"Kaleidoscope"

Kaleidoscope of swirling leaves
Sunlight streaming in the wind
Aroma from the silent breeze
Brings it flooding back again

The far off laughter cutting through
Children running in the sun
Memories of things we'd do
In distant days of summer fun

As now I sit and watch the morn
Come sneaking past the last of night
I feel the need to rise once more
And hold those dreams, once lost from sight

And call the names from summer days
Where once we ran and jumped and fell
To drift off in a dreamy haze
And pray again where we once knelt

Yes,
Times and memories held dear
Though lost and gone and far away
Are clinging to my heart so clear
To live and breath another day

So,
Remember me from summer's past
Where once we ran from early dawn
Remember me in the summer dance
Of memories that have come and gone

Kaleidoscope of swirling leaves
Sunlight streaming in the wind
Aroma from the silent breeze
Tomorrow brings it back again

"Where I Go "

I take my music with me where I go
It doesn't matter rain or wind or snow
A place to rest my head and soothe my soul
Melody and words are what I know

Long ago I tried to climb the hill
I found a ledge that left me standing still
As Crowley said it's just "Do what you will!"
I did and I was left to foot the bill

Sometimes it seems there ain't no seeds to sow
I don't know much but here is what I know
Somewhere soon they're putting on a show
And everyone is free to come or go

I won't whine, just covering my tracks
I'll tell you all there ain't no looking back
If today you're standing in the past
You'll find you're rolling downhill mighty fast

Still,
Every now and then I need to rail
It's better off than ending up in jail
With great new friends you wouldn't want to fail
Waiting for their letters in the mail

I've always known when casting out my line
I better learn the meaning of sublime
There's more to words than learning how to rhyme
There's more to life than dancing on a dime

Sometimes the clouds are soft and  warm and white
Sometimes the darkness overtakes the light
Sometimes we're flailing wildly in the fight
Sometimes we're just not sure what's wrong or right

These questions that still lead us on and on
Are here today, the next we know they're gone
As we drive all night into the dawn
We'll stop and rest to make our way beyond

So,

I've finally learned to dance and sing in tune
I've finally learned that song about the moon
I'm finally filling up that empty room
Just in time for moving on so soon

It's said we just don't know what we don't know
I'll say I've learned on bumpy roads it's so
So,
Once more on that bumpy road I'll roll
And I'll take my music with me where I go

"Oddballs"

Sometimes me, sometimes you
Sometimes we can see right through
The ones who try to act so cool
Like somehow they're not oddballs too
Just like me and you

Oddballs here, oddballs there
Oddballs walking everywhere
Some don't even seem to care
If the crowd just stops to stare
Roaming 'round the oddball fair

Oddball moms and oddball dads
Oddball gram’s and oddball gramp’s
Turning on their oddball lamps
Collecting all their oddball stamps
living In their oddball camps

But once we know and once we've heard
Oddballs with their oddball words
Running round in oddball herds
Taking all their oddball turns
Teaching what all oddballs learn

We come to know their oddball ways
Wandering through their oddball days
Wearing mirrored oddball shades
Reveling in the oddball craze
In their rainbow oddball haze

Confusing as it all may be
The oddballs just like you and me
That don't swim in the oddball sea
Still feel left out so strangely
us Oddballs yearning to be free

So here we are, yes, me and you
Searching for the things to do
That separate us from the crew
And prove that we're not oddballs too
Even if that's just not true

We're oddballs in our own sweet ways
It doesn't matter what we say
Eventually there'll come a day
When all us oddballs hid away
Will come outside for oddball play
And everybody else will fade away

Sometimes me, sometimes you
Sometimes we can see right through
The ones who try to act so cool
Like somehow they're not oddballs too
sounds like me and you

"Junker"

There's a Junker in my Backyard
Gathering dust
Its been there for a long while
Growing rust
It used to be a good friend I could trust
Now it’s just a page from "boom to bust"

There's a Junker in the backyard growing weeds
It's past the point of ever paying heed
And taking time to find out what it needs
To get it up to *****, up to speed

There's a junker in my backyard shedding tears
once a trusted friend for many years
It's found itself abandoned full of fears
Never more to be shifted into gear

The Junker in my backyard fades away
With memories of a fondness from the day
Of being part of up and on the way
It's found it's way to where it finally lays


There's a Junker on the back roads of our dreams
That’s helped us tell the tales of where we've been
The far and wide, the places in between
The endless warm horizon’s we have seen

There's a junker in my heart that's never free
Forever needing more than I can be
Always meant to step up in the breeze
And head out for an island in the sea

There are junkers from tomorrow wanting more
A constant search to find that special door
That opens to the "land of nevermore"
Where you
Lay down in the sunshine on the shore

There's a junker in the moonlight's shining hue
Flashing moonbeams red and white and blue
Talking from the deepest part of you
Pages on the porch swing’s of our youth

There's a Junker in your Backyard
Gathering dust
turning slow from shiny chrome to rust
It once was an old friend you could trust
Now,
another page from one more "boom to bust"

“Dream song”


Sing me a dream, dream me a song
Don't make it too short, don't make it too long
Don't make it too happy, don't make it too sad
Right in the middle, is where I'll be had


Stories of mountains, tales of the west
Antidotes retold, by strangers, the best
A kiss in the moonlight, I'll never forget
These are the songs, that long to hear yet

Journeys on train tracks, that rumble through time
Back and forth life scripts, that turn on a dime
A vision of happiness, lost but content
Tearful eyed memories, of love letters sent

The dark senorita who called out your name
The shot of tequila's romantic refrain
Then next, the siesta that memory denies
A lost, lonely cowboy with stars in his eyes

The hot summer day, mescal, por favor
Bar room bravado, courage assured
A harsh word, a look, machismo commands
The next move, the next slight, a line in the sand

Battles with savages, outside the door
A march in formation to find the next war
The promised reward that can never come true
History's legacy, painfully true

Battlefield monuments lost in the woods
Where lines were once drawn and heroes once stood
Where blood was once spilled and questions remain
Hidden in shadows of yesterday's shame

A quivering peace that can never stand still
A new generation to march up that hill
With hope for salvation, foundationally true
A new culmination who's interest's accrued

Then one more recovery long overdue
The colors of sacrifice, red, white and blue
The stories of history, tinted and hued
The song that our grandfather sang me and you

A search for a gold mine, the dutchman's remains
The promise of new life, fortune and fame
The optimist's song, the pessimist's tune
Off where the rattlesnakes sleep before noon

One more Matilda, a shovel and pick
A search through the canyon where fools gold's the trick
Where water's the treasure and darkness the cure
And the road back leads empty, to adventure once
More

Explosions of springtime, a park bench called home
The birds and the squirrels and the church bells of
Gold
The mothers and children and promise of youth
A new day brings new ways, a new search for truth

School buses roll, people commute
Businessmen tow the line 'til rebuke
The homeless and destitute scrounge for their fare
Passersby glance on, unwilling to share

Yes,
Here's one more season come 'round the bend
Some start anew, some find their end
Some take their orders from voices on high
Some walk this earthly path, never to fly

Some take the train their father's once rode
Some walk the city streets, lost and alone
Some gain the riches of power and gold
Some keep their hearts, some lose their soul

So here lie the stories, the songs and the dreams
Of one among many, of all, so it seems
Unique and unusual, we all ring the bell
Then set off in search of our heaven or hell

These are the songs that I'll hear once again
These are the dreams that I'll send you, my friend
So sing me a dream, dream me a song
Through ages, these pages are where I belong


So sing me a dream, dream me a song
Don't make it too short, don't make it too long
Don't make it too happy, don't make it too sad
Right in the middle is where I'll be had
Somewhere in the middle is where I'll be glad

“Blame”

I sure don’t blame the hills
Nor do I blame the trees
I do not blame the summer bugs
Or winter’s endless freeze

I cannot blame the wind
That winds around the bend
And I will not blame the history
With fences still to mend

I sure don’t blame the view
Nor the colors in the fall
I do not blame the quiet nights
Or the sounding of the call

I cannot blame the birds
Or the squirrels up in the trees
In the end there’s only one
To blame and that be me


It’s not the Billy’s that I blame
Their stupid, stubborn ways
Or coldness that eludes the view
Of dark and dreary gaze

No, more than them, it’s me I blame
For ending in this maze
For strapping in to drive my dreams
Through cold and foggy haze

It’s me I blame for clinging to
This dream that never dies
For thinking there’s a quiet place
Somewhere in these skies

Believing that the days will run
Down warm roads in the sun
And lead me to a rocking chair
To rest when days are done
But truth is hard to swallow
When the Northwind howls your name
And though you try to hit the mark
There’s noone left to blame

Yes,
Path I took and the path I take
That leads me to the end
Can never be my lover and
Will never be my friend

No, blame is not for lovers
And blame is not for fools
And blame is not a simple prayer
That plays by simple rules

No, blame is not my partner
And blame can’t point the way
So
Blame will have to suffer on
to rule another day

“Adieu”

Shed me no tears for my hasty demise
For I’m off to the races in bright sunny skies
I’ve bought a new wardrobe that fits like a glove
Yet, the one thing I’ll miss is the warmth of your love

Shed me no tears as I’m drifting away
As the light draws me near, as I’m yearning to stay
As the dreams of a lifetime still play like a song
As all that lives passes, to the life that’s beyond

Shed me no tears as I walk out the door
From a life filled with memories I’ll carry no more
For all who’ve shared love as I’ve shared love with you
For all who’ll come after to find what is true

Shed me no tears I’ll tell you once more
As I anxiously wait to see what’s in store
As a glimpse of the future that waits for me there
Has lessened the fear as I walk up those stairs

So, shed me no tears I will ask once again
As I call you lover, as you call me friend
As you embrace me and embrace you
I’ll bid you a fond and final adieu