You made my dad a grand father
But he doesn't mind
You've been the son at the back of his mind

You made my ma a grandma
And made her heart glow
Funny she's never loved something that made her feel old

You made my malla and me uncles
It feels kind of cool
To think now after being spoiled we'll be spoiling you.

You made Akki a mom
Or you made it official
I don't think she's been anything less than maternal.

You've made James a dad
And a fine one at that
Time will prove that i'm right and of that I'm glad.

Welcome to the family!
We were born into it too
It's wierd at first but it grows on you.

And we will do our best
To make you feel one
Friend and a loved nephew son and grandson.

Tomorrow I vote,
Not because I can, but because I must.
Not for a politician I trust,
Or a person I know,
Not for a friend or against a foe,
Not to support a candidate,
Or to change a nation's fate.
Tomorrow I vote,
Not for a party or fee,
Not for the economy.
Tomorrow I stain my fingers,
And make a choice, between promises, and premises,
What was and what may be.
Because people died to give that right to me.

To let me decide,
Majority or minority,
The destiny of one man,
And find if absolute power corrupts absolutely,
Or men can rule, for the people humbly.
A government for and by the people.
And one vote for little ol' me.

So tomorrow,
Tomorrow I will vote because I am free.

The storm came out of nowhere,
And you were there
With wings ready to fly
And as the clouds broke the sky

You didn't leave

You were my shelter
From the rain and thunder
And when it ceased
And the wind eased

I didn't leave

The rain you stopped
Rained down your core
And every drop
Held like a store

It didn't leave

Until the gust shook it free
And you rained down on me
Cold and sharp but how could I leave
When you held it all of this time for me

I'll stay with you.

This song
Will never disappear
It will never have been here

But it won’t be forgotten

Cause the words
Will never have been seen
The chords will never ring

And it’s all come out rotten

Cause the name behind the words
Will never be known
Never be known
And the heart behind the art
Will never be shown
It will go unknown
But that’s okay
All our names will one day fade away

The note
Will never be replied
The ink will never dry

Cause it won’t see the light of day

It’s smeared
between the irony
This world will never see

What I was trying to say

Cause the name behind the words
Will never be known
Never be known
And the heart behind the art
Will never be shown
It will go unknown
But that’s okay
All our names will one day fade away

Your words cut like scalpels
Through hair skull and scalp
Culling the cunning thoughts
My Foolish heart has bought

But your blade is truth
No anesthetic
Can dull, numb or soothe
Unsympathetic

It removes the lie
Like a tumor
Until my life's
A rumor

There are two kinds of people, one thinks there are two kinds of people, one knows people are people.

When I say I love you
I mean like a friend
When you say I love you
It means without end

You mean it like a father
Loves His child
I mean it like a feather
Loves the sky

When you say I would do all
I mean in the figurative
But you're more literal
Your life you would give

Turn heaven upside down to get to earth
Turn earth right side up to get me to heaven
Turn your life to death to give me worth
Turn death to life to make us one

And you called me son
Not servant
Not one of the hundreds to come
Not pilgrim vagrant

You called me son
You say I'm free
You say eternity
Literally

And you're not being figurative
You're not playing with hyperbole
You're not using superlatives
You're just being wholly

True
When you say I died for you

A seed
That was what your love was like
It had to die to grow

Watered by memories
Tilled by todays
And all our hopes for tomorrow

My heart still blooms with love for you
And that's where your garden still grows

Rebel son
Born in the shadow
A fire in the hollow of night

You're the reason
That the angel's are singing
To terrified shepherd's tonight

Oh they did not know
And we don't still
That you came below
For your will fulfilled
Caused us to be saved
From ourselves and the grave
We will sing
To our rebel king

Rebel priest
Baptized in the river
By the one who you soon would save

You loved the least
Like your own sons and daughters
Like your blood flowed through their veins

Rebel love
That raises the standard
Changes our hearts from within

You are above
Sickness couldn't touch you
You healed us out and within

Oh we did not know
And we don't still
That you came below
For your will fulfilled
Caused us to be saved
From ourselves and the grave
We will sing
To our rebel king

Rebel king
betrayed by a brother
Led out like a lamb to be slain

Torn skin
Until you didn't look human
You bore our shame and our pain

Without sin
You were tried as a rebel
Innocent and you bore our shame

We thought you'd win
But you died like a rebel
Bearing our sin and our shame

Every curse and blow
Every blood drop spilled
Oh the thorn torn brow
Oh the life I killed
But then death rebelled
And the grave did too
As the dead broke free
By your death renewed
And your life cries out
In our very souls
Destroying our doubt
Making broken whole
Let my heart of hearts
And my songs now sing
Lifting holy hands
To my rebel king

I've been blessed to know
And be in your will
Let my life be yours
For your will fulfilled
To be saved and save
From sin and grave
Until my life sings
To my rebel king

Yesterday you were what a kiss has always been,
A promise that means what a ring has meant.
To belong and find belonging in another's being,
To love solely and sold out but never spent.

Like a seed reaches for the sun and earth,
And yet is never stretched but grows from the reaching.
And in touching both sky and stone finds worth
Tangible and intangible, and branches like fingers budding.

Flowers like rings,
Limbs like fingers,
Fruity things,
Whose sweetness lingers.

Soft to touch, sweet to taste of sunshine grown.
This is what a kiss is, the loved are never alone.

There is a shadow in my heart before your throne.
From a man who would dare dethrone you.
But the more he bows the more he knows.
That the shadows in my heart are not true.

The more he kneels the shadow fails
The more he sleeps the light prevails
And when he dies, all will know
He wasn't the Son just a window.

As the drizzle begins
The butterfly hides
Because paper
Cannot glide
When wet
Fall

When the clouds roll storms come
We put pain aside
Cold makes us numb
And pain dies
Forget
All

Your love is like a slash to the core
That will bleed until the day I'm no more
But if I'm sick of you it's cause I'm sick of love

Like being vulnerable to every word you say
Broken when things don't go your way
It's not that I'm sick of you I'm just sick of love

And when you can't find the strength to speak
I'll break the quarantine on your cheek
And I'll love you until you're just sick of love

Love is patient love is kind
Not kind of patient before you lose your mind
Well I'm losing my mind, but I'm not yet sick of love

Some say love is a raw disease
But if it's contagious spread it please
Cause you ain't living healthy if you ain't sick with love

And when you can't find the strength to speak
I'll break the quarantine on your cheek
And I'll love you until you're too sick of love

And when you can't find the will to weep
I'll hold you tight till you fall asleep
And I'll love you until you're too sick of love
I'll love you until you're love sick my love

What I long to be
Is just beyond reach of me
Because to be what I long to be
Would mean to lose my goal
Completely

To let go
Of what I know
I can achieve
Is to look in a mirror and say
I don't believe.

To walk this middle path
Between victory and art
Is a life half lived and never fulfilled.

I carved my name into a desk.
I didn't think much of it then
But looking back at the mess
I can see the innocence

No walls to hold him
Just a desk to learn
And mark on a whim
To know I was here

And the lesson began

So they took my hands
Beat them with the edge of a rule

Hard enough to hurt but not bruise
To cut but not bleed

Just skin

So I looked down at my desk
And my name in pain
Trying not to cry
Tears tried in my eyes

My name is blurred
The table is blurred
Like a white washed wall at twilight.

My heart is still where the white dove sails
Looking for rest at morning
Apart from will light's love prevails
Seeking a blessed mooring

You get it...
And that's what I love about you
You get it
Yeah you still roll your eyes, but you don't narrow them
You see the disguised ideas and shadow them

To me it's just numbers
Gestures at the air with hand
They don't make sense, but they're beautiful.

But then you have it in a book.
You make sense of
My nonsense
You call it arithmetic

And what I say in my sleep
You keep through your days

In so many ways.
You get me.

And your prize!
Is you get me.

Every string that you cut off
You say prunes but I'm no vine
I'm feeling off and out of tune and out of time

Cause all I have is your song
And when the last string is gone
Only dissonance and distance
Echo on echo on echo on

Every instrument you send to play with mine
It outshines, until shadows are the only place to hide,
And I'm inside

Cause all I have is your song
And when the last friend is gone
Only dissonance and distance
Echo on echo on echo on

When the last string is straining, fading, snap,
Will you clap, will applause or pause fill the wake,
Will you take another broken instrument
That failed to play the song you meant
Will you re-write the last movement
So only the song that you meant
Echoes on Echoes on Echoes on

I fell asleep in a dream
And woke where I was from
A place beyond the seams
Of forever and beyond

Where light was a song
And water a light
And life was a metaphor
For joy and delight

I fell asleep to the world
And woke from a dream
To find the world unheard
Untouched unseen

A mist un-missed
On the mountain of dream
Where I exist and belong
And yet have never been

Loud like lovers kisses stills streets
Like the flare of trumpets
But when lips and goodbyes meet

Love silently yearns
Waiting for love to return

The crash of glass and china on walls
As curses crush and claims confront
With every word on  ear and hall

Love is silent
Longing for love to be silent

When the living wail aloud
Midst those in night's garment
Among the tombstones in life's shroud

Love is silent and keeps
Knowing love is asleep

When the gavel condemns vice
And loved deserves the punishment
Love steps forward to sacrifice

Love silently
Dies willingly

When love is silent.
Love is never unheard.

I'm gonna sing a song
On the roof in the rain
In keys that are wrong
So everyone can say

That boy's crazy
Always was
But I'll do it anyway
Because just because

I'm gonna lie awake
And draw you in lines
In the dark that shakes
In the back of my mind

That boy's crazy
Always was
But I'll do it anyway
Because just because

I'll stare out the window
Beside the door
Remembering the shadow
That's not there anymore

That boy's crazy
Always was
But I'll do it anyway
Because just because

Oh I met him in the garden
And he called my name
I'd been watching him in the open
But I was ashamed

Cause I knew he was
What I could never be

It felt like a thousand years
Passed by in a flash
I sold my souls and tears
For approval and cash

Now I knew for sure
What I could never be

Now we're back in the garden
And I see him again
He's a stone's throw away
Saying his amen's

The spirit's still willing
For what I could never be

Here's a garden on a hill
With just three trees
His mamma is still
clinging to me

He's looking to me
To be what I could never be

I'll race you to the garden
Where we laid him down
The tomb is open
Angels around

I finally believe
In what I can never be

The gardener prunes
He'll bear fruit through me

Words do not a writer make
Nor poems nouns or prose
But the heart that breaks for breaking sake
Beyond calling Rose a rose

It's not the nouns or adjectives
Or strings of sappy lines
It's seeing love where nothing lives
And seeing darkness shine

A writer sees beyond the words
But sees the great divide
Between what heart says and what is heard
Never satisfied

A writer does not fill the page
With words that others need
But the page the page is the stage
Where their emotion bleeds

Of the things I think a writer holds
You may disagree
But if your heart is moved to words so bold
A writer you may be

There is a brush stroke in the sunrise,
A pencil line around moon.
There's a bar code in your eyes,
But we never notice it too soon.

My refrain is sung with refrain, because one
Who was accustomed to customs at airports and ports
Was to deport, and depart from my home
And my heart tomorrow
To borrow time and leave me
Rhyming why's and lies and sighs
Just to get by, by falling back on moving forward.

Her sentence sealed my sentence
"It's never enough to be home
Without ever being home"
Her point pierced home.

So with all I had left she left,
To be seasoned by seasons
And return turned into what I understood
Might not love me, mightily.

But Mays and and Octobers don't last,
And at last, what passed became past.
And may have brought me closure, and her closer.

Spring sprang a surprise on me.
On a windy road on a windy day
April, June summer may or may not have been.
When like a flower I like she appeared.
Daisies dazed me with brighter brights
And the sky's blue hues were new hues of blues.

Because cause belittles the little bees and the birds.
Who get by trusting the skies and flowers.
And while I was wondering of hope wandering in misery.
She solved her mystery in Him and me.

Write me something beautiful she said,
And I kissed her a sunset of poems in bed.
I made her laugh when the tragedies flowed in her head.
I got writers block when rage made my heart run red.

Write me something beautiful she said
I put my pen down and just listened instead
To what was between the lines where no ink was shed
And helped close the wounds where nothing bled

Write me something beautiful she said
So I took her hand in joy and dread
Signed away every memory ahead
And promised with this ring thee I wed

Slip
And there it goes,
My heart skips, and my eyes close.
I see the sky, my body jerks, my hands reach out
But nothing works, It all slows down.
Right now, speeds up,
Ground,
Ow!

I know that you test the heart.
And you can see mine's hurt and scarred.
And your hands are roughened up
From carrying my cross.

I can see you reaching in.
Through my chest beneath the skin.
It's uncomfortable to feel
My scars against your scars

Cause yours were for me,
Shed on the cross so I could be free.
And mine were for you.
Running away from what you want me to do.
And it's ripped and bleeding
Desperately sick
I'm deceived beyond dreaming
God make it quick
And stop my breaking heart

And you say it will be fine.
That this will make you mine.
That my open chest
Is the way you come inside

But this is so uncomfortable
Kneeling at this table
Feeling you touching
Every scar inside
Hoping i will come alive

Cause yours were for me,
Shed on the cross so I could be free.
And mine were for you.
Running away from what you want me to do.
And it's ripped and bleeding
Desperately sick
I'm deceived beyond dreaming
God make it quick
And stop my breaking heart

The moon like a lily,
Blooms from the clouds,
Carried on a wispy cirrus shroud
Floats on the sea of the sky like the foam
And sinks to the depths of the ocean her home.

You held my hand as we walked on the shore.
Beyond the sand you're not here anymore.
You towered warm, like the sun over the sea.
Now the storm swarms over , cold waves smother me.
You breathed me in when we kissed and laughed.
Now I'm screaming but just bubbles float past.
Bubbles on the shore.
We're not here anymore.

Lover, Slide between me
And what I could be
And keep me comfy
Asleep and warm
Zeal brings great harm
You have me charmed.

She opened my heart with melodies and maladies
And closed my eyes
With kisses
And whispers
That dispersed the doubt
Until the darkness came out
Then she left and my eyes opened like clouds
Squinting through the rain at the sunny day.

It is both understandable and bewildering,
That you knew my name before I did,
Even before I was born,
And I will remember yours long after you are gone.

Waiting is difficult
But it is essential
Love too soon or too late
May never become love at all
Act too soon on your anger
And you will regret your call
But if you wait the hate will subside
And love will guide your actions

All I'm saying is that patience
Is a harvest sewn and waited for
That reaps a crop greater than the field
One that cannot be stored but produces a yield
Ten, Hundred, Thousand fold the time thrown away
And that time thrown away is never wasted
Because as the watchman waits for the dawn
When morning comes, he breathes a deep sigh
And smiles as the light warms his face and soothes his sore eyes
Patience proved right produces insight
That waiting can be for gain
Above all else what remains
We learn to cope
With man's most powerful curse
Hope

And nothing could be better or worse.

I slid between the days
Hid the unseen ways
I touched your face
A rushed embrace

All that I'm here left with
Is to fall for the theft this
Is not worth goodbye
It's a shot to the sky

Flying with no trail
Falling without sails
No burst of light
Just Goodbye
Falling into this
Calling the abyss
Looking for light
Just goodbye

Time slips like rain
Time grips like pain
I can't close my eyes
I chose the lies

That maybe this won't last
Baby this will pass
But lies don't stay
You've gone away

Flying with no trail
Falling without sails
No burst of light
Just Goodbye
Falling into this
Calling the abyss
Looking for light
Just goodbye

And so we glide on by we close our eyes
And say you will be missed
And the miles role by and the tears will dry
But I can only promise this.

When your flying with no trail
Falling without sails
Remember my eyes
When you said Goodbye
Falling into this
Lost in the abyss
Looking for light
Only finding goodbye.
My life lost some light.
When you said goodbye.

Open Casket.

Letting the grains slip away through my fingers
The dust never settles the pain only lingers
It still feels like we never closed the door on this

You were afraid that the wound never heals
Then you moved on to a place that’s too real to be
True in my hollowing heart, can I follow you from the dark

Bury me with my casket open
Cause’ my bones were never broken
Just out of joint, but that’s not the point
You never let continents keep us apart
What’s six feet of earth between eternal hearts
You must be joking, Jump on in the caskets still open.

Cotton and lace I want all of the frills
If life is a lesson then death is a thrill
Who ever said that there is no hope for the dead (to find love)

If you’re still afraid that the wound doesn’t heal
Put your hand on my heart you’ll see that the promise is real
There is peace right in there but it still wants a piece of you
Bury me with my casket open
Cause’ my bones were never broken
Just out of joint, but that’s not the point
You never let continents keep us apart
What’s six feet of earth between eternal hearts
You must be joking, Jump on in the caskets still open.

The grains slip away
It never changes and you’re still afraid
That my heart will re-arrange the truth
Bury your doubts
In cotton and lace
Til’ you can’t get out
The grains slip away
It never changes and you’re still afraid
That my heart will re-arrange the truth
Bury your doubts
In cotton and lace
Til’ you can’t get out
But just trust me on the other side
You’ll see me
You will see the light
You will know that the truth was always inside
Bury me with my casket open
Cause’ my bones were never broken
Just out of joint, but that’s not the point
You never let continents keep us apart
What’s six feet of earth between eternal hearts
You must be joking, Jump on in the caskets still open.

She wrote me letters in smiles
That told me to while away
The lazy days and read each letter on her face.
But when I replied I was forlorn
It seems her mail address was wrong

Silent like the waves in a storm.
She looked at the clouds drowned out by the thunder.
The tarmac was warm,
But the warmth was fading into a numb canker.

She closed her eyes,
Or were they closed for her.
A question others realized,
Was now pointless to make clear.

The answer could not save.
Only shock.
Silent like the wave in the storm,
On the rocks.

We were out on the streets
And you were listening to me
Over the sound of feet
And the din of the city

I was caught in your eyes
And to my surprise
There was no one at the string

So I sang you a song
Of a love long lost
But the song wasn't strong
Cause the feelings were frosted

Over with lies
And new butterflies
There was no one at the strings

And they rang out with the chords
Of a heart lost in song
Of a mind in the void between here and the lord
And it all came out wrong
And it all went right
That's the thing, when there's no one at the strings.

And so we opened our hearts
To the things we denied
And I showed you the parts
That I'd normally hide

Cause no one understands,
But you still took my hand
Now there's no one at the strings

And they rang out with the chords
Of a heart lost in song
Of a mind in the void between here and the lord
And it all came out wrong
And it all went right
That's the thing, when there's no one at the strings.

Now I'm holding your hand
And it's good to be here
Somehow I understand
That even though we're near

You're far away
And I want you to stay
But there's no one at the strings

Overwhelmed underpaid, looks down at pavement.

I strike the keys, and the letters appear,
But the words don't strike a key in here.
Or turn a phrase, and it's been this way
For minutes, hours days and days.
I long to feel the mystery
Of my own words
Turning the keys,
Opening rooms in me.

In your eyes there is freedom,
From the shadow's glare
From the wounded stares
From the mirror snares

In your hands there is healing
From the heart of doubt
From a life without
From a razor mouth

In your heart there is meaning
For the misunderstood child
For the violent wild
For the broken smile

But in your death there is nothing
Forever closed eyes
Forever cold hands
Forever silent heart

I remember
His heart on his shoulder
He made faces as he brushed his teeth in the mirror.
He stopped everytime he saw someone in pain
Cause it made his heart numb as blood flowed through his veins

He would sing in the shower
And dance in the rain
And make fun of the hours that others complained
His room was a mess but his mind was a fairy tale

He wrote poems on the roof
And sang to the sky
He'd play music at night and try not to cry
Cause the heart and the hands that he longed for had passed him by

He was lonely but in time
He would find that others cared
He was brave but always scared of others seeing what's behind
And his smile wasn't just a wall
But a battle call.
For all of his flaws, he was sincere enough to fall
And I miss him most of all

When he was alone
He'd talk to himself
And dream about living life as an elf,
And he never told anyone what he really felt
If he taught it would make them like him any less

And he thought that they'd laugh at him behind his back,
And that nobody cared but his heart would not crack,
he believed in the people who never believed in him.

He was lonely but in time
He would find that others cared
He was brave but always scared of others seeing what's behind
And his smile wasn't just a wall
But a battle call.
For all of his flaws, he was sincere enough to fall
And I miss him most of all.

He was always others,
But never his own
Their opinions and ideas were hearts on his throne
And he believed they were good
Even though he'd never believe they could love him.

He was lonely but in time
He would find that others cared
He was brave but always scared of others seeing what's behind
And his smile wasn't just a wall
But a battle call.
For all of his flaws, he was sincere enough to fall
And I miss him most of all.

Now the voices have gone silent
And my mind's an empty hall
Every thought's an echo bent
Every word an unanswered call

There is music in my heart
But it's nothing pure or free
My soul has lost it's spark
There are no songs left in me

So I'm lost in the chorus
I'm caught in the verse
The world is before us
And it's getting worse
And we're hollowing up
For the day prophesied
Cause in my heart, the music's died.

So I'll stick to listening
And drop the pen
Post a ghost posting
On whisper again

And maybe it's fine
That the song's dead inside
Maybe it's gone rotten
And my creativity's died

So I'm lost in the chorus
I'm caught in the verse
The world is before us
And it's getting worse
And we're hollowing up
For the day prophesied
Cause in my heart, the music's died.

What makes an athlete great?

Is it the shoes or the pace
The coach or their grace
The time it takes to finish the race?
Is it the hours in the gym
The drive just to win
Or the people cheering for her or for him.
Is it the desire
That un-bottled fire
That rages and urges us faster and higher
But who bought them the shoes
Thought them not to lose
Picked them up when they were tired and bruised
Yes I crossed the line
I put in the time
But they all came together to make victory mine.

Out of the wasteland others call paradise
I am a pilgrim journeying to death
With smooth hands and tired eyes
My sails are trimmed to breathe my last breath

Because home is beyond any shore my roaming can reach
A dream lost while adrift at sea
So I'll roam and dredge no more the depths I can't breach
I'll float across as my sails fly free

I'm not the man I used to be
You're not the one who fell for me
We're not the people we once were

You stare at me like broken glass
You see through me the hours pass
We're not the people we once were

But back through the cracks through the blight of the scars
What lack brought her back to the slight of these arms
You fight the shadow you hold the shards
You light the window you hold the stars
And they shine through me
And my mind's true free
A thousand rainbows gleam lighting that wall
A thousand shadows mean nothing at all

On this side of the sky
The cash before my eyes
Are paper blinds
Over my windows

On this side of my room
I'm hiding in the gloom
It's just easier
In the shadows

But you're the blue up high
The storm in the rain
On this side of the sky
You're the joy in the pain

On this side of the sky
The storm is rising high
There are no silver linings
Except the lightning

I'm running through the storm
My eyes are clouding up
It's blurring out your form
But I'm still searching

You're the blue up high
The storm in the rain
On this side of the sky
You're the joy in the pain

I lift my eyes up
To the mountains
A sunset of bloods
You turned to fountains
Your skies went black
So mine turned blue
On this side of the sky
The light is you

You're the blue up high
The storm in the rain
On this side of the sky
You're the joy in the pain
And when the storms fade
And I fade too
On that side of the sky
My light's still you