Preach

Preach

If you like to preach
You ‘talk the talk’
If you want to reach
Just ‘walk the walk’

Don’t tell me what I should do
Just show me by example
Those that do are very few
An incredibly tiny sample

I like when people talk to me
Talking at me though, not so much
Maybe you need to preach to thee
And stop using others as your crutch

I don’t need your words nor instruction
Nor did I seek out your advice
Your belief’s history is full of destruction
Proved right about as often as dice

I respect your beliefs are your choice
But, you seem to assume it’s my duty to care
In preaching it is clear you rejoice
Even when nobody asked you to share

Your rights to your views should be treasured
My rights to my own are selfsame
You should try making your ministry measured
Stop making enlightenment your game

I am an Atheist seeking an answer
That has evidence attached to the claim
Not just, a shout out to an old Necromancer
With blood magic and issues of blame

Don’t dance around my questions with lies
Don’t avoid my sincerity with prayer
Don’t articulate just to sound wise
Evidence the what, when, how, and the where

I get the who, and the why, from the Bible
Some fundamental reason we’re here
A reward if we’re good and not liable
A promise that someone’s always near

I see the benefit of wanting it true
The wish that the stories are real
A world where pure love can renew
A world where a creator can heal

But whilst you continue to wait for the magic
Thousands of children will die of bone cancer
You will agree this is both unfair & tragic
But from on-high, there is never an answer

This dichotomy repeated on a global scale
Omnipotence, it would seem, just a word
Omnipresence, it would seem, always fails
Omniprevalence, it would seem, just absurd

So, please believe what you wish and embrace it
irregardless of others’ opinions
Hold firm with your views. Never quit
Your heart and mind are your only dominions

But as for sharing your views unrequested
In a tone that suggests we’re all wrong
Be prepared for your facts to be bested
When without evidence you come on too strong

Just because you speak in a tone soft and kind
It is clear that you have decided you’re teaching
When no one asked you to indoctrinate their mind
Which are the shortcomings of unrequested preaching

If requested, you are of course free to enlighten to flock
If sought out, it’s your duty to explain
When you force it upon others, it’s their right you to mock
Unwanted preaching, about anything, is just pain

Who wants a sermon, not that many I’m sure
But who wants to give one, well that’s many
You should never use love to make another endure
But apologies, well I’ve never heard any

There is a time and a place for every belief
Just as there are classrooms for each faith to teach
To stop your wares from being pushed would be a blessed relief
Just try waiting to be asked before you preach

© Iain Merchant 2021

I’m so sorry…

I’m so sorry…

Seared skin smoking into the thin air
Remains of life strewn across the globe
The power of nature affords us no escape
You are reaping the rewards for our selfishness

We had choices and we made choices, the wrong choices
We chose denial, wilful ignorance & arrogance
We chose to compete rather than work together
We chose to ignore what was right before our eyes

We chose… Nature decided!

We lost… Nature won!

We raped… Nature said NO!

The planet will heal if left to find a balance
The earth does not need us at all
In fact, we are just a plaque of parasites
And worse… We are selfish parasites

Climate change had an event horizon
we knew this but decided to explore beyond it
The conceit required to take that path is staggering
There is no return once you cross the event horizon

When the fear grew big enough to pierce the bubble of normality
We acted en masse as if we truly cared
We waited too long to care enough
We are the definition of “too little, too late”!

Evolution may create future hybrids that can stand the UV
Nature is reclaiming what we stole
The earth will find a balance at some point
After all, balance is what she does best

We, if remembered at all, will be remembered as destroyers
Savage takers, selfish rapists, tribal small-minded thinkers
Arrogant about our abilities to push the limits
Procrastinating power mongers happy to screw the future for a win today

We had the opportunity to be grateful for our home
We had the opportunity to listen to the earth breathing
We had the opportunity to hear the warnings
We had the opportunity to change our ways
We had the opportunity to share our humanity
We had the opportunity to shape our climate
We had the opportunity to act and react
We had the opportunity…

Look around you as you breathe in the thin, harsh, hot air
Look around you at what used to be fertile green land
Look around you at the scorched dusty ground & failing crops
Look around you and see our ghosts lost in our selfish dreams

We took for granted what you can only hope for
We let you down before you were even conceived
We orchestrated your future by ignoring our present
We convicted you for the crimes we were committing

We had a paradise of beauty and diversity and we destroyed it

For what…?

Because we acted as if we owned it as if it was ours by right!

We needed to wake up and realise that it owned us, and were only sharing it

I’m sorry you have been left with the debt of our borrowings…

I’m sorry we caused you this hardship

I’m so sorry…

 
© Iain Merchant 2021

Collective

Collective

A collaboration of similar minds
A host of exhausted party planners
A reciprocity of ‘paid in kind’
A consideration of impeccable manners

A chasm of travellers drawn to the bridge
A flash of photographers clicking
A silhouette of walkers atop of the ridge
A separation of anything sticking

A moment of watchmakers checking the time
A wound of surgeons repairing
A shout of performers acting in mime
A blind of people just staring

A blade of spoon makers selling their wares
A bowl of plate spinners, spinning
A terror of dare takers, taking their dare’s
A loss of winners, still winning

A float of submariners under the waves
A flame of ice skaters skating
A disbelief of churchgoers standing in knaves
A solo of people out dating

A nonsense of intellects boosting their brains
A passive of warmongers, warring
A static of commuters catching their trains
A home of explorers exploring

A shade of sun-worshippers boosting their tans
A covert of extroverts laughing
A confidence of worriers wringing their hands
A stagnation of dancers choreographing

A stillness of movers gyrating their limbs
A movement of statues in town
A silence of singers projecting their hymns
A smoothness of furrows that frown

A welcome of enemies baying for blood
A sentence of words never spoken
A dryness of rivers threatening to flood
A repair full of things never broken

A wallet of poverty felt by the poor
A fullness of nothing to show
A reduction of things, for which you want more
A lacking of all that you know

A torment of lovers
A waking of dreams
A sisterhood of brothers
A dehydration of streams

A candor of lies
A falsehood of truth
A myopia of eyes
A senility of youth

A mutuality of the individual
A mass collection of the lost
A necessary of residual
A retribution of a cost

A yesterday of tomorrows
A comfort of pain
A gladness of sorrows
A madness of sane

A concealment of exhibits
A weakness of effective
A facilitation that inhibits
A division of collective

© Iain Merchant 2020

Reality is Fluid

Reality is Fluid

The compass needle spins wildly
Losing all sight of its true purpose
Offering no sanctuary in its reading

 I may be lost

I look around for something I recognise
A landmark of memory to steady me
I have no past reference
I am in the shadows of what is to come

Maybe I can retrace my steps

I feel panic slowly starting to rise
I push it aside… I am in control here
This can’t be happening
I know my world and my place in it

I really thought I knew where I was

I really thought I knew who I was

I really thought I knew

The reality I relied upon yesterday
The certainty I had about today
The comfort of my imagined tomorrows
The reflection I expected with each shave
Wiped out completely by four words!

I’ve met someone else…

© Iain Merchant 2021

Slap Me

Slap Me

The juxtaposition of belief and truth
Evidence is only required for truth
Belief requires no such foundation
Faith in your belief is all that’s needed

Truth is truth whether you like it or not
But a belief can be tailored to suit
Can be moulded to fit
Can be shaped as needed

Facts and research can be so distracting
They throw up questions no believer can answer
They throw the darkness of doubt over assumed light
They raise the requirement of thought

Where thinking for yourself is discouraged!

Faith is not a reliable pathway to truth
This is why it is never used to cross the road
But there is something even more distorted than faith
Blind faith is its lowest form

Destroyer of minds
Curtailer of individual thought
Deceiver of the masses
Tithing the misled for personal gain

They say that the biggest trick the devil ever played, was convincing you that he doesn’t exist… Not true
The biggest trick being played is the one that convinces you he could!
Myopic delusion on a mass scale

When’s the last time you checked you were right?

When’s the last time you sought evidence?

When’s the last time you decided that faith wasn’t a sufficient answer and that you would rather have the truth?

When?

Would you rather be slapped with the truth or kissed with a lie?

© Iain Merchant 2021

Absent

Absent

What once was, is now a memory
Lifted on the wings of the mind
Nurtured into colour with the heart

What once was, is now your history
Flown on the winds of time
Illuminated in the eyes of the old

What once was, is now a reflection
Mirrored through the prism of the past
Shimmering on the haze of certainty

What once was, is now yesteryear
Given breath through the stories told
Kept alive through constant repetition

What once was, is now an absence felt
That no story can fill, nor memory sate
The reliving can’t conjure up & the tears can’t soil

Absence makes the heart ache
Time magnifies the sorrow
Arms reach out for one last embrace
Nothing but air and the memory can you grasp

Make memories today that are solid & strong
Stable & robust, sturdy & potent
Own them, recall & relive them often
Let them play in your mind on full volume

One day they will be all you have
You will need to close your eyes to see
Shut out all noise to hear and feel
Be alone, in order to be together

One day they will be…

Absent

© Iain Merchant 2021

Thank You

Thank You

A minute can last you a lifetime
Whilst a silence can deafen a crowd
Words engage the reader in rhyme
The absence of noise may be loud

Impact is not measured by length
Colour is not shades of grey
Lack of weakness not always a strength
Night, remains separate from day

A promise should not be made lightly
Yet the words should always carry some weight
A show of love should be offered up nightly
Lest the trust of that promise abate

I offer my truth into your safekeeping
I prostrate my soul at your feet
Time apart from you has my heart weeping
Only with you can I feel complete

This world has its challenges and changes
Its trials & tribulations abound
But all are forgotten during lovers’ exchanges
The pure joy of such a miracle found

You can rest easy with your heart in my hand
Sleep well with your soul in my guard
Our life and our love will expand
You will always have my finest regard

Shall we sail to the sunset, your arm in mine?
Shall we greet the new dawn with a kiss?
Shall we see each day together as a purposeful sign?
Shall we work hard to maintain this shared bliss?

Time will change and shape our ways
There may be days when I anger you so
But let’s keep our promise throughout all these days
Let our truth and our promises show

I trust you to be here tomorrow
I love you for being here today
Only together can we beat sorrow
United is the way we will stay

So, thank you for being my guide
Thank you for standing your ground
Thank you for the love you always provide
Thank you for sticking around!

© Iain Merchant 2020

The Fade

The Fade

The world rushes on by
You step to a different tune
Pushed along by a different breeze
Caught up in your own perspective

It seems that you slide in & out of existence
It seems that you tread in a different dimension
Flickering on & off in this world

Known but not seen

Considered but not missed

Assumptions that you’re always okay

They have no idea

Because you always seem ok

The mask you choose to present

I matter in my own world

Far more than I ever will in this one

Creation is not how the earth began
Creation is an artistic state of bliss
Creation is a physiology of joy
Creation is a psychopathy of possibilities
Creation is being truly alive
Creation is the manifestation of flow

When I create I am the brightest of colours
The warmest of tones
The sharpest of definitions
The epiphany of promise
The imagination of hope

When I cannot create I start to become erased
My edges cease to have distinction
My colours are flat
My presence is less
My abilities are hidden from me
My hope wanes

These are the low’s I must endure, to be gifted with the high’s

This is what I call…

The Fade

© Iain Merchant 2021

Un – Interrupted

Un – Interrupted

Unheard echoes that reverberate through the soul
Unrealised searches intended to catch your eye
This may look like a friendly wave, but I’m drowning!

Uninterrupted

I decide to keep my own counsel
I have shouted but have not been heard
Significantly insignificant

Uninterrupted

I will remain silent, and invisible
Out of sight, out of mind
But waiting, always waiting

Uninterrupted

Priorities change
Motivations move
Deadlines pass

Uninterrupted

Moments pass
Attitudes change
Goals move

Uninterrupted

Self-esteem wavers
Self-worth lessens
Bubbles of reality burst

Uninterrupted

That which is lost cannot always be regained
The gap between question and answer matters
The message being responded to counts

Pain is inevitable and the suffering is felt
The moment of rescue is passed in silence
The reality of your place is felt in full force

Do I matter, because I thought I did!
Maybe I was wrong, because I am unseen
I seem to be here in name only!

Taken for granted

Low on the priority list

          Unseen & unheard

                     Invisibility is unwanted gift

I respond to you without delay
Why? Because I know it matters
I hear what you say, because it matters
I consider your feelings, because it matters
I do my best to give you what you ask of me
I give you the best support I know how to give,
Emotionally, Morally, Intellectually & Spiritually

I like being me, but one day, I want to be treated like you…

Considered

Heard

Seen

Prioritised

&

Whenever applicable

Uninterrupted!

© Iain Merchant

Unseen…

Unseen…

I love creating art

Whether it be with a brush, a camera or a pen, it completes me, it settles me, it finds me, it acknowledges me, it knows me, it challenges me, it rewards me.

It is a fickle mistress though and can leave without warning, off to explore somewhere new, leaving me feeling adrift, alone and desaturated of colours.

Bereft… Going through the motions of each day, wearing the mask of positivity as if nothing were wrong!

Not creating is painful to the spirit

Each time my mistress returns, she brings new materials, vibrant colour combinations, along with the mysteries of each new land she explored without me.

I am never annoyed that she went, as I am too full of joy at her return!

I can create again

                               I can breathe again

                                                              I am alive again

                                                                                              I am

To let the world see your work is a fear soaked path…

This is not just something I created, this is something I gave birth to, I gave life to, I incarnated from the emptiness of unformed ideas!

Be kind

          Be encouraging

                                          Be moved

                                                              Be interested

I am at the mercy of the viewer and the listener

I am at the crossroads of everyone else’s thoughts

I am at the whim of your aesthetic taste

I am in the line of fire for your attitude and opinion

I am vulnerable

I am unseen

© Iain Merchant