John Keats
John Keats
John
Please put your scarf on.

Not all who wonder
                     are lost.
Not all who are frozen
                         defrost
Not all who are young
                            are foolish.
Not all who are emo
                                are ghoulish.
Not all who smile
                                    are happy.
Not all who laugh
                                        are peppy.
Not all who cry
                                              are sad.                          
                  
Not all that is gone was one had.

Don’t fear your fear
Or even anxiety –
Nagging Neurosis:
Even if it makes you pour with sweat
And tremble.

Don’t fight your fear,
Or seek to suppress it.
Don’t dumb it down
With tranquilisers and the like.

No need to be Superman,
Nor Wonder Woman.
No need for Spock-like Volcan
Emotional mind-control.

You aint a wimp
Because you are afraid.

Don’t bury your fear
Or shake it off.
Just Listen to it!
For Fear’s a Warning.
It’s doing a job.
A Red or Yellow Alert.
Warning You
About what?

Through fear we survive
To thrive.

In bygone days it saved us
From dinosaurs and sabre-toothed
Tigers.

What is the danger now?
What are you doing wrong?
How are you putting yourself
At risk?

What terrors lie along this path?
What are your instincts whispering
In your ear?

Intuition tells you what?
What is there to fear?
Just listen
And feel.
Embrace your fear.

Survive
To thrive.

Paul Butters

She's such a smooth talker
She could talk the rust right off of a nail
Given a chance at a Saturday dance
She could talk the slow out of a snail

I saw her wake up one morning
And talk the sun into sharing its shine
Then she went into the garden
And talked the melon right out of its rind

We went down to the ocean
Where she talked the blue out of the sea
That's the day I remember
She talked the love straight into me

My girl, she could talk a flower
Into giving its fragrance away
She could also talk the words out
Of a mute man with nothing to say

I took her to the park
She talked the kanga right out of the roo
That's the day she talked me
Into saying I love you

I've even seen my baby
Talk an ant out of its picnic lunch
One day on the side of the highway
A hitchhiker gave her his thumb

Whenever she plays storm chaser
This girl talks the wind out of its breeze
But she's not the only smooth talker
I talked her into marrying me

Please talk to me
and make me feel

something that is actually real

For now I sit and do not know

what emotion to carry in my soul.

They all have left and gone away,

never to forgo another day.

Help me think.
Help me feel.

Maybe, once again,
i shall become real.