I always wanted to fit in
Never to be to different
I'd be a lion among black sheep
Wanting to be a sheep
Not surrounded but hidden
Only to miss it
Every second in minutes before the hour
And now in a garden once so green
I miss my flowers

Now there's smog it seems
I just want to vent
Be a little bit of weak
And let my ideas spread
While someone else is light years ahead
Just let it be in the sea
Still on the surface to be more than grounded

Beat or let me be
As free as a bee
Sun or sleet
No one comes
All there to see
Can I get a witness
Is it less than free
What's less than free

Nothing is all I be
Something is what I seek
To find the me
Hidden within the me
But fail to like this

I'm over the identity crisis
I can see what I see
But I can't hear
Not one peep


Man I miss the flowers

Flickering light, images flow by
of cats and vamps and wolves on the sly
the undead tango with the dead
oh.. the books I have not read.

When something happens, something small
turns the whole place withall
popcorn doesn't pop no more
it's all a matter of blood and gore.

For when in the jungle, the quiet jungle
the lion roars tonight
the baser beasts fail to mingle
and move out of MY sight!

[page 10]
Regal lions, turned house-felines,
in the cave, with so-loved-Dan. 
Thank goodness for the better ones. Thank
goodness for my friends. 

Often, only reasons to stand 
up, withholding coughs and stretching.
Even if you can't interpret all my 
fourth-dimension etchings. 
[page 11]
Sought to state the timeline, as
I'm not strung-on-the-plan. 
And, almost, every human, with
a Facebook, has a band.

There'll always be peripheries 
and, people on the side-
lines, and people craving
air-time, and people, deserving that time. 

All-white eyes, fall back, in
waste-of-times, and
beer-soaked-pasts. For
the amount they seem to
smile, you would be
thinking, "this could last."

The posters said tomorrow
At eleven on the dot
The Mishkin Brothers Circus
Would be here ....on this spot

There would be no carnival or midway
Just one tent and three rings
And all of the excitement
That a good old circus brings

There would be elephants and lions
Trapeze artists overhead
Dancing dogs and ponies
And zebras painted red

Clowns of all description
Answering to just one man
In the center of the circle
Was Mishkin brother....Dan

He'd run the show for twenty years
Gone from town to town to town
In one day they would get set up
And in two, they'd tear it down

One day to show the locals
The circus still was an event
With magic, form the Barnum Days
All housed inside one tent

The sideshow barkers and their geeks
Were not with this fine group
Dan Mishkin had assembled
Only the finest circus troup

From Russia he had jugglers
Knife throwers, just the best
******* riders from Decatur
Along with all the rest

Fourteen trucks and trailers
Pulled into town the night before
Breaking ground once they arrived
Working right through until four

Just old time entertainment
No travelling gypsy band was this
It was the Mishkin Brothers Circus
It was something not to miss

The show was started promptly
At twelve o'clock, like the sign said
A parade of all the players
And the zebras painted red

Two shows and it was over
The whole routine began anew
The field was once more empty
Gone was the Mishkin rolling zoo

A year from now, we'd see the signs
And we'd all go to the tent
To see the Mishkin Brothers Circus
The best money ever spent

Of all the places
I have been
This is the strangest
That I've seen

It is called
The mixed up zoo
where the animals
Just will not do
Exactly what they're supposed to do
That's why it's called the mixed up zoo

Imagine lions in a tree
Not where they're supposed to be
A giraffe who is afraid of heigts
And bats who will not fly at night

I saw a goat who did not bleat
And then I saw a wool less sheep
A zebra who was blue and green
The strangest place I've ever been

I saw a duck who did not quack
I even met a talking yak
A turkey who could really fly
A hyena who would  only cry

Geese that croaked like giant frogs
And chickens who would bark like dogs
Elephants with ears so small
You would think they couldn't hear at all

I saw a horse who would not run
In all the day was really fun
Monkeys who could really sing
A snake who bounced just like a spring

It really was a crazy place
I laughed so much I hurt my face
If there is one thing you must do
Come and see the mixed up zoo

Do not be sad
when time has betrayed you
because,
dogs have always danced
on the bodies of lions.

Do not think
their dance gives them power,
for dogs stay dogs
and lions stay lions.

Lions die
out of hunger
while dogs eat
lavish meat.

Those ignorant
sleep on silk
while the wise
sleep on dirt.

Yet,
in the end
dogs stay dogs
and lions stay lions.

Brian, you're not dying, yet.
Sometimes, you think you are
Everybody's rock, soon to be forgot
Smile anyway, for they can't see scars
When too much time is spent looking at stars

Brian, why are you lying?
You won't get pretty far that way.
Brian, I can see you're trying.
I can see you're hiding.
But what are you hiding from, what are you trying to do?
But you won't tell me. Had to be the quiet child.

Don't listen to them Brian, you haven't committed a sin
don't be let them pin you down.
I know you have your doubts,
But Brian you can take the quick way out.
I'll hold the door
Maybe you just need to get some sun
Always so cold when you have to hide.

Brian, I know your hurting
Averting any confrontations
but Brian, you could run with lions
Don't give up on your Zion.

We may not be friends
But Brian, I hope the best for you.
I'll hold the door open
So you don't have too.