My strength lies with them

the people who make me feel at home

we are not a club

we are a family.

We stand strong

hold each other up

protect our own .

We thrive on the happiness

we give each other.

We are one

like the song from The Lion King 2

we sang together today

right before double run through.

I love you guys

and I'll never stop.

Thank you so much

for being my family.

called by a new world
leave this one behind
the people here
are all losing their minds

I'll have to stay
but there's hope for you
I was born too soon
for tomorrow's crew

with the void between us
you'll stand a chance
here, we'll fall together
with our crumbling plans

remember not to take
our madness with you
up there, stay together
like we've failed to do

and when you see our home
rise up in the sky
know we'll be looking back
and bidding goodbye

listening to Benny Goodman’s smooth version of  ”Tiger Rag”
composed at a time when tigers where not yet an endangered species
     when soldiers were dying in World War I
     and would die again soon after Benny first recorded it in the 1930s
    
I wonder how it is that music can be so divorced from death

maybe because, for the US, wars have always been fought elsewhere,
    except for the Civil War - an issue that still occupies two research institutes

distance seems to create heroes more easily
     even though they are not aware of it
music helps to maintain the division between here and there

only when the draped coffins are unloaded
     those two worlds converge
and our sense of uninvolvement is exploded

if you ever read a poem
i hope you read me.
i hope you find the poetry
that hides in my body,
my rhyming eyes, my dancing feet,
the curve in my lips,
the cinnamon of my skin.
if you ever read a poem
i hope you read me,
i hope you read the words
written on my skin,
how my eyes spell out the word
'light'
and how my hands speak of art
and my heart sings words like
bravery and hope
and if you ever read a poem
i hope it's me.

God sent a letter telling us how to live. God showed us a path to redemption. He gave us guidance, but allows us to choose. He shows us wisdom and futility in making choices and where they can lead. To know what he thinks of us, we need only ask. He will show us that he loves us, but is disappointed when we make poor choices. So you are free to choose which path to walk, but know that we will all get to talk to God in person in the end, and truly find out what he thinks of us all.

Did you support that Donald Trump in his campaign last year?
Why didn't all his hatefulness fill you with dread and fear?
Did you believe his B.S. or did you hate Hillary
so much that you preferred a **** who likes to grab pu--y?

At some point did you realize the truth he cannot tell,
when he fibbed about inaugural crowds and voter fraud as well?
When he misled you on healthcare, did you finally agree
that lying just like breathing; both come to him naturally?

And what about his henchmen, tangled up with Russian ties
to the Kremlin and the oligarchs, in cahoots with Putin's spies?
When Trump heaped praise on Vladimir, were you just too blind to see,
or did you hope that your leader would be Comrade Trumpsky?

Oh how could this have happened? What an awful, global mess!
A big buffoon's in power, do you finally confess?
Did your vote help to elect him? To the Whitehouse was he sent
because in a fit of madness, you said "Trump for President"?!

'cause in a fit of madness, you said TRUMP-FOR-PRESIDENT?!

This lore we have created
Taken for granted and back again
The steps we have taken
Where scuttlebutt scrapes and scratches skin

Seething in their brilliance
These broken days echo throughout my soul
I'm lost between where winter rises and summer sets
Tearing at mind and flesh, a costly toll

Weakened eyes reap what they've sown
I slumber deep within this encumbrance
The roads we have forsaken
Shimmer like gold in their extravagance

This war we have been waging
Straddling fences and bleeding sorrow
This was the greatest of my yesteryears
Starving our hearts just to save tomorrow