The face in the mirror
the look in the eye's
that reflection ain't me it's just a disguise
the fading of hair
the wrinkles that bend
it's just a life story that's told on my skin
this man in the mirror he ain't really me
their's a child inside that want's to be free
that woman of mine you could say she's the same
sometimes in the covers we laugh and play games
but as I get old and my life bears thin
I think of the fun
and think of the friends
so you could say i'm kind of bold
it's just a part of getting old

Had me a pig and his name was Sam
Sunday he was bacon on Monday he was ham
Had me a steer and his name was Jake
Tuesday he was burgers on Wednesday he was steak
Grinding my K bar in the barn
While my donkey run's this farm

I am thankful to be
I am thankful to try
I am thankful to live and thankful to die
I am thankful for my son
I am thankful for my wife
I am thankful for my daughter
And thankful for my life
And most of all what I am thankful for most
Is the ability to be able to share this toast

I am lost on the ocean like a paper ship
thrown through the waves
The crash and the hit
I know not where i'm going
I know not where i'll land
My heart is a desert
It's covered in sand

Like a paper ship
I'm not made out of stone
I'm a simple creature
But not of my own
I'll one day stop sailing
I'll soon meet dry land
But when that day come's
Will you take my hand

Like a paper ship
I need my repairs
I'm broken and beaten
For time is not fair

Like a paper ship
I drift all alone
No family
No friends
Just me
Sailing home

One dark night in Chicago fifty years or more
A man walked in a jewelry store outside the rain did pour
He walked up to the counter a ring it caught his eye
The price tag said 300 dollars on him he had 5
He knew the girl he loved back home would love it all the best
So he pulled a 45 from underneath his vest
He took the ring and out he walked along the wet concrete
Siren's started closing in and shuffles of fast feet
He ran into an alley and then he ditched the gun
Before he did he wiped his prints and kissed the ring for fun
As he walked towards home a shadow came from out
A loud bang came from the night a body hit the ground
But there along the ****** wall sat the brave young man
And In his hand clenched so tight a ****** wedding band

Father you were old
your hands they would shake
a pen you did hold
each time you did wake
and now that you're gone
and all that I knew father this poem
I have wrote for you

You're hair it's what I smell
when we lay down at night
you're face is what I wake up to
when morning shines so bright
I have always been faithful babe
and you know I always will
Happy 22nd babe
you're still my greatest thrill

Ever glamorizing whip-poor-will
Sing your song of lonesome blue
Dream a dream of something new
Darling please be true

To you this heart I give you
To you this hope I have
I love you more and more each day
I know you feel so sad

Ever glamorizing whip-poor-will
you know just what to sing
you know just how to make a lonesome heart
feel more than pain

A weary burden traveler came knocking at my door
Recalled a gypsy woman
That fate had loved no more
he spoke of dreams and shiny things
But what he missed most of all
A glamorizing whip-poor-will
Who sang a lonesome song

Ever glamorizing whip-poor-will
Your light will carry on
You song will tarry hearts to cry
and hopes to write to poem
Your love has passed me through the years
and pain I feel no more
glamorizing whip-poor-will
I love you more and more

When hair has faded to silver
When wrinkles cover you're face
When love has grown for 50 years like a tree that stood in place
When time has ceased to cover
When burdens knock you're door
Have no fear my darling dear i'm here for 50 more

You can keep your Army khaki,

You can keep your Navy blue,

I have the World's best fighting man,

To introduce to you

His uniform is different,

The best you've ever seen,

The Germans called him "Devil Dog"

His real name is "Marine."

He was born on Parris Island,

The place where God forgot.

The sand is eighteen inches deep,

The sun is blazing hot.

He gets up every morning,

Before the rising sun.

He'll run a hundred miles and more,

Before the day is done.

He's deadly with a rifle,

A bayonet made of steel.

He took the Warrior's calling card,

He's mastered *******.

And when he gets to Heaven,

St. Peter he will tell,

One more Marine reporting, sir,

I've spent my time in Hell.

So listen, all you young girls,

To what I have to say;

Go find yourself a young Marine,

To love you everyday.

He'll hug you and he'll kiss you,

And treat you like a queen,

There is no better Fighting Man,

The United States Marine

There is a story you should hear from not to long ago
It all began 100 years bad lands New Mexico
There was a man his ragged soul would drift from town to town
Not much was known about this man except he laid em down
He'd walk and sing in the moonlight and light a cigarette
He'd stroll inside the gamblers halls and place big mighty bet's
And he'd always say as he would smile
His hand's began to shake
Have no fear you're God is near
The levee is soon to break

Ah now the time has met me
You have been cold for a year or so
I find that you have kept you're self hidden within my heart
Is it the pen or is it me that write's to you now I am not sure.
I am sure you have heard of the departure to Spain
If not for my inheritance I would go but it is my misfortune I am here
I do hope that the jewel found you happy it was to speculation to send it so far away but I was told by a close ally of mine that it would arrive to you safely I hope it has.
Mother is ill this month I am afraid this fever may take her I am sure you will want to return upon hearing this new's but please do not you are much needed where you are and you are a very valuable asset to our cause.
In any case I miss you dearly I find myself taking time to be alone just to think about you and if I continue to miss you my heart may burst with this lonesome fever that has been eating at my soul.
I had a dream the night before last that you were wearing that lovely dress the one with the velvet red and blue waves through it.
You were walking or yet dancing down the stair's and you slowly stopped at the banister. You're cheek's were as fair as they have ever been and my heart began to burst with sheer joy.
Helen I do think very much of you and I wonder if you feel the same I will ask you something when I make my way to you I must implore you let me make the journey for it is long and dangerous I shall be with you soon.
But it bother's me when I wake to moonlight and notice you're Staddle is not in our bed only Mine lays lonesome
I truly and deeply miss you so very much.

Mother send's her love and honor
I will think of you until we meet again
Yours truly: Edwin Kennith Coventry III
To: My Loving Helen

A little poem to lift you're spirits

I had but dream's before thine eye's had met thee softly willow
I answer to thine heart of thee that may I hold thee
And as of me I send my love and all that lay's within
I kiss thine heart and dream to be
With my love once again.

X

You could have smiled
but you did not
You could have laughed
but you did not
So now we are at this point in life in which we are stuck
Yes..... us
It was the thought of us making it further
Where?
It could have been a mistake
No...... it was a mistake
But in a way I suppose we are not to blame for this
You could not have known
And I could not have told you
I could not have showed you
Even if I tried
I don't blame you
I blame I

You tried to help me
I did not listen
I was to stubborn to heed you're call
The harder you tried
The further I'd fall
I don't want to fight
I suppose I surrender
So in this letter
Return to sender
But when you do
Remember that I
Do not blame you
I blame I

So I guess this road some way now end's
A lot of twist and turn's around the bend
I hope I find what I'm reaching for the way that it is in my mind
I hope you love and love no more
And do it the best you can
And in that sound the 5:30 bell
there's a train at the station
The whistle has wailed
Darling I loved you
Boy how I tried
I do not blame you
I blame I

Today I saw an eagle fly his wing's they stretched afar
I never knew that majesty could be a shooting star
I never knew that time could bind and stretch the world throughout
I only thought that life was sad and dream's would turn about
I had a home to which I roamed yet so long ago
And thought I wither my thought's are simpler than what they we're long before
You see this lonesome side of me this fever has no cure
To plunder and roam to land's unknown and travel with too and  fro
I've seen the highest mountain top's
I've swam the deepest sea's
I have plundered far beyond those simple crazy childhood dream's
And yet my mind is lost somewhere I've never gone before
A place so very far away
One I know I'll adore

At morning due I rise from bed to find myself asleep
My mind it ponder's deep beyond the trouble of these thing's
So now you see this opposition is one that I must face
I am yet a stranger weary and tired but yet still out of place
So to me or that to be or that which is unknown
The thought's within my troubled mind carries me back home

Play a ballad for the drifter the one who paved the way
He sang his song's and carried on until his dying day
And on that day he wrote a poem it twas one I know well
He spoke of highest priest and prophets
And spoke of wedding bell's
And then this dream so far away it carried on the east
And fire burned up the whole world
And stretched across the deep
And to the west I heard a roar a voice as loud as thunder
It spoke so loud and yet so proud and freedom was it's hunger
And then at once it came to me in the belly of the beast
It was the east and the west who triumphed over me

Along the road I met a toad he drank a glass of wine
He sang a tune howled at the moon
But could not keep in time
I sat beside the lonesome toad and asked him why he sang
He said you see it's bound to be this world has gone insane
And then away the very next day I seen him laying down
And on his face he wore it soft a golden velvet crown
A fool he whispered came along and stole this thing from me
But now he's dead I took his head and wear the crown to sleep

I am not sure If I adore these travels and these lands
I know it now I'm far away
In very distant land's

So as I sat and pondered on these desperate tale's of lore
A long haired man came unto me and knocked upon my door
I heard a gypsy crack a sigh and say it was her hunger
That caused her to spread prophesy that was false and foolish slumber
And as the cricket chirped away she looked into the ball
Looked at me with her hollow eye's she saw the gavel fall
And then the lighthouse keeper laughed and said watch for the rock's
They **** the men and pull them in the slaughter never stop's
She smiled and cried and frowned at me and handed me a letter
Then she arised and asked of me to be her own pallbearer

So I traveled on ahead to make myself fair time
I got lost in the darkened wood's that took a many lives
I sat and stood upon a truck and heard somebody laugh
And then appeared a foolish man wearing the devil for a mask
And as he laughed he reached in his case and played a little fiddle
But he did not play it evenly he played it very unsubtle
So I asked him who he was He began to speak
And with a roar he said I adore the mild and the meek

I suppose this is where my story come's to end
Or shall I say That it has now only just began

He spend's all his day's alone in a room
Studying plans of thing's he might do
From chimney's to rooftops to floor's down below
He never quite know's where his plan's may go
He studies and read's and does arithmetic
Finding a floor plan yes one that will stick
And in all his studies he never will find a floor plan of reason
A floor plan of life
He simply forgets his wife and his kid's she cheated last summer
He neglected a bit
His children they cures they're mighty ill raised
But he does not care till his floor plan's are laid
From morning till night he'll sit all alone
Drawing and writing those plan's of his own
And when he has finished
He will look and will say
None of this happened in my plan's no not this way
But now don't you see that time is sure cruel
It will make all the wisest into a fool
and just like the architect you may make plan's
But they don't always work out
Not here in this land

What is known by all
And seen everyday
No one can avoid
It is a price you pay

A long time ago back when we were strong
you thought I'd stay forever but darling you were wrong
somewhere along the way I must have changed my mind
I still recall the smell of your hair
the sweet lost sense of pine
You gave me chills you gave me thrills
You made me lose my way
sometimes I dream and wonder of what we'd be today
I guess the only thing for now is what i'll do for long
we had a dream
we had a love
babe we had it all

In painting's we find a story that's told
Some of forgiveness some that are bold
But what we don't see is most important of all
That is the emotion that painted it all
Life is a canvas you paint it you're self
You are the artist who the canvas you're health
You learn from mistake's you cover them up
You try to repair with each stroke and each brush
Until then you find you're paint has wore thin
And just like a painting you can't start again
So you live with the mistake's that you have made
The one's that you thought we're better than clay
You built up you're kingdom
And you had it all
But painting's they fade when left on a wall
So now you have grown mighty weary and old
You're paint has now dried
You're story's been told
But be not in anger and be not fear
Cause just like a painting we are all right here
Though yes it is true that some other's are grand
Studied by scholars and gazed on by man
You're painting is special if only to you
So enjoy you're painting
It's painted for you

I know you may have heard the tale
That zero is but none
But truth be told you can unfold that zero is the one
It cannot be divided by or multiplied together
You cannot add or yet subtract this number any better
There is no math equation here that can begin break it down
Their is no way no way that's possible to find it's value round
It yet cannot be add'ed too or even take away
But yet it's used in all equations one or other way's
It is the base of every number that you've ever know
And is the end of all the thing's in life that's to be shown
For nothing last forever
Whether good or whether bad
So zero is the biggest number
Unless you count infinity
But do you notice something that they share in common
See
They both share the same principles except one is a whole
So zero is the biggest number so the story's told

When my grandpa passed away
I went inside his room
I seen a box of letter's
Dating 1942
They were worn and and they were tarried
they had stood the test of time
But I noticed they were opened he must have read them a few time's
So I opened up the letter and I read it loud and clear
And on the note I found these word's that brought my eye's to tears

Darling soon I'm heading out
I don't know where I am
I  sure have lost quite a lot
My brother's and my friend's
I know you worry honey bee just know this much is true
You keep my heart from losing hope
My darling I love you

Now you see these letter's here they mean a lot to me
Cause in his word's I understand
How strong true love can be
I know this world is scary
It sure don't play too fair
I know If I keep searching
I will find someone out there

My days of writing are done
Though friends it sure has been fun
I'm now far to old my story's been told
And my past is all but one

Goodbye

Low down deep in slum's
I gave up on the reason for the drum
Woe is me
Why can't I see
I'd best be leaving well enough alone

These neon light night's
Can't stay out of fight's
It keep's haunting me in memories
I was down on love fable's
And drinking at gable's
And generally blowing all my hard earned pay

Rock and Roll Blue's
Danced hole's in my shoes
There truly was no other way to be
For lovable loser's
And no count chooser's
And worn out old Heroes
Like me

I know what you are thinking
I know you're feeling old
I know that you're life has passed you fast
And bad new's left you cold
But you still have unique charm
You still can stop the world
It's not the year's you've lived that count's
It's what's inside a girl
You must be feeling lonesome
That's why I've found you here
No need to sit so far away
Come here i'll buy a beer
I'm am not trying to make you blush
Or get inside you're bed
I only want to make you laugh
And help you get ahead
So don't be coy and don't be cold
I really mean no harm
I could've let you walk on by
But yet I tapped you're arm
So tell me you're long story
I've got the ears to hear
Plus I don't mind I bought some time
It's just you and me here

What it long and short
Marches with no feet
What is kind but yet unkind
And is kept by all who breath

Son you're growing up so fast
you want to be a man
slow down enjoy your childhood
and play while you still can
Enjoy you're friend's and mother's touch
enjoy the sunny day's
and always know I'm proud of you
and love you all your days

Oh morning glimmer shining bright
sweep lowly with your beauty
Spread your wings across the sky
and let your dreams adore me
Have it as you will
you dream
you miraculous thing
Ah that which does adore me
I long to kiss the lips of the lady who endured thee
And to thee thy sweet kiss of bliss has an effect
to make my heart dream dreams of forgotten lore
That of which I never knew before
I was but lost in heartache
A sea of despair
I wondered and walked with no one to care
A glance
a look
There you stood
Was it me you saw
Was it me you kissed
Ah dreams pass me now
And love is but a faded rose
Dying with the sickness of lonely
And yet it is but more than a state of mind
Ah to the one I left behind
I miss you
I but dream to kiss you
I but hope to give you
Everything you gave me
My love
My darling
My sweet Marie

With 4.11 you can really get lost
It can get kinda scary when you realize the cost
With a cherry of a cigarette glowing in the night
Burning up the amplifiers in the taillight's
Winding down the road getting kinda lost
You can hear the whistle blowing through window hear the Faust
It can sort of hypnotize you if you ain't watching close
And when the radio is playing you're hands white as a ghost
You can feel the bump's and ****'s and shake's
The creases in the road
You can hear the engine roaring loud
And hear the tire's groan
And when you think it's going smooth you think you're doing fine
You hear the engine light go DING! you're running out of time
HEY!
Get off the road
Get off the road
It's gonna be real bad
Get off the road
Get off the road
The engine just collapsed
Get off the road
Get off the road
Somebody find a map
Get off the road
Get off the road
Too late crash dead and splat

My hand's are callused July to July
I work all day and barely get by
From the mud on my boots
To the scars on my skin
Lord have mercy on hard working men
A sheep herder came he put up a fence
I saw him last August but I Ain't seen him since
The money ain't good but their's stories to tell
Pick up a shovel go dig out a well

We neither complain nor do we groan
Were determined as hell and worn to our bones
Out here in the desert if you die you fail
The ole cow punchers are mean as hell

Now i'm sure it must have been a long time ago
I packed up my bag and walked out the door
Mother was crying and papa said go on
If you ain't staying here go find a new home

I joined up the army they cut off my hair
taught me to shoot and how not to care
I picked up some habits
I picked up some girls
I burned down the village and traveled the world

Had me a buddy his name Chen Lee
Drowned him an Insurgent down in the black sea
We didn't say much just watched and we stared
As the bubbles popped up his last breath of air

Four years is long six months is bad
The hardest of all is the one's you ain't had
If you're looking for answers
If you sure want to know
Go ask the insurgent who sleeps down below

I have but one dream I dream
That dream is to be a rose
To be so soft and tender
To make friend's with all I know
and then from spring to winter
and winter back to spring
I'd simply lay and fly away
My Petals go with glee
My Stamen be strong and gather along
Then as I spring to life
I'd crack a smile  
My Sepals in style
And find myself a wife
And as the cold chill winter
Would gather in the air
I would not fear
I'd have a cheer
For Roses live again

It is
It was
It always has been
From start to finish
It is

It is
My dream
My hope to be
It was
But now it cannot

It was
It used to be
I hope it still is
What was it
When was it
It is

As though it is
It always has been
It's now
Is what it is

Or is it to be
Or to be what it is
What it was before it was that
It was it is or how it is
As is it was through it
It is

And since it is
then let it be
For it is what it must

And in it I find a repeating of time
Of it as is it as it was

The ping on the roof
The tap on the floor
The wind and the rain
and down it does pour
as gently I sleep
to escape from day's dread
The raindrops are falling
Asleep in my bed

You're gonna wanna hold me
Now that i'm walking honey
You're gonna wonder where I am
you'll cry a big ole river
You'll get cold and shiver
You're gonna miss me when i'm gone
And all my loved one's they will find me
You'll wish that I was still around
Just like the songs I leave behind me
I'm gonna live forever now

When you're sad heart is aching
And you're old back is breaking
I wouldn't judge you if you're wrong
Good love can't be mistaken
True love is made for making
I wont give up on what is strong
But you know darling you can't hold me
My soul was made to freely roam
I never said we'd last forever
I only said that we were wrong

You always tried to change me
I never fit you're picture
You only seemed to find my fault's
I tried to love you tender
But dreams they die and wither
I guess that's why I'm gonna walk
I know that time will heal you're bleeding
so there's no real reason to cry
Just remember when your lonesome
I'll always be there in you're mind

When I sleep I see them
In restlessness I turn my back to see them
Where did they come from
I have seen the naked light shining
It blinds all who bind in it
For time is behind it
Darkness it is
Bleak....
I have felt a true emotion like raindrops they sting
burning my soul
love kills the pain
I think of times when thing's were so bad
I hope to remember the best I have had
These visions within in me
They are here to stay
These visions within me
Will not go away

I have a song that I sing when day's have got me down
I'll share this song with all of you to flip around that frown
You see no matter where you go
no matter what you do
whether you be a caged song bird
or an eagle soaring the blue
A lonesome desperado riding the lonesome trail
Ticket found destination hell bound no home to what prevail
There is a dream in all of us
and friends it can come true
you must believe and have a passion in all the things you do
So with this wisdom and good love i'll leave you all alone
and if you're down and have a frown just sing
My lonesome song

looking back now
There is a lot i'd change
I would try to say I love you more
I would try to live and save
I'd be a better husband
I'd be a better friend
And when I said I loved someone
I'd love until the end
I'd forgive and then forget it all
I'd never hold a grudge
I'd try to change my stubborn way's
And hold the one's I loved
I would make the better choices
This I know is true
But life don't ever work that way
It leaves cold and blue

​I got a gal boom bam a pow wow
she's so fine boom bam a pow wow
I cant see why you don't see the world like I do
Mary your a fine girl
oh yes mam
yes Mary your fine
oh Mary your fine

I woke up this morning with aching in my bones
Mary at the love of my shine
Of my shine
she is quite a beauty
Lord when she comes on to me
I need to find an honest preacher man

Cause

​I got a gal boom bam a pow wow
she's so fine boom bam a pow wow
I cant see why you don't see the world like I do
Mary your a fine girl
oh yes mam
yes Mary your fine
oh Mary your fine

Come on now Mary don't be coy
Don't play no games don't act no more
Just hold me close and hold my hand
Mary let me take you to the promised land

Cause

​I got a gal boom bam a pow wow
she's so fine boom bam a pow wow
I cant see why you don't see the world like I do
Mary your a fine girl
oh yes mam
yes Mary your fine
oh Mary your fine

Name me a name
A singer of songs
A writer of ballads
A drifter alone
A heart that is weary
A love that is true
Mystery stories so lonesome and blue

A story to tarry
A strength to be gained
A weight to be burdened
From Sunny to rain
My heartache is many
My story is long
So find me a singer
A singer of songs

A velvet black curtain It fell on the floor
The clock rang the bell
The nun was a *****
The children were orphaned
The men went to war
The mothers nursed babies asleep in the morn

And out to the west a king and his men
Wrote ballads and ate in the long castle den
Jesters they laughed
Widows they cried
So many men crippled
So many men died

And out in the gallows a pirates fate waits
The Piper is calling
The Reaper awaits
So hoist up your banners
And let out a yell
We'll all dine together
Tonight down in hell

I think of you both night and day
I long to touch you're hand
You're bosoms keep me satisfied
I know I am you're man
I dream of night's when both of us are tangled in our love
I kiss you're cheek and wish you well
Marie my one true love

She's every bit of her mother
and I pray nothing of her father
I hope she finds a decent man
who will love and cherish and honor
She used to play outside all day but now she has grown up
she never liked her barbie dolls she always played with trucks
17's so hard to be I know I was once too
but even when you're 93 you're daddy still loves you

I long to hold the hand I loved
I long to see the sea
I long to cherish those teardrops
that shed a heart for me
I wish upon a shooting star
I dream a hope to be
Irish whisper won't you whisper
Just a little tune for me

A hundred or so years ago my father's father said
you'll find no other land to love or eat no better bread
though you make walk the streets of gold
And see all that you dream
you'll never hear a better love than whispered tunes of thee

So now I hold the hand I love
I live beside the sea
I cherish all of her teardrops
She shed them all for me
My wish was true from shooting stars
my dream's all have been seen
Her lips I hear when my eyes close an Irish tune for me