Wheeler Dealer

ACE: 

      Well, it sounds like just the thing this deal needs.  Yessiree... A         wheeler-dealer.
When you've got to put the deal away,
Make your point and get it sealed away,
You don't want just anyone to play
'Let's make a deal'.
When you start into the wrangling,
Fussing, fuming and finagling,
You want someone great at haggling
For your appeal.

ACE, FROGGIE and DUCKY:

You want a wheeler-dealer,

Real appealer,

A wheeler dealer

To get your point across.

FROGGIE:  

Making millions is a piece of cake

If you can avoid the big mistake.

When the other guy begins to quake,

Don't be a fool.

Confidence is there at your command.

Never give away the upper hand.

Just keep talking. Stick to your demands.

Just play it cool.

ACE, FROGGIE and DUCKY:

Just be a wheeler dealer...

Real scene stealer...

A wheeler dealer

To make the deal go through.

DUCKY:        

There's no doubt I reek of confidence;

Never find me sitting on the fence.
Monty Hall, no doubt would take offense
To my ability.
Give me details, let me make a pitch.
Tell me what and how and which.
Watch the deal come off without a hitch.
Leave it to me, ‘cause I'm a...

ACE, FROGGIE and DUCKY:
Wheeler dealer...
Problem healer...
A wheeler dealer
To put it on the line.
You need a wheeler-dealer,
Real scene stealer,
A wheeler dealer,
And things will work out fine.

Lulu Storefront: http://www.lulu.com/dsmartin

I Can Sell Anything

Oh, I... I can sell anything;
All you imagining.
It's all for sale. Who knows? ... 
Maybe that diamond ring.
Who knows what price it may bring?
'Cause I never fail. It don't matter if it's cold or hot...
I can sell it if it can be bought.
Add a little sweetener into the pot
Til the buyer just can't say no.
'Cause I... I can sell anything.
Registers jing-a-ling
When I start my spiel.
Give up... Might as well write the check.
Resistance hits the deck
When I pitch the deal.
Makes no difference what you have to sell,
I could sell the pope a ticket to hell;
Take a pile of garbage and make it smell
Like the sweetest rose in bloom.
'Cause I... I can sell anything;
Like a bird on the wing,
Always on the move.
Move out... Let me set up the sting.
I'll make the pigeons sing.
Got a lot to prove.
Don't tell me that it's not for sale.
I'm the hammer that drives the nail.
Have no doubt 'cause I never fail
To get it signed on the line..

It don't matter if you're weak or strong,
Your resistance can't last too long.
You'll think I'm right even if I'm wrong
And you're gonna like it just fine.
Because I... I can sell anything...
Yes, I can sell anything...
Mmmm... Anything.

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Money Slips Right Through My Fingers

Money... It slips right through my fingers.
That green stuff never lingers
To be my bosom friend.
I find it. Success is all around me.
Opportunity hounds me,
But I lose out in the end.

Winner! I want to be a winner;
Not just some beginner...
A struggling, bumbling hack.
Play me. I'll be a real scene-stealer;
A sure-fired wheeler-dealer.
I know I've got the knack.

But money, it slides right through my digits,
While I just fuss and fidget
And wave a sad goodbye.
Someday I'll find a way to keep it
When fortune smiles and sees fit
To look me in the eye.

Maybe if I could lie and cheat
I wouldn't go crashing in defeat,
Or waiting around til someone beats my time.
Could I be happy just to win?
Would it be right to cheat a friend?
Wind up in hell, wallowing in the slime.

But money... Slips right through my fingers;
Still that feeling lingers.
Go for it one more time.
Sweet deals are just around the bend now,
And money's your best friend now,
And things will work our fine.

Money don't care who holds it tight.
Pinch it and squeeze with all your might.
Sorrow and sadness, leave it all behind.
Wake up tomorrow in the pink.
Lose it and wind up in the drink.
Don't worry boys. I'll still be doing just fine.

Money!  Oh!  Sweet money....
Money is no friend of mine.

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I Never Realized

                                     KATE:  _        
Who would have known?
How could I have seen?
The time has flown away from me.

My poor knees quake
To hear his name out loud.
My mind grows numb.   My eyes can't see.
My heart's awake. I never realized
The secret passions lying there.
Lord, give me strength
To face the lonely truth.
What happens if he doesn't care?
Please, take away this empty feeling.
Give me strength to carry through.
My restless heart has sent me reeling.
I never realized
The one that I've been waiting for is you.

(Spotlight up on DJ 

                                          DJ:                 
Who could have known?
How could I not have seen?
That after all these lonely years
Just the thought of seeing her again
Could bring me to the brink of tears.
Is it too late to start my life again?
Is she a lonely fool like me?
I have to know.  I must go back again,
Or my heart never will be free.

                                        KATE & DJ:
 Please, take away this empty feeling.
Give me the strength to carry through.
My restless heart has sent me reeling.
I never realized...
The one that I've been waiting for is you.

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Wonder If He'll/She'll Be There

DJ:                 

I've got my invitation,
But what am I to do?
I'd love to see the old gang,
And raise a glass or two.
I wonder if she'll be there...
The one who used to be
Everything I thought I wanted.
She meant everything to me.

                             KATE:           
I wonder if he'll be there
To sweep me off my feet.
Would he even recognize me
If he passed me on the street?
After all these years of waiting,
Wondering if he would return.
Is his heart still beating for me?
Does that smoldering flame still burn?

                                         DJ & KATE:
I've got my invitation,
But what am I to do?
I know all the gang will be there
To raise a glass or two.
But I wonder if he'll/she'll be there,
The one who used to be
Everything I ever wanted.
He/she means everything to me.

                                 DJ:                 
I wonder if she'll be there.                                                                                                                                   
                                 KATE:                       
I wonder if he'll be there

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Zeal

The fiercest spirit that I’ve ever known
Stood five foot four,
Weighed a buck twenty-five
But filled with such gusto
That everyone round him
Was thrilled with the prospect
Of being alive.

Every chance an eager adventure,
Every errand a passionate test,
Every task approached with intensity
Fueled by the fervor of
Unabashed zest.

Would that I could find
This spirit and zeal
That magnifies intensity.
Life would be more of
A carnival thrill for
The gypsy who dawdles
And dwells within me.

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Wisdom

I’ve been waiting such a
Long, long time for
The wisdom they promised
Would come with age.
All that sage intuition of
Gray-bearded elders has
Somehow escaped or
Refused to engage.

“You’ll understand someday,
Mayhap when you’re older.”
It felt like a covenant
Back in the day.
And though I keep biding,
Awaiting epiphany,
Reason absconds like
A scared castaway.

But time is a traveler,
Patient and shrewd
And experience is a
Tutor of worth, 
And maybe if I can
Just live long enough
I’ll know what I wish
I had known from birth.

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Understanding

So many leaves on this cabbage head
I simply cannot comprehend.
I try to peel them one by one
To get down to the core.
But only find the crux to be
A bitter disappointment
That vexes every rationale
And leaves me want for more.

I try to be compassionate,
Show empathy in kind,
Be patient and forgiving and
To keep an open mind.
But the art of understanding
Is a mammoth bugaboo,
And the cagey fox of acumen
Is scarce to share a clue.

So, I will strive for tolerance
And grant an open hand
And hope that when the facts are in
I will finally understand.

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Truthfulness

Thank you for your candor.
It is much appreciated in
A day where P.C. verbiage is
The order of the day.

Must not speak in words offensive 
To the sensitivity of
This and that,
These or those,
Else be charged a popinjay.

In a world where honesty’s
A thing sold to the highest bid
And loyalty chooses salt and succor
Based on rank convenience,
Little wonder honor’s plunder
Permeates the humble horde
Laying waste to faithfulness and
Disengaging common sense.

And we who toil in discontent,
Left to speculate,
Must make the best of what we know,
And truth will have to wait.

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Trustworthiness

Lord, help me find
That sweet spot in my mind
Where veracity musters and never retreats,
Where principles stand under
Steadfast demand and
Honesty knows no defeat.

You may be sure
My intentions are pure,
My devotion unfailing,
Staunch and secure.
Dogged integrity
Rises to rush me a
Stream of fidelity born to endure.

Whatever endeavor you pursue
I will never lie to you.
I am the soul on which you can depend.
Genuine through and through,
Best in your retinue
I am forever your trustworthy friend.

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Trust

Hard to find someone to trust
In a world where trust is a foreign saint.
Would that I could have presumption of proof
With clear confidence and certitude.
But time and experience
Preach a hard sermon
And logic steps sideways to lodge its complaint.
Then alternate facts only add to confusion
And bristle the brisket of new attitudes.

The journey moves forward,
Decisions wax weightily,
Mocking conviction,
In need of a friend.
But who holds the promise of
Strength and reliance?
Who can I turn to and
Trust in the end?

Tempt me and fill me with oceans of hope
Until faith wears the mantle of grit, 
So I may seek counsel with steadfast assurance
And never look back in regret.

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Tranquility

Oh, sweet contentment, bide within
To still the storms that purloin peace.
Nestle soft in quietude
Holding hearts in hushed repose.

Staid in stillness,
Bathed in midnight,
Lost in unabashed release,
Pleasure pure and senses sure
As petals soft upon the rose.

Calm breath breezes overhead to
Warm the placid glacial flow
From mindful plains of conscious study
And unbounded reverie.

Playful in its pose and posture,
Lounging in the afterglow
With respect for restful pleasure
Winging metaphorically.

Fond to know when said and done
The mind knows what the heart can see
When harmony immerses all
In oceans of tranquility.

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Toughness

Are you tough?
Are you rough?
Are you really strong enough?
Or are you so much frill and fluff?
A namby-pamby powder puff.

If you really know your stuff
You could even run a bluff.
Just toss a comment off-the-cuff or
Mumble like a grumble gruff.

But if you run off in a huff
You give up claim to your rebuff
And could wind up flat on your duff
When you find out
You’re not so tough.

Tough guys don’t stand up and fight for
It is no matter of might. 
Toughness tarries deep within
In silence,
Like a trusted friend.

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Tolerance

Youth is not a fruitful season for
Open-minded tolerance.
The liberal creed of leniency
Is not an inbred social trait.

It’s more of an acquired nature
Summoned through experience,
Although it seems some never grasp
The aptitude to watch and wait.

Stumbling through my tender years
I felt the angst of restiveness,
Engaged in animosity with
Bickering and baleful brawl.

And though I made it to adulthood
With all my teeth, I must confess to
Trying much too hard to
Run my raucous race ere I could crawl.

And still I find it difficult to
Turn deaf ear
Or suffer fools,
I’ve made a point to find the wrench of
Tolerance among my tools.

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Thrift

Some may scoff and think me cheap.
I choose to call it thrifty.
Prudence courses through my veins
And nourishes my simple brain.

While skimp and scrimp and saving form
The essence of economy,
Tis only pure parsimony
That owns to keep me wholly sane.

Never been a gambler,
Never pressed my luck to strike it rich.
Rather save my pocket change for
Days beset with pouring rain.

And no one claims it requisite
To suffer in austerity, or
If you dock in poverty,
In poverty you must remain.

Many plague me with advice on
How to ride the treasure train,
But I have everything I need.
Little to lose, but
Less to gain.

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Thankfulness

We set aside one day each year
To celebrate our thankfulness;
An admirable affirmation of
The blissful grace we savor.

A prayer for all the bounty and
The blessings, softly offered up,
Before a feast of plenty gives me
Cause to seek His favor.

Grateful for the joyful comfort
In this crazy, karmic world,
Hopeful for a bright tomorrow
Fanciful with filigree.

Crazed to praise the hand of fate
And faith that makes things possible,
Knowing that the love I give will
Find its way back home to me.

Makes me wonder wistfully
As I saunter life’s highway.
If ‘tis comely once-a-year,
Why not be thankful every day.

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Temperance

“Everything in moderation,”
Cites the model of restraint,
Dubbed the perfect archetype of
Self-denial and temperance.

Admirable, this stoic manner,
This symbol of sobriety
Sacrificing satisfaction for
Excessive vigilance.

In the mastery of forbearance
I confess a fatal flaw that
Leaves me less than perfect
In the realm of prohibition.

I am no teetotaler
Pledged to master and abstain,
Though I fall far and fair removed from
Blatant breakout exhibition.

Finding absolute control and
Tempered-tough discretion is
More than just a pastime.
It’s a permanent progression.

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Tact

It isn’t always what we say,
But how we choose to say it
That stokes the fire and
Raises ire to levels meteorical.

A careless choice of adjectives,
An ill-advised inflection,
A query spit in anger and
Regarded unrhetorical,

Every situation, conversation,
Clash or clumsy quarrel
Wields a double whetted sword
On puzzling possibilities.

And prudence pushes pause if
We are anchored analytically to
Find the peerless pressure point
Where every advocate agrees.

So, I will parry not to judge,
But gently speak with suavity,
Conversing with my fiercest foes
In echoes of diplomacy.

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Steadfastness

Staunch and steady as we go,
No matter how the gruff winds blow,
We cruise the archipelago of
Intimated dreams.

Steadfast to a certainty
Befits the peerless pedigree
To claim the crown of loyalty
In pattern, plans and schemes.

Where will your devotion land when
Time grows nigh to make your stand?
Will your veracity withstand the
Test of ice and fire?

Shall constant vigil rule the day
And swift allegiance show the way?
Or shall temptation carry sway
To curious desire?

Faithful to the very end
I vow to be your fervent friend.
Worldly, wary, tried and true
We waltz the streets of Xanadu.

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Spontaneity

Sometimes on impulse,
No more than a whim,
Rides wonderous, uninhibited joy.
Singing an anthem of improvisation,
Off on a lark like
A child with a toy.

Discrete inclination comes
Mooching on musings,
Pensive with longing but
In want of sense.
Left unrestrained to
Ad-lib its abandon
Can fly on a scheme
Beyond expedience.

But tasking a tendency
To moderation and
Pinching it short of extreme,
The natural course can
Become a resource
Eclipsing the heart’s fondest dream.

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Sincerity

I am the purveyor of
Outright goodwill,
As honest and heartfelt as
Sacred confession.

With genuine candor and
Perfect veracity
None may refute my
Unfeigned intercession.

Prophet of probity,
Merchant of modesty,
Agent of earnestness,
Tradesman of truth,

I am the guardian,
I am the lion,
I am the conscript of
Pubescent youth.

Authentic in ardor,
Impartial in view,
Straightforward in discourse,
Majestic in might,

Safe and reliable,
Simple sincerity
Owns the cognition to
Do what is right.

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Simplicity

Easy is a trick trap door
That sinks to shadows dark and deep.
And though it may seem effortless
It makes a promise hard to keep.

To be the sum of many parts
And know the answer plain and pure
The keeper fills his goblet with
Enlightenment to long endure.

Thus, the gift of foresight lends itself
To shrewd sagacity and
Shreds the bolts of burly cloth
To threads of soft simplicity.

Brave to dwell in austere comfort
Cloaked in spartan modesty,
Dancing nigh to innocence,
Sustained by practicality.

Unpretentious,
Minimal,
Void of complicated toil,
Feeds the need to simplify,
To sow and grow
In fertile soil.

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Silence

Lulled to stillness,
Taciturn…
In silence.
Hushed in quiet meditative peace.
Muted to a wistful world…
Of silence.
Joyful for rare sensory release.

Praise the calm of zephyr winds…
Sweet silence.
Breathe the smooth, serene tranquility
Enclosed inside the soundless
Stealthy grotto of
A mind allowed to wander
Fully free.

Stifling the rumor’s road…
To silence.
Vicious innuendo born in Hell.
Better to stay speechless
And unknowing, and
Let them rest where
Lonely secrets dwell…
In silence.

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Sensitivity

Guys are not allowed to bare
Stark signs of sensitivity.
No hearts and flowers,
Tears or fears to
Scratch their petrified veneer.
It preys upon the notion of
Severe perceptibility from
Simple-minded sycophants who 
Relish just to taunt and jeer.

Truth is, guys, you’re not so tough,
And it’s okay to shed a tear when
Burdens of a fearsome world
Come crashing like a hurricane.
And pathos does not beg for pity
When emotions intercede to
Bring about a fit reaction
Mitigating potent pain.

Feelings are not bandits bent on
Stealing masculinity,
And empathy need not be vilified.
For as we bend to aid a friend
With simple sensitivity
Both dignity and pride are multiplied.

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Self-Sacrifice

Easy to say, yet
Too distant to know that
So many who went
Did not return home,
Falling victim instead to
Self-sacrifice, 
Lost to the twilight
Of bleak catacombs.

And none can imagine
His unselfish loyalty
Save for the brothers who
Stood by his side,
Who tendered their service
In liberty’s kinship,
Carried her banner
With honor and pride.

He asks for no pity,
Not tributes or tears,
He charges no onus to
Kismet or fate
For he knows retribution
Aligns with the ages,
Arrayed at the aperture of
Heaven’s gate.

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Selflessness

His basic object of concern is
Pointed in an outward path
Embracing worlds as yet unknown
In ribbons of benevolence.

Her conscience of self-sacrifice
Derides the egocentric state
And yields to kindness that exists in
Breathing the experience.

Theirs is but a hollow world
Where charity is foreign fact
And they must sigh and suffer from
The vacancy of recompense.

Ours mayhap to capture shards of
Joy from swift philanthropy
And walk with pride in every stride
In dignity and eloquence.

Yours must be a closed decision
To protest or acquiesce.
Do you bow to pompous pleasures
Or consign to selflessness?

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