Under The Sign Of The Rose

Under The Sign Of The Rose
by Everett A Warren
June 11, 1989

A coldness touches, brings out a longing deep inside my heart.
Chill winds cut my soul,
I hear your words echo within my mind.

Shifting rejection, the world I hold above me weighs me down.
Eternal damnation,
I hear your words echo within my mind.

Imitation innocence spawned, temptress breathes my name,
I stumble forward to her call, feel myself falling in thin air.
Will o' wisp leads to doom,
I follow blindly a step 'hind, true love leads me, lost without a care.

Expectation of a different type, temptress seals my fate with a kiss,
Lost in her good intentions, alcohol induced illusions.
Execution of my will, dying inside, distance deceives me,
Left to my drifting dreams, I cling, never clear the air: delusion.

I look back, I see the roads I've taken.
I see your face, taunting, tantalizing, laughing at me,
Lead me to my end.

Desperation of the blind, I see but don't react,
Falling time and time again, lost in dreams that colour reality.
Tears' shade of blue tints the light sorrow, the sorrow of one lost beyond reach,
Beyond consciousness, time and time, falling again.

I look back, I see the roads I've taken.
I see your face, staring, seducing, smiling at me,
Lead me to my end.
Gone, illusion take my soul, burned and shattered and sold,
Living out a life bred on lies.
False, the lessons taught, loyalties misguided terror wrought,
I see through your disguise.
Don't turn back, the paths have all been taken.
You never fail, teasing, pleasing, you're laughing at me,
Lead me to my end.

I run away, pull myself from your grasp, I hide, I never get away.
You change your skin, a different face, a different name, you're still the same.
Killing machine honed carefully, in tune with my life force, beating steadily.
A heartbeat away, false love, true lust, divert my attentions, don't see a soul
Shaded as the dark of nights.

The darkest night, the cold morning sun warms steadily,
Overwhelming light reveals dark intentions, betrayal, treachery.
Crawling over mountains of confusion, trapped outside, withdraw within,
The ever rolling wheel crushes upon itself each cycle, turning on itself.

Mistress of the cold, cruel lies taints my memory of what could have been,
Clouds of doubt cling to hopes, turning them to rain, thundering.
I feel the emptiness inside, the need to fill what isn't there, it left me,
Cold and alone, I stand on the hill, watching the sun rise, light playing down on me.

What fears do to man, the woman and her love, call out your name at night.
Acts terrible manipulate, lies to justify the means, lies to create the ends.
In the name of love, bloodshed in the minds, wounds that never close tight.
The dormant fears of distrust, continually faced with choices, lies to justify the means,
Lies under the sign of the rose.

I look back, I see the roads I've taken.
I see your face, staring, seducing, I laugh at you with tears in my eyes,
Lead me to my end.
Gone, illusion take my soul, burned and shattered and sold,
Living out a life bred on lies.
False, the lessons taught, loyalties misguided terror wrought,
I see through your disguise.
Don't turn back, the paths have all been taken.
You never fail, teasing, pleasing, you're laughing at me,
I'll find my own way under the sign of the rose.

Copyright (c) 1989 Everett A Warren

thoughts by the sea

thoughts by the sea
by Everett A Warren
August 26, 1998

whispering    listening
murmuring sea-song    crashing upon rock
pull of ebb and flow    drifting, dreaming
silent it lies for a breath    still visual cacophony
gathering    swelling
rescinding    retreating
salt-spray    stinging
upon the shoreline watching    on waves thought speeding
falling    rising
mind-sailing    heart-feeling
sails billowing    with the dream

Copyright (c) 1998 Everett A Warren

Great Green America Fest

Not sure who pointed this out to me - I suddenly found myself on PA Ren Faire's mailing list, and I suddenly found myself receiving an email about the Great Green America Fest.

I am considering attending - and bringing the truck. It will provide some visibility. Unfortunately, there are only two levels of official sponsorship, and both are above and beyond my resources - not just for the dollar amount, which is out of my budget on its own, but the sponsorships involve display space and banner space, and that would involve creating displays and banners, and those, on their own, are also out of range of the current budget! =)

At the least, I can help promote the festival!

The Table Was Turned

Multiple times, in fact. We had to turn it to put the legs on, then the braces for the legs, and, finally, the stops for the upper deck.

It was kind of neat - once the legs were on it was actually solid enough to function as a work table for the remainder of the assembly. Kind of felt like when you're a blacksmith and you flub your way through making a set of tools so you can make a better set of tools and so on. Only it was just one table, and it went from "I'm a wee little table" to "I'm a tank. Put rocks on 'em and hammer away, I'll hold up!"

I'll take some pictures tomorrow. It's not pretty, and there's a reason I don't build furniture or do finish carpentry for a living, but it's functional and it's - pun quite intended, thank you very much - rock solid.

There's two table surfaces by design, the upper deck, a bit of padding, and the lower deck. The lower deck is the table proper, and it has four two by fours bracing it along the length. It's only 18" deep, so that's a 1.5" thick piece of lumber running the length every 3" or so. The upper deck just sits there, held in by an open-cornered frame. I expect it to wear out with normal use, so it's designed to be tossed out and replaced - only thing you have to do is cut another sheet of plywood and drop it in place.

The legs use wing nuts and carriage bolts to mount to the lower deck of the table. Although everything's rather a pain right now (mostly on account of the holes for the bolts being barely larger than the bolts, requiring some persuasion to remove them), the legs can come off. The legs are two 2x4's in an L, so they're pretty solid on their own, especially considering the small size of the table (30"x18"), but to make sure they can hold up to a pounding hammer, they are braced by an additional 2x4 frame from leg to leg. The side braces are permanently mounted, while the front and rear braces (~27" long) have carriage bolts and wing nuts. While assembling, we tested the disassembly process for one side, as the shallow depth barely provided enough room for the drill - and to ensure a perfect fit, we used the brace itself as a guide, and the braces mounted inside the legs.

The table is a perfect height for me to work on - it should prove very comfortable to work stone on, with the height optimally set for me. Now I just need to find some canvas bags to use as sandbags and it's good to go.

In other related news, the newest design went off to the customer for approval today.