Phantom Thunder

The Phantoms' thunder menace

Devices all tricks and penance

Where all are walled in fences

Crying of the invalid sentence

Blind they prowl and pounce

Babies howl from nearby towns

Bankers loan graveyard accounts

Franklin owns the crown

The cradle flattered adorned

The robe then tattered and torn

The shepherd battered to warn

Be scattered or be thorn'd

Those to shock the sheep blow whistles

Packs of wolves then snarl aimed missiles

Pastures laid bare the fangs chew gristle

With the breath of those deemed unofficial

Writers bewitched into golden cells

Musicians molded, the Billboard sells

Directors fray senses, stories repelled

Comedian muzzled, no truth to yell

Our brother so big he rests in your palm

Secrets for trading from the masked intercom

Lonely and muddled, the hand keeps you calm

While those in control spark the next bomb

Colors and patterns flash hidden intent

Washing your brain to spend your last cent

Possessions abound yet grave discontent

The acid that washed is poured with consent

Conformity injected straight from the womb

Instinct rejected till reaching the tomb

Teachers are conned thinking they bloom

Flowers in children the needle exhumed

Sermons of peace, the wolf in sheep’s wool

Mechanical shame, the all mighty guilt tool

Plates of collection, the gold of fools

All is forgiven, now give us your jewels

The doctors stack checks in desks full of bones

So kings and queens grow fat on their thrones

Poor John and Jane morphed into clones

Too numb to laugh, to think, or to moan

Sam has the carrot, it dangles to rot

While he and his friends scratch backs on a yacht

Donkeys become weary, they drown in a shot

Of whiskey barrels and anesthetic pot

The red-eyed veteran swept under a rug

Stays warm in dark alleys with blankets of drugs

Dreams of the trenches and the comrades he hugged

Of value and service near bombs he felt loved

The tense sky cracks and spits out pain

The dense earth hacked and taken for gain

The oceans attacked and rivers are drained

The Mother will smack and no longer complains

The man in the middle with the dagger and dove

Questions the fiddle in his face that was shoved

His left is below and his right is above

Off goes the bird, the dagger, and the glove

The father united with brothers-in-arms

As the wife’s friendly neighbor hovers with charm

And the son undercover plots an alarm

Maps of the school were found on his farm

Mothers join ranks, the home it sinks cold

The racing of rats for cheese that grows mold

Offspring so lonely, only each other to hold

Then the banks order Sam, please keep them patrolled

Dean shakes your hand, the eyes empty and moored

Sign here, sign there, and I’ll cut the cord

Line here, line there, the flash paper award

Corrodes in the basement yet still Overlord

John and Jane trust the disguise

Each one wears to hypnotize

The dream they seem to idolize

Dissolves, they wake, then criticize

Men of disgust hide their sorrow in caves

The mind storming sea, no hope in the waves

While children ashore in sand create plays

Then giggle at towers that collapse into graves

The phantoms thunder laughter echoes throughout

The sea of sailors rowing in doubt

Floods of judgment that keep them from drought

The tempest investment so rich and devout

The captain bloody bruised, the eyes still serene

To shore on calm waters, a boat through a dream

The mantle is lit on the mountain, it beams

All the false horrors the phantom has schemed

Exploding light, so bright, don’t shield

The eyes that confess no thing is real

Roaring thunders’ menace offers best deal

Utopian fantasies but first you must kneel

With calloused knees the seas still squall

The cabin hearth blazing still calls

A million miles on deck you must crawl

To realize that thunder is nothing at all

The lighthouse captain you find by the fire

Naked and dry no iron desires

Soft hands you grab not lower or higher

And windows reveal no storm ever transpired