To talk
like best friends on a midnight walk,
to sing
like it's the first morning of spring,
to laugh
like you just found the first giraffe,
to cry
like the falcon whose wings don't fly,
to love
like you're falling from far above,
to hate
like they've stolen your empty plate,
to learn
like tomorrow our books will burn,
to read
till you fear your heart will bleed,
to teach
to the children the power of speech,
and to do
unto others as they'd do unto you.

You may say that I’m a dreamer,
but my dreams are all I have-
if they die, then so do I.
So I have to try.

Friends say I’ll climb this mountain
and discover that it has no peak-
still, I have to know how high.
To know, I have to try.

Many are saying through twisted eye
that I’m a fool and dreams will lie-
they’ve seen even less than I.
For them too, I have to try.

I’m a fool, and always have been,
but that’s just no way to die-
and even Icarus got to fly.
I too, have to try.

I ran though those rotating doors
where men were doing silly chores-
polishing statues and waxing floors
outside of those redundant stores
that line the air conditioned alleys,
ten foot poster **** sallys,
and symmetry in pale valleys
beneath the ceiling of Elysium;
more marble in here than an art museum.
A sad omen for whats in store-
just which god is this temple for?

I bought that Norman Rockwell mood
I surely absolutely needed,
then headed for the court of food
(for shopping does leave one defeated)
where I was so kindly greeted
by a man who’s head was beaded
where his eyes were meant to be.
Some would stare, but no, not me!
I ordered white chocolate ***** tea
double espresso and sugar free,
but sugar overflowed ‘til it coated the floor
and I’m already craving more.

I then stood up to take my leave,
and lock myself at home to grieve
for what prosperity had done;
our towers now eclipsed the sun.
My gentle stroll became a run,
for underneath fluorescent haze
the walls and marts became a maze-
some escalator MC Escher craze
which drowned me after several days.
The secret which I had not known
was simply that the mall had grown
and stretched itself right out the door.
Which god is this temple for?

We go, no one sleeps
easy slow weeks
just keep coming
flying high on the float bus
to Uluru, engine drumming
living like a curious ghost
on nothing
but noodles, jellied toast,
and cheap beer.
Wake me when
we’re getting near
to where we’re going-
I fear though, here
the heat is growing.
Maybe we should steer
instead to where
the coast is clear
and glowing red
to end the day, and drive
and drive the heat away
by splashing in the tide.
Living free is easy
by the fading sea
where we may see
the decade ride.

Welcome to the zoo-
and who are you?
And is it true that you are free?
All the animals you see
are often coming up to me
and asking: “Which way to the door?”,
but I don’t answer anymore,
for I have lost my way as well.
I wonder then if you can tell-
is this the zoo, or is this Hell?

I would not be so impressed
to hear a king had made a guest
of me in halls all lavishly dressed,
and blessed with every new feature;
I have known the smaller creature
to be the greater teacher.​

Yet nor would I be so relieved
to see that not a soul had grieved
when in the next he was conceived,
deceived as he was by mortal power;
despite our divide, we do yet cower
together from that final hour.

Encased in basement shadows
where spiders hang from ceiling corners
like dead men hang upon the gallows,
stirs the ghost of a forgotten child-
his body rots in a shallow grave,
but still his eyes are glowing wild.

Sitting alone in harmless study,
I saw his eyes before me burning
for what rage still held him here
like arrows lodged inside his brain-
my stomach set to churning
in helpless wonder of his pain.

Sweating and frantic, I called out:
“What is this visitation about?
Begone, if you mean to do me harm!”
Fixed upon the air alone,
those emeralds held their bitter tone,
and from the dark there stretched an arm.

It held my shoulder, and in alarm
a scream bellowed from all around
that froze my body to the ground.
Then the eyes flew through the floor,
and the scream flew out the door-
and I never sleep anymore.