Pariah's Claim...

I hold a debt
given to me freely by kin
I claim this debt
along with another
a life debt owed me in battle

I demand mediation
A thief has taken the fruits of my labors

the labors of a writer
the piecing together of history
and old ideas
forged into new understandings

This thief
cowardly and weak
not strong enough to hold his hoard
not strong enough to face me
naked and unarmed

pays out with his stolen baubles
to hire the swords of warriors
who know not the truth of things
only that a rich thief pays

I have faced your nobler warriors
and they have stood aside
I have faced your black assassins
their knives wet with the blood of lambs
and they feared me

I stand fast and claim the right
to credit for my sweat and thought
payment for the product I created
a great work that has given many
employment and profit

Those who stand protecting the thief
step aside
he can hide laughing
behind his pillars of law
for only so long

I call him out
I call out those who are witness to his thievery
those who have profited

As you would not steal
the pay or food
of your warriors and builders

I will be paid as well
for my work
which you have benefited from

I would have them know
that it is MY work
not yours, thief
that fills their plates
and pays their salaries

My House has been burned
My kin and community turned
against me
Madman, Addict, Beggar,
and worse
I have been called

I am none of these

I hold a mirror to my accusers
and they are gnarled and black
within its reflection
each claim against me
they hold greater
within their own
black hearts

Long ago I put aside my sword
to take up the brush and pen
to walk in peace
to gently protect
the weak
now I oil my scabbard
with tears in my eyes
wishing only to walk the shore
and watch the sun

A thief would hide
behind Law
and claim the right
to steal and keep his takings

I will have none of it
I will call to his own warriors
his women
the builders of his house
Let us parley
before War

I tell you this:
an agreement was made between us
I and the thief
an agreement for compensation
sealed with a handshake
these things seem to mean nothing now
in these days without honor

I hold two debts of your warrior clan
a blood debt
and another debt held by my kin
freely given me

Is the honor
of agreements and debts
now hollow?

I call for mediation
Now.

Toll troll at the mountain - is he really a troll?

So this Crone was talking to me
superciliously
you know, out of the side of her mouth,
in a roundabout sneaky
on the sly sort of jab way
gibbering about a trip she made
to this famous place
this mountainous edifice
a public place of historical significance
she said there was this old man there
living at the base of the hill
who tried to exact a toll from unwary travelers
She was quite full of herself
and her intimate knowledge
of all things spiritual
as Crones often are
and bursting with her ego
she scoffed at his ploy
and walked past him
laughing

I wondered at her
for she was in a strange land
looking down upon this man
all full of her "old ways" and old stories
her control
and I wondered why she wouldn't think
for even a second
to pay the old man for a tour
of HIS landmark
hear HIS stories
the stories and fables and legends
that don't always make it to the plaques
erected by conquerors

It's like that way with books you see
books can be like the old man
a guide
some people are grateful
for a guide who knows the way
and the stories
And when they return
they don't need the map anymore
but it helped them once
to find out quickly
if they were really on the right mountain...

Some people don't want an old man to guide them
just like some distrust an old crone
but sometimes if you look closer
behind the disguise
there may be
a pool of knowledge
silent
and wise