THE POETRY OF

GRADY LOUIS McMURTRY

~ 1918-1985 ~

VOYAGER

Out of the star enshrouded night it fell -

A battered derelict that space had maimed

Its hull a twisted wreck - its power tamed

And of its crew no living soul to tell.

Space dry and thin the rigid mummy sits

And marks a vigil only death may keep -

What endless night - what weary age of sleep

Has he kept sentinel? No lip admits.

That was a golden age - that world carefree

When men stood foursquare on the crust of Urth

And threw their challenge to the stars - with mirth

They swore to conquer all infinity.

So armed with courage knowledge would deny

Their fragile bulbs of steel were launched to float

Across the shallow solar gulfs - where bloat

Strange moons and planets in a crowded sky.

And then with knowledge astronautic gained,

With fire atomic as a willing slave,

Unto the silent God of Night they gave

An offering of ships - and men ordained

Of men imbued with seal the mystics know -

Who manned those mighty ether ships that fell

Like pebbles dropping down an endless well

Until they came to alien suns where glow

The incandescent vapors multihued -

Whose toxic gases burn with tourquoise light

Or smash the space-time continuum with white

Heat from a hellish dwarf - where planets brood

Like peering eyes that stare upon the doomed -

And from those new worlds of the starlit seas -

From island nebulae - from galaxies -

From burned-out suns whose glory once illumed

Weird destinies - here cosmic engineers

Set colonies along their orbit runs

'Till navies filled with commerce of the suns

Bore fruit of conquest - for those pioneers

On the high sea of interstellar space

By trellised lace of orbit lines - and force

That binds each star and planet to its course

Had welded fast their empire.  But the race

Of humankind had changed as aeons passed.

No longer was the man of Urth supreme

But cosmopolitian - had lost his dream

And tho he stood where wealth of knowledge massed

Had thrown his outposts to the chasmed lip

That marks the lightless, ultimate abyss

Beyond which shore no beacon sun may hiss

Or sibilate in silence - yet the whip

Of manly strength that was his heritage

Sank deep and fallow - while his gnurled machines

Were given to the task and thoughtless means

Of mindless android monsters who for gage

To measure used no human eye that scans

But walked in darkness shadowed by the length

Of instruments prehensible to strength

Of electronic solenoids - where spans

The rippled muscles of a force that spoke

The unleashed power of atomic might

Stripped from the glowing nucleus - where bright

And hot the whiplashed positrons broke

Against bedrock neutronium - but soft,

Effeminate and poised the progeny

Of space tanned mariners were dark debris

That bloated on the ebb tide - for aloft

The tentacles that spread to integrate

With calculus logistical the plan

That was to be Monument to Man -

A universe of virile peace - a state

Omnipotent of matter - held decay

And back the tide rolled - back across the years

Of light and peace - back down the trail of tears -

For empire is not won within a day

But must be purchased by the blood of those 

Who dream the Greater Dream - and who would die

While searching in the archives of the sky

For knowledge that was placed beneath the Rose

So long ago - back to its place of birth

It slowly ebbed - and then along the sands

Of outpost planets it had washed - rough hands

Colonial were set against the Urth

And Chaos ruled.  So came Tongueless One

To walk the empty spaceways - and to grin

With His huge imbecility - at men

Beat down into the dust and, beaten, shun

Their heritage.  And now from Urth is seen -

When with a slow, majestic sweep begun

Each eventide at setting of the sun -

The Wheel of Stars parading down a screen

Sidereal - the constellations lost -

The solar systems - fertile worlds - and rocks -

The frigid planets - and the flame swept locks

Of guardian keeps on Mercury.  The cost

Was paid in treasuries of energy

Extraneous - and toil and sweat and thought

Of terrene life to barren planets brought - 

Ten billion New Worlds in immensity.

And now the old Urth - like a jeweled hag -

Her gem'ed cities bright against the breast

Of umbral shadows drapped across the West

From shoulders of the senile hills that sag

With weariness the ages slow erode -

Has gathered her ephemerae to dwell

In cities sealed and domed with crystal shell -

Here sit the Elder Brethren - here they bode

In vaulted halls to weigh the Cosmic Plan

By symboled logos - and as worlds set free

Launch each a space-borne fleet to destiny -

They comprehend the All - this was our Pan! 

                               8-6-43

    WAHLPURGISNACHT

Upon the crags with ghostlight drenched

Writhe up the weres with hands outclenched

As now the chant of those undead

To He who rules below is read

By ghouls who gargoyle at the sky,

Red lipped with crimson, bloody dye,

Their twisting forms paint the rock

With flickering shadows of the Boch

To whom they offer down their prayer

On this Black Sabbath, in his lair

He 'waits the moment of His sign

To sit upon this stony shrine

Among the shattered boulders strewn

As ever higher mounts the moon.

The Noon of Night approaches near,

Satanas Rex appear, appear.

Swiftly stalking 'neath the moon

On wings of wind as though a boon

To place before His gathered host,

He, Overlord of souls now lost

Is seen across the foothilled plains

Sweeping up the mountain chains

'Till towering far above the peak

The breeze moans - This is whom you seek.

Hushed as though by Death itself

Now lie the band upon a shelf

Of stone the juts above the deep,

Here cry the bats and witches weep

Beseeching Him with words that croak

Until He lifts His arms and cloak

To shroud them all in shadows dim

Hidden from the world by Him.

The Hexentanz begins its whirl

Within the cauldron entrails swirl.

Among those present at their grave

Are none but those whose soul is slave

To Satan Rex, the Lord of Hell,

King-Emperor of all who dwell

Within where leaps the flaming breath

Of blackened Sheol's pit of death

For these are no common shades

But the officer elite of Hades

Whose cabalistic tonque is spoken

In this vague half-world on the Brocken

As in high state Satanas sits

While demon legions of the Pits

Pay homage to the Ho¨ lle Boch

On this witch-brewed Wahlpurgisnacht.

                circa 1937-38ev

    WAR AND I

The warrior drums across the seas

Have rolled another war,

Embattled Britian stands at bay

Still proud above the roar

As keel on keel the sharks of steel

Are sliding down the way

The hawks of death in airy sleath

Are pouncing on their prey.

And once again America

Is gathering her strength

To hold the arteries of life

Across the ocean's length;

To turn the tide, at Britain's side,

To smash the pagan Hun,

And when the peace of battles cease

To right that which is done.

For this I must be merciless

For this I must be brave

For this I know the arts of war

For this I face the grave.

           (undated)

WEIGHTING AT THE GATE

They, the Norns, who sit and spin

The destinies of mice and men

Upon the weave and woof of time

Perhaps may understand the rhyme

And reason for facilities

Enhancing our puerilities

But I, with knobby head and small,

Have yet to hear the ringing call

Demanding that I rise and shine

The brazen altar of the shrine

On which they say the fates are stored

Because they leave me slightly bored.

So when my friends of karma prate

I give to them a swinging gait.

                     4-9-42

WHEN DAY IS DONE

The Day is done

There is no sun

To warm the race, and so they fled;

For Earth is old

In sweeps the cold

Entombed in space, and Earth is dead!

The shrilling wind

Across each bend

Mourns for the lost, mourns for the gone:

Unblinking stars

Gaze on its soars

Where is the host, this crumbling bone?

Across the void

We anthropoid

In search of life have sent our shells:

Oh rest in peace

Our Mother, cease;

For toil and strife no more here dwells.

             (undated)

WITCH

She lays not still within her grave

But, restless, bode herself behave

In manner strange; she trod the air

Where paced the world of Otherwhere

Until again the cycle runs

Its pattern in the weave of suns

And she may lodge herself within

Another form that is of men. 

                    11-28-41

  WITCHWINE

In the sanctum of the Cavern

By a phantom altar, burning

With desires mad and unhuman

Know we but the fiery yearning

Of our hearts that to each other

Cling in fear and wracked devotion;

In the red alembic bubbles

Venom of a lethal potion.

This to feed those who would part us

This to those who cackle "Witch"

This to the clergyman and Bishop

Bought with gold by robber rich.

This to barons in their manors

This to hangmen and the cell

This to henchmen of the kingdom

May the silent ghouls feed well.

This to those who inquisition

This to those who damn the free

This to murderers patrician

May they die in agony.

This to merchant, prince, and burgher

This to Pope and gilded lord

This to merceners who fatten

On the profits of the sword.

This be secret, dark, and eldritch

This be weapon, charged with worth

This to lift the curse of Mammon

From the peoples of the Urth.

                   3-3-43

ZEUS

Tell me, Pan, you of the Wilderness

That space wherein all men must dwell

If they would know thy secrets 

Tell me, who is this Christ

This upstart godling?

And Pan answered, slowly, grimly sad

A fool, your Grace, oh mighty Zeus

An embassy of Typhon

Tho he may know it not.

He lives his own lies.

Then what can he mean to us, old goat?

Again Pan answered, wearily

Two thousand years and more, Lord,

Of famine, pestilence,

Death for my children.

2-8-42

3 PEARS DORMANT

Roosevelt the god

Lies dead in a flower garden

Lenin in his tomb

Has been deified by the icon worshippers

And  tomorrow

Istomorrow

Istomorrow

               2-10-47

A MAIDEN IN LOVE

A Play (in progress)

And it came to pass in Caliph LAND in the reign of GRADY THEBADASS that ye PHYLLIS felt a sharp pain in ye rectum as of a farte unborn and thereupon did call down imprecations upon the head of our most dread liege, crying "Fie upon thee, my Lord, and forsooth, for thou rainest not!"  Whereupon tidings of these words being brought our lord as he addressed the assembled multitude in ye North courtyard and he, being appraised thereon, was heard to groan with the voice as of a thunder-box, "Oh, shit!'  Thereon did 40 thousand pairs of iron pants hit the pavement with a clang!  And 40 thousand scruffy long hair Berkeley hippie types did squat and strain, and a most un Godly stench did arise to ye Heavens.  FORINTHOSEDAYS the King's WORD and LAW!  And Bullshit was unknown.  And the North courtyard was awash with effluvia.

Then wast a woundrous miracle seen in the land, great & marvelous to Behold!  Three Wise Guys riding camels came out of the East crying, "A Star!  A Star!", but we were all out of stars, so they had to make do with Rita Hayworth.  And all cried that it was the greatest thing since God made little condums.  Whereupon it was seen that farce is spelt with a "t" and not a "c", a wonder to behold amongst ye wise.

And wonders and portents were seen in Ye sky!  T.Casey asshole (yclept "Shit-For-Brains) did vaunt himself THE GREAT WILDe BEASTE cometh back across Ye Abysse,  and did Fart and Stench about, making Muddy ye waters that had been so clear, and generally making odiferous Ye landscape, as of an ancient Oriental rice paddy teemed with night-soil that had been ex-hum-ed, and giving a stench in ye cup of hot water as becomes Instant Shit.  Whereup[on ye King did sit and ponder.  Also did ye Karl Westkrap most foully deceive and procrastinate and refuse to pay Ye Caliph for slides promised and delievered for ye Deck of Fiddlers cards, most gapeingly agrace w/ye production errors undimm-ed, thereby inviting Ye karma dumping run upon his head as a shit monument.  Yea verily.

                                                   (undated)

          

YE ANTIENT ATTESTED HIGH HISTORY AND ROMANCE OF YE BORNLESS FARTS

And it came to pass in CALIPH LAND in the reigns of GRADY THEBADASS that ye PHYLLIS felt a sharp pain in Ye rectum as of a farte unborn and thereupon did call down imprecations upon the head of our most dread liege, crying"Fie upon thee, my Lord, and forsooth, for thou rainest not!" Whereupon tidings of these words being brought our lord as he addressed the assembled multitude in ye North courtyard and he, being appraised thereon, and understanding it's portant, was heard to groan with the voice as of a thunder-box, "Oh, shit." THEREON! did 40 thousand pairs of iron pants hit the pavement with a CLANG! & 40 thousand scruffy long hair Berkeley hippie typs did on their hunkers squat and stRaine, and most unGodly stench did arise to ye Heavens. FORINTHOSEDAYS the King's WORD was LAW! & Bullshit was unknown. And The North courtyard was awash with effluvia.

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