A Peregrine Falcon circled the vast expanse of grounds surrounding the huge manse in Old Pasadena. It soared, looking for a favorable tree to land upon. Rabbit hunting. The bunnies loved to crop the grass growing on the expansive lawns.

The bright wind played windchimes of the leaves of the trees, a lilting, rustling sound barely heard above the birdsong of midmorning in Pasadena. A normal morning in every way. But not for Sir Arthur Barrett. Nor his murderer.
   Lord Arthur's heels beat a tattoo on the Persian rug in his library. His hands first scattered the pieces of the puzzle he'd been working on, then grasped at his throat, constricted as it was by the plastic bag stretched across his face and neck. The muffled sound barely heard over the cacophony of birds...

---  

   The old mansion where Lord Arthur met his violent demise was named Puzzle Tree Mansion, in part by the many Puzzle Trees growing on its property, but that was not the only reason. The entire mansion was a puzzle.
Every room of it. Each had a secret. A false bottom drawer. A secret passageway. You even had to solve a riddle to work the bidets in the bathrooms! In short, it was a puzzle, within a riddle, within a conundrum. Sir Arthur had loved it that way. He had, in his lifetime been a writer of mysteries. The author of arguably the most popular American mystery... The Monkey
Puzzle Box.

All you people on the street
Going through hard times
You don't have enough to eat
You see, and yet you're blind

America, America 🇺🇸
Once beautiful and strong
America, America
What is going wrong?

All you people filled with fear
Stricken by disease
You're now aware.it is clear
You're dying by degrees.

America, America 🇺🇸
Don't you know you're ruled?
America, America
You're vaccinated fools

On your dark and dangerous trip
You try to find a way
But your golden crown has slipped
It's time for you to pray!

America, America 🇺🇸
You have lost your might
America, America
You had better fight!

With your nostalgic memories
You live in the past
Your great time is history
You knew is couldn't last.

America, America 🇺🇸
How you loved your gold.
America, America
Now you're getting old.

America,  America 🇺🇸
You've gone to the left
America, America
You will be bereft.

America, America 🇺🇸
You have played the part
America, America
You have lost your heart.

America, America 🇺🇸
Don't you  know I live?
America, America
I can still forgive!

America, America 🇺🇸
Don't you think it's odd?
America, America
You must again seek God.


Write of Passage aka
SoulSurvivor
Written 2007
Rewritten 2022

What you want
Is so expensive
You are caught
By what you see 💍

There are things
You cannot pay for
Greed grows not
The money tree 🌳

The peace you seek
Is not in wealthy living
You're only dying
By degrees... 💀

There's only one way
To be joyous
Living by the
Lord's decrees  📖

So read your Bible!
It is in there!
Then, at last
You will be FREE! ✝️

I am a soil
Which has no inhalation.

I am an exhale
Waiting for breath

I am twigs
Drenched in dew.

I am stones
A skull. Death.

But I will live in a
green thatch again.

I have what
It needs.

I have the sun
And rain

I just need seed.


SoulSurvivor aka
Write of Passage
2022

I have walked along a road
That not many will take on
I have carried heavy loads
I've done right. I've done wrong.
I have held a pilgrim's pack
So long... so long...

Chorus
I am now a living stone
In a house which no one found
And I have felt my spirit groan
With no one else around

Alone
Alone

And I am still a living stone
I gave up, oh, all of Me
I am just a stone that stumbles
And I am a stone thrown free

Chorus

I am just a part of castles
In the sky & on the brink
I'm a stone cast on a pond
Skipping there at last to sink

Alone
Alone

Through many trials, Toils and snares
The slave trader came to know
Like him I know I brought it in
With the rock & with the snow...

But...

I know bruised reeds He will not break
A gut'ring lamp He won't put out
Though I'm rejected by the world
Here am I to scream out loud...

I'm not alone!
I'm not alone!

I'm not alone...


SoulSurvivor aka
Write of Passage
3/18/2021

Is white a color? ♡
Is white a race?
Aryan? Caucasian?
Color of the South's disgrace?
The color of pure snow? ❄
The color of lace?
Is it a newborn lamb?
The color of my face?

No.

If you take every color
And project them as you do
Let people see the TRUTH
Let the light shine through.

That's the color white.
You'll find that instead
If you take off the skin from any race

You'll see the color RED

The earth is like a rainbow
You lie, but know it's true
God painted every color
Why can't me and  YOU?


SoulSurvivor
2022