Leave the rut
The comfort zone
Let the magic happen

Be yourself
Not someone else
Needn't any shepherds

You're a star
You're meant to shine
Leave the hate to others

Be yourself
No matter what
Proudly wear your colours

Nationally we rejoice at the drop of the sun,
Sending explosives that dazzle the skies in parotic hues,
Silenced are the fears of the weary who cower in the corners of oppression and differential treatment,
Misjudged are the BIPOC who do not mirror the sentiments of the majority,
Forgotten are the fallen who lie in unmarked tombless foregrounds, Be cautious of the realities faced by the neighbors hidden in solitude, Be mindful of the friends who decide to stay indoors,
Be compassionate for our nation is hurting,
Though mass media may have muffled their cries,
Their lived experiences echo at an amplitude regarded by the awakened.

today i fina try again
and it don't mean you ain't my friend
i'm moving on, i'm moving past
the things i thought would always last

to say i'm scared is to understate
do have this feeling that i'm tempting fate
but bold i go and deep i dive
to find my soul... it's still alive

i spread my wings and off i fly
i fina live before i die
embrace my spirit, up my game
rekindle my forsaken flame

today i fina start anew
unlearn again all that i knew
i dare to dream, i dare to do
try and keep up - i dare you

Tomorrow
I'm going to try again
Tomorrow
I will thrive
Even if today
It feels like
I'm the world's most broken,
Miserable man
I shall once more feel alive

Tomorrow
I will take the road
I have never taken before
And paint the world gold
And be afraid no more

Tomorrow
My dreams will come true
Tomorrow
I will rise and shine
Tomorrow
There will be no you
And the world will be mine

Dangerman
—a buyer and seller
of mostly himself

Petticoat
—a ***** on the take
and about to slip

Each made promises to the other
but both loved journeys
and valleys
and limericks
and turntables
and spirits
and skirt-raising
and slowdives
and lip-biting
and come-hither
more than their here-and-now vow

Trigger-happy begetter
with an ax to grind
killing captives slowly
with jagged little things
it's the strangest sound
in spite of the plight of
the ringing in his ears
it never fades away

I reckon numbers and lead are arbitrary
to a button man
whose wheels turn circles
mainly in his skull
revolving/rouletting
as infinite go-around

Never mind though, the time must be now
for a show of hands

Motherhood waited in the ship's hold
until the treasure hunt
brought her to this final island
a choice between gold
and the aging ******

The young who suckle at her breast
might one day run mum through
with the sword at Payback
—that unsteady little homestead
where profit and loss
share the same face

Never mind though, the moment must be now
to ring the bell

And raise redemption
like a burning flag of regret

love was in the air that day
i took your hand
you held my gaze

skin on skin
breathing softly
we set the world ablaze

the night was young
the moon was smiling
the stars shone bright

dusk 'til dawn
a thousand times over
felt so alive

I scrub and scrub,
until my skin stings,

wondering why,
I don't look "clean,"

darker skin, darker hair,
they've led me to believe
there must be something ***** here

The idea of what we don't need is, much better than the idea of what we actually need!!

Let's meet under all of this.
Under all the skin and politics,
under all the hate and animosity
that society is burdened with.

Mother nature got it right
she waterproofed our skin.
She didn't waterproof our minds,
hence the state we're in.

So it's hard to meet below the surface.
Just easier to swim
and thrash about in the waves of our ideological whims.
Front crawling, backstroking
"Go with the flow" kind of doomed.
The odd ones butterfly stroke,
the rest of us are stuck in our cocoons.