There's a cabin on a hillside
Scattered leaves upon its floor
No curtains for its windows
No hinges for its door

A fireplace made of broken stones
Lined the outer wall
Outside becomes the inside
Painted by the Fall

A table in the corner
Where homemade bread would sit
A broken chair with wounded legs
Its binding, worn and split

Behind the cabin's hollow shell
A cross that marks the past
A tiny grave, that's filled with love
A daughter who had passed

This cabin tells a story
With hidden imagery
Filled with ghosts of yesterday
For all who want to see

A maker of clocks shares a secret
That only a few can know
For he alone decides your fate
With a clock that steals your soul

This village of twenty thousand
Gets smaller everyday
For when the clock strikes midnight
Someone will pass away

A deal was made with the devil himself
For a clock that was made of gold
And all who dared to live there
Would simply never grow old

The clock maker was the oldest soul
That the village had ever known
The people would pay for the clock maker's sins
With their souls they must atone

The devil had promised a soul for a soul
So the clock maker is two hundred and eight
But the rest of the village don't live to see forty
For the clock maker decides their fate

At a quarter 'til midnight, a name is drawn
From a box that's shrouded in black
The angel of death leads them away
Never to bring them back

The next time you see the clock maker
Be sure to ask him  his age
But if he smiles as the clock strikes twelve
Prepare to pay him his wage

I'm not really a poet
I've never claimed to be
The only reason I'm even here
Is because I can't watch my tv

See my wife hid my remote control
About a year or so ago
So I'm here killing some time
'Til I can watch my favorite show

I've been told so many things
About something they call "the flow"
I don't even know what that is
Unless they mean typing to slow

Then they say watch "the meter"
Well, I don't even own a car
So if it something to do with parking
I think that's kinda bizzare

They talk about "a syllable count"
But I guess nobody knows
That I can only count to twenty
If I use all my fingers and toes

One more thing they say a lot
Is something about "a rhyme"
Kinda like them bedtime stories
That mama read all the time

I just wanted to tell you this
In case, you didn't know it
I just want my remote control
Cause I'm really not a poet

Autumn leaves dance in the wind
As it's breath awakens the trees
The limbs tremble in defiance
As they try to resist the breeze

The trees shiver in the cool morning air
As the dew gives way to the frost
They know their armor will soon be gone
For all of their leaves will be lost

Winter stands ready to enter the stage
And for Autumn to relinquish it's hold
It's time for Winter to abandon it's slumber
And Autumn must welcome the cold

Winter demands Fall's allegiance
Like a General shouting commands
Autumn must follow it's orders
For the time of change is at hand

Winter's cold winds show restraint
As Autumn surrenders in shame
The trees bow in silence
With only Winter to blame

Winter takes it's rightful place
'Til Spring revenges Fall's death
But Winter will battle until the end
'Til it breathes it's final  breath

A warning to all the men out there
There's a reason to be scared
For when you reach the age of fourty
You better be very prepared

A physical becomes a nightmare
It's no longer just routine
For there's things going on in there
That's really quite obscene

Especially if you happen to mention
You might have a little obstruction
By the time you leave that doctor's office
It's feels like an alien abduction

He pokes and probes in places
You never knew were there
And when he gets those rubber gloves
It will give you a horrible scare

Just grit your teeth and close your eyes
For it will all be over soon
Try to think of happy thoughts
To take your mind off the moon

So, when it's finally finished
And you pay the doctor his money
You leave his office as fast as you can
While trying not to walk too funny

Well, I just wanted to warn you
That there's things you're gonna dread
So when your doctor says, "Touch your toes"
You'll remember what I said

A still frozen stream
Waiting for the sun to shine
Granting her freedom

Hibernating trees
Sleeping through Winter's stronghold
Dreaming of the spring

The weeping willow
Cries herself to sleep each night
While counting her tears

She tries to remember
His voice as she cries
Reflections of him
Can be seen in her eyes

Her memories betray her
With each passing day
Her smile, now broken
Has faded away

Her reason for living
Escapes her mind
She looks for a future
But none will she find

Her heart rendered worthless
It's shattered in two
One beat lay silent
The other askew

Her lover now sleeps
In a field of stone
As she's cursed to walk
This world all alone

Tomorrow is just another word
That I don't use much anymore
I keep looking back at yesterday
To the way it was before

The way things were before you died
When Christmas still had joy
Now Christmas trees and Santa Claus
Are too painful to enjoy

Christmas eve still passes by
The presents, all put away
This night is filled with tearful dreams
And the dread of Christmas day

Our fireplace holds no stockings now
Like it did when we first met
The gift you gave me, under the tree
I just can't open it yet

The thing I miss the most this day
I've missed for quite a while
It's the way your face would wake the sun
With your Christmas morning smile

Another Christmas has come and gone
Without you by my side
And though I cherish the birth of Christ
It's also the day you died

She writes in her diary
The events that's taken place
She locks in her dresser drawer
To hide it just in case

For it keeps all of her secrets
That's she's never told a soul
Things she's hidden in her heart
That no one will ever know

Its pages tell a story
Of her sorrow and her joy
Her memories wrapped in paper
That time cannot destroy

It holds her key to happiness
And even, the meaning of life
It tells of all her heartaches
That cut her like a knife

Her diary holds the mystery
Of where she's coming from
It tells of who she is
And who she wants to become

Pen and paper in a carboard box
Becomes a little girl's past
Her dreams, memories and heartaches
For as long as the binding lasts

There's Dasher and Dancer
Then Prancer and *****
Comet and Cupid
Then Donner and Blitzen

If you think these are reindeer
Then you would be wrong
And it's not crazy words
In some Christmassy song

See, they are my brothers
Don't anybody laugh
For these are hillbilly names
From Polecat Path

It's a place in the hills
In East Tennesee
On the top of a mountain
As high as can be

Here, Christmas is different
There's no reindeer or sleigh
We use an old covered wagon
It works better that way

We make toys in the smoke house
For most of the year
While smoking our hams
'Til Christmas is near

Then we load up the wagon
With granny on the reins
Her wooden teeth all gummy
With rootbeer stains

Now the wagon is pulled
By my brothers and I
We're plumb tuckered out
'Cause people can't fly

Well, you get the picture
About Christmas in the hills
It's a hillbilly adventure
On wagon wheels

Now there's much more to tell
But it's time to run off
'Cause we're loading the wagon
Your friend, Rudolph

Empty places that once were full
Are now my prison walls
The silence seems to mock my pain
As the voice of loneliness calls

The valleys now I wander quiet
The mountains,  all laid low
No way to climb, to be raised up
My heart, no place to go

Broken into a million pieces
Shattered, beyond repair
My journey ends in desolation
No one to meet me there

I hide my eyes to calm my fears
But the screams don't go unheard
Goodbye, is written inside my heart
A hollow and lonely word

A place like this is not quite hell
But it's as close as you can get
Reminded of the day you died
A day I can't forget

Okay, It's time to write a serious poem
Enough of that funny stuff
I can write one without the humor
It's doesn't look that tough

Let me see now, where do I begin?
The rain in spain falls mainly in the plain
Ok, this may be harder than I thought
And it could even be somewhat a pain

I know I can do it though, wait and see
This poem's not finished yet
I mean, it's only just words right?
How much harder can it get

Okay, now I think I got it
Just wait til you see my next line
It's coming don't get impatient
You just gotta give me some time

Alright now, I think I'm ready
Maybe a poem about romance
To be or not to be, no that's not it
Wait!, don't leave, give me another chance

Maybe I'll write about heartbreak
"Frankly Scarlett, I don't give a ****"
Alright, I give up, I would love to write this stuff
But I guess I never can

I guess my life's been chosen for me
I'm just on a different path
You can write the serious stuff
And I'll just make people laugh

I wish I could write a poem that rhymes
I've tried to do it a million times, or more
The words never seem for me to come
At least not as easy as it does for some, people

I just don't know what I should do
To get my words to rhyme like you, can
Well one of these days maybe I will
I'll finally write something I feel, inside

Why can't I find these words I seek?
Sometimes I hunt for more than a week, or two
I won't give up just wait and see
One day these words will come to me, maybe

Oh Wizard of Words lend me your ear
Help me to rhyme these words right here, sometimes
I think I can, well maybe I might
Think of a rhyme for me to write, today

No one will ever know my name
If my words don't rhyme or sound the same, way
I've finally come to my conclusion
Did you notice this poem's an optical illusion, of sorts?







Read it again and stop at the commas

I've never seen the rain so clear
As I do when it floods her eyes
I feel the pain she's going thru
Each time my little girl cries

How do I tell her that she's dying,
That her hero can't save the day?
Some kind of hero I turned out to be
I can't even say "It's okay"

Death is something she don't understand
I don't think anybody really does
She keeps asking me, "Will it be over soon?",
And, "I want it to be like it was"

What do I tell her when she asks me this?
I just hold her hand and smile
I say, "Don't worry sunshine, I know it hurts,
It will all be over in a while"

There's nothing worse than losing a child
It will tear your world apart
She says, "Thank you daddy, for being the hero,
That I carry inside of my heart"

As she utters those final words of love
She quietly closes her eyes
I gently kiss her on top of her head
As a piece of her hero dies

In the darkness there are places
That no one's ever seen
Guarded by a wicked one
A kind of devilish fiend

He rejoices over heartaches
And revels in our cries
He causes pain I can't explain
With love as his disguise

He catches all our teardrops
And brews them into tea
He drinks it with our broken dreams
That keep him company

He mocks us when we cannot sleep
In dark and lonely places
He reminds us of the love we lost
And shows us all their faces

Wayward hope become his teeth
To chew our broken smiles
He decorates his domicile
With all our pain filled files

In the darkness there are places
You will never wanna see
Guarded by a wicked one
Known as "Misery"

If you were gone I'd miss you dearly
I'd probably die of loneliness nearly
I would wake the moon and stars to see your shine
I'd see the coming heartache clearly
I'd write my words of love sincerely
I would walk a thousand miles to make you mine

I'd say your name with true devotion
I'd kiss your lips with pure emotion
I would do just about anything to see your smile
I'd walk across the deepest ocean
I'd make the world's first love potion
I would make your reason for staying here worthwhile

I'd try to stop the world from turning
I'd let you see a heart that's yearning
I would mend all the broken pieces that I lack
I'd cry until my eyes were burning
I'd show you all the things I'm learning
I would trace your every step 'til you come back

Here's another story that might be true
Or at least that's what I've been told
Don't tell my wife I told you this
Or I just won't live to grow old

It happened about twenty-nine years ago
Well, give or take a day
Now listen close to this story I'll tell
For it happened just this way

I met this girl back in nineteen-eighty
She was as fine as she could be
Well, I just couldn't stop checking her out
And she was looking back at me

I asked her for a date, and she said, "Sure"
So I took her to the picture show
We were sitting pretty close, while sharing a coke
When they turned those lights down low

In the pitch black dark my ears begin to ring
I heard a whistle that was loud and clear
So I told my date that I'll be right back
As my finger finally found my ear

I crammed that thing in knuckles deep
When I noticed that the whistle was gone
'Til I sit back down and the whistle came back
And that's when I started to yawn

So that's when it hit me like a ton of bricks
"This chicks got a hearing aid"
'Cause everytime that I'd lean away
That whistle would start to fade

Well, I thought I should be a gentleman
So that's when I started to (YELL)
I scared the girl nearly half to death
And out of the seat she fell

She said, "What's wrong with you, are you crazy?
I said, "I DIDN'T KNOW YOU COULDN'T HEAR"
She said, "Please stop screaming at the top of your voice,
Can't you see that I'm standing right here?"

Well, that's how it happened when I met my wife
And that's how this story goes
She had a real bad cold that night we met
And the whistle was coming from her nose

A poem is just a teardrop
A form of liquid pain
Released to pen and paper
Our words become a stain

The hurt that's bottled up inside
Can come out through our eyes
Promises made, but never kept
Are nothing but liquid lies

As the teardrop hits the paper
The words begin to form
Releasing all the pain inside
To calm the coming storm

Heartache is just another word
That's written by our tears
The pain becomes the writer's quill
'Til a little relief appears

A poem is just a teardrop
That's worded carefully
Liquid pain becomes a stain
And sets the poet free

Will you dance, if I gently hold your hand?
Lean on me, for I will not let you fall
It's not hard, it's like learning how to stand
Don't be shy, close your eyes and give your all

Will you smile, if I whisper in your ear?
I will tell you the secrets in my heart
It's okay, there's nothing for you to fear
I'm the painter, and you my work of art

Will you love me until the day I die?
I will love you forever and a day
We cannot let this feeling pass us by
It's just funny that love should start this way

Don't be shy, close your eyes my darling wife
Will you dance if I promise you're my life?

Trembling in my bed tonight
I cannot close my eyes
The movie on the late, late show
Says everybody dies

Now some say I'm a scaredy cat
But tonight is Halloween
What if someone kidnaps me,
And tries to eat my spleen?

I know there's no great pumpkin
Okay, maybe there is
What if he puts a spell on me,
And tries to make me his?

And I think that there's a monster
Who lives beneath my bed
I shiver and shake and stay awake
With covers over my head

There's something outside my window
And shadows on my wall
I think I hear some rattling chains
From the ghosts that's in the hall

Right then I hear this eerie voice
And feel this clammy hand
My wife says, "Hush and go to sleep,
You're supposed to be a man"

Trembling in my bed tonight
I cannot close my eyes
The movie on the late, late show
Says everybody dies

Now some say I'm a scaredy cat
But tonight is Halloween
What if someone kidnaps me,
And tries to eat my spleen?

I know there's no great pumpkin
Okay, maybe there is
What if he puts a spell on me,
And tries to make me his?

And I think that there's a monster
Who lives beneath my bed
I shiver and shake and stay awake
With covers over my head

There's something outside my window
And shadows on my wall
I think I hear some rattling chains
From the ghosts that's in the hall

Right then I hear this eerie voice
And feel this clammy hand
My wife says, "Hush and go to sleep,
You're supposed to be a man"

Trembling in my bed tonight
I cannot close my eyes
The movie on the late, late show
Says everybody dies

Now some say I'm a scaredy cat
But tonight is Halloween
What if someone kidnaps me,
And tries to eat my spleen?

I know there's no great pumpkin
Okay, maybe there is
What if he puts a spell on me,
And tries to make me his?

And I think that there's a monster
Who lives beneath my bed
I shiver and shake and stay awake
With covers over my head

There's something outside my window
And shadows on my wall
I think I hear some rattling chains
From the ghosts that's in the hall

Right then I hear this eerie voice
And feel this clammy hand
My wife says, "Hush and go to sleep,
You're supposed to be a man"

I'm trapped in a void beyond my control
I have no place to turn
Surrounded by sorrows, I can't understand
My soul not able to yearn

What place is this my heart can't feel?
Is this hell or is this my grave?
The keeper is pain, of this dreadful place
And I've become his slave

The desire I've known is forever gone
I'm lost here without any reason
Complain though I might, no one will hear
For hope is a puppet to treason

Mistakes will follow me where ever I go
Reminding me of my past
My future is bleak, just out of reach
How long is this destined to last?

Memories here fade into darkness
Replaced with broken dreams
Smiles are lost to hopeless desires
Replaced with silent screams

Trapped in a void beyond my control
I wonder, when did this start?
It happened the day when you said goodbye
The day, that you broke my heart

It's the poet's greatest enemy
Before the words are found
For every poet hears it
And deafening, is its sound

Its voice is heard by one and all
Before the paper meets pen
An obstacle that we all must face
Before the words begin

It's the curse for every writer
No matter if you're good or bad
It can cause your words to fade away
With every thought you ever had

It's presence is always with us
No matter what we do
It can last for just a little while
Or even a month or two

It can seem like it lasts forever
As we labor throughout the night
And sometimes we can't escape
The silence before the write

Now here's a story for Halloween
One that you won't forget
A little story of forbidden love
Called Wolfio and Drooliette

Now Wolfio was a werewolf dude
With his hair down to his toes
And how he hooked up with Drooliette
Nobody really knows

You see, Drooliette was a vampire chick
With her fangs all covered in red
But Wolfio really dug that chick
From the ground, cause she was dead

Now Drooliette liked those hairy dudes
They made her go weak in the knees
He washed his hair in Pert shampoo
Cause he heard it got rid of the fleas

And though he had to stop fetching sticks
A sacrifice he was willing to make
They don't sit good with the vampire chicks
Cause it looked like a wooden stake

Now to say they lived happily ever after
Would probably be telling you a lie
Cause though Drooliette will never see death
Poor Wolfio had to die

Now don't be sad, but this story is true
And before you say that I lied
Just say hello to Drooliette
My brand new blood ******* bride

Each breath I take, I marvel
Yet one more day of pain
A wounded heart now broken
And only pieces still remain

A distant wind still echoes
The memories from the past
Forever haunted, I stand alone
How much longer can this last?

My soul is now an empty shell
It's hollow, to the core
You left this world before your time
Your spirit, made to soar

I've numbered all my sorrows
With every tear I've cried
I bless the day that you were born
And curse, the day you died

Your name has become my heartache
Each time I hear it spoken
It cripples me from the inside out
And leaves me weak and broken

And tho I walk this world alone
You will not leave my side
You'll always be my one true love
My one, and only bride

Painted words from innocent souls
Can pierce the hardest hearts
The slightest touch of gentleness
Is where the poet starts

He can reach inside the deepest void
To redeem your memories
Give you back your hopes and dreams
And possibilities

He can wipe away your broken smile
From all the promises lost
He can paint tomorrow one more time
No matter what the cost

He can paint the heart to beat again
Though broken it may be
He can take the lies you carry inside
And show you honesty

He can dry the tears of liquid pain
That stains your pillow case
He can paint the sun to rise again
No matter what you face

Painted words from innocent souls
Know exactly what to say
If you'll listen to the poet's words
He'll chase the pain away

I picked up your blue hairbrush
I held it a while today
The hair between its bristles
Still smells of your hairspray

I drank my morning coffee
In the mug that has your name
On its rim still dressed in red
Is the slightest lipstick stain

I put your reading glasses on
To read the sunday news
I went to the bedroom closet
To dust your favorite shoes

Your pillow still lays beside me
With the smell of your perfume
Though you're gone your beauty's there
To fill an empty room

It brought back all those memories
Through all the things I've clutched
I've held you close all day long
Through all the things you touched

Trees cry tears of leaves
As they lament fall's return
While dreaming of spring

While driving down a country road
One dark and lonely night
My engine began to spit and sputter
From a strange and mysterious light

I saw this little green spaceman
With antennas on his head
He was standing beside my window
And this is what he said

"Take me to your leader,
Or we will end your life"
So I did exactly what he said
And I took him to my wife

When I got home my wife was mad
And asked me where I've been
I told her about my crazy night
And about those little green men

She asked if I'd been drinking
And I don't drink a drop
About that time that spaceman yelled,
"Okay now, everybody stop"

Now my wife was really ******
And said, "Who do you think you are?"
She grabbed him by his spaceman ear
And drug him from that car

Now, there she was in curlers
With that spaceman by his ear
I think he might have peed himself
As he stood there in all his fear

Now you may not believe my story
But I've got a souvenir
When they beamed that spaceman back to his ship
My wife held on to his ear

So if you ever see a UFO
Don't scream and run for your life
Just take him to your leader
And by leader I mean, my wife

My granny was only twelve years old
When she got her first tattoo
She was kind of a rebellious child
Back in nineteen twenty-two

She hid that thing for a little while
'Til her daddy finally got wise
He took that girl to the woodshed
With ****** in both of his eyes

He asked that girl, "What did you do,
Don't you know that's gotta be a sin?"
"Now look what you've done to your body,
Has your mama seen your skin?"

Now my granny was a stubborn child
She didn't listen to a word he said
She didn't hide the one she had
But she got three more instead

Now as my granny got older, so did her skin
And her ink was droopy and sad
You'd think that woman would feel remorse
But I think she was almost glad

Now the art sunk down to her elbows
As it wobbled to and fro
The butterfly tats would take to flight
Everywhere Granny would go

Now another tat was a bloodshot eye
But now it was always winking
On the other arm was a battleship
But of course that thing was sinking

Well that's the story of my granny's art
She lived to be a hundred and two
The day she died it said "Rest in peace"
Not the gravestone, her last tattoo

While looking in the mirror
What do you think I saw?
It had to be the best looking dude
That left me in total awe

He looks like one of them movie stars
That's up on the movie screen
Jet black hair, with pouty lips
You know the kind I mean

He looks like somebody famous
Where everybody knows his name
He's probably gonna be a millionaire
Destined for fortune and fame

I told my wife how lucky she is
To have a man like me
She just rolled her eyes and said, "Okay"
And then she said, "I see"

"You're a good looking man that's for sure,
But I don't know how to tell this,
That's not the mirror you're looking at,
It's a velvet picture of Elvis"

A poem is just a teardrop
A form of liquid pain
Released to pen and paper
Our words become a stain

The hurt that's bottled up inside
Can come out through our eyes
Promises made, but never kept
Are nothing but liquid lies

As the teardrop hits the paper
The words begin to form
Releasing all the pain inside
To calm the coming storm

Heartache is just another word
That's written by our tears
The pain becomes the writers quill
'Til a little relief appears

A poem is just a teardrop
That's worded carefully
Liquid pain becomes a stain
And sets the poet free

If tomorrow I should pass away,
What would my last thoughts be?
Would I think of all the harm I've caused,
Throughout my history?

Would my whole life flash before me,
Like they say, when someone dies?
Would I think of all the dreams I missed,
That I couldn't realize?

Would I leave behind a thousand regrets?
Or things I should have done?
Would I think of all the plans I made,
That hadn't yet begun?

Would I wish for maybe one more day,
To right things that were wrong?
To put things in their proper place
Where proper things belong

If tomorrow I should pass away,
What would my mind review?
I'd think myself a lucky man
'Cause my thoughts would be of you

I'm trapped in a void beyond my control
I have no place to turn
Surrounded by sorrows, I can't understand
My soul not able to yearn

What place is this my heart can't feel?
Is this hell or is this my grave?
The keeper is pain, of this dreadful place
And I have become his slave

The desire I've known is forever gone
I'm lost here without any reason
Complain though I might, no one will hear
For hope is a puppet to treason

Mistakes will follow me where ever I go
Reminding me of my past
My future is bleak, just out of reach
How long is this destined to last?

Memories here fade into darkness
Replaced with broken dreams
Smiles are lost to hopeless desires
Replaced with silent screams

Trapped in a void beyond my control
I wonder, when did this start?
It happened the day when you said goodbye
The day, that you broke my heart

Trees cry tears of leaves
As they lament fall's return
While dreaming of spring

"You're the spitting image of your daddy"
Everyone used to say
But I was young and full of fun
And didn't see myself that way

My father died when I was four
And I can barely remember his face
The only memory of him I've kept
That I wouldn't let time erase

My mama used to stare at me
And say, "You have your daddy's smile"
As tears would fill her loving eyes
Though he'd been gone awhile

Now I'm a daddy of my own
And I don't hear that anymore
They tell my son he looks like me
Like they did when I was four

Each morning as I go to the mirror
I can see my father's face
His smile will always part my lips
An image that I embrace

Death stands knocking at my door
"Go away" I scream, "Go away"
But he chooses only to ignore
And not listen to what I say

He keeps peering through my windows
Looking for a way, to enter in
While making subtle innuendos
About the kind of person I've been

Ever knocking, he will not leave
Trying to get my attention
His subliminal messages I receive
That tells of his evil intention

I keep hearing him knocking, every hour
He will not let me sleep
Holding me captive, with his evil power
Ever chasing my soul to reap

Knocking, knocking, knocking
His cadence is driving me mad
My fear, he's continuously mocking
Envading what dreams I've had

Then his knocking suddenly disappears
As silence now rings in my head
Maddness has overtaken my fears
Or maybe this means I'm dead

I learned how to weave a basket
To carry my shattered dreams
Its bottom deep and reinforced
And bursting at the seams

I learned how to weave a basket
To carry my broken smile
I emptied my happy endings
And filled it with denial

I learned how to weave a basket
To carry all of your lies
Though it's stained with liquid pain
That's flowing from my eyes

I learned how to weave a basket
To carry my memories in
They slip away a little each day
For the bottom's way too thin

I learned how to weave a basket
To carry my broken heart
But this basket isn't big enough
I've known it from the start

Halloween's here it's the end of summer
Costumes it seems, keep getting dumber
I'm fixing the kitchen sink
And my wife said, "Let me think"
Pull up your pants or go as a plumber

Sleepless nights were made for poets
We write when we can't sleep
Emptying our souls with pen and paper
From heartache buried so deep

Haunted souls keep us awake
'Til late into the night
Our inner demons hold us captive
But freed by the words we write

Bound by thoughts our lips can't speak
Our pens, our only release
We write our pain in black and white
The colors that bring us peace

Silence fills the poet's heart
As our minds are filled with doubt
Held hostage to our agony
'Til our words come tumbling out

Finding the reason for all our pain
Our words begin to weep
Only then can the poet rest
And finally go to sleep

Hate is something taught
Love is something we're born with
Who is hate's teacher?

Bewildered, I walk this barren place
A place my soul can't feel
Too much damage to ever turn back
A place my soul can't heal

Forgotten dreams adorn my path
With seas of liquid pain
Broken promises, my only friend
The scars are all that remain

Mistakes I've made are my shadow
They follow where ever I go
A regretful heart refusing to beat
But shouting I told you so

Memories becoming a stain in my mind
Illusions now taking their place
Reprobate, not knowing right from wrong
Hope, overcome by disgrace

Unfaithful souls walk in this place
A place where it's ever too late
Turn away from the one that you love
And this will be your fate

The 7 wonders of the world
Is quite a sight to see
But it don't compare to what we have
In the hills of Tennessee

Uncle Zebs cow is a big ole thing
Quite a sight to behold
That cow's so big that when they milk her
Her udders even have to unfold

Cousin Zeke has a six-legged mule
And man that thing is fast
One time he raced a bobcat
And the bobcat finished last

My granny's teeth are made of wood
Of course, they were bought from a store
But ever since that termite season
She don't use them much no more

Aunt Imojean has a twine collection
That she started when she was three
I guess if we unwound that thing
It'd reach clear 'cross Tennessee

Cousin Jake has a rattlesnake
He pickled and stuffed in a jar
He caught that thing a year ago
Trying to run off with his car

Uncle Randolph has this chicken
Who howls and barks at the moon
That poor chicken is so dadgum old
That she has to be fed with a spoon

Uncle Sam has the seventh wonder
An invisible moonshine still
We ain't seen it since he made it
But it's somewhere on that hill

So, after you think you've seen it all
You haven't seen anything yet
Come to the hills of Tennessee
And see things you'll never forget

For all who have been wondering
Let me set the story straight
About the hillbilly holidays
Before it gets too late

We don't have an Easter possum
This tale is just a myth
It's a cute little bunny with a basket
To collect our Easter eggs with

And Cupid don't wear overalls
And fly around with a gun
He shoots them tiny little arrows
But we know it's all in fun

And Santa still has his reindeer
Not a horse tied to his sleigh
We leave him milk and cookies
Not moonshine like they say

The Tooth Fairy is not toothless
This simply isn't true
She always leaves us money
Just like the rest of you

And of course that leaves Thanksgiving
So what else could I say
We eat turkey like everyone else
On this Hillbilly Holiday

So now that everyone understands
That hillbilly is just a name
It don't matter where you live
Our holidays are all the same

Hillbillies are like everyone else
And there's nothing for you to fear
If you ever have anymore questions
Well, Ya'll come back now, hear?

One night while I was sleeping
The bed began to shake
I knew right then without a doubt
That I was wide awake

Here they come once again
To take me for a ride
I saw their flying saucer
It was much too late to hide

So I put on my old blue jeans
And headed for the door
When I saw this giant beam of light
That ****** me off the floor

I knew exactly what they wanted
And no they didn't use a probe
They didn't **** my brains out
Or even ask me to disrobe

They were looking for a hillbilly
To teach them a thing or two
Like how to skin a possum
And how to make rattlesnake stew

Them aliens were some friendly folk
They said they liked the way I talked
They told me that was the reason
That I was the one they stalked

They asked me about beef jerky
And how to tan a hide
I showed them my old **** dog
As they watched me beam with pride

They said they really liked my truck
And wanted to take it for a spin
So I stuck that thing in four-wheel drive
And you should have seen them grin

When the night was finally over
I thought I heard them say
We'll be coming back real soon
As I watched them fly away

I only had one problem
As I sat there on the ground
Them aliens done up and stole
My very best blue tick hound

Silent whispers on a cold winter's day
Snowflakes dancing, as the wind makes them sway
The clouds hide the sun from watching their dance
He tries to peek through to give them a glance

The sparrows perched high on limbs trimmed in white
Watching the snowflakes, in awe of the sight
A rainbow appears and touches the ground
The snow keeps falling, not making a sound

A blanket of white now cover the trees
Its leaves long forgotten, lost to the breeze
The sound of laughter echoes through the field
Children playing, their wonderland revealed

The clouds relent, and give way to the sun
The storm is over, the melting's begun

Visions of the past
Devour my very soul
Hopes and dreams, now void
Forever, takes it's toll

Memories that were cherished
Fade away like mist
Promises of the future
Forever, now dismissed

Another broken smile
Takes it's rightful place
With tears of your rejection
That's streaming down my face

Forever, now entombed
With misery and pain
Reminders of what could have been
Never to be obtained

Imprisioned by my sorrow
Haunted by my past
A love that wasn't meant to be
Was destined not to last