It's been a while since I've seen the sun
The stars
The sky
That edge to edge expanse that goes on forever
It seems we've been under a heavy cloud
of doubt, fear and anger.
With the doom and gloom hanging so low overhead
And the tragic condition of we here below
It's hard to imagine that there's a ray of hope to be found.
Such loss and rage reflecting the dark and shallow canvas above us,
and where do you turn to add color to this gray existence?

It's been a while since I've seen the sun, but today, it warmed me.  It illuminated the sky, broke through the clouds, and for a moment, embraced us down here in the midst of all our doom and gloom.  And tonight, if the clouds stay away, I will look up at the stars, so many millions and millions of miles away, and be encouraged in the fact that no matter what happens to me down here, it is all incredibly small compared to the grand design of the Universe.

They called him Wit the Mystic
though his real name was unknown.
Just another John Doe, he,
on the edge and most alone.
But with a dusty derby hat,
and a little dedication,
he became a vagrant wizard,
mastered prestidigitation.

Misdirection, sleight of hand,
the man could do it all.
An expert with a deck of cards,
or three cups and a ball.
And somehow, out of thinnest air,
with magic palpable and real,
he managed to manipulate,
create many a hand-out meal.

Oohs and ahs in multitudes
would shower him with praise.
He plied his trade with pride in spades
on even the rainy days.
Though masterful and powerful,
old Wit still struggled through-
living in the shadows, man,
can be a tricky thing to do.

Old Wit the Mystic had one trick
that he had always feared.
Alas, the man's last bow had come,
and then he disappeared.
Where the wizard ended up,
nobody really knows.
Among the stars and legends, or
with the rest of the John Does?

One nation under assault,
one nation under pressure,
one nation claiming greatness against
an outdated measure.
With liberty and justice stockpiled commodities
and legions of disgruntled youth
left to deal with the atrocities.
One nation under-loved
One nation over-policed
One nation claiming Jesus
wearing the tell-tale mark of the beast.
With hate in the left hand, and hate in the right,
and both hands balled up like we're dying to fight.
A New Day, they call this perpetual night
This suffocating darkness that chokes out the light
And EVERYBODY THINKS THAT THEIR SIDE IS RIGHT.

One nation underwhelmed by the policies they chose
One hypocrisy of a democracy, calling their own stink a rose
One thing after another, no wonder the kids are cynics now,
thinking "You CAN'T make it better, WE don't know how."
Love is lost in the struggle between apathy and hate
America, the beautiful.  America, the great.
America, the fractured paragon,
We cling to ghosts of a changing time
We've fallen for the distractions, and
our pedestal is too high to climb.

Oh brothers, oh sisters, what else can we do?
If you'll look out for me, and I look out for you,
just a ripple in this pool of ****
may clear the waters, just a bit.
But as long as there are white votes
black votes
Latino votes
left votes
right votes
there'll be no vote of confidence
in the future of these divided states.
We'll rip ourselves apart,
tear out our own heart
waving our flags the whole time
and claiming no blame for the divide.
God Bless America,
and do it quick.
All sides of this society
are dying or sick.

I've always struggled with tomorrow
Because I'm stuck on yesterday.
If I had some time to borrow
I'd probably **** it all away.
Because I'm lost here in the present
Afraid that all the best has passed.
It's hard to think about the future
With how long "nowadays" could last.

I've never struggled for the right words
But all too often used the wrong
I tend to sing out with bravado
Not knowing one word of the song
As causes go, I am a lost one,
I'm lack of reason, weight of rhyme...
I'll hit the chords with broken echoes
And fail to ever keep the time.

If I was still the sort to wish on stars
I'd find the one of deepest blue,
And I'd beg it with my everything
To bring my broken heart to you.
But stars, they seldom hear the wishes
Of men who chase their dreams away
And here in "many years ago", my dear,
Is no place you should have to stay.

I woke up today, and the Earth was still turning.  The sky is still up, my home is still here... the world, in all its splendor, still hangs silently in its little corner of eternity.

People are angry, spouting all kinds of vile words towards their fellow man.  They doubt their place in the world.  Yet, the world keeps turning.

People are scared.  They don't have power, and it's getting colder.  They don't know when things will get better, they just hope it happens before it's too late.  Still, the world keeps turning.

People are sick and dying.  People are losing loved ones.  They're incarcerated, they're unemployed, they're in trouble...  They're staring down the end, they're staring down death.  Things are tough all over.

But the world keeps turning.  It turned for eons without us here, and when we are all gone, it will keep on turning.  All empires rise and fall within its revolutions.  Any mark we leave on it will be lost to time and tide eventually.  Many hundreds of thousands of years passed without us and many more will pass after our departure.
So think REALLY HARD about our place here.  In the grand scheme of things, we're a really small part of the story of this planet.  You can choose to believe that it doesn't turn without you, that it is "the end of the world" when things aren't going according to YOUR plan.

You have a brief time on this planet.  Spend it on love, not hate.  Spend it helping, not hurting.  Spend it reaching out, not retreating inward; because after all, we're here for but a few breaths... why waste them?

It's hard here on the ground floor, surrounded by the street.
The scenery a still-frame, a cell set to repeat.
But I don't see your colors now, that patch of blue's gone gray
I hear your laugh cut through the crash of just another day
Time, again, finds us alone...
in the crushing nothingness of the crowds
I just want it to be gone
Want to shed my shadows among the clouds

It's quiet here in the recent past, reliving a silent beat,
An echo too weak to distinguish, yet still moving the Earth beneath my feet.
Still the subtlety's hard to decipher, the nuance is lost in the stroke
I numb any phantoms that linger, the world is cloud of smoke.
And time and again, it pulls me through
Running headfirst into hell.
Full circle, it seems, in whatever I do
Stopping just this side of well.

It's fleeting here in so-called prime of this distraction known as living
And I haven't asked for more than I have, but I'm taking what they're giving.
A single spark in the midst of a fire doesn't seem to warm the soul
But that same small flame can change the game if you add a little coal
We're hardened now, by time and heat
The pressure's always on
But maybe, when our time's complete
We'll be diamonds before we're gone.