For Us And Against Us

This mortal life can feel very troublesome, even painful at times.
It can feel as though there are angels of darkness around you,
Trying to throw you down however they can.
You might feel as though the universe,
Or God,
Or even You
Are against you.
You have adversaries.
Those adversaries do not include the universe.
Your adversaries do not include God.
He is your Ally.
He loves you.  He wants you to be happy,
Both here in this life, and forever in the life to come.
Your adversaries do not include you.  You are your greatest asset.
You are here on earth to touch and to save lives,
To find God and to get to know Him,
And to learn what He wants you to do to be happy.
Your adversaries, your real adversaries, include a person who knows you.
He has known you for some time.  One of his names is Satan.
He is a real person.
He has no love, only hatred and malice and evil intent for you.
Each person you see,
Or hear,
Or hear of,
Is here with the same purpose,
The same Ally,
The same adversaries,
The same glorious potential.
Each person is your sibling.
Each person who lives on this earth was created by God, and is loved by Him.
We are in this life together,
And are meant to live together with God in the hereafter.
You and I are siblings.
I am an imperfect person.
But I know that you and I are both created by God.
We are children of God.
We knew each other before this life.
I knew you.
You knew me.
You and I each did what was necessary to qualify to come here to earth.
I love you.
I know that God loves you.
I hurt.
You hurt.
I'm not giving up.
Don't you dare give up either.

Adam Scott Campbell

Take Two

It doesn't matter how

You get knocked down again.

It doesn't matter

Who does it.

It doesn't matter when,

Or why it happens.

Whatever the reason, it happens.

You have options.

Depending on

Which option you take,

Your choices

Down the road

Will either get larger

Or smaller in number.

First option.

You can channel

Your anger

Or hatred

Or disgust

Or fear

Or disdain

Or any other

Emotional byproduct

In the direction

Of the cause of your fall.

You can do this for a moment.

An hour.

A day.

You can do this every moment, of every day,

For the rest of your life.

Second option.

You can fight against yourself,

Push your emotions back inside,

Pretend it didn't happen,

Pretend that everything is exactly

The way you want it.

You can keep doing this,

Over and over again,

Until your emotional byproducts

Overflow the banks

Of your immortal soul-river,

And you are left with a swamp.

Third option.

You can speak up, dare to show your hurt,

Dare to let others know you are human,

That your heart works,

That you, too, have need of compassion.

You can dare to let your shield down.

It will shift the reality of your own

And others' lives.

Some will hate you.

Some will admire,

Even applaud you.

Some will be inspired by you.

Some will go to you for help.

Some will extend to you

The compassion you ache for.

Be vulnerable.

Be open.

Be real.

Be You.

Adam Scott Campbell

Victims of Misguided Me

I cannot move.
I cannot breathe.
God's daughter
Wraps her arms round me.
While I wish
To be let go,
Sharpest rocks
await below.
Choicest Purity
desires one poet
Hold no longer
to his Know.
Wither shall
my Know grow,
When naught is required?
Where naught will show...
All Purity had,
She has now.
For her ever
Heav'n allows.
"You are needed,"
says Purity,
As her arms still
Entrap me.
Never would I ever
Wish to be made free
Save that my peace
Below I see.
Needed?
They each must heal!
I disconnected them.
They cannot feel.
This tragedy I engendered
By my clumsiness
rendered,
God's every hate-filled
Child
Have I made
More wounded, wild.
What healing can I bestow
What help can I show
When I have hurt
So Many below?
"You are needed,"
Purity says again.
"Do what hurts most
And heal those
Who will heal."
Wretched determination
Builds inside.
I will do
What can be done to heal
Those who cannot feel.
Determined Wretchedness
Built.
The dam bursts.
"You were hurt!"
I bellow.
"I made you worse.
You were injured.
I made you cursed.
You needed a friend
I had your trust.
I gave you friend,
Comfort, confidant.
I took all I had won,
Made it come undone.
With stupid steps of self deceit, 
I walked up to you,
Knelt at your feet,
Pretending I knew Love,
And shattered all Hope.
Victims of misguided me,
I hurt you.
Please forgive me!"

Adam Scott Campbell

Anonymously

You've hurt before.
You hurt now.
You will hurt.
Sometimes it seems that all you do is hurt.
I know it hurts for you, too hard,
Sometimes so much that you can feel yourself breaking.
I want you to look, really look, at the people around you.
You have much in common
Each one of them, every single one, hurts too.
They are breaking too.
I want you to say hello to just one of them today.
You will save a life.
I want you to share what happened, somewhere, anonymously.
You will save another life.
Smile at a stranger.
You will save two lives,
Yours, and the one you smile at.
The one you smile at will be more inclined
To smile at someone else in turn.
Three lives saved.
You and they might become best friends,
And go on to touch and save other people's lives.
It will spread.
This world at war will become a world
Children will be happy to grow up in.
Teenagers will find the support
Critical for their survival
During their most turbulent years.
Young adults will have the confidence they need
To dare to reach for their dreams, dreams they've held
Since they were children growing up
In a happier world.
It will take time, but those filled with hate
For the lack of support they've experienced
Will find themselves freed from the bondage of hate.
It will be done by the kindness of strangers.
You.
Me.
Each person touched and changed
By someone reaching out to help.
Dare to smile at a stranger
Today.
You will save them.
You will save You.
You will save the world.

Adam Scott Campbell

A Deadly Endeavor

One knee down, one knee up, I kneel,
Running three fingers through the dirt.
What has been here is no longer here.
Trickery in the soil.  Someone has been at work.

A razor- sharp metallic point tickles my earlobe.  Trickery indeed.
I move naught but lips and tongue.

"Verily, O Worthy Opponent of mine,"
I spout poetical blather
Knowing the affinity my adversary has for it,
"O Skilled Bearer of Men's Hearts,
Whence comes this need to threaten the soul of one poet,
Poor and unknown?"
"Shall not justice be meted out?"
Comes the rejoiner.
"Shall not one well-versed in
The allure of pleasurable pain
Be given the chance to practice his art?"
Ah-ha.  She has yet possession
Of her wit.  Be this my greatest chance at love,
I am taking it.
"I find no aversion in me to do that for which I am born,"
I reply.  "By all means, grant me this chance."
The razor-point is removed.
I turn.
Before me stands a lady clad all in forest green.
Appropriate.  Tis a forest we are in.
In her hand, a long dagger.
"Kneel," the lady commands. "I may spare your life."
"How reassuring you are," I say, kneeling carefully. "My chances, as ever,
Are so slim as to be nonexistent.  Yet I would beg a boon
Of thee, lady."
"What be that?"
"Wouldst thou be available in one fortnight from yesterday?
I have a desire for meat of the forest.  Methinks to be
Thy fellow hunter-at-arms is an advantage."
"A negotiator has come," the woman smiles wryly.
"A fortnight from yesterday you say.  Hunting animal before man
Is perhaps a wise Course.  I will not be denied this my primary sport
In the end."
"I doubt it not."
"Know then, that I shall expect you here, as you have specified,
In thirteen days hence.  Rise now, poet, and be gone."
I arise with alacrity, and take my leave in silence.
Thirteen days.
Tis a date.

Adam Scott Campbell