You share with me your sunrise
and it brightens up my day
You seem now somehow closer
despite being far away

Perhaps maybe this evening
I'll share with you my sunset
One day ours may be the same
how much better does it get.

What happens when an eye for eye
has left the whole world blind
Will that be the time we see
we should've left the past behind

With each liberty they take
with each human right ignored
they build for us a prison
for the safety it affords

Until we are no longer free
and they've stopped us being brave
by promoting threats and fear
to make sure that we behave

Forgiveness is the only way
to get peace back on the shelves
for until we forgive others
we will never free ourselves.

Some of this is real
and some of it is not
some will be remembered
and some will be forgot

All of this has come from me
these are words I've written down
but I do not always wear its cape
nor bleed beneath its crown

So take this down from time to time
leave it not upon the shelf
and read its contents knowing
the authors really in good health.

Life isn't happy endings
and the streets aren't paved with gold
and fortune favours the other guy
no matter if he's brave or bold

While we all dream of fairy tales
and once upon a times
its my sad duty to tell the truth
in this disappointing rhyme

Ladies if you kiss a frog
you'll just get frog goop on your lips
there'll be no dashing prince
broad of shoulder, thin of hips

And gentlemen I kid you not
there is no sleeping beauty
the only girls who sleep all day
are those who work night duty

(and trust me, you don't wanna be waking them up)

No magic lamp, or secret word
will help you change your lot
so **** it up my buttercups
what you have is all you've got.

Dear page

you listen so attentively
to all I have to say

when it comes to telling others
why can't it be this way

I share with you my every wish
my every hope and dream

and secrets that I dare not share
are on pages in between

I hold nothing back and bare my soul
without a second thought

but when it comes to telling others
with fear I am wrought

how I pray for liberation
to find the one with whom I share

that I may tell my story
to someone who really cares

Blacktop, soft top, foot upon the gas
Highway, my way, miles of haulin' ***

singalong, bringalong music for the day
iTunes, my tunes, soundtrack all the way

sunshine, fun time, havin such a blast
drivin, arrivin, trading poetry for gas

Top down, drop down time for us to chill
Line up, sign up, still got three seats to fill.

who's to say what's right
who's to say what's wrong
who's to say we've not been lied to
you and me, all along

who's to say what is the truth
who's to say what is a lie
who to say who gets to live
and who's to say who gets to die

we assume that someone else
is the answer to all above
but we choose who we vote for
who we hate and who we love

so its time we all took charge
put an end to this abuse
of human rights and freedoms
that we've let others lose

because one day you know
there will surely come a time
when instead of taking others
they'll come for yours and mine

Good morning Lord
tell me do you feel any shame,
about the things that people do,
under the banner of your name?

Burning holy books in Florida
because they tell a different story
albeit one thats close to yours
about truth, peace, love and glory

I used to think you preached of love
for all our fellow men
but I guess somebody changed it
cos they know better than you did then

No wonder church is pleading poverty
with attendance on decline
there's far to much intolerance
could you at least send them a sign

Now you and I were never close
if you exist you must know why
but for your sake please do something
show us forgiveness is no lie

Two strangers meet in dreams most every night
nervously at first but now so right
They look into each others eyes
Sharing hows and whens and whys
Saving every precious moment fore their flight

Sometimes they sit together talk for hours
or else they just take time to smell the flowers
sometimes passions overcome
and their bodies become one
or they dance and sing and laugh in summer showers

But mostly all they do is simply "be"
because its all the time that they have currently
one day soon things they might change
depends on what can be arranged
and on that day I'll know exactly where we'll be

Today I felt the sun upon my face
stretched out my arms and welcomed its embrace
with the breeze upon my skin
my life was purged of all past sin
a life reborn after a fall from grace

Single loads of laundry
sad freezer meals for one
no dishwasher for me
chocolate ice cream, just for fun

the never tested voicemail
on the outgoing only phone
one knife, one fork, one plate
signs that yes I live alone

take-out menu fridge door
a doorbell never rung
ipod playlists for the company
that never ever comes

early nights and books
an optimistic queen size bed
a collection of matching pillows
that only ever see my head

the one cup coffee maker
a single slice of toast
bills paid on time or early
nothing handwritten in the post

a will with nothing in it
and no one to leave it to
burial or cremation
I think I'll leave that one to you

no life insurance needed
retirement arranged
no girlfriend, lover, wife
ex, current or estranged.

this is the life I've chosen
free of contact free of pain
free of almost all emotion
this is my refrain

Because I've seen what people do
in the name of what is love
so to save myself the heartbreak
my life is as above

Each night I sit and wait beneath the tree
to see if you have plans that include me
while I wait I sit and write
before I know it, gone's the night
and all I have is poems writ by me

26 letters, some I never use
is all i have to demonstrate
my melancholy news
combined in different orders
changing pace and changing tone
I try to tell the sadness
of being here alone
I build in different tempo's
no repetition or refrain
outside the fact that once again
my tears fall like rain
26 letters, some I never use
will go back into their box
until I get just one from you

For every place that is
there's a hundred might have beens
and on every single journey
a hundred in betweens

every path I choose has high points
then it seems they all descend
into a sad familiar landscape
we call the bitter end

but I will not let that be my lot
things cannot end like this
there must be signs i do not see
must be something that I miss

perhaps thats it for this time round
is it karma's camouflage
to make me think I've got it right
then it turns on self sabotage

Misery's having a party,
say's we should all get drunk
Say's be sure to bring Sadness with you
and we'll get out of this funk

Bring Loneliness and Depression
Despair and Anger too
but leave Empty Promises at home
cos we've had enough of you

Oh and someone pick up Broken Heart
Bad Fortune and ****** Luck
And who's that guy that doesn't care?
Couldn't Give A you know I can never remember his last name

So now that were all here together
lets drink and forget all thats wrong
Who's drunk the most and sings the worse
you can lead us off in a song

Show us the way to go home
we're tired and we wanna go to bed
we had a little drink about an hour ago...

Why are the things I want so far away?
and its like they're drifting further every day
will there ever come a time
when she is really mine
Why are the things I want so far away?

Is it really any wonder I cant sleep?
When there's aspects of my life that make me weep
I wonder if I'll ever get it
and stop being so pathetic
Is it really any wonder I can't sleep?

Will someone end this misery and pain
and tell me if there's sun beyond the rain
will we ever get the chance
to laugh and play and dance
Or am I doomed to go through this again

Its never seemed like "My Turn".
Do you know just what I mean?
Life's never really been that good,
at best its in between.

Its seems like one thing, or another,
is always going wrong.
And to be with you quite honest,
I'm getting tired of THAT song.

Now there was a while, some months ago,
when my dreams seemed within reach.
But somehow things went off the boil,
thats why they say life is a... beach ;-)

Then someone told me bout a secret,
how to make my dreams come true.
About believing that its possible,
so this I'm gonna share with you.

You see life is what you make it,
and all you have to do,
is to see your dreams, as if they're real,
then they will all come true.

But if you give up dreaming,
and expect to live life on your ***,
then that becomes your dream,
and that too will come to pass.

So finally I stopped asking,
"When does my turn come way?"
because the answers "When I want it to",
so my turn starts today.

Those heels, that skirt, the top
tell me where does this vision stop

The posture, the pose, the lips of a rose
is it me or did things just get hot

Those eye's to die for, the lips to lie for
running fingers through her hair

As I look around, there's no heads to the ground
all anyone can do is stare

As her hips start to sway, and the band start to play
every man with a pulse holds his breath

Possessed by the dance, has us all in a trance
as she dances between *** and death

Remember dancing in the dark
and sharing picnics in the park
telling stories by the lake
and doing things for doings sake

No plans were made, things just got done
and we enjoyed them, every one
But now those days are left behind
anothers arms you chose to find

and so i'm left to dance alone
and eat my take out in my home
the lake is dry the stories gone
the lights gone out where once they shone

And so another chapter starts
of shattered dreams and broken hearts
No plans now made, nothing to do
its all for one where once was two

If you knew that this ship,
was just about to sail,
would you be inclined, to climb aboard,
and lean over the rail?

And if you knew you had the time,
before you had to choose,
would it make deciding easier,
knowing that you could not lose?

But if you knew that time,
for us was running out,
would you at last commit,
and cast off any doubt?

If you knew that this was right,
just as you know that that is wrong,
would it make you more impatient,
to change the path you're on?

If you knew what I was thinking,
would you understand?
Would you give me signs of hope,
or let go of my hand?

Why is it those with least to lose
are first to give the most
To walk the fields of Arlington
with too many other ghosts

The generations rested there
sacrificed in all those wars
Do they still feel nobility
when its lacking in the cause

For what is war but posturing
sacrificing others sons
in the name of "threats to freedom"
where most blood shed, decides who's won

Then afterward come treaty's
bits of paper end the war
and I have to ask the question
what was all the killing for?

I have a postcard
pinned to the wall inside my mind
of you and me
sat 'neath a tree
me in front and you behind

In one hand a scribbler pad
in the other hand a pen
a playful duel
like kids at school
of poets does begin

Your turn to choose the topic
mine to write the first
I start the rhyme
with four quick lines
now its your turn, do your worst

A wrinkled brow, a ******* up face
then an idea and a smile
that cheeky grin
as you fill it in
gee you sure do take a while

Finally your verse is done
and you coyly hand it back
I read with a rush
and I feel my cheeks flush
"oh come on, you cant put that!!"

But you find it all too funny
and lie back laughing in my arms
and soon the book lies theres forgotten
as we explore each others charms

What is life without a risk
but music without the dance
Would you rather learn to tango
than never take a chance

Would you live within your safety net
and never catch a fish
Or have a feast on rod and line
baited with spontaneous wish

Fragments of you surround me
in everything I do
sometimes its like you never left
despite the pain that I went through

I see you in my coffee cup
sometimes in the way it's sat
whenever you'd bring me a drink
you'd put it down there, just like that

Sometimes I catch a scent
passing on the breeze
and it takes me back to another time
in a forest amongst the trees

I passed down by the river
to that place where we'd sneak a smoke
and it all came flooding back to me
and the dam well **** near broke

It seems all of these fragments
serve to pierce me at will
to make sure I dont forget you
though I doubt I ever will

So why do all these memories
bring me not joy but pain
is their purpose to remind me
to let no one in again?

The duality of man
torn tween the shadows and the light
can only gaze on one
while t'other's always out of sight

For he who looks upon the shadow
will have light upon his back
but chasing after darkness
fills a soul with naught but lack

And he who looks upon the light
casting shadows in his wake
will always see the brighter side
where exists more give than take

Your words sting like vinegar
when spilled on open wounds
They carve their way into me
like eating ice cream with a spoon

Like lemonade thats sugar free
they have a bitter taste
but unlike health warnings on cigarettes
their message goes not to waste

As with most recipe disasters
like when I cooked Fish Ragu
I'm not sure where I got things wrong
just what exactly did I do?

If I can act like nothings wrong,
and somehow go about my day,
do you think in time,
all will be right,
and this pain will go away?

If can hold back all my tears
behind a dam thats out of reach
do you think in time
all will be right
before the dam is breached

If I can fool you with a smile
so that you don't feel so bad
do you think in time
you'll realise
I was the best you ever had

But am I really fooling you
or trying to fool myself
that perhaps in time
all will be right
and I'll one day leave this shelf

If you never planned to catch me
why did you ever let me fall
Even when you saw it happening
why did you say nothing at all

I'm sure that it felt good for you
to have your ego stroked
But look at what its made of me
a fool who's hearts been broke

So next time someone starts falling
speak up and save them pain
don't just stand right there and watch it
before you step aside again.

Every time I see you
cast my eyes upon your face
I'm taken back in time
to when first I saw your grace

The honesty within your eyes
reflections of your soul
took a man so incomplete
and somehow made him whole

Each day is like the first day
and in that I'm truly blessed
as our journey takes us places
we never would have guessed

Cast the loneliness aside
close the doors, keep out the cold
wrap me like a blanket round your shoulders
tell me stories yet untold

We'll sit beside the fire you and I
as if this time would know no end
and talk long into the night
sharing secrets between friends

and as the sun begins to rise
on this a new, and brighter day
never again for you will loneliness
for we will always have this day

Today I forgot everything
and it felt great
like an etch-a-sketch falling down the stairs all memories have been erased
all images of you
all those painful memories gone
memories of....
no
nothing
but I remember there is a you

why is that?

is it because even after falling down the stairs an etch-a-sketch still has that little thing that makes the pictures?
are you the thing that still makes all my pictures?

Is it my lot in life
to want that which cannot be
to want things others deem too difficult
but yet seem simple unto me

Is it that I'm too willing
or unthinking in my haste
that I see little point in waiting
or have less time to waste

For everyone thats in my life
who came along and chose to stay
I wish I'd known them longer
even if just one more day

for when I shuffle off my mortal coils
and the time comes to depart
you'll find you cannot add time at the end
only at the start

what else but a poem
can take you from this place
to somewhere else in history
somewhere else in space
to a time of greater happiness
or the depths of deep despair
just think of an emotion
there's a poem to take you there
there are no oils and no canvas
yet a picture they do paint
battles of good and evil
portraits of sinners or of saints
they carry messages of wisdom
and hope to those in need
so next time you want to travel
then its poems you should read

when I ask who are you
please don't tell me what you do
for you may as well burst into tears and cry

for to tell me what you do
instead of telling me bout you
is to say what you fear losing when you die

tell what it is that lights your fire
and sends those flames a rising higher
give me a secret about you I can keep

tell me what you mean by love
describe who fits you like a glove
and then tell me all the things that make you weep

tell me about your dreams
and all thats in between
tell me all the different places you would go

but what I want most of all
as the evening shadows fall
is to learn something that even you dont know

I know that last one's hard
but if we just show our cards
we'll have years together in which we will find out

but if you keep them to your chest
never risk and never rest
the only constant thing will be the doubt

so tell me who you are
and show me every scar
spare me nothing for I cannot know enough

and I will give you all thats me
even the things you cannot see
all I ask is you look after them my love

There's a reason there's a path outside your door
that leads to a road
that leads to an interstate,
that leads to an airport.

And there's a reason that planes fly from that airport
to one near here.

Same reason that airport has a road
that leads to a highway
a highway that they are repairing as we speak
that leads to my town
to a path that leads to my door

And its not just coincidence.

Any more than its coincidence that you are reading this.

Let us fill this notebook,
with the words we dare not speak.
Of a love that is forbidden,
lest the havoc it would wreak.

For now we'll keep it secret,
a place to rendezvous,
where you can talk of me,
and I can talk of you.

A place to ask the questions,
normal lovers get to ask.
Only ours will be handwritten,
such is the nature of our task.

A place to write sweet nothings,
and lines of loving prose,
to share our private jokes,
and act like everybody knows.

We'll take turns to enter something,
for each month we are apart.
Consider this my entry,
your turn to grab a pen and start.

But one day we'll take this notebook,
sit together, look within,
and on that day I hope we find,
this single entry found therein.

WHAT IF TIME IS RUNNING OUT?

What if time is running out, there's so much I've yet to do
see the sunrise in the desert, watch it set from Kathmandu

Meditate in Angkor Wat, eat Sushi in Hong Kong
its been nearly 40 years now, you think she changed while I was gone

Scuba dive the Barrier Reef, go snowboarding and live
Make my peace with everyone, because there's nothing to forgive

Explore India like locals do, travel on top the train
armed with my black umbrella, just in case it starts to rain

Pay my parents back for everything, for all the love they shared
Find a way to tell them thank you, that does justice to how they cared

To show my son how much I love him, and how proud of him I am
and how that once scared little boy, has turned into a man.

Tell my sister she's the best there is, that I am proud of her
and ask for her forgiveness, that I was not the brother she deserved

So, what if time is running out, there's so much I haven't done
there's one more thing left on my list, to see if you're the one.

Each day I get the gift of time
and here's what I do
I spend it in so many ways
and not always how I choose

I spend maybe a quarter of it
sleeping in my bed
all tolled an hour eating
its good for you I read

then there is the work thing
its not the thing that I like best
I write poetry and do my chores
and tend to waste the rest

Of the ways I spend my gifts
one thing is always true
the part that I enjoy the most
is the time I spend with you

Take the best thing you can think of
times by two, no make that three
and you now have but a fraction
of just what you are to me.

When Karma comes a calling
are you gonna run and hide
or quickly do the math first
while that knot forms up inside

or will you sit with open arms
a smile upon your face
knowing that your Karma's good
based on how you ran the race

or will you be like me
a nervous optimist lets say
I think I'm gonna be alright
long as Karma don't come today

BREATHE

Just take a breath
take a moment to reflect
and take a breath
take a second just to think
is it worth kicking up a stink
then take a breath

Just take a breath
take in everything around you
and take a breath
look around at all you see
hear birds singing in the trees
then take a breath

Just take a breath
close your eyes and look inside
and take a breath
feel the breeze upon your skin
feel her love warm you from within
then take that breath

Just take a breath
'cause one day t'will be you last
and then comes death
will you close your eyes in peace
or struggle not to be deceased
just one more breath...

Let us find again the beauty in simple things
not just in designer labels and diamond rings
for the worth of what we crave
should not be drawn from sweatshop slave
Let us find again the beauty in simple things

Let us see things once again just like a child
In the days when we'd go out and explore the wild
Building tree forts in the woods
cops and robbers, robin hoods
Let us see things once again just like a child

Let our innocence and trusting be our strength
not something that gets drummed out of us at length
lets not live our lives in fear
of dangers far away from here
Let our innocence and trusting be our strength

Let us open up our hearts without reserve
and let someone in without trying to conserve
let us love just once again
like we'd never know pain
Let us open up our hearts without reserve

Let us die without one outstanding wish
live our lives with nets always full of fish
lives with bounty all around
all friends and loved ones have we found
Let us die without one outstanding wish

"Good morning, hope you have a wonderful day"

When said by you those words become poetry.

What lies ahead in this life of mine
I really do not know
Should I take charge and lead the way
and force my heart to follow

Or should I follow love
wherever it may lead
and risk ending up far from home
on unfamiliar streets my heart to bleed

Either way some years from now
a new place I will call home
I have a plan to buy some land
build a place to call my own

So no matter where I roam
what I see or what I do
there'll always be a sanctuary
for me to come back to

I do not know what lies ahead
in this life of mine
Sometimes that kind of worries me
other times it suits me fine.

When is a kiss just a kiss
and when is it so much more?
When it leaves you feeling richer
even if you're poor?

When it leaves a tingle on your lips
and a flutter in your heart?
When you feel its passion in your hips
long after you're apart?

When it catches your breath, and time stands still
and all else goes away?
Now who wouldn't want to be kissed like that
each and every day?

Sunday mornings are for making love
then drifting back to sleep
lying in each others arms
safe such dreams to keep

a gentle stir
a languid stretch
a loving squeeze and then
Sunday mornings are for making love
again,

again,

again

let's trade places you and I
and see what it like from the other side
would I want you as much if you were me
and if I were you would I yearn to be free

would you tread time like water waiting for me
would I rush through my day so your words I could see
would I check my phone the way that you do
to see if a text or an email came through

and would you sit at a screen and search for the words
that scatter like seeds left out for the birds
and try to pick out the ones that are real
the ones when combined that show how I feel

and would you start over and over again
giving thanks for a keyboard instead of a pen
thinking how trees must be glad that I write on a screen
and not on scrap paper tossed out by the ream

at the end of the day when we came face to face
would I be just like you with your poise and your grace
and would you be sat there trying for cool
while feeling inside like a kid still in school

I'm assuming of course that were different inside
yet both going about working out how to hide
the truth of the feelings we're longing to share
the breadth and the depth of just how much we care

so if we traded places and I became you
could I do the things that I ask you to do
and if you became me could you easily wait
or would you, like me, be afraid of "too late"

Please do not wake me from this sleep
leave me in this dream
for here life is perfect
unlike there where its in between

In my dream I live with you
a simple life beside the lake
we got to bed at sundown
and rise as each day breaks

No telephones, alarm clocks
pagers or fax machines.
Just books and pens and paper
filled with poems and other dreams

A stress free life I get to live
at least while I'm asleep
But that seven am wake up call
is the reality I keep

Hopefully we'll meet again
perhaps in dreams tonight
When in our old four poster bed
you'll kiss and hold me tight

As poets our lives must seem too short,
and filled with so much pain.
We seldom receive recognition in time,
no sunshine, to brighten our rain.

But as poets we live more than most,
the good times and the bad,
and we get to share our adventures with you,
dear reader, both happy and sad.

But what catches your eye, and comforts your soul,
are the tragedies we relay.
Because there is always some comfort in finding,
you're not the first, to come this way.

And so as poets, we continue to write
and attempt to connect with our words,
to the people who know, why we do what we do,
and not those who think its for the birds.