Bark/Bite (poem)

By Luke Labern

(Bark)
The people say I’m cryptic; odd –
  Off-kilter; dark –
And in my mind and in my thought
  Rough like underlying bark.

Thus hidden away – absolute.
  It’s all because of hate –
Or passion – when men over step;
  Tempt me to twist their fate.

Possession? No – relationship.
  So why the need to interfere?
A missing hand the prize
  If you grab what I hold dear.

Aren’t teeth in place to tear?
  Aren’t men alive to live?
Is hate not fuelled by care?
  How much am I to bare?

(Bite)

We flex – our muscles or our mind –
  I just contract them both.
Where nothing’s left to chance
  Let that be quoth.

When I am dead, no more a man
  Let it be said
That I stayed true to this
  When this is read.

Autobiography
  Or abstract – ‘tis all the same:
I breathe in different ways
  And always knew my name.

A label aiding me –
  To help us all discern;
A man who stood to part the sea –
  My name – Labern.