The young warriors
Danced around the flames
As they celebrated life
While the elders
Sat in a circle
Discussing the old and the new
Of the politics of
The tribe

One of the chiefs spoke
With pride as he
Watched them dance and sing
'We have won the battle my friends'
As he looked around
The circle of chief's
That bares the battles of war

The young warriors
Upon hearing this
Chanted with pride
In loud deep
Resounding voices
'We have won the battle
For our tribe, for our elders
For our women and children
For our Ancestors
We celebrate LIFE'

The chief in his wisdom
And knowledge, nodded
An acknowledgement to
Each of the chief's then
He spoke in his melodic
Yet strong voice

'My fellow chief's and warriors
We must pay homage to our God's
For their guidance, in the battle we fought
Not so long ago, we must also bow
Our head's for those whose lives
Were taken'….silence fell upon the group

Then as his voice raised
Loud for all to hear
'We give praise to our God's
For the right of way that lead
To our victory this day, and for
Those who passed before us
We honor our Ancestors and give
Homage to their departed souls'

Voices were raised as they
Sang in harmony as one by
One the elders, chiefs and warriors
Sang a song of respect and love
For those gone….

'We raise our voice
For those whom gave'

'There life and soul
To protect us all'

'We honor thee…
In all thine grace'…

'We honor your memory
With this song of praise'

'Hear us sing from
This day forth…the
Story…the legend
Of the battle fought'

The chants continued
On into the night
As they celebrated
Their tribe and new life

The woman kept on nagging me
my friend that is no fib
I can't believe they made her
from my godforsaken rib
I wish she had a sister
or a sympathetic friend
Cuz if I hear another word
it might just be the end

I guess that God almighty
must have heard my faithful plea
She's found a talking serpent
in the garden by a tree
They sit and chat for hours
about what I do not care
As long as I am over here
and she is over there

I think it was a Sunday
when my troubles all began
She showed up with a present
from her slimy serpent friend
A single, perfect apple
that was beautiful and red
I should have been suspicious
but I took a bite instead

All at once I noticed
she was naked thru and thru
And a cold wind made me realize
that I was naked too
I looked around for something
that would cover up my shaft
She handed me a fig leaf
and gave a mocking laugh

I said 'you find this funny
but you need to realize
Something here is different
and some evil’s on the rise'
She pointed at my genitals
which left me void of pride
'The only thing that's rising
is that thing you're trying to hide'

I spun myself away from her
a perfect pirouette
I didn’t know for certain
just how big this thing would get
She laughed at my confusion
and snickered at my shame
‘You’re the only man I’ve ever known
but I bet you’re all the same’

I said ‘we need to focus
on the matter now at hand
Maybe that old rattlesnake
can tell us where we stand’
And as I spoke these words to her
The serpent slid away
He said ‘I’d love to stick around
but really, I can’t stay’

As soon as he had disappeared
the ground began to quake
Old Yahweh came before us
and he said ‘for goodness sake!
Did you guys eat the apples
from that sacred apple tree?’
I said ‘it was this woman here
who gave the fruit to me’

The woman said ‘that rattlesnake
has played an evil trick
He took me to the apple tree
and bade me take my pick
He said I would be as a God
the smartest on the block
But all that really happened
was I laughed at Adam's ****'

Things were going very bad
I came to realize
It's bad enough we ******* God
but why insult my size?
Then Yahweh said 'I've heard enough
and cannot let this pass'
He tossed me from the garden
and I landed on my ***

A half a second later
Eve was flying overhead
She cleared my mark by 15 feet
and landed on her head
Two angels at the garden gate
advised us not to linger
Despite their wings and flaming swords
Eve gave them the finger

I looked into her smiling eyes
and found I didn’t care
She looked extremely lovely
with her finger in the air
All at once I understood
where I was meant to be
I could deal with any hell on earth
if she was there with me

Well now it’s been a thousand years
and I kneel at her grave
The only thing I ever loved
alas I could not save
I cast my eyes into the sky
and think about the price
Yes Eden was a garden...

But she was paradise

I tried so very hard you see
to accept Christianity
To believe that snakes in apple trees
can talk to maidens pleasantly
And a God that is both one and three
makes little sense mathematically

But the faithful ones insist that I
should never try to verify
‘Accept it all and don’t ask why
That’s how a Christian should comply’
But really I don’t think that I
can this dogma truly buy

But do not look so ill at ease
uncertainty is no disease
And even though we don't agree
it makes no difference to me
I simply, simply cannot be
a fan of Christianity

But now I see I’ve made you cry
please let it go and dry your eyes
There really is no reason why
So let me try and clarify
We simply don’t see eye to eye
on all the things we both decry

And now my rhymes are running low
but I’ve only got four lines to go
So I think it would be apropos
to end this dog and pony show
And to paraphrase the great Thoreau:

‘When we forget our learning, we’ll begin to know’



And now my friends, I have to go : )

I hardly knew my mother
and I barely knew my dad
But god I knew John Lennon
he was everything I had
I mimicked everything he did
my life was all the rave
Until the day that Chapman
sent my hero to his grave

That day still burns in memories
that time cannot erode
A generation's legend
shot and bleeding in the road
For me it was the final straw
that broke my timid chains
I vowed I would preach tolerance
and never hate again

I confess it isn't easy
to accept some points of view
and I find myself quite often asking
'What would Johnny do?'
But then I take a minute
and perhaps a couple more
Just until I'm certain
I won't knock you to the floor

(I'm still working on the tolerance part)