest Mosque, Muhammad’s Mi’raj rules
their faith and all its sorcery; 
     The Hebrews sulk at the Ha-Kotel Ha-Ma’ aravi, 
where Jewish pilgrimage lament Roman’s destruction
and pray for restoration from the depths of mystery, yet
nothing stops them from rebuilding this war-torn temple;
     Two kingdoms separated by dividing phantoms who in return
have wrought nothing to them but misery and contempt, yet they
still unite in the faith of their deception, while mystery still 
surrounds them in louring hate for one another who break all
precepts, laws, and commandments, who rather live in warring 
death than in peace with mankind.


- John Hardesty

Into The Oblivion

They lie unmoved in their grave clothes, for
puzzled thoughts grieve and fend off the
inevitability of death, dolorous relicts who
find constant hope in their poetic book of
proverbs and psalms written by heretics of
truth; still, they live in constant oubliance 
of this regretful life, an obligation to live
beyond life itself is their obstinate fate, the
inanity that girds their poortith minds who 
can’t and will never accept this dread and 
godawful discontentment, I find men weak 
who flail at religion for some shield from 
eternal damnation, it’s beyond pathetic the
way these morbid hounds chastise and browbeat
their mindless followers into submission, calling
them sinners while stealing their silver; alas, for
they’ll never offer you anything more than the breath 
of life and fate has already secured for you already, 
ministers despise pauperism; this life is agnostic as 
it is mystical, though no need to apply guilt and shame 
where we all go into the oblivion separately-the eternal
bliss of nothingness, for pain will never be registered 
into the constant oblivion.

- John Hardesty 

©️Copyrighted August 2019

Prisons Are The Rich Man’s Inns

Man longs to be separated from the goats,
he acquires wealth, fame, and power, this
distance accrued by dispersing his power
and disassembling circumstances, this gilt
of shame first hailed from the land and time
of the pharaohs, one king for many, one law
for all; they adorn themselves in Murex purple,
the color of royalty, all others-slaves-wore rotted
sheepskin; where kings dined on fresh lamb, the
maddening mass ate bone mill and stew; the sculptors
and architects kept their dignity while canvassing their 
dioramas in full panorama; Endogamy assured the 
decline of these self-indulgent Nile kings, inbreeding 
as well as strategic placed apertures of caste upon
the helpless slaves who erected those long-standing and
laborious stone-quarried monuments for these ungrateful 
ill-bred frail kings soon ended; then came High Courts, Law
and Order, Monarchy, Autocracy, Sovereignty, Despotism, and
then segregation and class, Oh, Democracy held firm in all 
fairness, but the rich and powerful overthrew all, they ruled 
all high courts, economy, and land, no investment was greater 
than their prison systems, they simply locked up all of their 
adversaries. 


- John Hardesty 

The Life Mask

The guise of deceit is so often worn
and displayed with the casualness that no
one truly sees one’s nocuous intent, the
cartel of lies and the detachment from
honesty is undermined by smiles and
subtle hand gestures, calumny often betrays
one’s eyes, you’ll never witness justice amongst 
an evil-eyed charlatan, for they often quote scriptures
and praise God without batting an eye of improbity, they
wear fine linen tailored clothes, gold handcuffs, silken
socks and ties, and shoes made of Italian leather, though
their visors conceal their misgivings, misleadings, and 
misrepresentations; for their roguery shames Satan Himself, 
their tongue an emerald of lies, they qualm truth with fables, and
they always ask for repentance in the form of monetary recompense, 
they’re ruthless thespians after one gem-your money, you may know
them better as Franklin Graham, John Hagee, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyers,
Francis Chan, and thousands of others. 


- John Hardesty 

Reliquary

The feign Camelot strides the golden calf
his thralldom spreads like plagues of death; 
toothless and mindless servants 
trawl in their viridity, 
spellbound in perfidious naivety 
they gather gold that gluts their king, 
imbecilic to their tribunal demise;
where idiots rush in kings send knights-errant
to pillage from those less fortunate 
and call it Democracy. 


- John Hardesty 

©️9/20/2019

Homage To A Mirage

I slid far past 400 millennia of stellar drift
to an expedition unknown,
far past the incredible wonders of Angkor Wat
and exceeded to the manicured-stone pyramids of Egypt,
and sauntered through the Mayan ruins,
meanderings and forgotten lore, 
Lo, this journey led me to a veiled oasis, Mecca, 
then back to the darken hallow grounds of Golgotha, 
this passage is an awakening
of some transient vexation,
these barters of prophecy who entrust foresight
to an inexperienced cad, carelessly reliant and defiant this 
Oracle of time, who allots hours to those who have 
already died. 


-  John Hardesty

The Night Empties

The night empties into the silence of an unending
assault of gloom, there the madness rampages and will
not let go of the drifting hopelessness, this devolution
dials up self-destruction and aimless hope, where many
find refuge in prayer and some secular omnipotent and
cadger who grants wishes to good-doers I do not, and I
loathe the savant smith who wrote the bible to oppress
the weak-minded- hark this bullshit; so, I just sit here
biding my time waiting for Godot's knock, and while you
scowl at my beliefs I mock yours and your demented
ontogeny of opal hope, this god you adore truly hates
everything he created and then he smites every living
thing in his wake, if he exists there should be one High
Court appointed to charge him with multitudes of
epic carnage, there let judgment ring high; and I will
traverse back to black of nothingness where atoms
dart to find more soulless beings to annihilate and
wreck havoc upon the chance of existence. Adieu,
glad to have known you.

- John Hardesty