Doing a dance,
to wear a mask,
To play a game that you can’t stomach . . .
Just so that the truth doesn’t have to face you,
The way you recoil from reflections of yourself.

You’d forsake your happiness, your health —
                                                  You would burn it all.

To do a dance,
To wear a mask
To play a game you’ll always lose.
             To look in a mirror . . .
             To tell an image, that it’s anything but you.

And it is in that moment, that you'll find
                           You’ll tell the unfamiliar truth
As you bleed and feed
                           Your own obliterated youth . . .

To feel, and then
                          to lose —
Just like the loss you always knew

                          You would find in disappointment.
Like an unholy anointment
                          of your least desirable possessions
That retire from the heavens
                          Back to you.


To betray, and to amuse
                                                          A­lone.
The ides of irony rejoice!
               For they’ve found their lamb... or
their ever-dying muse.
                 Forsaking life itself, you clamor
To see others just like you.

And maybe, one day, one will choose
           the path that you can’t leave,
As it reciprocates to thee —
            Two partners in misery, fated to excuse
the waste of each other...
            until they find there’s nothing left.

To feel the flame within its breath consumed.

Wearing a mask,
To live a lie,
                And die a death,
                Whose dance you six-times misstep


                              And on the seventh, betrays you.
​

“Gently”

Gently hold my hand once more
and look me in the eye
let me see you smile again
before you say goodbye

For all the miles and all the trials
and all the tears we've cried
right now all I want to do
is stay here by your side

And hold you once before I go
for my time's yet to come
and as you know I've got to go
and face another sun

So, gently I will kiss you now
and gently say farewell
where our paths will cross again
only God can tell

But
I'll hear you in the evening song
that whispers through the trees
and I'll see you in the morning sun
that rises in the east

yes,

I'll remember all the love
you gently gave to me
and I'll forever give it back
as you did, so gently

“The Accidental Caretaker”

The accidental caretaker
has found his way back home
He's traveled far and traveled wide
to find his birds have flown
The western wind will tell the tale
of journeys he has known
and all along the rugged road
his destination known

The accidental caretaker
will leave here once again
He's always heard the siren's song
somewhere 'round the bend
down along the waterfront
he'll find his journey's end
the moonshadow will lead him on
to find his long lost friend

The accidental caretaker
has put away his shoes
his time is done for spotlights filled
with other people's blues
He's found a place to hang his hat
and listen for the news
of how and why and where and when
he'll pay his final dues

The accidental caretaker
has found his way back home
He's traveled far and traveled wide
to find the words he'd known
The waves will crash, the sun will set
on journeys he has known
and all along the rugged road
his destination known
his destination known

“Prisoner”

I'm a prisoner of my heart
I'm a prisoner of my soul
of the silent nights apart
of your touch that made me whole
Of searching through the trees
to find the path I'd lost
of the overwhelming joy
embraced at any cost
of looking for the line
in the poem that you wrote
full of unfiltered truth
in a little post it note

I'm a prisoner of my heart
I'm a prisoner of my soul

I'm a prisoner of my mind
I'm a prisoner of our times
of the search for empty words
to fit in time and rhyme
Of the visions from my past
that haunt me in my dreams
of what's never meant to last
what's never what it seems
of listening to the wind
sing like old ceramic chimes
I'm a prisoner of my mind
I'm a prisoner of our times

Bound in chains
from the stardust that we're built from
Bound in chains
in the shadows where we belong
Bound in chains
in the deck this hand was dealt from
Bound to play this hand
Bound to sing this song

I'm a prisoner of my love
I'm a prisoner of my tears
of the long forgotten memories
from the long forgotten years
of the times when it was magic
when we held the magic wand
of the love that lasts forever
even as we're lost and gone
of the sight that keeps me blinded
of the blindness that's finally made clear
I'm a prisoner of my love
I'm a prisoner of my tears

Bound in chains
from the stardust that we're built from
Bound in chains
in the shadows where we belong
Bound in chains
in the deck this hand was dealt from
Bound to play this hand
Bound to sing this song
Bound to find the key
to unlock the chains all along

I can pretend what you say doesn’t bother me,
Wipe it off my face and,
Replace it with a winced smile,

But the moment you act on your emotions,
I can’t pretend it doesn’t hurt,
For it is far to painful to see,
that you don’t care what you’re doing to me.