You are not like the other poems that I perform -
Each line and nuance,
Each metaphor,
All fail to trap your truth.

You are not like the other poems -
Though there is perfect meter
in your laugh,
And your eyes,
at times,
rhyme with the heavens.

You are not at all like the others -
With these hands,
you were not written
With these words,
you can not be spoken

You were stretched across the page
By something greater
By the shaper of things
By that which so easily reveals
The limits of our vain allusions

I am alive
I am still
I am patient
I feel, and listen, and hear
But I sing of neither joy nor sorrow
I simply stand long upon this ground
My voice is the unspoken sound
In my leaves I hold many smiles
I am the web of life
The web that sustains us
Nurture me and I will hold my strong branches high
I will shade the lovers
I will lift the swinging children toward the sky
I will breath my life into your life
For I am you and you are me
Let us give comfort to each other
And burry our entwined roots
Deep into the living earth

50 times around the sun
This life I’ve lived
These things I’ve done
Some days lost
And some days won
These 50 times around the sun

Gonna read it and run
Just read it and run
Keep being kind
Praise the earth
Raise my son
You see
I got plenty to do
Before I’m done

There’s still music inside
That hasn’t been sung
Love and forgiveness
That’s still on my tongue

No time to keep haulin’
The same **** around
And I don’t say that
To sound all deep and profound
It’s just the clock keeps ticking
I gotta cover more ground

I’m still evolving
On this world revolving
Old hates absolving
Old myths dissolving

Enough time gathering
What I think what I know
Now is the time
To start lettin it go
Just keep my truth
And loose all the show
Cause I’m 50 now
Ya know

One step ahead
Or one step behind
Chase all you want
But there’s nothing you’ll find

Cause the place where I am
Is where I’m supposed to be
I’m 50 now
Time to set it all free
And just be just be just be
In this fathom long body
Called me called me

Yeah, I know, my mama loves me
I know
I know
I know 'cause she's always tellin' me so

She pushed me out into this world
She stood me up on two feet
She put words into my mouth
And ideas in my head
She boxed my compass
Then let me sail away, secure
In who I had become

I’m sure, cause my mama loves me
Don’t matter what I do
Or where I go
She's just gonna keep on lovin’ me
I know
I know

Each breath
Each stumble
Each gain
Every one
She’ll be lovin’ just the same

To measure a man, they say
You walk a mile in his shoes
But to know a woman, a mother
You need to love a life with her heart

I know this now
'Cause I'm the one pushin'
Pushin' my own kicking and crying
Center of the universe
Up and out
And into the charge of days
Not all of which are gonna go his ways

But the love, mmm hmm
I know the love is gonna be there
Now I know
Now I know
‘Cause I’m the one who’s sayin’ so

Love gallops in
On wing'ed waves
A breath heaved up
From the briny grays

It climbs the shore
Above its own
As lovers do
While love is known

What passion gains
Can not be held
Though walls long built
Are quickly felled

Love tumbles in
Then slips embrace
So brief revealed
Its truth
Its grace

In a hushed sustain
The interval's spent
For the eternal too
Will soon have went

When beckoned back
By the mighty hand
That leaves white whispers
On the glassy sand

And a lover alone
With outstretched hands
Who still feels love
From where he stands

And seeming parted
Is not alone
But gathering strength
Amongst his own

To wait the return
To charge again
To know love's means
But never its end

Beneath two skies we sleep tonight
The dark fills mine as yours grows light
And though the miles do us divide
Love keeps near what horizons hide
For all it has is now and here
And things, as you, I hold most dear
So though we lie beneath two skies
One we'll be as we close our eyes

Each day my love finds new doors
And steps surely through
Deeper and deeper into what I am
Her eyes hold the key to every lock
And her touch trails gently
Along the dark, twisted tunnels
A man's feral life becomes
And yet, she knows the way
As she smooths my stones
To serve her path and purpose
Things become straight and light
The more they're traveled by
And she goes this way
More often each day