Highways

We could go to Denver,

Maybe San Antoine,

Take a trip to Memphis,

Slide back to Bayonne,

Motor into Detroit,

Drive out to the coast,

Spend some time at Disney,

The place we love the most.

 

Love to see the canyon,

They say it’s awfully grand,

Take a stroll down Bourbon Street

Walking hand in hand.

We could breeze the Gulf coast,

New England in the fall,

Cruise the Shenandoah

Until we’ve seen it all.

 

Life is filled with highways

Made for you and me,

Running to forever

To where we want to be.

We can find the future,

We can make a friend

Traveling life’s highways

Until we reach the end.

 

Swells of Silence

Remember the good times we used to know

Back when the world was our friend.

We were invincible, running through meadows,

Thinking that we’d never end.

Talking and laughing with two million people,

Dancing from twilight til dawn.

Now we are lost in these deep swells of silence

Wondering where our love has gone.

 

Your eyes would light up. Oh, how they’d sparkle

Whenever I entered the room.

I couldn’t wait for the sound of your laughter

To carry me over the moon.

Sweet conversation with no hesitation

Was always so easy back then.

Why can’t we get past these deep swells of silence

And get back to where we began?

 

It should be easy.

It should be simple

To bring us back into the light,

But all I keep hearing

Are deep swells of silence

Echoing into the night.

 

Over and Over

Seems like we’re caught in a crossfire

That neither of us wants to end.

I keep confessing my love for you,

But you say we should just be friends.

I’ve walked through that portal a million times,

But you closed it just like before,

And I just keep falling in love

Over and over.

 

It’s not your fault.

You have to be who you are.

It’s all on me and my grand obsession.

Common sense can only take me so far.

 

Sometimes you can be such a temptress

And I can’t resist a reprise.

Your ways and your wiles drive me crazy

Until I melt into your eyes.

There’s nothing on this side of heaven or hell

To make my heart stop wanting you.

I just keep falling in love

Over and over.

 

Next time I’m hoping you’ll see it,

You’ll want to be more than friends,

Come to my arms for a lifetime

And we’ll cast our fates to the wind.

But if you can’t offer your true love

My heart resets where it begins,

And I’ll just keep falling in love

Over and over.

 

My heart keep falling in love

Over and over.

 

Feel the Rhythm

Do you feel the rhythm flowing

Through the life-veins of the street?

Catch the gentle rolling motion

As it plays beneath your feet.

In the early morning prattle

From a layered world of dreams

Comes an overflow of memory

Floating soft upon a stream.

 

And the way to turn is so clear

As you step into the heat.

You’re just listening to the rhythm

And following the beat.

It’s a million miles to Heaven

But the journey can be sweet

If you let the rhythm carry you away.

 

There’s a postcard in your mailbox

From a lover far away,

And you read each word a thousand times

Til the letters seem to fade.

And the rhythm of the words fall softly

From the printed page

And form another memory

To lock into your safe.

 

But the world keeps spinning,

Swaying to the rhythm of your soul

Til the evening falls just like a welcome friend,

And the beat subsides but never dies,

Just rests upon your mind,

And tomorrow you will start it all again,

And the rhythm wraps its arms around you

Like a long lost friend.

 

Let It Go

He said, "We will last forever."

She said, "'Til death do we part."

He said, "You are my everything."

She said, "You have all my heart."

He bade, "What more can you give me?"

"I have no more", she replied.

He said, "This is not enough!"

She said nothing as she cried.

"I don't know what you want from me,"

She uttered through her bitter tears.

He mocked and scoffed, "I shouldn't have to

Tell you after all these years."

She clings with hope for some resolve;

Confused, bewildered by his take,

But both are silent, mute out of respect

Each for the other's sake.

But they both know that it's over,

Curtain's fallen on the show.

The end has come...

No curtain call...

It's time to let it go.

 

Watching the Freak Show

Now, I'm no raving beauty, it's true,

But there is one thing, for sure, that I know.

The freaks are alive and they live everywhere,

And they never fail to put on a show.

They travel the halls and they frequent the malls

Aimlessly roaming the streets without fear,

And I wonder and ponder as they pass me by

Is it possible they own a mirror?

If they do, do they use it? For I just can't see

How they hope to be understood.

Do they stand there before it and think to themselves,

"Damn it all! I'm looking good!"

It seems that they've really gone out of their way

To tickle the fringe of the truly absurd.

My thought is to laugh, but I hold it inside,

And just shake my head... Don't say a word.

Oh! To be different! To stand from the crowd.

To totally be so unique.

The price that you pay to have people say

As they point at you, "Look at the freak!"

 

Putting Out Fires

Sometimes the flames crowd

The distant horizons as though

The sunset is scorching the Earth

With her dazzling brilliance

Consuming the hills and the forests

Surrounding in every direction.

Little to do, when the fires lose their mercy,

But stand back and watch

As they dance in the dark.

Hoping they stay at a tolerable distance

Lest we are caught in her horrible rage.

Ready to run as she grows ever closer,

Feeling the brush of her heat on my cheeks,

Praying the Heavens to open their bounty

And drown her passion with torrents of rain.

Standing and staring transfixed

On her beauty. Longing to know her

In intimate ways, yet fearing her fury

That grows ever stronger.

Torn by emotions... Lost in a daze,

A groundswell of longings that grows ever higher.

Do I become one with, or put out the fire.

 

Stop! Thief!

I used to have a heart, a soul,

A spirit filled with promise that was

Blind to passion's overfill, the overkill

That cuts the vein and

Lays it open 'til the flow

Of heavy blood has paid the toll,

And the heart is starved of precious life

Drowning in a sea of pain.

 

I was happily naive,

Exuberantly overjoyed

Until you made your entrance like

An actor walking on a stage;

Pondering your audience,

Lines rehearsed, emotions packaged

Waiting for the moment to

Unleash your frightening fits of rage.

 

You came stalking with intent

Leaving my heart filled with grief,

And then you stole my innocence

As if you were a common thief.

 

Standoff

Barricaded!!!

Trapped behind a wall so high

That I must struggle on my keep

Around the clock. Her fortress mocks me

As my eyes refuse to sleep.

Sailing off into the sunset

Is a haunting distant dream

That lingers near, never clearly

Focused as I plot and scheme

To free these bonds, escape this prison,

Throw my jailer to the ground

And run to freedom somewhere distant

Where the fruits of truth abound.

 

If I only had the strength to

Face the showdown up ahead;

Bold to face the consequences,

Fearing still the flags of red

I sit quiet in my armor

As the stalemate lingers still,

Testing every ounce of metal,

Every measure of my will.

 

So, the standoff must continue.

Neither side will acquiesce.

In the end, just who will win?

Who will come out second best?

 

Bustin' My Chops

Why should I be bustin' my chops?

Sweating for somebody else's crops

Where payment is grossly under-fair,

Where dignity reaches the edge and drops

Like a hammer crashing a pane of glass

In a World obsessed by position and class.

 

A struggle as old as primordial man

Where strength and aggression are played hand in hand

And survival had only two classes, it's said;

Divided between the quick and the dead.

 

But these days it's money that seems to divide

Where the classes are structured, how we decide

Who has worth, what has meaning, who gets the bone

With the meat neatly picked; who ends up alone.

Worshiping God on an altar of green

As immortal worth becomes ever so lean.

 

But truth is not fleeting.

Please, make yourself clear.

Our struggles are not always as they appear.

The classes are self-made and self-imposed,

And nothing the freehearted ever need fear.

 

For happiness crosses all boundaries and classes.

Contentment survives and thrives with the masses.

 

Thinking Small

The tiniest creatures

Will often times cause the

Most irritation for Humankind.

The pesky barrage of the

Infinitesimal pest is a test

Of the tolerant mind.

Consider the flea, the louse

Or the tick,

Diminutive blood-sucking vermin

Who kick and claw

Until they get into your skin,

Inviting legions of their kith and kin

To come along for the bountiful feast,

And drink the blood of the giant beast.

But the most destructive cannot be seen

With the naked eye, no matter how keen.

They breed and grow without procreation

'Til their legions are the size of a nation,

And their needful ways are cause for alarm

As we shrink from their coming

And quake from their harm.

Microscopic beast of evil,

Hidden armies you employ.

Singular is your agenda;

Humankind would you destroy.

 

Ready to Take on Life

Give me your best shot!

Take me on up to your highest level,

Then give me a push.

I've been waiting, watching and learning

For four or more decades

To take on the rush.

The elders all say that I'm just a kid,

Still ill-prepared in the ways of the World,

But I disagree, and if you ask me

I'll tell you it's time that

My flag was unfurled.

Just step aside and lend me some measure,

Pass the baton,

Rap the drum,

Play the fife.

This is my turn

And I run with a vengeance

Forward and ready

To take on life.

 

Training Wheels

I must have been no more than six or seven

When I learned to ride using training wheels on

A little blue bike that I rode much too fast

And wound up destroying before it wrecked me.

 

I learned to balance in very short order;

Learned to fly without leaving the ground;

Learned the spirit of kinetic motion that

Stirred my soul and set it free.

 

A few trips over the handle bars,

A few dips into the puddles of Spring,

A few slips and slides in the graveled driveway

Resulting in torn pant leg and skinned up knee.

 

Lessons are easy when young and resilient,

And balance is learned at the drop of a hat,

And vision is clear for the future is now

And our day is filled with simplicity.

 

Pity we can't use training wheels

In learning to scale our emotional lives

Where balance is often a fleeting companion

Blinded by sunlight, unable to see.

 

Messenger of Pain

No one likes to bear the burden,

But someone has to spread the news

That comes with cat-like urgency

Destroying midnight's restful peace.

 

There is no way to be prepared,

To be the calm recipient

When hearts are ripped and shredded

By this cold and mindless beast

Who stalks the night in Terror's cloak,

Seeking victims unaware,

And plunges them into a well

Of desolation and despair.

 

Waking with a sudden chill,

Bolting upright from your sleep

Filled with frightful premonition

Of a burden buried deep

Inside your heart. Your mind is racing

Through a windswept hurricane.

It is you, and no one else,

Must be this messenger of pain.

 

Framed

I was minding my own business;

Wasn't bothering a soul, or

So I thought.

Obviously, I was wrong

As someone else's bold agenda

Crossed my path at intersections

I was unaware existed until now,

This very moment as

Your finger points my way.

 

Innocence is fleeting when

An alibi is needed

And friendship carries little weight

For guilty parties panicking

To take the fall and pay the wages

For their action, unprepared,

Helpless in their weakness,

Spineless, cold and scared.

 

So now you point in my direction

As you seek to transfer blame,

Looking for a sacrificial lamb,

A patsy you can frame.

 

A Baser Emotion

With honor ignobled

And courage defamed,

With decency comatose

Fleeing the fray,

We kindle the spark of

A baser emotion

With unlighted candles

Leading the way.

 

How does it build in

Contemptible measure

To seek out the center

And lend it to change?

Where does it find the

Inferior being

And tempt it awaken,

To rise and derange

All the commonplace senses

To indecency?

Setting the Devil

Inside of us free.

 

Fighting a war of

Perpetual motion,

Seeking to rise above

Baser emotion.

 

Threadbare Stripped

There you walk in all your glory;

Pride divested, plucked and bared,

Every shred of decency has

Been removed and stashed away.

 

No resolve and acquiescence,

No reserve humility

To rise above the lustful greed

That drives your mind to seize the day.

 

Think back to a simpler time,

To lessons learned at mother's knee,

To times when hearts were open

To the cries of all humanity.

 

Somewhere there along the journey,

As the seasons made their change,

The soil around your labored roots

Was hardened and your soul estranged

From threads of commonality.

Spirits cry to be set free

But get no answer - no reply

Escapes your lips in vain decree.

 

The world was yours to reign supreme,

But you came laden, unequipped,

And you have left your Earthly treasure

Desolate and threadbare stripped.

 

Maximum Effort

Do you try?

Do you really try?

Or do you simply give lip service?

Just enough to paddle by;

Far too little to succeed.

 

Dig down deep into your soul

And remember who you're asking.

Lying to yourself won't help to

Realize your fondest dreams.

 

What is it you want from life?

Have you really asked yourself

What goals you're waiting to achieve?

What tangled web you long to weave?

 

Which direction?

What's the plan, the angle

To manipulate?

Who must yield and who must perish?

Who must be left in your wake?

 

Someone wins and someone loses,

And the loser's soon forgotten

Buried in the aftermath

Or left to burn; tied to your stake.

 

You must choose; must really choose

Which direction you will take.

 

Sour Grapes

Savoring her sweetness,

The very nectar taken from her vine,

Can make me giddy with delight

As I sip tasty droplets of her wine.

Never wanting to take more

Than she may yield up willfully

Lest her taste be bitter from

The sin of immaturity.

Waiting oh, so patiently for

Sunlight's rain to fill her heart

With sweet seductive fullness

That her shapes and colorings impart.

Longing for her gentle touch

Upon my shoulder, on my nape,

Instilling wide emotions that

My flustered heart cannot escape.

But she has chosen someone else

And I'm alone at close of day.

So, I console myself that she

Was likely sour anyway.

 

November Rain

I shiver in November rain;

Never should have come outside.

Each needled drop a pin-prick

Penetrating into tender flesh

Left uncovered and exposed to

Elements so raw and rigid,

So dank and frigid that I'm

Left to question

The very sanity,

The sanctity of my decision.

Perhaps it's time for another plan,

Or at the least, a bold revision.

 

Taking on the elements

With no protection from the cold,

Exposed to late November's wrath,

Enduring every ache and pain,

I struggle forth upon my quest

Seeking answers sorely needed,

Knowing not what lies ahead

As I defy November rain.

 

Pursuit of Happiness

It's not so elusive; not so hard to find;

It's all around every day

There for the taking...

A well never emptied. No matter how much

Is drawn from its reservoir

There's always more.

It rains from the sky...

Rides on the wind.

Its comfort is like the

Embrace of a friend.

A tickle, a tingle,

A twinkling eye,

Smiles on the faces of passers-by.

And though the World may be humbled and hard,

Days may be long and travail deep and dense,

The Happiness waits with the patience of Saints

At the end of the journey to help us make sense

Of a life that is otherwise

Filled with remorse...

It's in the pursuit

That we find our true course.

 

Nasty Boys

Men are pigs!  Face it.  It's true.

Nasty little boys whose minds never grew

Past their genital area, never matured

To emotional freedom, always subdued

By an ego inflated with masculine pride

As to fashion itself to be cocky and rude.

Picking to pieces the fairer sex.

So unaware of the harmful effects,

So uncaring, so inconsiderate,

Like a child growing older illiterate,

Stumbling in darkness, direction askew,

Seeking to remedy his solitude.

Never aware of his needy condition,

Sowing his oats with no need to be coy,

Finding too late that his cup is half-empty.

It's time for you to grow up,

Nasty boy.

 

Lies In Your Eyes

There are secrets that we keep

Beneath the surface dark and deep,

Cloaked in shadows creeping

Through a labyrinth of hidden sins.

Breaking all the rules of custom,

Shaking the forbidden tree

To savor the fruits not meant to taste,

To see the sights not meant to see.

 

... And you have come to tell me

That your faithfulness is still in tact;

That you wade in fidelity; that

I should see your heart is true;

That I must keep you in my trust

And that you lust for no one else;

That history should be my guide

And blind faith keep me close to you.

 

... But no matter how you struggle to

Manipulate and vocalize,

There's no way you can deny

The lies that I find in your eyes.

 

Patriot's Revenge

Marching steadfast through the rain

To points ahead as yet unknown,

Knowing only when the trek is finished

Will the point be made,

The enemy confronted and

The final debt be paid

To obliterate and liberate

The high and mighty from their throne.

 

He was but a simple man

Meant to live a simple life,

Wishing harm to no one,

Professing peace, lamenting love,

'Til grave obsession played its hand

Sweeping down from high above

Enslaving those of unlike value,

Saddling their hearts with strife.

 

Now the husk is off the corn;

The closed door taken off the hinge.

The patriot is primed and ready

For his taste of sweet revenge.

 

Running From the Back of the Pack

I can see the leaders up ahead;

So confident, not looking back,

So self-assured, so self-absorbed,

Not considering the lowly pack.

 

They seem to run so effortlessly

With posture not unlike

A standing portrait, straight and true

With eyes fixed in a stoic gaze,

The rising, falling movement of

Their heaving chest a testament

To patient training of their skill,

To calm resolve and confidence.

 

Their demeanor serves them well,

But I have one advantage here.

I can watch their every movement

From my trailing vantage point.

 

So, I will let them set the pace

As I wait patiently behind

And we'll just see who happens to be

First to cross the finish line.

 

In Other Words

I hate when someone says to me,

"In other words, what you're saying is..."

What I'm saying is just what I said.

What part did you not understand?

Was I not clear?

Did you not hear?

...My words not make it to your ear?

Or were you just distracted by

The simple gestures of my hands?

 

People hear what they want to hear...

What suits their purpose at the time,

And though your words may be crystal clear,

The buzzer stuck inside their head

Distorts and blocks, manipulates

And turns around your meaning 'til

It suits a purpose quite unlike

What you originally had said.

 

And so you hear," In other words..."

And you just want to scream and shout,

Or worse, to take them by the neck and

Squeeze until their lights are out.

 

Rest in Peace

You were quite the Dapper Dan

In your own way; in your own day

You kissed the girls. You made some cry,

Then kissed the teardrops from their eyes.

You made sweet love, then said, 'Goodbye.'

You didn't know what else to say.

 

Tiny points of starlight twinkled

From the corners of your smile, and

Laughter was a specialty that

Seemed to spread contagiously

To fill whatever room you might be

Occupying for a while.

 

People loved to be around you,

Loved to share your point of view,

The sure quick-witted sharp retorts

That bound back smartly, clean and short,

A rubber ball bounced off a court,

Like arrows flying straight and true.

 

Now you're silent, dearest friend.

Someday soon we'll meet again.

 

Cannibals

The drums... The distant drumming

Is foreboding Evil's eminent

Approach as I lay sleepless

On a breathing jungle floor,

Knowing when the drumming stops

The silence soon will issue forth

It's summons and the chase begins

As I seek sanctuary's door.

 

Heading deep into the underbrush

I seek a hiding place,

Praying to avoid the common predators

Of lower cunning;

Knowing my true enemy is one of like flesh,

Closing fast.

I cover tracks as best I can

And task my weary legs keep running.

 

Faith is shaken, and all calm

Is turned to fitful flights of fright.

Satan must protect these cannibals

Who stalk the restless night.