I am wrapped up in my own imagination, I am looking for a new sensation. I am trying to find something to fill an empty space. I want to know if true satisfaction exist. I often have to settle for momentary pleasure, I am not sure how I can measure each experience against the next. What some call *******, I call getting by. Perhaps one day I will die. All I know is that I suffer from anxiety, unless I can find something to satisfy me. So I may appear normal to you on the outside, but I am what some people consider twisted inside.

The forces of life turn me inside out while the sun and moon look on as witnesses with glee. The birds swirl around my head as I swoon for lack of reprieve from my grief. I feel as though there are magnets in my feet as I try to stand, only to fall over and over again. Up and down I go in a torrent of emotion as the cosmos takes sadistic pleasure in my torment. I look for solid ground upon which to stand but I still cannot pull back in my emotions, so I simply collapse and succumb to the pain of lost love as I am left to writhe in pain at your feet.

Screams of hatred spill out over the airwaves. Through the computer lines they are sent. God has commanded me is the call to persecute a neighbor. Submit to what I believe God is or die. Horrific acts are committed and millions are robbed and displaced. In the name of religious ideologies, these things are done. Who is this God of which people speak? Why does he not show himself? One group says he spoke to them, and another say he told them what to do. Let actions be the bench mark of whether or not a God is just, let us see for ourselves. If what you say is true, then teach it openly, and you will not need a gun or a sword. Yet fire and destruction still are brought in the name of God, by people who's perception has become twisted to the point of lunacy. If God is in truth a judgmental God, then can he not speak for himself?

Wanting to embrace love, but confused by a torrent of emotions. I am not sure how to share my feelings for fear that I might push you away. We complete each other as friends, but I am sure we could be so much more. I long to show you how I really feel, as I sit here in an emotional storm. My heart wants to explode from the pain that it feels when you are not with me. I cannot imagine a world without you. I feel the winds of time passing and I must find the courage to decide before it is too late. Until then, my emotions are twisting in the wind as I try to muster the courage to tell you how I really feel.

To give to another and ask nothing in return, this is love. To sacrifice in silence so another can live, this is love. To endure hardship to make things better for another, this is love. To be nailed to a cross for crimes that are not your own, this is love. In all these things unconditional love lives.

The light from the Strawberry sun shimmered on the sky creating a Cherry hue as it blended with the Pink atmosphere. The Blue clouds floated on by with Silver linings around their frayed edges. I lay in the Golden grass looking up into the heavens waiting for Lemon-aid to come falling down.

The heat from the Sun shines down in the middle of the day, the river beds are dry and the wind blows the dust up around children at play. I sit on the ground and wonder when it will get better. I look to heaven hoping for some sign of change, but nothing seems to come. No cloud can be seen not even a wisp of rain. I put my head phones in my ears and turn on the radio. I listen to music then the news. I hear stories of far away places from nations I may never see. I wonder how they can be just like me. In a summers day in California, I learn that I am not alone. That others in places I have not known are suffering the same fate as I. Thousands of miles away in a different land but not under a different sun as the one I sit under now.

Ground is opened in the urban sprawl. Dark earth sits where concrete and asphalt use to be. The dirt can breathe once again after years of being kept under a stony tomb. Now green things take root and grow. Food is produced by the hard work and sweat of those living in the masonry covered towers. The idea of hope is taking root as more buildings are reconfigured to allow for green spaces to blend into the urban landscape. In slow movements forward, the towers of cement and steel are being joined by cabbages and pole beans. The life is returning to a once desolate place and things are living in cohabitation under a new sun.

The sky is many colors and the sun is shining bright. All things are peaceful and all the wars are quiet. Love has replaced hate and tolerance has taken the place of dissent. All people can sit together and talk in the same place. Differences are encouraged and not thought of as something that makes us week. All points of view are listened to and we can agree to disagree. Hunger has been replaced with plenty and children can play instead of having to hide in fear. We are all joined as one humanity under a rainbow sky.

Pushing up against the turning wheel, only to be ground down again. Trying to lift a burden that cannot be borne. Under the weight of the mill stone that has been placed on you. Struggle as you might, the oppressor keeps pushing you down. You grind away your life trying to climb up off of your knees only to be pushed back down. Under the weight of the mill stone that is keeping you weighted down.

Stars look down on all of us. The light from far away does not know where it will end up. It comes from the distant reaches of the Cosmos and shine on to the earth like jewels in the curtain of night. Though the sky seems vast, in comparison to the greater universe it is very small. We all are under its shelter and are covered by it's veil. The same light that shines on one, shines on all. In all of this we are treated equally by the Cosmos. The stars hold no resentment or malice. They simply exist to provide light that in turn gives life. If all would stop and just look at them, perhaps all of us could come to understand that we are all living under the same sky.

The path I walk is not easy, the road has twist and turns. Sometimes the pavement will tilt or I will hit one of life's potholes. Yet I am confident that it is the right road, for it has built my charter and given me strength. A straight and even path might be easier, but on an uneven road, I have  found my true self and that is a person with which I can live .

Join hands one to another. Link each man, woman and child. Feel the warmth of another persons soul. Reach out and build something worth while. Let the older teach the younger lessons learned from mistakes in life. Let the younger help the older live in aged wisdom with dignity and honor . Set with each good deed a foundation upon which lives are built. Help out each other in a daily walk to link our needs and abilities to fulfill a brother and sisterhood that surpasses the bounds of age, gender or race. Live in harmony with each person and help everyone to find their place. Plant seeds of hope and not discontent. That we shall reap a harvest of peace and not of strife. Let each and everyone of make it our personal mission to change another's life.

Its 3:30 in the morning and a child is crying. A single mother gets up though she is bone tired. She sings to her little one and sees that it is fed. Then wearily crawls back into her bed. Up again before 7:30 so she can catch the bus, to a job she really hates, but do this she must. A nurse makes rounds on the morning shift, just as she is about to get off a call comes in. A house fire has occurred and a burned child is on the way, 3 twelve hour days and she has to stay. A policeman keeps watch through the evening and into the night. Its Saturday and he missed his little girls play. He watches the video of it at 4 am, hes proud but its not the same. As we go through life, we often forget of those who struggle and sacrifice just to make it by. People who go above and beyond to help the rest of us. Unsung hero's that make possible daily life.

With howling winds and crashing waves around me I charge forward. Into the darkness of night I plunge. In the cold of winter through snow and ice I rush forward. When someone is being oppressed I am there. When the helpless cry out, I answer with mercy and hope. I am only one of many who deny injustice a place to live. I defend the weak and the helpless. Regardless who may give me the orders, I am ready to stand tall. In all things I swear fidelity and loyalty to my cause. Arm and arm with my brothers and sisters I make a personal sacrifice, even if it means my life. I am an American warrior and when my duty comes I will answer the call.

The air is dry and the grass crackles and burns in the summer heat. I gasp for air as the heat rises. I look for relief and pray for rain but still nothing comes. All I can do is stare at the dust and long for the cool of winter. This is  the life I was born to and what I must currently live.

I was born into nothing, I came from a broken home. My mother had 9 children I had nothing to call my own. I cut my teeth on violence and my best friend was a gun. From the grit and dirt of poverty I fought to become #1. I got my first scar when I was just 11 and by 14 I had made my own rep. I had 2 bodies on a slab and no one would mess with me. I found that money equaled power so I did what I had to do. I bought and sold peoples lives just to make it through. From behind the sights of a 9 I see the world go by. With a few grams of the right ****, I can get the whole world high. In the spirit of capitalism, I live for the dollar that brought me out of the streets. From the war zone that was my neighborhood, I walk to a different beat. At 21 I got caught up because of some weak *** little snitch. By 22 I was walking free because someone found him face down in a ditch. This is not the path I chose, this is just the way of my life. I survived the circumstances to which I was born to rise up from the street and take what I wanted from life.

The things of life are built upon clay and sand. They shift and are lost in a moment. There is a sure foundation upon which I will stand, the stone rejected by the builders that has become the head of the corner. In a life of perfection and humility, Gods only son became the rock of faith. In him there is no wavering, he sits four square on solid ground. Through his sacrifice he gave redemption. By his agony we are given hope. I will stand upon what he has become, he is the foundation he is the corner stone.

Concrete sidewalks are lined with shops. Neon lights flash in windows. Shop merchants sell what every you can afford. Music blares out from back alley clubs and people drift in and out looking for a good time. Girls stand on the boulevard and wave at passing cars, they offer a remedy for their loneliness for a price. The soul of the city beats slowly, and people blend into the background. Images are lost as night becomes day. The shadows cast in neon are replaced by the sun shining off of towers of glass and steel. The mirrored surfaces shield the people who sit high above the concrete sidewalks from the truth of life below. Like a thousand dots people rush about trying to make a living, hustling for the coin of the realm. Then the sun arch back towards the west and shadows fall again. The landscape transforms back into it's previous form. Renewing the urban life of those who call the city home.

The city has changed from what it used to be. Old buildings are torn down and new ones take their place. Streets are paved over and torn up. People in suits come and promise to make things better, but nothing ever comes of it. While one neighborhood is lifted up, I can't afford to live there anymore. I am shuffled off to the last place that was renovated. 20 years ago when I was born, This was the new thing, new buildings clean streets and lots of hope, but none for someone like me. I couldn't afford it then as I could not afford the new neighborhood where I used to live now. They talk about urban renewal, but they never do anything to bring change to the people, they only redo the buildings and make more money which none of us ever see. So much for the idea of being renewed. My home is gone and I am back where I was before. In what used to belong to someone else, I now live in their hand me down lives they have been upgraded, but there is no renewal for me.

Take the hair from that person and the voice from that one. Put them into my frame and take the smile from another one. A cut here a nip there and soon I am not what I was. I have redone the portrait that heaven painted in me, all for my own vanity.

I take life with teeth that glisten like steel in the sun! I bite at my enemies and tear at them! I come in dragon ships with shield and sword. I live for the battle and the glory of the end. I am feared among many though few can speak my tongue. Life to me is victory or death, I raid and pillage at will. I shall be remembered only in myth and song. When time has long past, the legend of my fearful ways will live on. To become horrible legends that terrify children and women in the night. I am a Norseman, by name a Viking.

The sky looks blue and the clouds are white. The sun is golden and the wind is soft and warm from the south. Fields are flowing with color of wild flowers. Birds are singing songs of mirth and serenity. Fires burn out of control and the sky is black with smoke. The corpses of half burned animals litter the ground. No song birds can be heard, just the crackle of fire and the sound of death. The wind whips up a furious fire storm and the smoke chokes the life out of every living thing. Both are possible futures for human kind, which one will we choose.

A carnival filled with laughter and colorful costumes as people dance and play. Music sweeps through the air and brings joy and sorrow to the heart. The feeling of mirth is everywhere, but you feel hollow and alone. Among a crowd that has come to celebrate, you know only emptiness. You wish that you could become part of the fabric of the celebration, but the colorful array of people and the air of celebration only reminds you of your state of mind. So you walk on through the crowd and try to smile, but the vision you have of what you would like life to be is skewed by the fantasy that is playing out around you.

I want to look pretty for my time with my daddy. I want to make everybody happy. As we walk up to the building with the high fences and the tall towers, I think it looks like a castle. The tall man with the keys talks to mommy and lets us past the gate. We have to put our stuff through a big humming box, then we have to wait. I hear a buzzer go off and we walk through another door. We get our name tags and sit and wait some more. Finally we are taken down a long hall, we walk across the shiny floors and between dark walls with no paint, they are just gray. Out a small window I can see more fences and tall towers, mother motions me to come on. Finally we enter a cold room with more shiny floors, the chairs are made of plastic and there is a mean lady at the door. She doesn't smile, she only turns her key, then rattles them as she takes us to our seat. After we wait some more, my daddy finally walks in. I reach out to hold him and he hugs me and puts me down again. We sit down and we talk or at least he and mommy do. I just sit and smile just like I always do. Soon we get some cookies and a drink from a machine. Then we sit and talk some more, until its time to leave. Daddy has to leave first, then mom and I walk away. I wave at him as he looks back with tears and I wonder why he always cries this way. We go back out the way we came in as I hear the last gate close. I wonder why daddy lives in a castle and he can never visit us at home?

Pink elephants and unicorns, fluffy white clouds and bunny rabbits. Leprechauns, and goblins, talking owls and purple kangaroos. Oh what things you can imagine when you really want to. To stop a moment and see such things without taking a drink, is to remember childhood wonder. In an adult world where our focus is only on what is in front of us, taking a moment to see an old imaginary friend could be quiet a wonderful thing.

Hear the sound of shop doors opening, and smell the fresh baked bread. Feel the smooth cobblestones beneath your bear feet as you hear an Italin morning begin. Sit on the beach and watch the Green water roll in with white surf. Sip on a chilled Coconut drink as the sun sets while warm tropical breezes filled with scent of exotic flowers envelops you. Ride across a Dusty Savannah with a camera and binoculars in hand. Pour cold water over your face and wipe away the grit of the sand. Sit quietly in the back of a Jeep and watch a lion pride at play. Take some once-in-a-lifetime photos, as they lay quietly under the shade of an ancient tree finding relief from the heat of the day. Hear the twang of banjo music, and walk along some old creaky boards. Step back a hundred years as you find odds and ends in an old General Store. Look above a small country town as clouds encircle mountain peaks. Listen to a couple of Old-Timers tell tall tales as a old dog and young children sit at their feet. Have a mason jar full of White Whiskey as you sit in an old rocking chair. Soak up the history of a place that seems forgotten, but where the people are friendly and still show they care. Take time out of your life to go out and visit the world. Don't simply hide in your personal shell, bring some of what others have to offer back with you and leave a part of yourself behind. Enrich your self and others lives with new experiences, that you might not otherwise find.

Here she comes hell in heels. Five foot ten with raven locks. She makes all of the boys come to a stop. Ample cleavage busting from her tailored dress, a tight waist and hips that rock. Swaying back and forth like a Willow in the wind, just one kiss from her dark red lips could spell your end. Perfume so subtle you barley know it's there. Then it puts you in a trance and you lose all will to care. She toys with you then cuts you loose. Her stare can melt ice from across the room. What ever man desires a real *** kitten. Be careful that you don't fall prey to the *****.

I am not a hero, I do not work for any pay. I will never perform in a grand theater, but what I do is important anyway. Whether laying  bricks to bring clean water or teaching someone how to plant a field, I give my all to what I do. There are no medals for what I give nor do I ask any accolades. My days are often filled with dreary work and I am tired at the end of the day. What I have to offer isn't for sale, it is something money cannot buy. I bring my heart and caring when I volunteer to help others I give of my love my life and my time.

It is repugnant, it is unconventional, it is unseemly, so say the critics and the self righteous. The action is unholy, it defies social norms, what ever it is at the time. Vulgarity, need not be contrived to be offensive, it only need go against the sensibilities of societies wishes. ******, to one is art to another it is *******, all in good conscience. One man wears a fine suit and another a **** cloth and sandals, who is to be called holy. In one time robes and skirts make a man, in another they are for those of less than manly stature. All things can be ******, it is simply what personal perspective is at the time.

In a land not far from the sea by a lonely well a woman I did see. In a dream she looked at me as if I was lost. I asked her could I have some water and what it might cost. She gave me a puzzled look and said that she would draw it for me but that there was no charge for the water was free. She said I was once like you, I was lost at this same place until one day, a stranger came by this way. She said I was waiting by the well and he asked me for something to drink, then he told me about who he was and every thing I had done. Once he had finished, I felt so ashamed, then he gave  me water and everlasting life and now I never need to drink or thirst again. I went my way and told what he had done she said,  I proclaimed how I had met Gods only son. The people came to the well and many that day believed. So now I wait by the well for others to come and find me. I witness about the water of eternal life and of God gave us his son, Jesus the Christ.

Suffering through trials wondering when they will end? Questioning in prayer why it takes so long. Then when all seems for naught, peace comes and you realize that God was always there.

Leaves depart from trees and clouds move by mountains that sit quietly until a single drop of water moves a pebble and a fisher forms rending tons of rock asunder. In a moment one mountain becomes two and the trickle of water cascades into a new river that took a measure of time that no man can count to create . While we run around seeking solutions to problems that have existed for an eternity in the counting of mortal time, the answers are already there, we just have to wait on God to act on them .

Days go by then month and years, yet nothing seems to move. The sun rises and the sun sets and time wears on. Listening in anticipation and wondering when oh Lord. In silent prayer a quiet voice says not yet. As rosy cheeks become scarred with laugh lines and wrinkles form. Youth gives way to age with white hairs replacing those of younger self. In silent prayer you ask when and a quiet voice says not yet. Then decades have gone and sorrow has been all but forgotten. Hopes have faded and still you quietly pray. Through mortal eyes life has passed by and hope is gone. At a moment appointed, when the world says it is not so, God arrives and says it is time. The fulfillment of a promise the completion of a journey. All things are fulfilled and all things are made new. Though time has passed in the worlds eyes, only a few eternal  seconds have gone by as you have been waiting on God.

Life lays in shattered pieces, pottery to be returned to the dust. Dreams have fallen by the wayside, old pursuits have come to nothing. Sitting among the ruins of things once hoped for, I look up to heaven and ask what is next. I do not know where to go from here or what road I must take. I sit idly and contemplate all of these things. I wait on the Lord and hold my peace, waiting for him to guide me.

The snow has lost it's luster and the winter has stayed too long. That which was beauty is now cold and uninviting. Oh how I miss the song birds and the soft gentle breezes, for now is the season that the grip of sleep must relent on the earth and the new life must come forth. So I will sit idly by my window and watch the sun cast an even longer shadow as the ice melts drip by drip from the trees. Until I can see the ground again, I will be waiting on the Clover to let me know it is spring.

You said you needed to find yourself and I said that was fine. I let you go footloose and fancy free. I found a place to build a house but it is not yet a home, I wait on you patiently. You came back my way and we got to talk for a while, but you told me you had this big dream. So I let you chase your rainbow, while I worked on my life, but it is not complete yet, because you are not here. I found peace of mind and you found the end of your rainbow, though it wasn't what you thought it would be. You come running back towards home and there you finally saw me. I smiled with opened arms, but you just broke down in tears. You said you are sorry for wasting so many years. I told you it was all right that we can start like yesterday never was. I have always been patiently waiting on your love.

Stick me with a pin and roll me around to make sure I am cold. Shed no tears for me, but throw me a party. Call all of my friends and spend what I have left you. Celebrate who I was for now I am gone. Remember me fondly and try not to over do it. I would like to see you again, just not that soon. So let the music play and let your heart be glad. I have lived my life and now when it is said and done. Let all who care to throw a wake for me and wish me well now that I have moved on.

Putting on red heels and traversing a mile of a journey, doesn't equate to what a woman feels. When she is taken for granted and berated of her worth. No sacrifice a man can make of his humility or time can undo the pain she feels. All that you can do is make others aware and offer a helping hand. Then do all in your power to make sure abuse never happens again.

I fade into the ocean and let the surf crash over me. I let my form become immersed in the salty spray. The tide pulls back leaving me drenched in the salty brine. I step slowly and steady myself for the next ****** of the water as it is halted by the breach of the shore. Slowly I make my way, little by little being washed clean by the tide. The ebb and flow of the sea comforts me as I am deafened to all of the outside noise of my life. Then on a quiet dune I sit in the fading sun as I watch the tide recede and I long to go with it so that I might escape the mundane and troubled life that weighs me down.

When did kindness become unpopular? When did mercy get replaced? Why does a straight path not work, when you can see all the way to the end. When walking to honor God, and abiding by his steadfast word, your feet are set sure and you heart is filled with the truth. Giving reverence to others and seeking justice is not a sin. So let us forget some of our modern values and start walking in the old path again.

The snow crunches beneath your feet as you watch the sun glisten through icicles dangling from the limbs of trees. The cold wind whips through the frozen brown grass and shoots past your nose. A chill runs down your spine as you twirl around under steel gray skies. You walk along a familiar trail that not so long ago was adorned with wild flowers and colorful leaves, now it is barren and white yet beautifully pristine in it's own unique way. Down the way you go until you come to a frozen stream. The ice is thick, but spots are clear so you can peer into the water that runs beneath as if you are using a magic window to look into a secret world. The wonder of the cold envelops you and all of the beauty of winter surrounds you, until you are filled to the point of bursting. You finally turn back towards home, looking at a stone house with a warm hearth and hot chocolate. You shake off the cold and remove the layers of frost and wet snow, as you prepare to relate the wonders you have experienced while  walking in the winter time.

The shards of broken dreams lay all around me. The mirror that told me the truth has shattered. The pieces of sharp reality now cut my feet as I walk. Each shiny bit taunts me as the pain rises up from each labored step I take. I would move mountains to go back, but the cruel hands of time keep moving forward. So I must go on living with my mistakes and enduring the pain of walking on the glass that I shattered with my lies.

The path I am on is filled with the shattered shards of dreams that cut into my feet like so many knives. I watch the sharp edges as they cut into my soul reminding me to walk carefully. Life is a delicate balance of give and take. If the pendulum swings too far one way, then things get broken and shattered. That is when you will find sharp pieces of lost love and dreams laying all around the path that you have chosen to walk.

On a path straight and true, I walk each day. Often I carry burdens and find fallen souls along the way. There are often temptations of a quicker way to go, but I know what end lies down a different road. So I will labor onward in the narrow way. Each footstep is toward a sure victory at the end of the day. In the masters path I will follow all the way, praying for his strength and guidance while walking the narrow way.

Walk with me and share my burden. If for only a little while. Walk with me and show me something I do not know. Let me know what is in your heart. Walk with me and let us become brothers and sisters. Helping each other as we go on our way. Walk with me and let me help you. Take my strength and let me share your sorrow. Walk with me and lets us take away from each other lessons of life and charity. That we will move on and share with another that we can ask to come walk with me.

Come walk with me and hold my hand, take a journey with me and we can come to understand, all of life's mysteries. Come walk with me and I will show you love. I will show you happiness that only comes from heaven above. I will listen intently to all you have to say and take time to let you know, that you are important to me each and everyday . Come walk with me in the sun and in the rain. Hold me close through happiness and pain. Take this walk with me through out our lives and we can help each other discover what makes the journey worth while.

Outside looking in on the world, I feel as I am odd. A piece of a puzzle that doesn't quite fit, not sure where I should try to make an entry or what I should mesh into? I feel as if there are aged layers upon me as if I were an ancient thing waiting to be unearthed. So much of myself is a mystery and so much of the other world I see is unknown to me. I feel as if my skin is alien sometimes, when I try to open up a heavy weight comes crashing down on my efforts. Oh how I want to be accepted, oh how I just want to find a place that I can belong.

My mother couldn't stop having kids, it was the drugs that made her not care. Now I have no real home, the foster system is all that is there. I don't know who my real dad is, that is just a fact of life. My mother never wanted to be a family, she just wasted a good part of my life. Giving me off to who ever would take me, now I am stuck with my fate. I will be 18 soon, but until then, I am a ward of the state.