I am not going anywhere
I have the path ahead
It still seems to be threadbare
This old way is where I'm lost
Under the stars I navigate
Hope has been my surrogate
Then when hope bore a child of fear
Reality became something clear
It has a cord I cut from home
It has a cry I have heard before
I have known this path ahead
I still imagine I can take this road
This pavement made with utopian soil
It cements itself in the soles of these red shoes
There are no places I can go
So elsewhere from the path is where I'm to

Now and again I get back to the real
I'm on thin ice but I forget
I've learned how to walk like a skater
Sometimes I don't even realize it

But then you hear it crack
Underneath the weight of the weak
Somebody who has power over you
Because the strong have to be meek

It doesn't matter how much I know
Or how many places I've gone
The next card is a flush
It's either a straight or the john

Nothing stays the same
But I will not feel the burning stakes
I will walk the coals naked
And pretend that I have what it takes

She was a perfect daughter well said,
And his dad was proud enough that day;
When she left her job,her dreams behind,
Just to getting married, with her dad choice...

She was really happy with her own place,
What she bought from her little money she could saved;
Only she knows how good it feels,
Being independent and doing all her needs...

After hours of discussion she actually failed,
To make his dad, understand all her traits;
It's her choice,  not to get all comforts,
With his dad money, but to earn it first...

For her dad she deserved to be treated like queen,
This job is making her restless, what he has seen;
He barely understand the identity she will loose,
To follow the decision what he actually choose...

Finally she get married with her dad choice,
And she was a perfect daughter, everyone realized...

After so many days, she came home ,
Because of grand party his dad has thrown;
Her dad was listening what her husband said,
Wen sum one asked about his wife that day...

She is doing nothing but making home,
And then their normal conversation started going on,
In just a moment he realized what her daughter said,
It's not about the money but her identity she made....

We risk our lives everyday
every time that we clock in,
it's our way of life and what we do
  its the way it's always been.
  
We wake at 3 am to bells ringing
and sirens blare,
we leap to our feet and go get dressed
to fight deep in Hells lair.

In the darkness we don our gear
******* helmet and boot,
as one these brothers all get up
go sliding down the chute.

We run to the truck now wide awake
and with ease we slide in,
we put on our headsets to hear each other all other noise becomes a low din.

We race to the scene where smoke is showing
no one knows who got out,
we put on our airpacks and our masks
to talk we must now shout.

With axe in hand we enter therein
the Devils home amidst the flame,
we quickly search for everyone
boy, girl, man and dame.

The air is hot we can feel it through
the clothe armor that we wear,
but on we search through the building
till we realize we're low on air.

Another​ crew goes in
In their hands the hose
To find the seat of the flames
It's advancement to oppose

We cut the roof we pull the ceiling
Our hands and feet lose all feeling

We find a child we cover them up
We rush back to the door
We bring them to safety and go back in
To check and search for more

For hours the cycle repeats
Till all is said and done
The fire is out, we've done our job
This time we won

No fire is left and all are safe
We put our tools and hose away
And go back to the station
Where hopefully we'll get to stay

Our gears been scrubbed
Time to rest our exhausted bodies

We wake at 8 am to bells ringing
and sirens blare,
we leap to our feet and go get dressed
to fight deep in Hells lair...

You've never really wanted to live
Until you've folded your arms
In their carefully pressed blazer sleeves
Until you've stood alone
Feet planted on artificial ground, unshakeable
Until you've scanned across the smoky city skyline
Through a floor-to-ceiling window dotted with rain
Until you've had your breath stolen
Not by the vertigo of the skyscraper's top floor
But by the sheer determination that this city--
It will be a kingdom again
And you, its ruler.

My Titanic’s slowly sinking
The mighty horns are blowing danger         danger
And the iceberg’s in my soul
No way now to read the charts
That might have found a safer route

Launched with golden expectations
To set new records on the wires
Steady progress, ever forward
Mindful of the precious cargo
Forging through the troubled waters

Then a squall blew from the north
All the maps were obsoleted
Other captains took the helm
Said they’d be sailing by the stars
But only they had eyes to see them

Battered by the winds of evil
Banners flapping in the gale
Sent a message of confusion
Warning help to stay away
Praying that it still would come

As the ocean laps my ankles
All the lifeboats are long gone
Every hope has washed away
And I must learn to love the water
That will be my final home.
LJM