Merry revellers
cast one glance on me
before your mind wavers
throw me one penny

My eyes are deep in socket
but ears are sharply keen
catch jingles in your pocket
silver's pompous din

Pray not be too aloof
need a lil of your pity
a penny can't buy a roof
can buy a crumb for belly

It wouldn't hurt you much
for one less from too many
merry revellers before you rush
toss my way one penny.

in nightfall's grey hour
look intently into the reflection
peer into the face looking back at me
trying to find the flaw in the heart of that stranger i see
seeking to mend what cannot be
if you look within you will never see
what is and what should be

rain infects the last of the daylight
and i walk out into it raise my face to the heavens
cleanse the soul of guilt and pain
from the evil that you refrained
from deed that would have stained
if you look within to see broken dreams that have remained
look within will leave you insane

night has come
darkness will hide you
tears will obscure
what you really should be living for
light kiss upon the tender thought before
and you will find what love really is to your core
mend this heartache you dream to see what is in store
there is a tender true love that awaits for
you to open your hearts door

my empty hands sprawled
the healers of magical minds watch intently
as i rush to speak all my madness thoughts
as i spill the visions and voices that come to me in the night
they pour out onto the madhouse floor
stained like blood red wine
sharp taste to the minds electric eye
wrap tin foil around your fingers when you type
lest the alien signature machine sees you in a dream

the healers of a magical mind
tell you of reality that you cannot see
they give you small pills to make it all better
to soak up all the fears
your magic mind speaks inside your ear
tells you not to swallow the pills
that they make your face look funny in the mirror
that they control you with secret machines
in magazines

sit on the bare floor
straight jacket wrapped warmly around you like loving arms
and watch the cursed moon rise neath the clouds
sing in a whisper to the voices in your head
your eyes wide open
to the magical mind

the leaves turn as they fall
twisting on the breeze in a
dance of winters hand on my world
hurry along the path
each footfall scattering the leaves with a
dry rasping sound

winter cold the air harshly grasps at me
as landscape spread in brilliant white snowfall
makes a trial of this inevitable trek in morning light
my books and papers heavy if only in a worrying mind
scrawled there the first words of poetic heart
ill defined the weight of the matter at hand  
joyful poems of a true beauty lover
and my desire for her affections
this itself is the rub
winters hand
cannot write a warm thought

now all these years and poems later
my eyes open
my heart hearing
this new winters day fades into view
and still i struggle to cross the snowbound landscape
with the weight of a thousand words
with the self deception of a young heart believing
the promise of warm loves where hope springs eternal

the leaves turn
dance of winters hand on my world

this whole empty room thing
will be the death of me
cant stand another day of the echoing darkness
mocking my every word
spoken softly with tired lips
bleed me slow of ideas
watch it all circle the drain

this whole empty room thing
all the people said it would be so good for me
all the people thought what a vacation
from all those dark and ***** deeds
all those love poems full of poison

this empty room disease
crawling in my heart
have i given up
has the world forgotten me
there will be no rescue
there will be no sunshine day to come
no sweetest smile to save me

this empty room
silent all these years
filled with words i cant take back
filled with faces leaving
full of faces leaving
leaving

for a brief moment
caught in remembering
vividly she came back to me
the sunlight on her face
strands of her reddish blonde hair
floating free in the small space between us

what words passed between us
long since faded
but the heart remembers the love
known between us that day
with a clarity that speaks so clearly to me
the heart knows what the mind fails to hear

and my heart still speaks of you to me
still sketches your beautiful face in my dreams
in such sweet living breathing quality
i cannot help but feel that i lost a world of love
when i lost you

your hand in mine
our souls still linger in each others arms
kissing tenderly and passionately like lovers do
at least that is what my heart tells me

sepia paintings of days long since gone
the rattle of a shopping cart at two am
the sounds of leaves stirred by wind in the
golden glow of streetlight
the close smell of the car my mother drove
the oil and vegetables
perfume and cigarettes

the summer sunlight shattered to
pinpoints on the lakes water
its warm liquid spills slowly over the toes
of laughing children eating sandwiches

lantern held up in the deep wood
the path dispersed in the shadows dancing
each gravel stone that scatters underfoot
each windswept hour spent retracing our lives
passed with incredible clarity

prison of memory
rattle the cage seeking attention of the jailer
plunder what moments he gives
what crumbs fall from his full table
he chews loudly at the meat of your mind
clean shaven his robust frame stuffed into the tight uniform
his keys replay the songs of freedom to the ear
his meaty fist inked with brutality
there is no soul in his gaze

remember me
so that i can say that i left some mark on this world
remember our laughter that sang out into summer night
our hands entwined in the warmth of our hearts
so that what i leave behind is true to my heart

the dry lips of spoken poems
leave this dreamer
with a heart full of words

Oh how wonderful words are
They can empower
they can uplift
they can entertain giving someone the courage to attain their dreams
Oh how powerful words are
They can cut deep they shatter dreams killing one's ambition to never achieve.

Written by Keith Edward Baucum

beauty in a box
look at her blush
we dream little foolish dreams of her
she just smiles and asks for coins
her hair dyed blue and silver
her eyes dyed green

her pouting lips curl
at the trash mouth who talks in such little letters
you rebound with compliments and roses
little gestures she gets all the day long
little men in camera frame
dark ones and bright eyed sultry ones
tumble out onto her soft bed
like clowns falling from their miniature car
see them laugh see them cry
all little men come calling roses in hand

beauty in a box
watch her rattle round
comes close to the camera
kisses blown soft velvet and neat
her laugh tenderly in my ear
i linger in her eyes and see sunlight there

January cold desolate;
February all dripping wet;
March wind ranges;
April changes;
Birds sing in tune
To flowers of May,
And sunny June
Brings longest day;
In scorched July
The storm-clouds fly
Lightning torn;
August bears corn,
September fruit;
In rough October
Earth must disrobe her;
Stars fall and shoot
In keen November;
And night is long
And cold is strong
In bleak December.