I embrace your heresy ~ If you got what it takes ~ Take the throne. AI Animation, Music, Poetry and Performance by Laurence Fuller @laurencefuller Minted for the #HENreunion

So you want the throne?

Take the throne,

Do you think it was a seat I asked to sit?

Take the throne,

That it’s steel was grown around me?

Like the rain and mud and silt?

Take the throne,

No. It was;

The rust, the dagger & the unholy ilk.

Take the throne,

My gift to you & all that we have known,

Part a legacy,

Part my blood & grit & bone.

Take the throne,

By the sword and the sickle,

I embrace your heresy,

If you’ve got what it takes,

Take the throne.

By Laurence Fuller, 2022

Pawns

One man is frail on his own,

But together we can take the throne,

Pass on this message,

No time for letters.

Fish bones for the vermin,

The human fire warms those that are closest,

In the distance those elsewhere freeze out on their own,

With bread however dry and we break it together,

A promise of forever,

The streets are cold and wet puddles black with soot of the city,

Floating down gutters of sleet and mess.

The secrets of the streets,

What to eat,

Which meat to share,

Scurry rats, scatter bones, gather leavings.

And the wharf, a mess with the city's misgivings.

Ships bring us in the night,

Bounty from other shores before the rabid dogs bite.

There's more of us in tow,

More of us below.

Whispers in the streets,

One man is frail on his own,

But together we can take the throne.

Grab your pitchforks,

We'll take what we deserve,

The King's on his throne doesn't smell the armies of dirt outside his window,

Doesn't feel that hurt that we feel in the shadows,

If the weakest of us fall we pick them up,

Protest at the gallows,

For our way of life we bleed.

Soldiers at the front,

Taste the grit of battle,

Power in the fist,

Bleed for this,

We will never concede,

Blade to knuckle,

The lesser ones buckle,

Under the will to power,

Under the crest of that burning flower,

Pawns rise from the rubble.

To outshine the master is our greatest desire.

Take The Throne series, by Laurence Fuller, 2022

@laurencefuller

The BISHOP

Daggers in the shadows,

Clink against the cobble stones,

Revenge is in the air and players of that board checkered the floor,

Splinters in my feet as I walk the boards,

Hissing in the corridors,

Snakes slither the floor,

Can't promise the world if they can't talk any more,

And can't hardly whisper if they no longer walk,

Into the shadows I stalk,

A mystery in the miseries of humanity,

To turn one's back on the almighty,

I'll be waiting and oh what I sight to see,

The man himself without guard or armour,

In the unassuming grips of laughter,

Enjoy what the lord gave you,

For your last night on this earth,

Revenge on my lips,

Revenge of the bishop,

If you're asleep when I visit, it cannot hurt.

By Laurence Fuller, 2022

@laurencefuller

The Knight

Empires crumble into a basin,

The gardens of Golgotha,

Birthplace of all creation,

Where doves take flight in sudden elation,

As the sun bleeds in the dusk,

I drop to my knees in the churchyard its spires in thrust,

Where were you this day?

Frozen in the Everglades,

Or rolling your fingers down the blessed blade,

The reflections of chivalry,

Rally the cavalry,

She left his hope like hoof marks in the mud,

Galloping hooves,

Pounding hooves,

Swords clamor,

Amor and steel,

The plunder of the oceans bounty before them,

The prophets words still in their memory.

Cups full of blood,

Reflections of love,

Dragonfly crest,

Green that matched her green dress,

Reflections of a stable,

Where they went each day,

His touch each day is full.

Danger in his hooves,

Though courage hides the truth,

Sacred sound of youth,

Pounding on the wood,

Cabinets stained by cups of blood,

Lovers on the cusp,

The cups of blood,

Stained with love.

She shivers by the window,

Silver shines in the moonlight,

Grips the handle of his sword,

That feeling of the forbidden Knight.

Courage hides the truth,

Gold to pursue,

Steeds in the rain,

I'll find my way back to you,

To the lady I can't bare to refrain.

Reflections where it's sealed,

Reflections on the road,

Reflections concealed,

Reflections he had known.

Reflections of the order,

Rolling waves of knights on the Crusade,

Templars united until the end of days,

Reflections on the water,

Reflections of holy lands,

Reflections of a blessed blade.

"Empires crumble into a basin

The gardens of Golgotha

Birthplace of all creation

Where doves take flight in sudden elation

As the sun bleeds in the dusk

I drop to my knees in the churchyard, its spires in thrust.

She shivers by the window,

Silver shines in the moonlight,

Grips the handle of his sword,

That feeling of the forbidden Knight.

By Laurence Fuller, 2022

@laurencefuller

THE ROOK

Raise the gate!!

Trapped in the halls with no escape,

Trapped in the labyrinth of this castle,

It's cobbled bricks and go back centuries to this date,

I hear it's voices,

Chasing through endless corridors,

Another turn at the end of every hall,

Leads to the pathway I swear I've been before,

Whispers leaking out the walls,

Trapped within and without,

The rules of the game,

Chambers of sound,

I'm surrounded by pages and pages and pages,

Rocks steady my feet on the ground,

Don't slip for a minute,

There's ghosts all around,

If I can hear them at least there's a chance,

Make way for the King's advance!

There's a patter of footsteps,

I swear it's not mine,

If I can find him, his presence divine,

To stop the enemy and raise the gate.

Wet walls with stone pushed into place,

A thousand years before,

The sentinel of war,

Spiralled my lost soul,

In a labyrinth of endless corridors,

Staircase to a lost world.

If I find him breathing at my back,

I know that I'm one step closer,

To finding him in the black.

I feel the walls closing in,

The game and all it's been.

There, there he is in the garden,

Staring up at the sky.

Staring up at the sacred light ripped from the skies,

Beaming perpetual divinity from the rocks of solid mankind.

Exploding from the caverns under coal-mines.

Staring up at the sacred light ripped from the skies,

Beaming perpetual divinity from the rocks of solid mankind.

Exploding from the caverns under coal-mines.

At last, I can ask him, to raise up the gate.

Upon the perfect check mate.

By Laurence Fuller, 2022

@laurencefuller

THE QUEEN

In the citadels of Halifax,

Dripping every wall with the thickest wax,

The regent's poison in the goblets,

As they remove the blade that's in their backs.

To see with more than eyes,

Read their moves like they're written on their faces,

Across the board, across the sea of foreign places,

Poisoned cups are filled with lies,

Travel lands to different graces,

The end of eras filled the wax covered vases,

The glass cabinet which is her life,

To get through her, will take a sacrifice,

Wax covered the walls,

Preservation in the palace halls,

To keep it safe within ourselves,

Our hope and sanctity,

Preservation above all else.

Preserve the covenant,

The armature, the chairs, the furniture,

Every detail, a mark to mature,

Ornaments to be sure,

Dispatch the holdings of the treasury,

What we said to put too readily.

Break the soul in two parts because it's broken in the rectory,

Hopeless, lifeless for what she said to me,

Under the heal of endless revery,

Broken on a lifeless life to be,

Preservation constrained and never free,

Wax covered, leads to a better me.

To see with more than eyes,

Read their moves like they're written on their faces,

Across the board, across the sea of foreign places,

Poisoned cups are filled with lies,

Travel lands to different graces,

The end of eras filled the wax covered vases,

The glass cabinet which is my life,

To get through me, will take a sacrifice.

Preserve The Queen to save the monarchy,

Paint the walls with wax,

And then fall to the floor and paint me.

In the citadels of Halifax,

Dripping every wall with the thickest wax,

The regent's poison in the goblets,

As they remove the blade that's in their backs.

By Laurence Fuller, 2022

@laurencefuller

THE KING

He ruled with iron, stone and a consummate throne,

Disciples crawling out of gardens of bliss,

Shucked shells and opulent riddles, cannot resist,

Here Babylons and banquets exist.

A ruler with grace,

Kingdom flourished in a golden age,

Overall all he pervade,

"I bid my time,

My wish, my desire to reign over all that's mine,

My years in the shadows, behind castle walls,

The loyalty of assassins,

I cloaked them in golden shawls."

His paradise perished away,

His kingdom now lies in the mist,

It's fate sealed with a sickly sweat kiss,

Loved by his people, friend of the many,

Amongst the rubble a legacy,

His jewels ransacked, and his throne now empty,

An army's trophies in scraps,

My time has come,

Desolation in the dusts of war

Surround as I rise.

The remnants of a paradise that lies like rotten fruit on rusted platters, it's raw,

It's black in the skies.

Now it's all that I pervade and the kingdom remains,

Ascension, a King at the coronation.

At the end of a blade,

For my kingdom will prosper,

And the throne, it's mine.

By Laurence Fuller, 2022

@laurencefuller

First light,

Ships stocked for the first fight,

Cannons firing at the front lines,

Their blood in the air this night,

We live at their behest,

Live and die by the crest,

But beauty is for all.

Laurence Fuller, 2023

Airdropped to the three collectors of "En Passant" Pawn Portraits.

Animated AI art, Music,

Poetry, Produced and Performed by Laurence Fuller

@laurencefuller

Sun drowned the night,

Though time at days rest,

Is the twilight of my torment.

There is still the restless impermanence of my being,

And the storm which the sky sent,

Before my soaring soul laid to rest,

I put this letter in a bottle.

For one last message is a page worth sending.

The reflection of dawn off the river,

Is time’s mirrored reflection unto me.

The gasping angel which sunk into night’s blistering shadows.

Made the treasures of youth,

Nothing more than the carousel of my imagination.

Righteous blackening hue,

Black ashen mountainside,

You are the other half of me that I must find.

There’s been enough golden flower beds glowing in our imagination, 

That the wind gusts breathless.

Wether we match the weather,

Storm clouds match the sweeping seas.

The guys of all vibrations to destiny,

And what I ever thought possible for me.

The matchsticks match the makers,

And Venus made a glance.

His waist coat, the suit cut marble,

In the light the flowers dance.

Submission to the night, 

The rose petals are soaked.

The Sun drowns behind the statue,

And the faded promise that today would be different is gone.

Giants in the rain as he gallops by the lake,

That leads to Elysium’s gate.

Ghosts on the wave at night,

Wading shorelines, 

Artisans cut the vines,

The life at sea, 

Mystics sleep in the rain.

Fall in love again, and again, and again,

Constant unending refrain.

Drop the curtains so I can feel love again.

You don’t know where my heart is,

It’s in an envelope on the way back to where we started.

While some lives will be changed forever,

Believe in yourself and the walls will fall heavier,

Can you know from a single day?

A single kiss?

Could it be so simple,

To simply say the words,

Although it sounds absurd,

To simply say the words.

A world collides in a verse,

All the trinkets of her purse.

Turn your back where beauty is forsaken,

And an ever widening way be laden,

For the bloom shall arise as the faithless descend,

And the wind that’s in the air is always changing,

Never permanent.

Laurence Fuller, 2023