Trapped Awake

Know what it’s like to be trapped awake?

For days on end, hallucinate.

An immense strain upon the body

No falling asleep instead passing out

So damned exhausted one can’t count

Thoughts so jumbled as one mumbles

Can’t make sense of one’s own mind

Speaking to oneself, in search of a sign

Paranoid by now, covering all tracks

Forgetting by this time that sleep one so lacks

Those Who Mumble

Edited by:  Randy Sturridge

On days of respite we should so praise

The wrong decisions that are continually made

Why the conflict in positive grants

When so many kindred characters lose their stance

Times of strife bring about life

Preparing the gauntlet to restructure time

Behind Hollow Eyes

Created by:  Randy Sturridge

Hollow eyes with hopeful thoughts

disillusioned, talent bought

Weak frail soul what have you done

It's been a long while since you've had fun

Flesh with dirt canvas your being

You were my role model for everything

Wisdom vast with experiences sound

All for nothing, to lay back down

Your eyes leave traces of who you were

I can see him back there, a prisoner, he lurks

Cynical parasite that has taken his soul

Negative energy as black as coal

Leaves a feeling of loss and nostalgia

Knowing you're gone but may yet return

Gives hope and faith that this invader will burn

I can't say if this darkness gives way

I just hope you will come back some day

Locked in it's hooks it's warped your good nature

Leaving a parasite of a cynical nature

I'm letting you know that I must sit on the side

Resigned to accepting that you may die.

Randy Sturridge

Papa's War

"Wake, my boy, for I have little time

It's papa, calling, now awake your mind"

A boy of ten grumbles and stirs

hearing his father force rushed words

"What, papa? Why do you wake me?

It's still dark outside, can't you see?"

A father smiles and then he cries

A son so pure, full of youth and life

"Rise my boy, I must bid you farewell.

I must take leave for now, and must not dwell."

"It's fine papa, go, go if you must

I will see you when you return, I will not rust"

"My boy, I leave and may not come home

I've been called to war, to leave you all alone"

The boys opens his eyes and sits up in bed

The look in his father's eyes conveyed that of dread

"Leave to war, what do you mean?

Don't go, just stay here with me."

A father swells with all of strength

To hold back the tears that only war makes

"My boy, I can't, they would take both our lives

I must go, so that you can survive.

I love you son, I just wanted to say

Take care of your mother, and your sisters, okay.

You are the man of this household now

If I don't return, make your father proud."

"Papa, Papa, I love you Papa

I will make you proud Papa"

"That's my boy, now get back to sleep.

When you wake you will remember me"

The boy nods his head, and grows stern inside

The boy lays his head down, to dreams he returns

A father backs out of his lovely sons room

No longer a boy but a man now blooms.

Randy Sturridge

Beautiful Creature

She walks with such grace; so hard not to stare

Intrigue and wonder sweep the crowd

Whispering inquiries from ear to ear

Captivated onlookers from a distance off peer

Abruptly she stops and takes in the crowd

Without saying a word all the towns people bow

Her face, so beautiful, I look down as well

My heart beating so rapid; I feel so ashamed

Her features so perfect, to much to absorb

Uncanny respect though mischievous, I think

I don't understand, my body reacting alone

As if being forced by some devilish vex

I lift my head and take in puzzling images

I close my eyes and stare in her direction

Aghast, I look into her eyes, so beautiful

I can see the crowd scattered all about the ground

It matters only that this creatures stares in me

I slowly walk toward her stepping over the bodies

My gaze is fixed upon the beauty

Her body covered lightly in silk

Impossible not to trod on all of the lifeless

Her eyes have my soul, I will happily give

She turns down her head as if to breathe

I suddenly realize the horror and reality around me

Night it is no longer day

Eight hours passed in just a few seconds

Then I remembered stepping over the bodies

I look, down, around, turn in full circle

The ground is dead, lifeless, the bodies of townspeople

Confused, so scared I look back toward the creature

I meet her beautiful eyes and I remember her grace

I step over the bodies to meet her in the town center

A sweet smile begins to spread across her face

As her smile spreads my life is slowly erased

My last thought, so clear and dear

This beautiful creature is the image all fear.

Randy Sturridge

The Cautioned

Chorus of laughter breaks the silent night

Limping sensations drive desires wild

Pack of hyenas shriek laughter in want

Charismatic gestures influence their hunger

Scavenging hyenas seeking out goods

Vulturous rats slop want tongues that drool

Explore the premise of juking The Cautioned

They are so called for they’ve gone quite rotten

Empathy Void The Cautioned are feared

For all of their mysterious Existence these years

Disregard Warning Laughing hyenas engage

Letting long wants drive their masquerade

Nearer they are for rich smells grip the air

Hyenas shriek with lust seek in their Stares

The Cautioned positioned in no particular order

Alone by fire suddenly encumbered by less space

The Cautioned now stand they can smell the want

Hyenas snap bloodlust curses threatening the 

Cautioned to give up the purse

The Cautioned appear alert yet calm

Relaxing, then sitting with smiles all wrong

A great confusion stirs the night

Drawing out of focus the hyenas of night

Laughing erupts but from the cautioned so smart

Readying the feast caged hyenas with salt and small tart

Scavenging hyenas loot nothing this night

Laughing no more for The Cautioned Now Bite

Hyenas of want long tongues now sliced

To late to take warning as The Cautioned Take Lives

Randy Sturridge

Come Back To Me

Give me a name, tell me I'm going to travel

Give me a purpose, so I don't unravel

The doors of direction have shut themselves tight

Hoping to secure happiness without having to fight

We begin, We end, We will never start again

A soul, nostalgic soul, I have it out on an errand

Return to me, My girl, Come and make it Better

Come back to me, lift me, light, a perfect feather

I need your love, it makes me okay to be

Gives me Purpose, purpose that I need

Without your face, your care, your touch

Life is nothing, patches of days so rough

We will never be together now that its over

We are a child in the patch looking for four leaf clovers

Alwaying wanting but never being able to embrace

The hope and happiness of living in past days

I am lost and you are free where ever did you go when you left me

My bed is empty, what about yours? Shadowy lives of hopeful discord

Come back to me, lift me, light, a day with a perfect feather

Come back to me, to live for hope or hell, just make it better.

Randy Sturridge

Inner Wicked: Response to Inner Beauty

Artist: Randy Sturridge
Reflection From Inner Beauty

A man whose insides match not the exterior

Not the typical mismanaged posterior

This man not that man is as well to know

As any other who comes and then goes

Quite remarkable features that draw them in

Like flies to the light a byproduct of sin

Such fine approach this wicked man gives

Reflected the opposite inner being lives

Inner beauty forever a thought

Used inversely to advantage the lot

Inner beauty must entertain

That just as it is, an opposites in range

Inner horror wakes him in bed

Talks to his thoughts while clutching his head

Inner horror has many a means

In convincing this man to do dreadful things

Now in time the man resigns

He adapts to the horror that once tapped at the door

He now is wicked danger and death

Each day he baits and blends with the rest

He always secures a little treasure

For outside his features draw in his pleasures

Into the night the inner horror plays

With his victims distraught his exterior slays

Laying in bed the attractive man smiles

Beautiful features so wickedly styled.

Randy Sturridge

Bloodshed and Butchery

Pompous brutes trudge past fast

Astonishing courage to challenge my wrath

frenzied hysteria fuses within

Rage permeates my existence with sin

I am the target I encourage the masses

Bloodshed and butchery fuels my advances

A cancer erodes the synapse to reason

Abominated, mutated now destined to treason

Blood and Death with excruciating pain

Is now my existence for as long as I remain

Feed my wicked broken desires

With the kind hearted set to fire

Lick the flames just to feel pain

I am death torture to reign

RANDY STURRIDGE

Lost My Mind

Today I lost my mind

Lost the ties that bind

Right, wrong, sing beside

Dance in and out of line

Scream at walls

Watch them fall

Reveal the voice

Heed the call

Scratch the wrap

On my bones

Who’s in the telephone?

Lights off

Look at my feet

Funny shapes

I don’t sleep

Come and play

For half a day

Search for walls

Where they call

We will win

New found friends

Start over

Play again

Right, wrong sing along

I lost my mind

Ill be fine

I’ll search the walls

When they call

I’ll be fine

I’ve lost my mind

The Forsaken

A movement cascades upon the souls

Harnessing the fire and feeding it coals

Delinquent bedlam blanketed with malice

No longer inanimate it seeks a balance

Locked in your home hide in the corners

Dangerous everywhere fueled by mourners

Drifting in fog and feeding on fear

Sensing the sites finding those near

Future is dead as we are all listed

A number the hunt ensnares the twisted

Escaping impossible fear filled dread

No where to run, the safe are the dead

Terror consumes all the air we breathe

Tasting the time, feeling it seethe

Nothing will work the futures ordained

Those still running have gone insane

Night descends from a dusk deep red

Taking most while they sleep in their beds

A mist of fate settles outside of town

Breathing the air brings up the ground

Hopeless space surrounds us all

Feeling the life being sucked in the walls

A plague of despair is now heavy in the air

Calling our names feeling its stare

Where is the being that eats our life

Murdering the light with fear laced knives

Whispering death, to come on this night

Encouraging terror, promising fright

I lay in my bed and wait to be taken

We are the damned destined forsaken

I drown as I breathe I take in the terror

Consumed entrenched I die while it stares.