All who fight me
make me stronger.

Knock me down,
and I get back up.
Cut me,
and I live with the pain.
Starve me,
and my hunger fades.
Chew at my heart,
and it toughens.
Take my things,
and I learn to not need things.
Burn my house,
and I live everywhere.
Steal my ideas,
and my imagination runs wild.
Turn my friends against me,
and I walk alone.
Hurt my family,
and I will not forget.

All I need is
an army of me.

© copyright 2009 mikeramsey

Running From Love ©

Surrounded by love,
unable to feel it.
Damaged by words,
unable to hear it.
Too afraid to feel,
blind and deaf.
Too scarred by pain,
numbed.

Running from the past,
intent not to repeat.
Vowing not like them,
not like they did you.
Better not to love
than to love like that.
If that was love,
better without.

Lost in the map,
unable to find my way.
Seeking, looking
to a better day.
Whatever it is
that is out there,
must be better
than back there.

The river has risen,
now no way back.
Commitment assured,
my lesson learned.
But too late,
the real lesson,
that all along,
I was loved.


© copyright 2009 mikeramsey

I remember clearly when,
as a college boy,
a fair haired girl told me,
"You will be a rich man."

Then, I only knew
one kind of wealth.
I thought I knew
what she meant.

As I reflect on the days
since her prediction,
its true meaning,
I now understand.

It's not how many dollars
I have in the bank,
but how many
I have given away.

It's not how many things
I have collected,
but what I have done
with what I have.

It's not how many friends
I can count,
but having a few
I can really count on.

It's not how many people
I have power over,
but how many
I have served.

It's not about having
all I ever wanted,
but learning
to want less.

For if I want,
I must take.
If I can give,
I am free.

She was right;
I am a rich man,
wealthier by the day,
as I learn to give.

© copyright 2009 mikeramsey

Time Traveler ©

Just a time traveler with a broken watch,
wandering through life, feeling out of touch.
Right race, wrong time.
Right time, wrong place.

Immune to destiny, a slave to fate,
seeking love, but receiving only hate.
Right face, wrong soul.
Right soul, wrong grace.

Far too aware, seeing what most ignore,
vision demands not eyesight, but far more.
Right view, wrong sight.
Right sight, wrong hue.

Unable to stop this travel through space,
clearly sees what hides behind the face.
Right earth, wrong land.
Right land, wrong birth.

© copyright 2009 mikeramsey

School's Out ©

As I walk through empty classrooms and halls,
where once was loud laughter, now silence falls.
I picture their young faces, trying to look old,
inexperienced and timid, trying to be bold.
Will they remember being here?

Thinking they knew all. but not really knowing,
anything about where they were going
I wonder where they will go from here,
what they will do and be in a future year.
Will they think back and remember?

I was once one of those young souls,
with unlimited opportunities and goals.
I ran through life forgetting my past
rushing toward the future just as fast
as it would let me.

I do not wish for a second chance
at senior pictures or the homecoming dance.
But I do remember those who were there,
those who might not know that I do care
that they were there for me.

I will remember each voice and face
that I met passing through this place.
As they go into a future they cannot see,
I wonder if they will remember me,
as I walk the empty halls.

© copyright 2009

I lost my fortune and thought life had treated me badly.
I wished for things I had, remembering them sadly.
I met a man who described his greater misfortune,
having lost even more, but hoped for better soon.

I lost my family and wondered if I would again find love.
I longed for the little things it seemed came from above.
I met a man who had suffered this and much more,
who seemed to offer promise of greater things in store.

I lost my health and was no longer my sufficient self,
as if life had placed me in the dark, on the back shelf.
I met a man on his way back up and asked where I would go.
He smiled and told me that my way was only mine to know.

I lost all hope and wished my life would quickly meet its end.
I called for mercy, from someone, somewhere, relief to send.
I met a man who seemed to have even less reason to try,
yet he did not seem to mind his state, and I asked him why.

Even though apparently in misery, he told me in a state of bliss,
of how fortunate he felt, knowing there is no worse than this.
I shook his hand, gathered my few things, and drank from his cup,
now knowing that the only direction left to travel is back up.

© copyright 2008 mikeramsey

"You will never find peace by avoiding war."

from The Book of Mike-isms © copyright 1993-2009 mikeramsey


Peace ©

To the dove, peace is the morning sun, which always rises,
to the hawk, only the lull before the inevitable storm,
to the oppressor, acquiescence of the populace,
to the oppressed, an unrealizable dream,
to the idealist, a childhood friend,
to the anarchist, the enemy.

© copyright 2007 mikeramsey

Forward ©

Bullets whistle past,
the boy next to me prays,
water floods the boat deck,
I do not notice
my feet are wet.

Talk crackles over the radio,
machine gunners up high
lie waiting to cut down any
who dare charge out
the boat front.

Over the side we go,
the only way to survive,
into the water I sink,
sixty pounds of gear
dragging me down.

There is no return.
The boat is hit by a shell
as I hit the water,
sinking it and all
still aboard.

Hundreds around me
are dragged down,
never to surface,
joining thousands
whose battle is over.

I push off the bottom
at angles, advancing,
a few feet at a time,
until at last,
my head is above water.

Bullets shower water all around,
except the ones
that hit
the guys next to me
with thuds.

No one seems to be
in front of me.
All around me are face down
floating in the surf,
or bleeding on the sand.

Moving forward the only way
to not join those fallen.
Turning back impossible,
Staying here,
only a matter of time.

The weight of nations I carry.
Someone must reach,
what so many started,
so many stopped short.
I must keep going.

Sand kicks up
with each projectile
thrown at me.
Any might have my name,
but none have yet.

I may not make it,
but at least I can make them
waste a bullet on me
to let a brother get through,
and do it for all of us.

Somehow, I am unhit.
I am against the berm,
at the top of the beach,
the objective,
and others are here.

I do not hear my breath,
but I feel my heartbeat.
I am alive.
The guy next to me
doesn't believe it either.

Emerging from the red beach,
having run the gauntlet,
new groups form,
new leaders lead
in this part to play.

I am moving forward
with others who also
will not accept
any other result
than winning.

© copyright 2009 mikeramsey

A young child falls deathly ill,
a germ carried by winter's chill
and taking many.
She brushed my cheek for days
and thought of many ways
she could take me.
Love and care and medicine
ushered health back in
and she moved on.

Not today.

A joyous leap into the motel pool,
breaking mother's stern rule
of swimming alone.
She pulled gently at my feet,
hoping my fate I would meet
at the age of six.
Vigilant mother happened upon,
dove in with clothes on
and pulled me safe.

Not today.

A young man does unwise things,
as the seductive voice sings
of the rush of danger.
She urged me to go ever faster,
to prove that I was the master,
and not caution.
Another safer flier was on alert
and narrowly able to avert
a certain end for both.

Not today.

An older man now, but still free
to exercise his right to be
on the road.
She grows impatient and employs
others for the work she enjoys.
since I am unwilling.
Her staff of death narrowly missed
as my face its wind kissed;
the black monster failed.

Not today.

She grows desperate, unable to shake
my freedom from her, to make
me fear her.
Resorting to placing a random stick
no more than a finger thick,
to upend me.
She almost succeeded with this one;
an inch either way, and I was done.
Death or worse than.

Not today.

I know of those before who have been taken,
and many more having been shaken
into fearing her.
Even though I have felt her breath
and her cold fingers of death,
She will not take me yet.
I will not acknowledge her power,
will not hide or cower,
I will live each day.

© copyright 2009 mikeramsey

I have walked many miles in many days,
never knowing which of the many ways
in front of me is the best path to choose,
knowing each choice leads me to win or lose.

Many choices I made, for wrong reasons,
the wrong place, the wrong time, the wrong seasons.
I learned the wrong path is easy to choose,
but to make the right choice, ego must lose.

I know now that the right way chooses me,
that the future ahead I cannot see.
By walking on the trail that comes my way,
I find myself on the right path today.

© copyright 2007 mikeramsey