And while the puppeteer sleeps
How divine the dream
that frees the marionette to dance

It's easy for me
to love folly in a child
with a heart so pure, innocent,
and wild

Tomorrows
always come and go
But, the thought of them
Sometimes, scare me so
They can rock my world
even though
they always melt into
harmless yesterdays

You and I
are not such bad actors
But, we have had
bad roles

Be not a martyr
with emotional pain
And do not barter
You’ll only suffer it’s gain
It thinks that it’s use
is to hang from a noose
bleed on the soul
to leave a stubborn stain

Music is a language
spoken by so few
yet, inspires so many
To be not deaf
and not hear it
would be a cruel twist
of irony

Fear stares at an open grave
And yearns for home

Oh sometimes
how the grateful mistake
scratches the itch
of self-loathing

The longer we live
the less we know
and the more
everything
becomes our teacher

Hope springs eternal
in the fertile ground of imagination

Can’t seem to read
between the lines
Can’t seem to see
the shades of gray
The adults in the room
have much work to do
if the children
are to remain at play

It is said there’s a woman,
For every man,
But it's not written in stone,
Only written in sand

Pain makes
narcissists of us all
Only Jesus

To be yourself
or not to be yourself
That is the question

Confront the wolf
that nips at your heels
if you grow weary
of running
You can always keep trying
to outrun the beast
but, it’s faster than you
and more cunning

Painting the air
With what we say
Creates the art
Of every day

Every second
of every minute
of every hour saved
is then sacrificed
to the gods of technology
It is an evolution of sorts
where people are beginning
to merge with machines
Humans of an earlier time
will eventually become known as “the ancient ones”
and will stand on rungs closer
to the Neanderthal than to cyborgs

Comedy can mock tragedy
As long the lion stays in it’s cage

We are but the dingy bubbles
born on the ***** river
oblivious to
it's tired and straining liver

It is easier
to be ourselves
acting as someone else

That which is
clearly smothering us
is strangely
what we can’t live without

Care not
what you ought
and what you were taught
or your life
may be void
of any original thought

Miserable are those
whose weight of themselves
has become so heavy
as to care so little about others

Forgive my sins
for they are great
and wish my past
be not my fate
I pray my heart
be void of hate
and hope this prayer
is not too late

Some days are like a dog
that won’t quit barking
An alarm that goes off
to stay on all day
until the sun sets
and the moon rises
Even then, there can only be
a temporary cease-fire with the
agreement that it all may begin again at first light

There are times that when I feel
mistreated by the world
I am reminded of just how unfair
the world can be
While observing the untold suffering of others and
my petition for happiness
seems nothing more
than an expression of ingratitude
in the form of a child’s temper tantrum

As it was
in the beginning
So, it is now
One can’t know
happiness
Unless, one learns how
to shed the last tear of the just
forever holding peace
thereafter

One can spend a lifetime
scaling down expectations
to fit in the same space
with one’s limitations

Beware of the employment of hate
For there is no target
unworthy of it's attention
and it abides by no rules
of common decency or sense

It answers not in laughter
It answers not in tears
It answers not my questions
this world that cannot hear

I’d rather
the consequences
of 6 days in sin
than suffer the hypocrisy
of repentance on Sunday

Assuming that mere words
could be something other than
feeble expressions of the truth
we call a person honest
at the sheer surprise
that he does not lie

The appetite of time
is insatiable
It devours all
that was once mighty
and leaves
nothing but
the odor of decay

I haven’t the wisdom
to soothe the grieving
nor comforting words
worth believing
But, I can cry
for a broken heart
and I can pray
for it’s broken parts
to find a way to come together again

It’s the nature of our nature
to be inflexibly unchanging
in view of a landscape
that is constantly rearranging
We can adapt and thrive
or we can barely survive
But, it’s the nature of our nature
to resist much that is changing

Anxiety is the dizzyness
of freedom
and is what I thought
Kierkegaard said
It appears there are many
who would rather no choice
than uncertainty
squirm in their heads

How empty the heart
that cannot love itself
For it cannot give
what it does not possess
and the world suffers

War is best served by youth
For it has not yet
Had the time
To perish the thought of dying

Maybe in accepting
the pain in ourselves
we might see all
that it is offering
and maybe the resistance
not the pain itself
is causing most
of the suffering

When you can’t make
the perfect biscuit
When you can’t have
the perfect life
Just say “yes”
to this perfect moment
to see the fiction
in your strife

Whisper what you want of me
How much longer can I wait?
My hearing really is quite good
though I don’t always see too straight
I sit beneath a starry night
listening for a sign
But alas
more hours pass
that seem like a waste of time
Whisper what you want of me
I grow tired of the wait
I want to know the secret
before it is too late
What is it that you want of me?
Maybe I can’t see
if I’m asking you above
or if I’m asking me

These powerful men
Who call themselves men!
Are nothing more
Than a deceitful blend
Of cowardice and hate
And then it’s too late
For us to discover
What they are in the end

If the recipe for a happier life
demands a better attitude
then we need as determined chefs
to serve more dishes of gratitude

Adults are but older children
Who have outgrown their parents
In search of better supervision

The anecdote to a child's trauma
is found in a mother's face
If only a shot
of this unconditional love
could be given to the whole human race

It is what it is
But, that is all that it is
Otherwise, it’s drama

In the absence of gratitude
self-Pity is there
to fashion yet another
cross to bear

Men of a martyr
Live on the outer
Like disciples of Christ
Who are so enticed
To follow a message
To live like they oughta

Many an unfinished project
began with the impractical
pursuit of perfection

There’s more to you
than your problems
There is more to life than fun
Most of us have much to learn
so, you aren’t the only one

There is no place in which to flee
There is no place to hide
Running is no solution
The ones who know have tried

There are no easy answers
to questions no one asks
But, if you can find
who you really are
you can toss that heavy mask

Nothing like heavy suffering
to appreciate the lighter weight
of it’s absence