The older I grow the faster time flies
Wish my calender was telling me lies
I could try to stop earth from spinning around
But it is impossible to slow it down

Hath no man called upon thee?
While walking upon Earth's highway

Desperate to find the answers to life's many questions
Far too many people have their own opinions

Looking and searching until life is no longer fun
Clouds and rain do overshadow the heat from the sun

Emptiness within me while in a crowded room
The bitterness, the gall of despair, which over me doth loom

Hatred, anger, bitterness, doth fill my life
All I've ever wanted was a world without strife

Yet I have found nary a place to rest
To unburden my weary head from all the unrest

Happiness to me is an unknown
For I have traveled these many roads, all alone.

Written by:
Jason Cheney
April 17, 2022

I heard your music
Off-key and beat behind tune
I still tapped my feet

magic depends upon believing

and in the dingy hotel room
the ***** in a red dress
the poet and the pen

*** without love

manuscripts that no publisher will read

she removes her earrings
puts them on the bible
on the night stand

and he throws her down
on the ink stained mattress like
a bouquet of dead roses

he beats her

tenderness
is the old woman
in the alley
covering herself with garbage
to keep warm

tenderness is the wolf and the lamb

he rips off her red dress
and he climbs up the mountain
through the ice and snow

tenderness is the wolf kissing the lamb

but
if we can find
magic
between warm thighs
that lock us in
tightly
tenderly
like our mother's arms
keeping us from death
if we can laugh
walking along that thin wire
where shadow and life marry
where the lions wait
in the witchwood of our dreams
where angels sing and dogs howl
if we can smile
at children playing  
and sometimes cry,
if we feel the warmth
from someone elses hand

then I say.

pump.

deep and fast
between empty eyes
that can hold
no wonder any longer,
climb up through the
ice and snow
and never be found,
and when you get to the top
of that mountain
keep climbing

magic depends upon believing

For the time has come, and all of us can see
You are not all is said to be
Land of the free, a promise of liberty
Only a distilled version of reality
Because in this world, our eyes will never meet
There is no connection between you and me

Could it be the remembrance of southern trees
Or the scent of magnolia in the breeze
For you to believe you are still better than me?
Be it colored, all that is outside of white
My people put up a good fight
Our eyes open but you wish them closed
Souly to be forgotten
Like the names of my ancestors I will never know

Years of despair
Our diaspora now everywhere
Your destruction sails from sea to sea
Berlin as the start, oh how you scattered us to parts
A tryst of greed with some tea
Railroads our only opened doors
Forced onto this shore, we had always wanted more
The motherland was never yours

But fear is the only language you speak
For the time has come and we all now see
You were never one to bring peace
And never what was said to be