It is a simple life
If you will only let it
You need not shout
For no sincerity can be heard above a whisper
Forget anything except your place
In the lives of your children
And your parents
For your need not want for more
What praise is beyond fleeting?
What words are not forgotten?
But what love does not last?
Only that which you pursue
It is in the heart that you can touch
With your life
And your own blood
That is what will last
As will humility that is genuine
And honesty
For though these things are as spare
As arrogance is intemperate
You will feel what is meant by life
Wheat fields bent by the breezes
Softness that will gently comfort
Those who you love
And quietly conquer
Those who do not suffer your need
For their approval

It’s a life of fear living inside the life of my own
I threw everything away except some common decency
I want to do what’s right by my children but it’s so hard
I had to find myself in order to get on the right frequency
My folks always felt the same way
But it was me who didn’t want to care

I decided to open every box I’d packed away
All were labeled wrong except for one labeled right
Since I was the one who decided these things
I needed one to be lit only by the natural light
My folks knew this would happen
But it was me who waited too long

I try to explain the ways of the world but who can say
We decided the best road was to manage our own
I opened their eyes just by asking if everyone is the same
I hoped their hearts were made of blood and not of bone
My folks never tried to burden me
But it was me who ignored what they know

I have to let go of the things that once scared my folks
There’s no chance what they want is for my peace of mind
It’s a feeling I get when I’m alone thinking if I can take it
I shouldn’t care but then it would be my heart I couldn’t find
My folks decided to let me grow up
But it was me who didn’t know how

What's on my mind?

Change
Change in me
Change in how I see

To see color
and to see love
not hate

To see history
and to accept truth
no matter what it is

To see suffering
and to suffer too
for that is empathy

To see happiness
to be happy for them
and not be jealous

To see life
to accept my choices
and not blame others

To see you
and to understand
as I ask of you

To see human
and respect their life
and not be afraid

To see a book
and to believe in grace
for faith is all I have

The light we seek has no shadow
Yet we close our eyes to find ourselves in darkness
We can only dream in the ways of our existence
In this life even transcendence must share the night
You must find the heart of everything
It exists inside a chestnut cabinet
Because it once existed in a tree
Changing form is not death
But change is only when you are ready to die
To be born to another life within the life you live
There is no desire that cannot be challenged
For what is desire but the pursuit of pleasure
Mastering yourself means rejecting yourself
And then the battle must begin
Against who you are
Against who you are to become
Because you do not know what you will become
You only know it is time
The coffin has not been lost
It has only been moved
For where you must lay is not where you will die
But inside were the emotions of those you once hurt
The inconvenience of their desires lie together
And now the coffin lives above ground
Waiting for you to open it
Not to climb in but to give them new life
But the question remains
Will they be close to you or on the edge
Where your fears gather in darkness?
Asking you if you are willing to walk past them
Because change is not turning your back
To cast shadows on those you once buried
But instead to walk into the light of their forgiveness

There’s a baby who was born alone
Hearing a voice he did not know from his own
It would not be the last he would ever hear
From a world that didn’t ask what he had become
He wanted to know how a moment felt
Smiling after someone had left their mark
He saw green meadows that survived the fire
But they have no memory to burn into their heart

It's only a choice until you make it

The crowd can only hear the things they cannot say
Leaves and waves always replenish from stormy skies
But a baby can only live the life it is given today
The path he makes leaves a trail when nature decides
Three paths asked his permission to tell their tale
One to believe in a life that revealed only pain
One to believe in a life where he felt only shame
One was to believe in a dove that had no name

It's only a choice until you make it

Every sound means something to someone who cares
The only thing a baby must learn is how to sell regrets
But there is nothing sure once the forest sheds its secrets
Inside the quiet stands the doubts he must learn to believe
The feelings of a lifetime lurk once he knows it is time
He may not remember but the path he chose will remind him
Whatever final word he wanted to hear was his choice alone
But on this earth the circle only leads him to what is known

It's only a choice until you make it

Numb mind stupor
Time drift imagery
Bursting trouble
Side road scenery

Invisible aroma allure
Sizzle ice cream zoom
Torn booth corner
Nostalgia in the room

Tarnished board dead paint
Scribble wall pen point
Hieroglyphic alphabet soup
Kinda Hoople juke joint

Less McDonalds
More Dali Lama
Apocolyptic verse
Instant Karma

Rough boy hair everywhere
Prank secret revealed
Smiling lamenting
Concerns all too concealed

Vacant legend pavement
Empty room ambience
Goodbye noise disrupts
Mop broom dirt dance

Less Starbucks
More Ghandhi Jee
Truth dawning
Future prophecy

There is so much anger
But I don't know why
For what I have become
Is what I cannot deny

If I am a man
It is in spite of me
If I am a man
It is because of me

No color No preference
No belief No difference

Nothing in my way
That is their life
I walk my own path
I make my own strife

I cannot believe what I see
In the hate among men
For what were we taught
Except to give unto them?

On side of mountain down
or washed upon idol shore
Armed with kingly crown
and book by which they swore
No matter how long ago
they remember their dreams
because of reflective echos
from saddened streams
Some may float
while others sink
but no matter your coat
we thirst the same drink
Those who slept in the hold
covered by prayers that weep
wondered why they were sold
and who would their souls keep
I see what you see
though we are not agreed
I will forever set them free
and love no matter their seed

You're going to wake up tomorrow
Is it going to be a day that you regret?
Will you die making a stand for truth
Or  look in the mirror trying to forget?

Can you make it anymore?
You know how hard things are
There's too much that you want
And everything is so far away

Somebody loved your body the other day
You let him have you because it felt right
But he couldn't keep his life inside you
He took it when you turned on the light

You just want someone to be on your side
Maybe that's what tomorrow will be about
Don't ask for help just to get some attention
If you act crazy you'll just create more doubt

Can you make it anymore?
You know how hard things are
There's nothing you don't want
And everything is so far away

Alone for a moment
In the night
Though you hear the earth move
All around you
What you see is unpredictable
A complex system that does not need you
Faraway light that has no meaning to you
Except comfort for your dreams
But if you close your eyes
You will see the same thing
But only if you keep them closed
For as long as you are awake
The forest will burst into flames
The ocean will turn every ship upside down
The mountain will bury everything in its path
The Earth will swallow the memories of those who live
And then nothing will be left except the distance
Between what you could be and what you are
But there is no comfort this time
Because the distance is inside you
And it is as far away as the stars you love
So you rip your eyelids off
You do not want to see what is inside
You do not want to understand yourself
You only want what you do not understand
What is far away
What you can lust over
What can touch your naked body
Because a fantasy never disappoints you
And with your eyes open you see it as it approaches
Anything that is desire can change form
And become what you want it to be
And it will wait for you
Tomorrow night will be there
As will the distance in your mind
But you do not want to see what is yours alone
Only what you must share with everyone else
Because they too can only understand what is far away
And only what their fantasies reveal to be true
To a mind that is as far away as the space you love

Void and formless
As we define it
Cold and lifeless
As we would find it
No sound from Earth
Only faint light
No hint of a soul
Eternal night
Does it really matter?
On Earth, fear becomes hope
Sorrow becomes joy
Near death
We experience life
Pluto drifts with a shrug
Sounds unheard
Emotions unfelt
Nothing grows
Nothing dies
Nothing
Is there something?
What is something?
Why is it something?
Who says?
Us?
You?
Why?
Why does it matter?
The struggles
The pain
The rights
The fear
The rain
On Pluto
History is not recorded
But the truth lives
On Earth
History is recorded
And the truth dies
We are nothing
We achieve nothing
Our death is meaningless
Life is meaningless
Our glory is measured against ourselves
Yet on Pluto
The quiet is unmoved
The distance swallows existence
There is nothing to contemplate
There are no worries
Nothing matters
We believe we matter
Why?
Who says?
Us?
We are the creation
And then we discover
Yet Pluto remains cold
Ice
Frozen
Locked
It means nothing
From a distance
Unless
It really does
The distance is so real
Our minds are so small
We only know what we know
We ignore the distance
It can't be real
It doesn't help us
So it doesn't exist
Why is it there?
It pulses in it's vastness
It means nothing
Why?
Who says?
We don't know why
We just accept it
Our past is primal
The only thing we know is our growth
It is the only thing that makes sense
We cannot touch God
We cannot see God
So, we have become God
We are progressive
We have evolved
It is necessary to think this way
This is why it matters
But... not on Pluto
Pluto is not impressed
Our evolution is swallowed by the distance
On Pluto, nothing matters
Not you
Not me
The further you go
The more help you need
The further you go
But where does it lead?
Back to Earth?
Back to you?
Who are you?
Who made you?
Who conceived you?
Who cares about you?
You?
Me?
Why are you here?
Pluto doesn't care
Should I?
Should you?
Should we?
Yes
Yes
Yes

Mock those who do not smile,
be glad you are not one of them;
but know you have not begun to live, until
you have found a way to live freely,
with everything that happened to them,
when it happens to you

You thought if you didn't do it when you were young
it wasn't going to get done
but it's never too late to find yourself
and ignore what you think you've become,
you feel like a nobody but everybody is
before they become something else,
the struggle in your life should not be
what we think about your self, but instead
you have to decide that the years that passed
aren't what locks you down
because the person you want to be
is the person that needs to be found,
the time you decide to tell us what you really love
is the day of your birth
and you will know what to say
when you know that only you decides your worth

I once thought you were nature as it was intended
for a man to hold close to his heart; but then it was
too real, for nature is heartless in its cruelty and
distant in its beauty; it's is not the existence I wanted
for us because we know how to make things right

Are clouds of looming fears better than eyes of falling tears?

Where is the love walking to me without the same
hope for calm days followed by a nights of fire that
melts our hearts together; but would it be the same
if it was wildness that had no purpose other than to
replenish itself and feed what lives inside uncertainty?

Are rivers overflowing better than hearts forever breaking?

We spend a lifetime sheltering ourselves from where
we came; wild, naked, dangerous to our lives but ready
to be tamed if only we knew how; it is the same my love
with our thoughts that we cannot speak of because we
are the same as tornados from colliding streams of turmoil

Are trees lying broken better than promises unspoken?

Beautiful colors
Vibrant light
Dark shadows
Pain in the night
Long lines
Smooth as glass
Shards await
A looming crash
Lights beckon
Future promise
Sudden pain
Bleeding bliss
Secret words
Sight unseen
Another's intent
You must glean
Time slows
Breaking it's gait
Simmer alone
Enduring your fate
Beautiful spell
Shivering joy
Maturity lost
Happy boy
Words burst
Forcing their way out
Focused attention
There is no doubt
Emotional courage
Consumed with fear
Faith in you
But you're not here
Passion builds
Only to peak
Inevitable pauses
Not for the weak
Feelings ebb
Self-preservation
Love never dies
Winter's hibernation
Reality lives
In this different world
In our dark minds
We are hurled
In a new way
Love is defined
Held back
Our actions confined
Their face
You cannot see
Their words
All they can be

He thought about his goals all too often
Sometimes he drove right by them
He never seemed to know where he was
Except his dreams that always waited for him

Nothing mattered as long as he believed
He had faith that his desires were worthwhile
It was the life that he decided to live for himself
But he couldn’t decide if it was a foot or a mile

He finally realized accepting reality was life
Trying to impress strangers could never last
The people that he knew always felt left out
He won not by winning but by accepting his past

Ignoring his mistakes sustained him for years
Pretending to be different is easier than it seems
But he decided he measured with the wrong cup
Loving a woman was harder than chasing dreams

It delivers
A crushing blow
Yet it feels
Nothing
It renders
The final verdict
With numbing callousness
It senses
No pain
It knows
No guilt
It experiences
No empathy
Instead
It is lifeless
A tool
Awaiting direction
From the killer
The one who decides
While it sits
Ever silent
Never wavering
Not knowing
Its fate
Or its victim
Or why
It could be anyone
MLK
JFK
A little girl
It cares not
Like a caterpillar
It waits
For transformation
For motion
And then
Impact
Destroying
Dreams
Hopes
Lives
Creating
Fear
Hate
Worry
It lives
A life
Singularly focused
On death
Poised
Then delivering
Death
Of a life
Remorseless
In its travels
Stochastic
Random
Chaotic
In its delivery
The executioner
Without a hood
Without a conscience
Without feeling
Without anything
Resembling humanity
Only inevitable death
Just like life

I read the news today
She doesn't know if we care
Her lifeless body is in our hands
Do we have a moment to spare?

I saw her picture
A life of love and flowers
Hate became the poison
That turned years into hours

I cried once again
I am willing to say how I feel
Life passes much too easily
I don't want to forget what's real

I'm so sorry beautiful child
Must innocence pay for our sin?
Is there nothing we can do
But to ask God to forgive us again?

She was always afraid to be alone
And it was for this reason
That men were drawn to her door
You can’t see her fears
You just know they are deeper than your own
And it’s a sad man who uses her
To make himself feel strong

Just below the surface
Are things we cannot know
We sense their presence
But not how deep they go
We spend so much time denying
What it is that we cannot see
Even though we know they are there

There is so much to reveal
And though we know ourselves
Somehow we don’t know it all
We search for our gifts
And yet what we are unable to achieve
Are in the things in which we believe
We are unable to revel beyond a moment
Because of the depths we fail to explore

In our noisy explosions of the failure to control ourselves
We allow the frustrations of a lifetime appear
And then we are judged by those who still remain calm
For their day has not arrived to ask for forgiveness
For being a human
For being afraid
For not being able to hold their breath
Longer than two minutes
Only to turn back
While the depths of who they are remain still

We put too much value on the past
It can stain us or sustain us
But it is gone and we allow it to exist
It becomes a dream that we summon
Either to prove ourselves
Or to make ourselves feel unworthy
For even in pain what is familiar is comfortable
And what man would live on faith when he has a past?

What will you do with the love you lost?
She is still afraid of the dark even though she loves another
Can he protect her from man?
Or from the ghosts in her womb?
For she gives birth to her fears with every sunset
And as she drowns herself in the same cup
Her lover feels lost because though he can make her smile
He cannot make her sleep soundly

I will live where I walk
Nothing to own except what I wear
Though I must offer some value
The world kills those who’s pockets are bare

I will sleep under the stars
They never ask who I am or make me pay
But the ground must swell over me
For the sky laughs at what shivers where they lay

I will care for my children
Without sitting high above lights that never sleep
The hand on the lever of society’s moral failings
Is no match for what a common man must keep

I will climb a mountain
Where temples stand hardened by destiny
For in the faces of holy denial
I will know the gulf between humility and celebrity

I will read the book again
And remove justification from my mind
I will not search to sanctify my glory
And in it I hope it is peace that I will find

I will walk to the rear
To honor those who know the pain of life
For in the days of my time
I have only witnessed but not felt true strife

I tried to close my door
But your breath filled the key hole
I tried to close my eyes
But you came to me in my dreams
I tried to close my mind
But you kissed my heart instead
I tried to close my heart
But you taught me what love means

Somebody said she never smiles
But you’ve not seen what she’s seen
She’s traveled too many miles
Most that only knew how to be mean

She had to learn how to love again
To love men weaker than she was
Men who see a body and not a friend
Because that’s what a hard man does

There’s so much life in those eyes
But not the kind for a party
She's too young to be so weary
But she doesn’t want the burden
Of a man’s dream she can no longer carry

He wondered if she could ever love him
He tried not to think about riding a white horse
He knew she wouldn’t fall for that again
Her strength had blown him off course

He saw how her face held everything in
She wanted to be easier but it was too hard
He knew she would give her life for her children
A woman like that has to live feeling scarred

There’s so much life in those eyes
But not the kind for a party
She's too young to be so weary
But she doesn’t want the burden
Of a man’s dream she will no longer carry

She was taught to conceal everything that made her human;
her plain skin, her stained past, all her mistakes because
it was more important to live life as an image than as a person

She didn’t like to cry because it wasn’t a world that honored
vulnerability; she knew what God wanted but even mustard
seeds are washed away from the garden when it rains all day

She wanted to tell the truth and all it could be was about
her own life but that’s not what everyone wanted to hear; so
instead she asked too many questions and lost a friend

She thought about everything she was told when she wasn’t
old enough to ask why; everybody that meant anything said
things that now make her ask how they could believe those things

She wondered if she needed to fix things up inside but couldn’t
decide if it really mattered; she could talk about her children
and her mom but that something inside wanted to feel alive

She left the past behind and kissed her youth sweetly as it was
her time to finally be who she was but it had taken so long to have
the courage to accept the truth that she became angry at herself

She knew she would never be able to change the world but she
thought she could change herself; it took her away from growing
old to take a stand on the truth and get to know who people are

She heard the big speech and the cries of war and warnings about
evil and it made her finally cry out loud; that’s when she knew she
was a passionate woman because it wasn’t about a man

What I decided to tell you
Is a true story
Fairy tales only give hope
And life must have it's disappointments

We knew each other once
Did you think I would stay the same?
I was just getting started
The arrow never lost its arc

You weren’t sure about me then
But you can forget the past
I left it behind long ago
I can’t get hung up on all that

Every word that comes to mind
Is about freedom
I can’t pretend to be any different
It’s the only way you’ll finally know

I hope we're not rushing the same things
   Because I took my watch off
I hope we are climbing the same things
   Because I only see the summit
I hope we see the same things
   Because it's a clear night sky
I hope we forget the same things
   Because pain will invite itself tomorrow
I hope we believe the same things
   Because I don't want to convince you
I hope we feel the same things
   Because that's what I want to share
I hope we remember the same things
   Because that's why I'm smiling
I hope we want the same things
   Because I only want to be with you

Even if we think we don't know
Something guides us from within
And no matter how far we go
We'd do it all over again
The voice is the only one we have
We follow whatever the course
We adapt even if we hurt ourselves
Because we know the alternative is worse

Let there be light
Let there be humans
Give them a garden
Let them be companions
It was all so simple
A world just for two
Nature would provide
Now what should they do?
The seasons are learned
Along with day and night
There is dangers in the wild
But what about wrong and right?
The beauty of one another
Brought their bodies together
One day something happened
It was no longer just each other

There was a baby to feed
And other families emerged
They were drawn together
As their problems converged
Food, shelter, water, safety
These things required action
Someone had to do something
Reality caused a reaction
But who would do what?
Who could hunt or lift a stone?
Could they become a village?
Or is it to each his own?
Who would decide?
Who would object?
Were they in agreement?
Or would they always reject?

One selfish man
And a plan will fail
One greedy man
And the garden is for sale
Would a man live for need
And not for his wants?
Would a man cure the infirm
And be paid only with thanks?
Would a man read a book
And study until he sleeps?
Would he use his knowledge
And reject the reward he reaps?
Is this the way to achieve greatness
With no discernment among men?
Everyone the same
No matter how driven?

The ocean beckons
As do the mountains
The lakes and the streams
Are natures fountains
Will they be cared for
If we live wild and free?
Will a man be happy
Not plundering all he can see?

And so the rock must be lifted
And we look around the cave
One man’s back is broken
And another says, “I’m no slave”
So the rock remains
As do we in the cave
Who will get food tonight?
“It’s not my turn” he said with a wave

How much is too much
For you to have all you need?
How much is too much
Before you notice the greed?
Think of it this way
You ask a man to play a flute
He can make you smile
But will praise be his fruit?

A good man will share what he has
And he will accept what he receives
But how many good men do you know?
And how many are thieves?
Would you rather wear a fur
Or harness the heat?
Would you rather live outdoors
Or have a home on a street?
And who will do this for you
Without their just reward?
Can you live like an animal
Or accept greeds mighty sword?

And so do you want my wool
In trade for your milk?
But the home he built for you
Requires that he receive silk
But milk is all you have
So you must live outdoors
How do we accommodate
When I can't use yours?

It's a matter of trust
I say what I render
Equals what you accept
And paper became legal tender
And if you agree
Though paper is not milk
Then I will build your house
Because now I can buy my silk
And in this way
Our wants become cultivated
And the lazy man
Is suddenly motivated

As the thinking man observes
The power of the capitalist tool
And the rivers of paper
That once was milk and wool
He wonders how it came to pass
That a world of cows and sheep
Became one of oil and gas
It happened while some did sleep
In the fury of comfort and reward
And technological devices
Are we better off
Or have we invented new vices?

I am happy for my children’s comfort
But at what cost to another?
Is it a zero sum game
With a winner and a loser?
Will the next big thing
Happen without their just reward
Or should we just pray to God
And put down our paper sword?
Is there a consensus among men
That can ever be reached?
Or will we always fail
And will egalitarianism be breached?

I wonder of these things
As we print more and more
The paper is all that matters
We want ours and all else we ignore
Is there a limit
On the value of milk and wool
Will we continue as we are
Who will win, the bear or the bull?

I wanted to say grace
Because you were going to be so good for me
But I decided to let it be
What I wanted wasn’t something that was holy

I never want to change you
You’re already the way I want you to be
You don’t trust love
So protect yourself but when it’s time be with me

It's there because we are
We just have to choose what's right
It might be for us
But it's always in God's sight

Every time I have a question
It’s only about you and nothing else
I already know what to do
But when am I’m coming off your shelf?

I want to make it seem right
Even if it’s not we can at least have one night
I don’t know why you hold back
When last time it was you who turned on the light

It's there because we are
We just have to choose what's right
It might be for us
But it's always in God's sight

I saw your beautiful welcoming eyes
I walked through the circles
Dodging the blinking curtains of love
Unafraid of what I might find
Because I knew you
Or so I thought
But the rush of blood was too much
The images of life too intense
Your heart beat too loud
The other side of your soft smile too hard
I started choking
Covering my ears
Closing my eyes
Crying
I couldn't stand it
I wanted out
But I couldn't find my way
What I was afraid of
Was how to live like this
And then I realized
I never really knew you
Because you had always been so strong
And only then did I know
How weak I really was

Is it ambiguity that frustrates you;
instead it was my gift to you

But why question a bird in its cage
or a caterpillar in its cocoon?

That is not the life that matters,
only the life to become; creation
is not destiny and destiny is not
the past for as the bird is released
so too are words into your mind
to fly where they may

Do not hold them fast; let them
take you where the vastness of
your imagination and dreams
may go because you will not see
the cage; it will remain empty
without memory or purpose

The sky is who you are; there is
nothing left of the past or what
someone may have felt or thought
at the time; the words have become
your own, changing, mutable, free

It’s in here
My happiness
Even if you can’t tell me it’s alright
And I’m asking you
Is it really alright for you?

I know your pain
Because it’s dying inside of you
That’s why you feel so bad
But living means you feel everything
And dying is letting it all go

It’s in here
Your happiness
I want to give it all to you
But you have to win the battle
Because your life must be your own

I know your pain
Because I see you crying
The flowers are bursting forth
Every thorn raking your soul
So they can let the sun inside

It’s in here
Our happiness
If we can just forget everything
Except to kiss each another when it rains
And hold each other until the skies clear

I know your pain
My heart finally learned to love
I no longer have to wait
It’s happening to me now
Because you taught me how to pray

I've got one more life
It's doesn't matter how long
Only that it's true
I don't care if I feel bad
I don't care if I feel sad

I've got one more life
It's because I'm still around
And that's what I came to know
I don't care how long
As long as it's not wrong

It may be my own way of living
I just know that I'm not alone
I just know that I'm not alone

I've got one more life
It's because I figured it out
Nothing matters anymore
I don't care about the past
I don't care about living fast

I've got one more life
It's the only one left
It's the one that's me
I don't care how long
As long as it's not wrong

It may be my own way of living
I just know that I'm not alone
I just know that I'm not alone

There is nothing for me to say
There is nothing for me to do
Because what's left is to listen
And reach my hand out to you

It may be my own way of living
I just know I'm not alone
I just know I'm not alone

What solumn countenance would curtain
a joyous explosion of masks, wigs and
gay costumes lifted upon the shoulders
of unicorns, hoisted by green mice with
chattering teeth as the teeming throbbing
wall of ever sharpening claws and whip
tails tightening the knots that bind them
with each living brick?

What strained smile would do honor
to the leaping unicorn, transporting
mere mortals transformed by imagination
relinqueshed of reason and the laws of
man where those who carry no haute
or couture of those most favored swallows
that flap their wings until the day their
frivolity turns it's head on their foolishness?

What mind locked behind lonely doors
would leap ahead of birds shed of tails
and teeth and horns that fly about the
land unabashadedly crossing seas and
rivers cooling the hardened hearts of
men who cannot believe in the fairy tails
of fantasy because what their God decided
was that the poor must always be with us?

A rock glancing across a pond
thrown before we knew who
would care to set our life in motion

How long before the last leap forward?

When and how
The only questions that remain
When… and how

The questions, never asked within
the pleasure of my own flesh, even
as it aged slowly by the currents
that guided the rock, became nearer
as clear waters revealed where I
might come to rest

But now, when fear of loss looms
along with what I can feel but
cannot control, the question of
when becomes that of how
for what accompanies my fears
now is the pain inside those
who would love me for the
mere fact of my existence
and my love for them

When all momentum begins to cease what
will you feel with the end rising all around
you; what once propelled you forward
now draws you near to the questions
you once ignored but now must confront

When and how; now you know

But the question has now become who

Who have you become?

Is it the stone hurled by someone
else or the stone sinking because
life became something you could
not prepare for or know?

Who will you be when the world
doesn’t value a stone seeking
the floor where all sound must
cease and the sun and the rain
can only be seen through the
prism of fate and destiny colliding
all around you while you wonder
if the choice ever mattered

But what you brought with you
are the secrets of a life with one
more chance to help another stone
hurtle further; held aloft by your
wisdom even though it may never
know that what sunk to the bottom
was not to be forgotten but instead
God’s hand if you will only believe
in your purpose

It was her impression that was most real
She was able to translate my love from life
She understood the tongue spoken in my soul
One thousand
Two thousand years ago
She was there
As was I
Like the stars
We always existed
But instead they watched us each day
And lit up our graves with their own memories
She remembered how we died together
And for each other
What else could it be?
For through the ages
In the many guises of life
We always found one another
Born in different lands
Life as children
Until the years passed
Wondering and walking alone
Cold nights in desert sands
Emotions deeper than the deepest ocean
Deep enough for mistaken lovers
Deep enough to save the last breath
Before we met again
It only took a few words
For our eyes recognized the past
And the future
There were no dreams
Only expectation
We both knew
No matter culture
No matter distance
No matter how many souls are born around us
No matter how many times our flesh must perish
We are as time passed
Remembered
And as time itself
Forever

Our prayers guide his hand
Her strength weather worn sand
No matter tempest tide
Or fear harbored beside
It is his will that be done
Because her faith in his son
Will walk this barren land
Where only dust can understand

He felt everything he needed to feel
A womans infidelity
His Father dying
His children crying
But still, he must live on
What space exists for him now?
He sailed beautiful waters
With a storm at his stern
He only had so much time
Before the shore would tell a sad story
A story of someone who tried
But was lost in the search for meaning
It’s a story of a man and where he stood
Where his feet were planted
He thought the beauty of nature was his spirit
And the beauty of man
But neither were of his own making
So he climbed higher
But not with his feet
Or his hands
He wanted things greater than himself
To make himself smaller and smaller
But that is not what soothed his discomfort
As he retreated into his own mind
He stopped living for things
And places
Love was for one night
Because worry slept beside him always
Worry about his fate
And his children’s
And whether she really loved him
He had no way of knowing
So he decided she didn’t
Just like the storm behind him
It was only there to remind him
To either live or die
To make money or ask why
To take pictures or his ego to deny
To suffer desire or remember it’s all a lie
To leave smiles to those who cannot see
And sorrow to those who know how life can be
Washing up on shores
That asked what took him so long
To come home

What storms exist in a beautiful mind,
   never to pass us by?

Drawing the sun from looming shadows
To separate what is to be known in time
Portioned among swirling ridges of worry
By horizons that never forget to remind

He found the way was not the winds,
   but to walk within the eye

Drawing the calm from looming concerns
To separate might be from once was
Portioned among flower beds to be saved
By those who decided to live just because

Which doors did he lock, trapping forever,
   the Furies that make him cry?

Drawing the good from looming terror
To separate his soul from flesh that breeds
Portioned among those who have not given up
By those who are willing to plant new seeds

Which door remains open within his heart,
   knowing not to ask God why?

Drawing reason from random acts of evil
To separate destiny from forgotten lives
Portioned among those with the will to live
By those who carry on after silent goodbyes

Your name has become
an alliteration in my mind
Your face a sunset
that waits for my dream to catch up
I’m sorry it's taking so long

I know why you are so vague
when once you were so obvious
I broke your mind enough not to care
but justice was served upon mine
I’m sorry it had to happen that way

We were headed for the sun
without fear of getting too close
But that is exactly what happened
and we knew then the game was real
I’m sorry I found out too late

What is within your reach
Is in the soil beneath your feet
Or the tear on someone’s face
These things that you can touch
And nourish with your care
Can also be made to feel pain
If you think not of their very nature
But only what you would have them be

What you can only see
But not dig with a *****
Or wipe with your fingers
These things you cannot touch
That revolve all around us
Silently comforting us
Without our demands upon them
To be what we would have them be

What you chose to leave behind
Did you know what it was when you met?
Did you know what it was going to be?
Did you know the distance already traveled?
Was its promise too slow to grow?
Was it already planted when you found it?
Did you dig it up and **** its essence,
To be what you would have them be?

What you know now
Is the same that you knew then
The things you can touch
And the things you can only see
Haven’t changed though you have
But what will you do now?
Will you make them like you?
Or let them be what they must be?

You walk on the stones
When you can feed your son
You're never refused
When the water you drink
Is from the cup you choose

You lay under their feet
When water dries in the sun
You're always refused
When a poor man lives hard
And his son can never choose

What can I say?
What can I say?
They suffer while I play
They suffer while I play
There/s nothing for me to say
There's nothing for me to say
My life has always been that way
My life has always been that way

You walk on the stones
When you know who loves you
It's you they choose
You lay under their feet
When you know they forgot you
It's you they refuse

What can they say?
What can they say?
They suffer while I play
They suffer while I play
There's nothing for them to say
There's nothing for them to say
Their life has always been that way
Their life has always been that way

What can anybody say?
What can anybody say?
What can anybody say?

Listening to light as it arrives from the deepest past,
   only to be stricken by the dark,
   as it passed the last mile
Seeing voices bound by etchings on a tombstone,
   only to be silenced by memories,
   that forgot how to smile
Touching wind storms demanding audience with me now,
   only to be shepherded into balloons,
   that can only float and beguile
Climbing waves of torrent driven by images of sparkling sands
   only to be reminded once again,
   of the futility of living in exile

The light on his shoulder witnessed his birth
   and the deathly funeral inside
A bloodless procession of pain and joy,
   where faith refused to hide
Faded beings, emotion and possibility,
   from days when truth once lied
Long silent until love finally passed
   and those who watched finally cried

The light on his shoulder scattered,
   pieces of lonely sky
Whether blue, grey or red,
  misting rain or dry
Flowers cover the stubborn stone,
   not knowing why
Adorning what he once chose to love,
   another forever goodbye

The light on his shoulder knew his burden,
   for human will is weak
Abstinence the only path to holiness,
   desire, the flesh to seek
Within hopeful eyes the choice blurred,
   powerful or meek
Once soft perfection but now scarred,
   her mark left on his cheek

The light on his shoulder was well pleased,
   as written in scripture
Though he never believed in the providence of  fate,
   or the words of a preacher
He left his chance at love at the altar of decision
   to return one day to seek her
But that day was not today as only the light knew,
   it was time to re-enter the water

Nothing familiar is the answer
It is always someone you don’t understand
Finding meaning
Outside our own means
As if they have nothing to lose
And they don’t
They do not think of their parents
Or what they were taught
Except for facts
Warding off
Things that are unexplained
Strange
Scary
Secret societies
Dystopian
Cold
Every institution of man
Rejected
As man withdraws from convention
Stirring the drink
With a hint of every influence
Without burden of form
Changing course on a whim
Fully versed in possibility
Stopping along the way
Every corner
To explore
For days and days
Forgetting the mission
Except to learn
A being of discovery
Courageous failures
Skeptical of every word
Unless it is their own questions
Enduring shock
Smiles instead of fears
No sense of consciousness
The natural act of a man unafraid
Except his own existence
Because then he has to acknowledge yours
And though he loves you
He cannot just sit next to you
And watch flowers return to their rightful place
So you can grimly smile that what you always wanted
May only be counted in moments instead of days
That become years
Though each moment is what he wanted all along
Because time is nothing to consider
Except how much remains

I see you
We are the same
But we must shed our layers
Our pride
Our distance
All the things we assume to be true

It is our weakness that separates us

It is our fears that controls us

We cling to race
To flags
To Gods
And to gold
Because we are afraid

But the world that was promised
Is about faith
In God
And in love

We say we believe in God
And we say we believe in love
But we are lost

We accuse
Each another

We hate
Each other

We reject
Each other

We hide our hearts
Out of fear
We do not believe we are strong
So we run away
From love
From each other
And pretend to be strong

We are afraid of rejection
We give another human all the power
The power to destroy us
The power to judge us
By their standards
And not God's

In the night
All alone
In your silence
Your honesty is awake
That is who you are
Though I cannot see you then

What would happen if I was there?

But I see you now
We are the same
And now I stand naked before you

Look at me

I have nothing to hide
I don't care what you know about me
It doesn't matter
I am still what I am
Weak
Fearful

Because I only know that I am not long for this world
I can dig my grave now
I have a spoon
You see silver
I see rust

At least I don't have to use my hands

There is nothing that I can prove about what I know

There is nothing that I can prove about what I have done

There is nothing but us

There is nothing but love

But where is it?

Until you can walk alone on your own
You cannot with someone else
You will only be carried in one direction
The one they choose
For the breezes that blow
May not fill your sails
And though the wind makes a sound
It is the quiet of uncertainty that you hear

But as I watch you suffer from loneliness
I ask to walk with someone who knows me well
Because they will understand how it must be
The way I am
How my tears no longer hide behind manhood
For the water before me must be my own
And I cannot begin my journey
Unless the path has been laid upon my emotions

Walking with someone else’s dreams
Or is it our own?
How can we know what is right or wrong?
But you can be never wrong
If courage becomes your bow
And your heart becomes your sail
Because it is who you are
And the wind is now at your back

Can a nation forgive?
Or must everyone die?
Which generation
Will walk a grudge by?
Did the Jews forgive?
Did Nagasaki forget?
How can the heart become
What the mind won’t let?
Did Jesus speak to you
Or to a nation?
Did he command the soul
Or write a Constitution?
Where exceptionalism is assumed
With a mandate from God
A people destroy the ground
Where holiness did trod
It is written
An eye for an eye
But is this for Caesar
Or for you and I?
It is written
Turn the other cheek
But is this for a superpower
Or only for the weak?
Why do we cheer
The death of a man
When God’s own son
Gave us a plan?
Or did he?
Can no man believe
That which his brother
Failed to conceive?
You abdicate your wishes
Behind a closed curtain
Believing in the good
Your vote always certain
The republic gathers its sons
And its daughters
But the outcome is decided
They’ve parted the waters
The collective never yields
The individual a myth
Ancient documents pretend
What rights do you walk with?
As the national interest swells
Our destiny is manifest
The chosen many
March East and West
Civilizing savages
Extracting resources
Stealing fruit from peasants
Mitigating encumbrances
The walls pushed further out
As we play in the yard
We pray before commerce
While someone stands guard
I call for our memory
Of a man in untouchable clothing
And for the son of slaves
To bring peaceful reckoning
Beaten down over and over
Suffering the indignities of a lifetime
Laying down before charging horses
To show us power’s crime
What is the seed of change?
An atomic bomb?
A protest march?
Or a Psalm?
What have you been told?
What have you witnessed?
A miracle has occurred
And yet you are calloused
I speak to you now
As you show me your smile
Will each eye seeks its mate?
Or will you walk the first mile?
And then the next
As it was spoken
But not for Caesar
For he will never be broken
Will you walk
And accept your mandate?
Will you give another man your coat
Or will you hesitate?
Can a nation forgive?
Can you or I?
Can a newborn baby?
Or will you teach it an eye for an eye?

You read words from afar
   and think about love
Love that you never knew
   except in your dreams

Or maybe for a fleeting moment
   the moment you once believed in love

But now you must believe in life
   our life together
Because life has become love
   or is it just romance?

We are taught to love one another
   and to control our emotions
But what emotion is greater than blinding love?
I can tell you about it
But what would I say if we met?
Would my pride allow me to speak plainly to you?
Would I be able to tell you that you had the power
   to make me fall in love?

Words written in the dead of night are not afraid
   as words spoken to you in the daylight hour

Walls of apprehension are built so high
   so pain cannot be felt
   or seen

But when our eyes meet
So too shall our lives
And that is what you must believe my darling

In life