our shadows
come together
on the wall
they must think
we still
have it all
just this final night
and we’ll be gone
one last time
for the good times
we have known
They don't know
It's the final curtain
That it's over now
Except the hurting
Cause our silent partners
never had a fuss
they’re still
having fun
being us

She put too much sugar in my coffee

She knows **** well I do not care for cream

On our Anniversary she went out with the girls

She didn't even wear her wedding ring


She gave me a luggage set for Christmas

And a brochure of some towns in Mexico

She bought me a ticket on a bus to Tijuana

Just her way of saying Adios


She found another way to say goodbye

She's wearing sweet perfume I didn't buy

She wrecked my little red pick up truck

So she could watch this grown man cry

She found another way to say goodbye


She took the bed and sent me to the sofa

Said, "You sound like a saw mill when you snore"

She put my sports page on the bottom of the bird's cage

Before I got to read the latest score.....


CHORUS


Copyright Louis Brown

If I should list

the metaphors unspoken

words I never

got around to say

I don’t guess

I’d ever have to wonder

why you called u-haul

and went away


Now people think I’m slipping

when they hear me

talking to a vision

in my head

walking down the street

alone and mumbling

all the little things

I left unsaid

she asked

is there love

at the end

of the line

are the words

from your heart

or your mind

are they warm

empty phrases

or a pledge

for the ages

is there love

at the end

of the line

Beyond this time and place

Reviewing epochs past

We will recall this phase

As just a stumbling step

Toward fuller consciousness

As we evaluate

The values taught

The goals we sought

The strange pursuits

We tried to mesh

When men bypassed

The quest for truth

For greeds

Of finite flesh

Right wingers lie and cheat

Whenever it behooves them

On WMD's or campaign myths

They seem to love to use them

Determined as old Lucifer

To spite the altruistic

They never yield to truth

Like ******'s facistic

Sad for our country

When evil so controls

It's all the wicked venom

That poisons far right souls

For civil democrats

Response is in demand

Stomp back on forked tongues

That's all they understand





Copyright Louis Brown

Some child may well

Be looking up to me

If I stumble

They'll be there to see

I gotta walk the walk

Talk the talk

Be all that I can be

Some child may well

Be looking up to me

A heart that once was tender
Can somehow turn to stone
Their words may still sound gentle
The actions set the tone
A rock is just a rock
But a quill may well disguise it
As lips may spin BS
And hide the cold inside it
Those hearts can thrive on weakness
To feed on and grow stronger
‘Reuse that same old source
To resupply their hunger
It gratifies their muse
To know they have your number

Some days my heart feels better
Than it did the day before
But some days I still want you
And it's yesterday once more
I go out to join the laughter
But it's still a lonesome sound
When the smile's almost beginning
That old tear comes rolling down

I'M SOMEWHERE BETWEEN A TEARDROP AND A SMILE
GETTING OVER YOU WILL TAKE A WHILE
SEEMS MY HEART IS SLOWLY HEALING
BUT THEN I GET THAT OLD TIME FEELING
I'M SOMEWHERE BETWEEN A TEARDROP AND A SMILE

Tomorrow's overdue for me
But my yesterday dies slow
It wasn't easy finding you
It's harder letting go
Someday I hope I make it
But you're hard to leave behind
Just when a pretty girl comes by
You walk across my mind

CHORUS

BRIDGE:  At a party I'll feel good times on the way
                  Then my heart is touched by some old song they play...

CHORUS

as you programmed us all

to meet the challenges

no mountain is too tall

no ocean is too deep

no star can be too far

not one limitation

did you impose on me

and all I have to do

is take it on myself

invested with your power

as I confront each task

with knowledge here

of faith's unfailing strength

i know to persevere

to find a way

to think as gods

and do

Spring’s for starting over
To love again
To laugh once more
Forgive all men

Let old pains die
As life renews
Let May sunshine
Uplift my views

Not that I ask
For special care
For I need trials
I grow from there

I only ask
Lest others fall
To give a lesson
On standing  tall

I must warn

The high achievers

To stop reaching

For the sky

Great success

Has its downside

Over rainbows

Do not fly

If you do

You'll get what's coming

Oh, you'll stand tall

In the park

But you'll always be

The target

Where the pidgeons

Leave their mark

The neighborhood is gone
Familiar faces
No where to be seen
Portland cements hides
The dusty street below
Progress left its scars
Razed our shotgun house
And poured an interstate..,
The corner gang no more
So precious few
Can be accounted for
They are the ones
Who lie so still and cold
Beneath incongruous slabs of stone
With names of barefoot friends
I used to know

Copyright Louis Brown

They baptized all us children
At that old country church
They saved this wild young crazy man
From going bad to worse
That old preacher took my hand there
And he walked me to the creek
When he dipped me in the water
He knew who I would meet...

I'LL ALWAYS LOVE
OLD SWEETWATER CHURCH
THEY TAUGHT ME I SHOULD LOVE THE LORD
AND PUT MY NEIGHBOR FIRST
IF YOU EVER DRINK THE WATER
IT SURE WILL EASE YOUR THIRST
I'LL ALWAYS LOVE
OLD SWEETWATER CHURCH

When we sung Amazing Grace
We sung it from the heart
The words from that old preacher man
They always hit their mark
We could feel that spirit move us
Up there on our front row seat
That good old time religion lives
In that chapel by the creek

CHORUS

Bridge:    
Now sometimes when I wander
Too far from the truth
I look back and remember
The lessons of my youth.....

CHORUS

From a song with vocalist Jeff Allen

I hope to frequent
All the taverns
Quaff the potent elixirs
And dance with all
The dark eyed girls I can
Searching everywhere
Probing each extreme
To meet my lusts to live
Until I know for sure
I've had a chance to test
Each proven pleasure.
Experiencing each  sweet drop of life
Before that final rasp

Ring up the deaths

From sticks and stones

And slingshots

Knives and clubs

T.N.T.

And nuclear bombs

Their total sum

By year 2010

Counts fewer deaths

Than guns

The chosen tool

That beats 'em all

North and south

East and west

Guns can't be outdone

Say thank you NRA

And get your gun

After twenty years
I see it very clear
I picked the right girl
No others even close
I have the right to boast
She's so right for my world
I made the right choice
Two human hearts rejoice
That she became my fate
I'm glad I took the chance
To ask for that first dance
That we still celebrate

That freeway exit sign

Still leads to yesterday

Though it's better not to turn

Temptation has its way


There's our old house still there

I know that back bedroom

In love's finest moments

We helped the baby boom


A new name's on the mailbox

Love died one jobless year

That exit sign still points the way

But you can't get there from here

I've looked at star filled skies
At life in microscopes
I've stared at hills and oceans
To find connectivity
But I have found
I see You clearest
Not looking past this skin
For You're the best in me
When I see gentleness
Like giving of myself
Being kind to others
Helping weaker ones I see
Caring for older beings
Showing youth the paths
And scorning selfishness
I see that love must be
His modus operandi
That is what I recognize
When everything is said and done
He is the grains on sandy beaches
He is the fish beneath the sea
He is the galaxy afar
The very tiny microbe
Everything I see
And finally
Whatever else
God is love in me

I know

If all the seekers after glory

Could make the cut

Fame would not mean a lot

But still

A gnawing, longing

Overwhelms me

Each time I think of all

That I am not

I always was right
When we had a big fuss
We had strong opinions
It was my way or bust
We made our decisions
Off base from the start
Now short of an answer
We go to the heart

It's always the heart
That's the place to begin
There's honesty there
From beginning to end
It tells me quite clearly
The right words to say
When clouds come between us
The heart knows the way

There's need for each other
So it helps to agree
It all works out better
As good wisdom leads me
If I get too selfish
It's myself  I betray
Lord, help me remember
The heart knows the way


Copyright Louis Brown

The child becomes

The man you'll see

With traits of those

He imitates

He mirrors those

That cause his fate

Who teach him love

Who teach him hate

Neighborhood’s not changed too much
The house still looks the same
But there stands my old mailbox
With someone else’s name

By that window there she'd hold me tight
We'd listen to the rain
The years roll by before my eyes
The pleasure and the pain

They say that people change with time
I thought we never would
But now I’m just a stranger here
In my old neighborhood

If I don't leave they'll wonder why
I'm out here in the rain
Just talking to a mailbox
With someone else’s name

The clearly good

The obviously pure

The valued things

Deserving to endure

Avail themselves

With crystal clarity

To those who think

With love and charity




Copyright Louis Brown

too often I go

to the fair long ago

where there’s laughter

and teardrops with music

the bright colored horses

ride circles

the calliope plays

where I blew it

where we rode together

and I look back forever

with memories of lips

sweet and soft

and a dreamer

still hates to get off….

Her boy went off to war and died
     A long long time ago
Now nameless under foreign turf
     She half forgets it's so


Out in the yard an old chain swing
     Still holds a rusting board
And with each gentle breeze that blows
     Swings of its own accord


On sunny days she sits alone
     And peers at empty air
Without regards to laws which say
     That no one could be there
    

As though she still can hear a shrill
     Of laughter from the swing
She smiles toward the swaying board
     Immune to time's swift wing

Beneath the old magnolia tree
I used to hold you close to me
And there I carved upon that tree
That I loved you and you loved me

Beneath the white magnolia blooms
You cast a spell with your perfume
I believed those wooden words were true
Ingrained in hearts of me and you

But time wears out what boys engrave
Nothing's left of the love you gave
Except that old magnolia scar....
I wish our love had come so far

Yeah, I wish those words were still on track
Cause every spring I dream me back
To tender lips and sweet perfume
Beneath the white magnolia blooms

But time wears out what boys engrave
Nothing's left of the love you gave
Except that old magnolia tree
Reminding me.....reminding me......

the directions

are very, very simple

i listen to the inner voice

that guides me step by step

perceives the right and wrong

before i reach the fork

i call it universal wisdom

Or call it what you will

but when I heed this source

i know the way

and that small voice

is the bottom line

i listen close

and all is well


Copyright Louis Brown

Pride tells me
I don't have to knock
Upon your door again
'Don't have to compromise
And let you win
It won't be hard
To learn to love again

But love tells me
No other's laughter
Takes my cares away
Like a miracle
Your magic makes me stay
Without you Girl
How could I find my way

Truth tells me
No man is an island
Unto himself
I'm lucky I found one
Who takes my breath
One who makes me
Bigger than myself......

There's many little dramas
That you never hear about
And I have one to tell ya
That will really wring you out

The highway streamed with traffic
And Marvin Moth loved beams
His growing curiosity
Was reaching the extremes

Luminescence caused a rapture
In this creature with his wings
He was only a beginner
And so fearless of such things

Uncle Fuzzy said, "Don't go"
His Mommy said, "Stay here"
But Marvin thought he knew it all
And he shifted up a gear

He told himself, "Oh goodness me,
That must be where "it's" at
When he puckered up to kiss it
I don't guess he heard the SPLAT!!

So I doubt he ever suffered
But I shudder through and through
Every time I see a headlight
With a smudge of gummy-goo

I pass the picket fence
And reach the door way
I go down the lonesome hall
And feel the chill
The bed with tangled sheets
Like lovers left it
She told me I would miss her
And I will.....

CHORUS
Tonight the silence says it all
There's no love and laughter
To warm these lonesome walls
There's a note that says goodbye
Hanging on the bedroom wall
Tonight the silence says it all

I see that faded rose
Pressed in the bible
The one I bought you
On that springtime day
It reminds me of the vows
We made together
And the promises we broke
Along the way

CHORUS

          Bridge:  I know that I was giving all
                        That I could ever be
                        But all she really wanted
                        Was a little more of me.....

CHORUS

Imagine what
No human mind can gauge
Count the countless years
Milleniums and miles
We had to cross
To meet


Imagine here
This fateful rendezvous
Ordained before the stars
Before old Sol
Above us there
Was christened blue


Imagine now
To culminate a love
That came so far
And finally
The merging here
Finally....

The winds of change are rising
A dream is falling through
The winds of fate are blowing strong
You're wanting someone new

The winds of change are painful truths
I know I've lost my place
Don't have to read your mind to know
It's written on your face

          STILL I KNOW I CAN NEVER CHANGE
          SO I'LL JUST HAVE TO PRAY...
          THE FICKLE WIND WILL RISE AGAIN
          AND BRING YOU BACK SOMEDAY

It's funny how you wanted me
Before I loved you so
Now that I can't hold it back
I feel that cold wind blow

           CHORUS

They come meekly, humbly
To build their New York mosque
In peace and feigned love
And then in time they change
And when their power is grown
They tell you they are real
The true church of the world
And those who will not join
Are lowly infidels
An insult to their god
Without a right to live
Their armies come
Just like in centuries past
And cut off heads
Of non-believers
Do we want them here
In free America
To mutilate our girls
And make them less than dogs
They made a killing ground
One day on 9/11
When Islam spawned hatred
Blew our towers to dust
And Americans splattered pavement
Oh how they danced with glee
From Karachi to Tehran
In time they dream to dominate
From Maine to Key West
From Georgia to L.A.
With hate filled ancient laws
The code of Sharia
Shoved in our passive faces
Well, as for me
They can shove it up
Their camel sweaty *****
I say go to hell
You ignorant aberrations
But don't come here
We need no more of you
You murdering *******

[I came to know a promising young man who was murdered in the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001]

Copyright Louis Brown

That woman packed my suitcase
She threw it out the door
She told me it was over
Don't come here anymore
And when you get rejected
It's a black-eye on your pride
You can still look like a winner
Don't let it cramp your style

So I did not let the world
See me wallow in defeat
I found myself a big brass band
Parading down the street
I stepped to that big drumbeat
Footloose fancy free
I got out front and showed the world
The finest side of me


THEY THOUGHT THAT I WAS
                LEADING THE PARADE
I MARCHED OFF IN THE SUNSHINE
LIKE I SURE DID HAVE IT MADE
I SURE DID HATE TO GO
SO I PUT ON A HELLUVA SHOW...
THEY THOUGHT THAT I WAS
                LEADING THE PARADE

Just one little battle
Was all I really lost
I picked myself back up again
Just like my Daddy taught
I talked to me and told me
"That old sun's still in the sky"
And I boogied to the rhythm
With my colors flying high

CHORUS

I felt it when I kissed you
Like lightning struck the air
Thunder rolled inside our hearts
At our introduction there
And passion was a wildfire
Everywhere you touched my skin
My heart skipped so many beats
A thousand dreams rushed in

And this could take forever
I can feel it
The farther into you
The more I need it
I discover some new side of you
Each night that we're together
Oh Baby, Baby
This could take forever

You bring love on many levels
How much is there to know
I'm peeling past the layers
Learning secrets as I go
There's beauty on the outside
And as I believe it's true
There's goodness and a lust for life
Everywhere inside of you....

I get all anxious
When she walks thru the door
If she were my woman
I couldn't want more
If I got to touch her
These hands would just shake
I'd buy her flowers
But it's a little too late

She's a rose from
Someone else's garden
She won't ramble
Though my emotions teem
She's a rose from
Someone else's garden
My chance to love her
Is only in my dreams

Her lips look as soft
As rose petals of red
I'd love to kiss her
But I stare straight ahead
I wonder if she feels
The same wild desire
But I don't want to know
Cause it might start a fire

She's a rose from
Someone else's garden
She won't ramble
Though my emotions teem
She's a rose from
Someone else's garden
My chance to love her
Is only in my dreams

STILL A CLIMBER

He might have quit

Like a broken man

But climbed quite high

With just one hand

******************­******

BLOODED, NOT BOWED

Blooded and battered

From the grenade's strong impact

Some might have retreated

But with courage intact

He rose from the ashes

To face whatsoever

Stronger at heart

Taller than ever

******************­******

THE MAXIMUM SOLDIER

Bury your losses

They have no more uses

Shrug off the damage

And give no excuses

Push past your limits

Where guts are demanded

In the heat of the battle

Heroes are branded

Let us love

As long as it feels right

Even if it fades

In the morning light

Even if it lasts

Forever and a day

Let us love

Till the new wears away

Fussing and fighting--that's all that we do                                                            Sep­tember 13, 2013
It's not worth the pain--this life puts us through
Let's face the facts...no late alibis
Baby, it's time for saying goodbye

At this old crossroad one path will be mine
And some feelings I have may last a long time
But our differences now ...are hard to deny
Baby, it's time for saying goodbye

Repeat
We were too young...it's all turned to pain
I don't see a rainbow in all of this rain
And if not much is left--there's not much to die
Baby it's time for saying goodbye

We had it all--Or that's how it seemed
But time changes hearts and life changes dreams
It happened to us--but we gave it a try
Baby it's time--for saying goodbye

Repeat            

Bridge:  
Still, teardrops may fall for way too long
But for closure we'll write us a helluva song.....

Repeat

tonight I started

believing my old lines

like I want you girl

I need you girl

until the end of time

it was different with you

the words were really true

there's nothing like

lying in your arms

say that I'm defiant

in the face of howling winds

who gave us skill to build a world

and ripped apart both ends

from what sensitivity

such love was spawned

what insanity

unleashed the violence

Who shaped

This storm

this man

He scorns

You cannot drive your dream

Into another’s mind

One way thinking egos

Meet failure every time


You cannot take a man

And hook him by the nose

He’s on his own volition

That’s how free will goes


It's mutual affection

That must enjoin both hearts

They must commit two wills

As one right from the start



The fairies don’t affect it

Two humans plant the seed

If love is one heart short

It never will succeed.

I have seen your greed and selfishness
I have viewed your  jealousy run so deep
And strangely I don't know where it came from
I have seen evil and destruction
I have noted the absence of good will
I have seen a familiar face grow very cold
And I have looked in my heart and found no answer
But I recognize an enemy  sick and tormented
And it's unbelievable you disapprove an innocent man so deeply
I can accept hate from people if I can understand it
But I believe people suffer from hating so much
And I know you have hurt with how life has gone
And this crazy bitterness causes such spite
And takes this incredible obsession too far
And does the better half even notice it.
How not?  How not??

Old man they say there's magic
In your friendly face above
They say your smile can turn the tide
And inspire a human love
So I prayed you'd sprinkle moondust
On her sweet lips soft and warm
So when I get to kiss her
The kiss could last till dawn

But your old smile is only
Valleys of the moon
If lovers give you credit
I hate bursting their balloon
For her love would be all mine
If your magic was divine
Your smile is only
Valleys of the moon

Your skills are just a legend
Tied to that old cratered face
If you could cast a spell on her
I would know her warm embrace
But those asteroids that carved your smile
Were just an act of chance
You couldn't help me reach her
You know zero of romance

For your smile is only
Valleys of the moon
If lovers give you credit
I hate bursting their balloon
For her love would be all mine
If your magic was divine
Your smile is only
Valleys of the moon


[Music by Dawn Diamond]

In my mind I recall Johnson Pasture
It's etched a warm memory
On that blanket we'd listen to songbirds
Beneath the Magnolia Tree

You’re not here when I wake to the present
Long ago someone stole you away
But you’ll run down the hill through the flowers
In my dreams for the rest of my days

Love was sweet by that stream in the pasture
Tender  lips came alive merged with mine
And I got so entangled forever
Two hearts became one of a kind

Our sweet rendezvous, now it's only for parking
On a mall where no blooms are a part
While old pavement from Portland hides Johnson Pasture
It's alive and still real in my heart

When Adam and Eve played love's old game
We thought early romance a little too rough
We wanted kinder and gentler rules
We looked at it good and added our touch
We turned it sideways and looked at some Masters
Cleopatra and Marcus, Burton and Liz
We looked through history and weighed each technique...
Studying hers and studying his

        We re-invented love
        Applied TLC without the big rush 
        Someone had to do it; it was way overdue
        And no one gets in it quite like me and you
        Making it perfect, re-inventing love    

We wanted to see the sexes more equal
From Rome to Paris we studied their style
We watched new positions in old Kuma Sutra
In Mumbai and Murmansk to the banks of the Nile
Now when they ***** a great Hall of Fame
The applause will come down falling on us
They'll put our names upon a big plaque
Everyone marvelling and making a fuss

        CHORUS

Bridge:   Now the cave man technique is gone from romance
                Barbarians no longer can come to the dance

        CHORUS

Courage is when fear
Has said its prayers
When you need some
Just call on Him upstairs
On your knees
You gain His grace
Oh there's nothing
You can't face
Courage is when fear
Has said its prayers

I've wondered
When God was a boy
Did He wonder
Who in forever
Would find most
Success
Anyway
He was a shoo-in
By muscle or wisdom
There was no challenge
To match His finesse

You may remember me
And smile
Still curious
Of my aim
Or possibly
You'll just forget
You ever knew my name
But I will say
As you might guess
That you were more to me
For when you passed
You left a heart
As shattered
As could be
I will remember you
And hurt
Feeling more than humble
Falling short
Of such as you
Is quite
An awful tumble