Thankful for hardships, thankful for strife;
Thankful for those who have come into my life:
to show me the good, and show me the bad
how to be happy, how to be sad;
Thankful for lessons that have made me stronger
For holding out hope when I thought I couldn't hold on any longer
Thankful for family and thankful for friends;
For knowing which ties to break and which fences to mend;
Grateful for failures and faults and misgivings
Thankful to know I am human and living
Thankful for lies which turn into truth;
Thankful to elders who remember their youth;
Thankful for times when I think I have nothing;
And thankful for realizing that nothing's still something
Thankful for memories, dreams, and things still unclear;
For things that retreat for a time and then reappear
Thankful for those who used to be here
And the ability to hold those folks who are still here_ near
Thankful for earth, oceans and heavens above
Thankful for knowing the meaning of love
Thankful to know when I've stolen the sky's blue
That I can turn around and give many more thanks just for You.

You light in me a fuse
It travels through my body
When I explode you act confused
You claim my words burn you
Perhaps
But then what are you playing with me for?
Have I no warning label?
Have you no common sense?
No...we possess merely a desire to light fires and a yearning to make love in the ashes.

My side has the bread
Your side has the butter
My side has the golf sink
Your side has the putter
You can't hear the words
I can't help but mutter
Your side has the animals
But my side has the hunters

I’ve been jaded; so misplaced
Almost faded, like I’m in outer space
Understated – are the problems we all face
Living them day after day
And killing us all without a trace
So complicated
This chip upon my shoulder is so heavily weighted
Frustrated
Is one of the many feelings I feel
Like it’s all so surreal and I’m afraid these wounds will never heal
I’m sorry to say it
But I’d be sorrier if I let another minute delay it
Go on and say to me
Whatever you want to – but believe
The truth will set you free
And then bring you to your knees
Everybody has a hard time
Eventually walk in a straight line
Might get knocked down low
But bounce back up on a dime
Try to follow all the right signs
Get a piece of all that limelight
And every now and then -
A few good hours of sleep are always key at night
I feel so old and not my age
I’m working the maximum at a job
For an unrecognized minimum wage
And each time that I seem to catch a break
That means there’s only more to take
From these driven hands that are mine
And the stakes are setting higher and higher
I’d turn to the lowest buyer if he sold me a life less expired
I’m tired
This isn’t a country; it’s a god ****** empire
With a liar as our sire
And no real direction except to open fire
On any person who’s unlike ourselves
Who doesn’t share our dreams, our fortunes or our wealth
Whose malignant health is just slipping away
While their homes all decay and we say
“Well, Hey; They should have known better.
Should have done this or done that.”
Yet they’ve never known debt or how it feels to fall back
To have to cover up scars or want to run to the car
When your mother pays for groceries with a government issued EBT card
The people standing around
Sometimes they’d look to the ground
And it brought and pounded me down
Until I realized there were worse things to be found
Lurking around darkness and not making a sound
It’s not all money issues
You have celebs who spend a thousand dollars on some day shoes
They’ve got their photo shoots and their penthouse blues
With their lives all misconstrued;
I bet they know the most about being used
And getting bad reviews
Their every move is always in the news
And we Choose to watch this instead
While headlines inform us all that thousands are dead
We must be numb in the heart and head
For no word that’s been said has pulled us away
And led from the dread of this awful place as of yet
My only possessions are dreams
My only words of wisdom are things are not as they seem
There are things in between, unseen
Disguised as make-belief
History follows a cycle; it’s on repeat
Full of deceit and scare tactics
Designed to be eclectic and full of the static
That makes you want to ball up your hands
Makes you want to take a stand and grab a piece of your own land
Whether it’s a mountain or a beach of white crystal sand
And scream forever how they should “**** the Man!”
But I know
Things get cloudy before they get clearer
So I tell myself as I look in the mirror
“Worthy peace is worth a fight  and
There is a dawn; there is a light
You’ll find it for yourself when your time is right
Keep that head and heart up even if in spite
Of all the people who try to keep you inside the lines
Be kind to others but be kinder to You
Remember time fades and beauty will too
Believe in yourself and believe in the good
And by the end you’ll have done all that you should.”

Once again torn apart
Unspoken words, like knives, cut out my heart
Feeling alone
Lost in despair
Stripped of my hopes
Not that you'd care
Big waste of time
Confusion at best
I learn all the lessons
Right after the test
I give all I have
It's never enough
When it's all gone
Still I'm the selfish one
Tired of crying
Fatigued and betrayed
So sick of feeling
As though I'm not sane
Conditional love
Conveniently gained
Secretly stored
And never the same.

Like layers of clothing you strip my emotions away
Until I am naked and I have nothing to say
For a moment I shudder; afraid of all I lack
Then turn as you lay a blanket of love across my back.

"I want to soar; I want to fly.."
Thought a tiny bird who saw others flying by
"I want to be careless; I want to be free...
But I'm not like the others and the others aren't like me."
Their wings full of grace and their legs so very long
She heard a thousand hearts beating within their song
"Perhaps one day I'll join in with my own special sound"
Then she eyed the rope on her leg which was fastened to the ground
Had it been there forever? Deep down she felt it had not
It seemed she couldn't remember; alas, she had forgot
She closed her eyes to wonder
How her life may have turned
Had only she been stronger
Than the things that were stronger than her
And try as she might, that tether held her down
Until dreams of that other life drifted away with the clouds
It seemed this was all of life she should learn to expect
But since she had no experiences, she really could have no regrets
Then one ordinary day as she rested with head under wing
She lifted up to witness quite an extraordinary thing
Forever, it had seemed, she had watched the others pass by
Never dreaming they would see her from their high place in the sky
A few had glimpsed her and descended
And now they stood around
And they said "Look at you here, now! Not making any sound!
You cannot be happy?" and the tiny bird replied "I'm not."
I've tried and I have mustered but I am held fast by this knot!
And so I have resigned myself to this spot on the ground..
And I guess I never thought you'd hear, so I never made a sound."
The other birds, they smiled, and then gnawed away at the taut string
But when the tiny bird could finally walk
she still felt the tether lingering
The ropes and chains that hold us - you cannot always touch
Their weight becomes a ghost when you have worn them all too much.