It's Just Love

It's just love,
Why so much fuss?
It's not a million dollars,
It's not war or some other broken trust,
Love always betrays us,
I'm drowning in deep off-shore waters,
Love can leave us destitute,
Love can leave us hungry,
My soul seems somehow restitute,
Mountains seem so much taller,
Love will leave us starving,
I don't eat much anymore,
I wonder if I should call her,
But everything is black,
I don't see any light shining,
From any nearby shore,
I wonder if I should retrace my tracks,
But I don't see sense anymore,
Love leaves us thirsting,
I'm so thirsty for her love I'm hurting,
I'm wand'ring alone now in some barren desert,
I'm going insane now with all this raving,
Love will leave us dying in a busy street,
Love will leave us crying no matter who we meet,
It's her love that I am craving,
I wonder who she's met,
I wish that love would save me,
I wonder who she'll meet,
Floundering I'm pale,
White as a pallid sheet,
I feel like an erupting volcano,
I thought this was something I could stand,
But I've truly gone insane, oh!
I don't have feet or legs now,
I'm just spewing caustic ash,
I don't have arms or hands,
I've lost my fucking mind,
That's my real fear,
Lucidity will never rescue me,
Sanity will never be true or kind,
I'm vomiting so much moonstruck trash,
High into love's desolate atmosphere,
Wrapped in all this drastic plastic,
I can't breathe anymore,
My inner core has gone completely spastic,
I'm tortured by this confusing haze now,
I tried to get up and run,
But I can't think or see or hear now,
I'm lost in cerebral space somehow,
Orbiting love's corrosive sun.

One day,
Some day,
Far into the future,
When age has caught up to you,
Finally waking up with you,
When the sun rises one morning,
When you open your eyes and realize,
You are suddenly an old woman,
I hope at that moment,
You think back,
Reminded while you dry away your tears,
Such a myriad of consequence,
Over all those finite years,
Familiar memories come flooding back to you,
Rushing memories bringing you back to this very time,
When I rhymed for you,
When I loved just you,
Wanting to see you,
Watch you rise and shine,
Perhaps you'll realize,
Fate took you by the hand,
Climbing with you,
Guiding you from this very place,
Helping you to know,
Helping you to grow,
Nurturing you with its varied stance,
Leading you out of the wilderness,
Into an amazing time and place,
Charging your electrified life,
When I wished you all of the suns blessings,
When I hoped the silver moon,
Would trace rings around your wondrous life,
Such fragrant time on planet earth,
When this aging man hoped to hold your hand,
Lead you across this rocky land,
From one sacred spring,
To the next deep pool of generosity,
Down a perfumed garden path,
Overflowing with generous herbs and flowers,
Where all this unfolding mystery,
Wends its growing way,
Winding from one blooming garden,
Looking through another window,
Finding another blossoming windrow,
Showering your gentle soul,
With all my heartfelt prayers,
Promising you always the very best,
Oh radiant you,
Oh precious you,
May God lavish you,
With all those many blessings,
May you have everything,
Ripe fruit and sweet rice to eat,
May exotic birds and glorious nature,
Visit you every single day of your treasured life,
Gift you with perfect dreams,
Bless you with joy and happiness,
Fill your compassionate heart,
May bounteous life lift you,
Raise your charitable spirit,
Reaching great heights next to you,
Setting you apart,
Adored in the eyes of benevolent humankind,
Adorning you with garlands of fragrant flowers,
Colourful wreaths dressing your beautiful hair,
Surrounding you always with every happiness,
Every loving joy,
Letting you find heaven,
Letting you discover true love,
While your Angels take you by the hand,
Lead you on your admirable journey,
To loving God above.

You don't need to call me,
I don't need to hear your voice,
I don't need to hear you say,
You don't need me,
You don't love me,
I don't need your thank you's,
Or your sorry apologies,
I know I'm much too old for you,
You never loved me anyway,
I'm not answering my phone anymore,
I don't need to hear your voice,
I'm closing the door again,
Hoping all my pain and sorrow,
Will finally go away,
I'm letting a swift river,
Carry me over the falls,
Where I should have fallen,
So long ago,
I'm the one that isn't needed here,
I'm the one that love has avoided,
So don't call again,
Don't ever come here,
Or knock on my door again,
Forget about ragged me,
Forget you ever knew me,
Forget I ever said  I love you,
The sun will still come up,
The stars will continue to shine,
My time here is almost over anyhow,
I hear God calling me from heaven now,
I only wish you a happy life,
Filled with nothing but generous love,
Perfect joy and happiness,
I know you never wanted me,
You'll understand someday,
I know I'm not the one you want,
You'll see that I was right,
Saying goodbye one last time,
With my broken heart,
So don't call me again,
I'm turning around,
I'm walking away,
I don't need to hear your voice,
I know you have some other plan,
I know your heart was never mine,
You never let me dream with you,
You never let me hold your hand,
So my love don't think of me again,
I am gone now,
Soaring with the colours of the wind,
I've closed love's door,
You won't hear or see me anymore,
I hope you find your true love someday,
I hope someday you'll understand,
I truly loved you,
But in my heart,
I know you never wanted me,
In my heart I knew you'd never say,
I'll always love you,
In my heart I knew you'd never stay,
I'm letting you off the hook this sorry day,
I'm trying to let you go,
As gently as I can,
I don't know any other way,
To say goodbye,
I have to follow another dream now,
Just like you do too,
I never wanted to cage you,
I'm letting you go free,
I only wanted to love you,
I knew all along you'd never want me,
I knew all along you could never love me,
So I'm setting you free,
The only way I know how,
I hope you can understand,
I  know you'll never miss me,
I know you never wanted me to hold your hand,
I finally clearly see,
I made such a grave mistake,
Falling in love with you,
Letting my heart be trapped by love,
Such a grievous error,
I hope you'll never make this same mistake,
But I know you have already too,
Just like so many of us do.

I'm holding my miserable face,
Clasped by my wretched hands,
Why oh why?
Won't raspy worrisome love,
Just give me an honest chance?
Give it up for good dick,
You're such an undeserving prick,
Love's a mean heartless trick,
Immortal love just has to accept,
This is what divine God intends.

Partitioned adept love rends,
Intimate love into particles,
Touched by the finger of God,
Intimate love rescinded,
I've finally surrendered,
I'll never ever win,
I'm being stood up,
Against a separating bloody wall,
Paraded into that renowned open-air square,
Under orders there's an assembled firing squad,
Cocking loaded weapons,
Squad leader holding erect,
Hovering above his bereft crown,
Such an intriguingly fine silver saber,
At any moment he'll deftly bring it down,
No drawn grimace or dreaded fear or downcast frown,
Upon that Captain's relentless face,
Unfriendly fire arresting love's misguided labour,
Love's bullets pierce my already bleeding heart,
Mercy cannot be bought or tempted,
Redemptive love surely keeping us apart,
Corrupt angles have tentatively won,
What ever scientific method,
Inquisitive love might employ,
Watching me bleed,
Hemorrhage in this one-sided exchange,
Stars and the changing universe,
Undoubtedly will implode,
Long before my heart cracks,
Manifesting love's eclectic tracks,
Ravishing love marking all these ages,
Such electric love with its darling ethic.

Careless Pluto itself,
Questionably realized,
Platonic notions and periodic guns,
Bursting with exploding intentions,
Erupting like patriotic fireworks,
Showering my patronymic corpse,
Lying inert marked by those galactic sums,
Resolving my thirsting atomic self,
Removing comatose existential love,
Far above God's transitory planetary shelf,
Absolved by that crazed involved figment,
Held so colourfully long,
So resentfully hard,
In my love accosted brain,
Dissolving every costly atom,
Treading carefully love's foolish gulf,
Burying every steady part of me,
Readily denying my impending execution,
Love's evolution imprisoned once again,
Prayers and incantations cannot change,
Love's cantankerous challenging refrain,
Quarrelsome revolution frozen by love's demanding reign,
Misled and lost with love's boundless glacial game.

Checkmate Venus,
Castled by Mars,
Love's demons are wildly dancing,
Prancing naked across love's checkered floor,
Romance deeply inhaled in all those feral pieces,
Mistakenly moving my shining knight,
Taking one final breath,
Necromancy so wantonly wrong,
Nothing more,
Rumplestiltskin's sullen chant,
Nothing in store,
Alchemists shifting sifted love into lead,
Nothing lifted in that acidic rift,
Revealing no mystical golden lore,
Gifted standing stones are crumbling,
Bumbling idiots are tumbling,
Clowns cheer that rumbling throng,
Love's cruel nature knew the sordid truth all along,
Magic is honestly fake,
 Rakish love's wishes are achingly wrong,
Dissolute logic has recommended,
Love's tragic hurtful stick,
Pummeling love's busted fragile carafe,
Grinding this roundly messed up trick,
Pricking my imaginary love balloon,
Saluting love's entranced death squad,
Beheading what was once a wild beautiful giraffe,
Bending my complacent universe so abruptly,
Charging reason with salacious fraud,
Grounding every last fruitful hope,
Still remaining in this regretful room.

Dust into dust,
Dissolving trusted reason,
Treasonous love,
Involving these encrusted solutions,
Roaming my mortal prison,
Bombing love's brick and mortar decisions,
Banishing every atom and molecule,
Love might ever again recognize,
Back to the beginning of reckless time,
Where not even God will realize,
True love could never have been truly mine,
Painful moments are making it pour cold rain,
Confusion has garroted me again,
Delusion executing my twitching remains,
Vanity either let me free,
Or set me on hell's fiery train,
Self-immolation may be my only choice,
Restitution has arrived,
Indemnity has been vexed,
Hexed by love as I slowly die.

Calling out to loving God,
Wond'ring if everything,
Might be better in the novel morning,
Summoning love's creator,
Resembling ardor in my trembling voice,
Love has lost all these determined games,
Here on in how can I ever be the same?
Heaven respecting my sorry shame,
Surrendering I'm throwing in the towel,
Turning my tortured face t'wards the accepting sun,
Lamentably receptive taking my final bow,
Love has so effortlessly won,
Virtually rounding up this final rapacious sum,
I'm cutting out my ground-up resentful heart now,
Removing every single trace,
Severing every braided string,
Knowing my pierced heart isn't anything.
 
Nothing I could ever do,
Love can certainly never be true,
Though I know I still love you,
Truly love only you,
I'm not answering my phone anymore,
I'm forever locking errant love out,
Making sure I slam shut every reckless door,
I'm forever done with all this restless love,
I can't withstand love's remorseless pain,
I don't need foolish love,
Want ridiculing love anymore,
Crassly peeling grapes in my marred brain,
Reeling now I'm lying to my scarred self,
Hiding burning love away,
Concealing love next to my charred ceiling,
High upon my tallest shelf,
Perhaps I'll never mention burlesque love again,
Blind myself so I'll never be reminded of unfair love again,
Pierce my ear drums so if love ever dares to call,
I'll simply never hear that unwelcome pall,
Nor remember love,
Ever recall love the same again,
I'll not allow myself to stumble or fall,
Stalled by love's vicious one-sided game again,
I'm pleading,
I thought execution might save me,
I'm still desiring,
Why am I always finding myself in such distress?
I'm quietly needing,
I'd hoped shrouded love might finally reveal itself to me,
I'm secretly wanting,
Crying over unrequited love,
Weeping so many blessed times,
Mired in this crowded loveless haunting mess,
Love is such a cruel heartless mistress,
I confess I'm such a trussed up disaster,
Love simply laughs,
Roiling with all love's vicious taunting.

Naked Again

I'm sitting here expressively naked again,
Playing with all my crude abessive words,
All these impressive lewd thoughts,
Steaming out of my imbued pen,
All these rude images,
So many smashed rotten potatoes,
Decorated bowls heaped with mashed curds,
All these crashed stage coach dreams again,
Wild horses charging through my rusty brain,
All these dusty fire breathing dragons,
Wagon load after wagon load after wagon load,
All these bashed strong boxes full of silver and gold,
Padlocks busted with those stashed boxes wide open again.

Naked me squeezed into a rash public forum,
Dreaming about splashing dance hall girls,
All decked out in dashing flashy decorum,
What a gnashing garden salad,
Dressed with passionate oil and vinegar,
Tossed in a clashing bowl turned from an impressive burl,
No clothes on the master again in this public place,
Not a stitch or a thread sewing my grubby lips closed,
Only a fountain of pubic hilarity,
Trash just seems to come faster,
No cash or flashy menu on the table,
Lashing a vacant stare to my empty face,
Heaven knows where this wanton soup,
This creamy pot of wanting mixed up stew,
Where in heaven's name does wonton come from?
If only in my mixed up dreams I were able,
Perform recitation or palatable recipes that are yum,
Adding some sense to this spicy sum,
Naked I'm roosting there with my bare bum,
Exposed in that open air theatre,
Reposed in clothes that are invisibly magic,
Midst all those patronizing giggles and stares,
They all seemed rather tragic,
A fiery scenario being so nude with so much to tell,
Feeling I was perched next to those reckless gates of hell,
Flushed I was sweating by that devilish heater,
When I strolled into that sordid place,
Even though I was overtly naked,
For some reason I didn't feel awfully crude,
But the waitress refused to speak to me,
Ignoring me she wouldn't bring a menu,
A dapper guy properly seated across from me,
Such a well-dressed fellow his stoppered nose in the raspy air,
Sat staring craftily for a brief micro-second,
Standing I'm sure he deftly reckoned,
He'd adeptly resort to a more palatial venue,
A trite more conservatively lit establishment,
I marveled at the remaining tolerant crowd,
I was mainly hungry patiently waiting for a waitress,
Strutting she tramped by several times,
Glancing the opposite way even as I beckoned,
Finally she threw me a mean look plus a clean shirt,
I thought for one Colleen moment,
She might like to bend or flirt,
But she flipped me the bird,
Oh she was so snippy and proud,
I sat still half dressed at my table,
Twiddling my three thumbs as I am so verily able,
Weird notions traveling through my lucid mind,
Images of my long lost ocean lover,
Such a pelagic ravishing beautiful gal,
My what a memorable adventurous mistress!

Having donned that white clinical shirt,
At least then I'd sported an impartial cover,
Somehow I felt I was wrapped in a bit of a funk,
For a moment I almost had my partially trapped feelings hurt,
Watching those boisterous patrons nearly crapped,
White knuckled they chuckled and twittered and laughed,
Eyeing me lurching there as if we were seated in church,
I'm sure they thought I was quite drunk,
That particular evening the restaurant was busy,
But the wretched service was ridiculously slow,
With that nervous place understaffed,
I kept to my space my meticulous self,
Which is so preposterously normal,
Waiting to order some crispy fries,
Perhaps a fresh crisp salad or savory soup,
 That auspicious place wasn't fancy,
Nothing ambitious or fancily formal,
Just a fictitious small town dance and dive,
Occasionally musicians would show up to play,
At times other officious performers brayed,
Once or twice even a piceous trance group swayed,
But I'm getting ahead of my lubricious self,
Although the service was bad I decided to stay,
Meat and potatoes weren't mentioned on the scant menu,
Just a small town burger joint not very nutritious really,
Patiently I waited wanting to be filled,
Hoping that inofficious pretty one-eyed waitress,
Might invite me later to her babelicious place,
Auspiciously hopeful for a repetitious roll in the hay,
I guess her unpitious schedule was full though,
She suspiciously passed me by each time,
Squeezing tightly her stacked bulging menus.

Being an ambitious poet of sorts,
I thought perhaps I'd stand and slam a few lines,
So I rose at my articulate place,
Pheniciously naked from my kinkled waist down,
A humongous smile,
Wasted on my plaster face,
My rapacious mind was racing,
Frantically I tried to recall a few rhymes,
My knees began quaking,
Suddenly I felt like a clown,
Shaking again in public,
Faking it again,
Abruptly baking as it happened,
Armed with only my terse publican lines,
As I glanced around that fine room,
All those inclined faces were staring,
Not a person was clapping,
I was turning bright red,
Feeling like an out of place rapamune goon,
At that audacious point I realized,
I should have stayed home in my comfortable bed,
Where I would have been quite happy,
I could have silently laid down,
Resting my head.

My ears they were ringing,
Some strange music and singing was suddenly blaring,
That laundered shirt I'd been wearing,
Abruptly vanished all too soon,
Again I was stark naked,
Standing upright all on my own,
The crowd they seemed anxious,
Some people were frowning,
More than a few even groaned,
Some laughed hysterically,
Thinking my fuss was just clowning,
In fact while I stood there all mussed,
Naked and shivering in that unforeseen cold,
I felt like I was drowning,
Realizing my body was adoringly bare,
My taut six pack was showing,
I felt another large part of me growing,
Respectfully I bowed to the crowd,
Attentively making my way to the door,
My tight little ass wiggled as I walked,
I'm sure everyone stared,
I tangoed my way politely,
Delectably crossing the tiny dance floor,
Stepping delightfully naked into an arrested street,
I heard that aroused crowd behind me,
Give a permeating cheer.

Divested I strode up that vacant western avenue,
Invested I knew I had no one to meet,
Keeping my thoughts abreast of my crested self,
Digesting my restless frustrating stage fright,
Swallowing my regressive fear,
I thought to my obsessive self,
Why the heck was I feeling so excessively blue?
Dreaming all my impressive naked dreams,
That never expressly ever come true,
Reminding myself I should have worn something different,
Besides adorning an Emperors invisible clothes,
What a boring intrinsic composing ass,
Soaring naked past signs which always read,
'Keep your bare ass off the grass'
Approaching heaven one truly knows,
Imposing dreams cruelly fold and mold,
An opposing naked self finally dressed at last,
Reeling in my stitched-up poetic mind,
Feeling richly poor instead I find,
 Reminding myself I should have responsively said,
"Folks, just try to be kind",
"Someday we're all certainly naked and dead".

So with my rare stage coach thoughts still squealing,
Still wheeling through my silly head,
Heading west into another fading sunset,
Lest dreaming dreams up another jaded poem,
Envisioning one day I'd finally find myself unstressed,
Undressing forever my Bohemian pressive self,
I'd finally leave all that naked dread,
Finally arriving sated and naked,
Resting safely at home.

Modern humankind,
Swallowing such a bitter pill,
This progressive nuclear age,
So far beyond stone and bronze and iron,
Entering this new age paradise,
How ironic,
Evolving into a sustainable future,
Life is a paradox,
One last condor,
Pair of ducks,
Three magpies,
Four swans,
Five chickadees,
Six bluebirds,
Seven phalaropes,
Eight red polls,
Nine pileated woodpeckers,
Ten sandpipers,
Eleven flamingos,
Twelve birds of paradise,
Like a herd of ostriches,
Seven and a half billion thinking people,
Intelligent heads stuck deep in the sand,
Plucked and roasting in a nuclear meltdown.

I know,
we're just friends,
you talk to me over your lofty fence,
I attentively listen to you speaking,
outside the walls of your impervious compound,
you acknowledge me from across your busy avenue,
I wave to you from inside my cracked shell,
you'll never open your door,
invite me in.
This is my dream not yours,
you don't want my affection,
tender kisses from me,
still I wish I could swim your deep ocean,
you don't need me,
you don't desire me,
still I'm drowning in a raging sea,
you fly off in a thousand directions,
I'm wandering barefoot in a dangerous jungle,
seeking your lost city,
searching for the key to your secret entrance,
where your veiled heart dwells,
arrested on its amber throne,
you think of me orbiting,
lost in deep carnal space,
I try to accost and rob you,
wanting a breath of your precious atmosphere,
you send tepid signals across your unexplored universe,
I keep my empty hands stuffed in sorry worn out pockets.
hoping that perhaps someday,
you'll reach out,
pull me closer,
still you remind me,
turning your back,
indifferently walking away,
in your uncaring heart,
we're just friends.

Some of us want to talk to God,
Still the towers of Babel rise and rise,
Like Fukushima's nuclear meltdown,
Worshiping a reigning toxic god,
Corruption polluting every ocean,
Destruction ruining our modern skies,
Confusing sense and sensible language,
Reprimanding us with a bitter guise,
Carving world order into larger pieces,
Massive portions of unpalatable pie.

Some of us want to sing,
Harmonize life into a better space,
But all those troubled lies,
Demanding that this modern world sells,
Fears that keep poor desperate people,
Struggling daily in a difficult place,
All that floating plastic garbage,
All those shards of broken glass,
So much encrusted pavement,
All that concrete modern sells,
So much fake tripe miring our planet,
Enslaving the world in this artificial race,
Feigning admirable life,
So many tired and sordid stars and stripes,
So few of nature's remaining blessed artifacts,
Blaming the past for all these imitative bells,
Some of us want to marvel at sunrise,
Simply whistle watching heaven's stars shine.

Take my heart so when a perfect sun speaks,
Obtain a part of me so when the angry moon rebels,
You might give at least an element of me,
 Back to God and the divine Universe,
Wearing a happy honest sacred face,
In my dreams I remember all my faithful dogs,
All my long gone horses and goats,
My husbandry life grazing a perfect line,
Heavenly milk and yogurt filled our stomachs,
Honey and perfume nurturing our wanting souls,
A wild forest place where two haunting owls,
Once came to me speaking in perfect rhyme,
Camped in that place of unblemished redemption,
A faultless place where medicine bears regularly arrived,
Guiding me in my earnest quest for food and herbs,
Teaching me about nature's natural remedies,
Education and knowledge being my earthly goal.

Some of us need to rediscover medicine,
Invoke Archangel Raphael to teach us how to heal,
All those days and nights spent listening to trees,
Holding in our hands our power stones,
Watching galaxies cross the impeccable sky,
Spoken prayers teaching songs that feed our inner fire,
Each true healer clearly envisioning,
Spiritually learning to compassionately feel.

Atop the apex of those tallest mountains,
Down deep to the bottom of the deepest sea,
God's still truth existentially lies,
All that ecstasy we discover in pristine forests,
That psychic dose where truth is revealed,
Beyond those concrete jungles where raging men,
Ranting as they daily go mad and virulently vie,
Desperately try to make some sort of sense,
Wrenched and confused in their broken lives,
A rancid modern stench making honest folk beg and steal.

People have been sold a vulgar bill of goods,
Rights are truly lost even though folk honestly try,
The way of the world has marred our minds,
So many souls barred having gone astray,
Far off our golden path that always promised humankind would heal,
But spilled blood and crude oil plus all this petulant selling,
Consumers constantly spending always buying never ending,
Replacing our sacred garden where ripe fruit once piled high,
Sacred springs and life giving wells all dried up,
Precious groundwater so many lakes and seas and rivers sucked dry,
Priceless water absconded by all this greed and corporate spiel.

A searing sun keeps turning and spinning,
Madness screaming in so many yearning hearts,
All this hurtful burning pain so many of us feel,
Superstorms and cyclones tearing this fragile world apart,
Tornadoes hurricanes and firestorms continually churning,
It doesn't matter what scientific method we try,
We can't save the broken world now,
Mass extinction will revamp all our greedy earnings.

What about innocent souls?
Millions more children born,
Mixed and stirred into this troubled messed up deal,
God take those pure souls to a better plane,
Maybe Mother Nature will create a better reel,
 Where Eden still exists and birds freely fly,
Children born wearing a happy joyful face,
Dwelling in different sacred place,
A world where trawlers and draggers haven't mined every sea,
A place where everyone hasn't been robbed everything being stolen,
A world where freedom hasn't been blindly chained,
By covetous minds patenting every viable seed by and by,
But now our damaged earth has been changed forever,
Corporate robots are all the modern world now sees.

Surrender or surely mercenaries will torch your peasant homes,
Unless this world of indentured masses bends,
If good men and women resist or even try,
Wickedness enslaving working men and women in this wretched time,
As the hopeless wind wanders through the crying trees,
Still the sun will rise and shine,
Scorching unprotected souls to the very core,
While wanton greed always calls for more and more.

I dreamed this road we're traveling,
Paved with dead water buffalo,
Black shimmering hooves and skins,
Shining under the relentless sun it seems,
I dreamed this avenue is piled high,
With the last great whales,
Dead sea turtles tragically washed ashore,
I dreamed every ravaged forest lay decimated and destroyed,
Nothing but sorry remnants now sawn into planks and beams,
I dreamed heaven was calling and trumpeting,
Angel choirs weeping and praying for us,
Our good Mother Earth simply needing more.

Reflected by your eyes,
All the green of the earth,
Reflected by your hands,
All the blessed rain that falls,
Reflected by your face,
All that precious life provides,
Reflected by your feet,
All those difficulties you must overcome,
Reflected by your words,
All the love and hardships you have endured,
Reflected by your mind,
All the fishes in the diverse sea,
Reflected by your divine soul,
All those generous gifts God blessed humankind with.

The King has taken away our thirst,
And now we have nothing to drink,
The King has taken away our hunger,
And now we are empty with nothing to eat,
The King has taken away all our loneliness,
And now there is no joy or happiness in our hearts,
The King has taken away our pain,
And now we are destitute and homeless under the doubting sky,
The King has taken away our angst,
And now we feel nothing because we are all dead inside,
The King has taken away those many barriers in our lives,
And now there is no freedom in our country,
The King has taken away all the chains that shackled us,
And now all our hope lays buried deep in the fragrant earth.

There's an old man,
Sitting in my paltry shack,
With garbled tears streaming,
Down his weathered wrinkled face,
He sits beside me sometimes,
Astride me with his crinkled lines,
Even dwelling inside me,
Writing cankerous poetry,
Singing ardent love songs,
Clearly thinking in cryptic rhymes.
I wonder as I watch and listen,
If he'll even wink or nod or ever say hello,
Or if someday I'll turn to see him wave goodbye,
Disappear in time like all my burning dreams,
Evaporate like molecules of dried up steam,
Escape like a final dying breath,
Vanish like an unheard scream.
Still I wonder if he's ever truly here,
Or is that odd old man,
Just another fragile thought,
Just a reckless daydream,
That doesn't really see or hear,
A writhing fantasy,
So it sometimes seems,
Just another painful moan,
Another sorrowful sigh,
Just another fleeting figment,
Just another lonely lie.

If it wasn't for the music . . .
If it wasn't for the rain . . .
What would be the use . . .
Of all this earthly refrain . . .
If it wasn't for the sun . . .
If it wasn't for the moon . . .
Where would planet earth be . . .
Or would it be the same . . .
If it wasn't for all our dreams . . .
If it wasn't for love and joy . . .
Who would ever live here . . .
Would heaven be somewhere . . .
Or would God just be annoyed . . .
If it isn't for compassion . . .
Would birds still fly and sing . . .
Before dirty oil . . .
Weren't people still employed . . .
Wasn't there economy . . .
Wasn't there good life . . .
Or are we meant to survive this modern foil . . .
As we witness Gaia's strife . . .

Tears in My Eyes

Dust to dust,
Salt of the earth,
Such deep oceans,
Like turmeric and beet juice,
Staining my hair and colouring my face,
Life reflected in our pigmented eyes,
In God's mystical light,
Such glorious harmonies to be heard,
If only we would listen,
If only we would love,
If only there were abundant fish to eat,
Sweet rice to fill our empty bellies,
Like a lover's tender kiss,
Nurturing us on a moonlit night,
So many bright stars twinkling high above,
So many cherished dead buried below,
All those strong currents and tides and storms,
Trying to wash away all the hate in the world,
Trying to give righteousness a foothold,
Trying to let divine light enter every crack,
Before the last spark goes out,
Before the Sun is forever extinguished,
Before brother kills brother,
Before nation destroys nation,
Before all the sacred mountains tumble,
Remorseful and broken into the raging sea,
Before the Universe betrays all its faithful galaxies,
Before God whispers one final prayer,
Before we wish we would have loyally listened,
To what the colours of the expectant wind,
Was so anxious to tell us.

Your accent betrays you,
Blending all your black and white words,
Betraying truth that justice bends,
Tunneling past grey syllables,
Subtly divided by a worrisome two edged sword,
Past all those tinted things that appear orange and blue,
Funneling past all those tainted things that awake in a purple hue,
Rescinding all the brown and jungle green,
Reminding rainbows of all the colours of the wind.

Even enlightened men can be fools,
When the black snake comes,
Stand up and fight back,
Hey Hey, Hey Hey, Hey Hey!
Eagle feathers fluttering in the wind,
When does the world take notice?
All these roots and herbs and good medicine,
All that Wakantanka shared with us two-leggeds,
All that the great mystery has generously divulged,
All that earth justice firmly demands,
Hey Hey, Hey Hey, Hey Hey!
All that human kind requires in a healthy land.

Protecting water and soil and air,
All those things Sacred and Holy,
Hey Hey, Hey Hey, Hey Hey!
Understand that when the world disappears,
It will be gone forever,
So the soaring Phoenix truly fears,
When all good is destroyed,
Everything will turn to blackness,
All things will dematerialize into black snake's bottomless pit,
Everything will vanish into that viper's den,
Believe the rising Thunderbird then,
Reminding us there is no escape from it.

When Sioux women pushed their bone awls,
Deep into Custer's deaf ears,
Thinking maybe yellow-hair would finally hear,
Maybe demented man would understand,
Sacred is Holy as Holy Sacred Ground,
And Holy Sacred Water,
And Holy Sacred Soil,
And Holy Sacred Air,
And Holy Sacred Mother Earth,
Maybe then all those deaf greedy people,
Maybe then they will see the Light,
Maybe then they will finally understand,
If we don't take care of our Grandmothers and Grandfathers,
If we don't take care of our buried dead,
If we don't take care of our Sacred Holy Land,
If we don't take care of our Sacred Holy Water and Air,
If we don't take care of our Sacred Holy Rivers and Seas and Skies,
If we don't take care of our Sacred Holy Mother Earth,
Then all will surely be lost,
All will surely be gone,
All will be black,
All will become nothing,
And our Creator will laugh and laugh and laugh,
Knowing how our foolish accents,
Knowing how all our corrupt colours and creeds,
Knowing that dinosaurs have risen from the dead,
Reincarnating as stinking black crude and thick toxic bitumen,
Knowing that mindless humankind's utter disrespect,
Has devoured all the good on the planet,
Has fractured the world into oblivion with the devil,
Knowing that is the reason why we shall finally perish,
Swallowed by all our worldly sin and incarnate evil,
Hey Hey, Hey Hey, Hey Hey!
Dined upon by the blind and deaf and dumb,
Led us to this crooked destruction,
Betrayed by heartless cannibals and beasts,
Hey Hey, Hey Hey, Hey Hey!
Swallowed by the conniving black snake,
Wrapped and bound in black snake's delusion feast.

We've all lost children,
I know what it's like to lay by the woman you love,
Feeling truly happy,
Kerouac, Russell, Atwood,
So many tears on a page,
Kale and carrots and squash,
So many seeds planted in fertile soil,
All our dead children,
Leaving us crying and grieving,
Language into odes and poems,
Nations into countries,
All those deep oceans on this significant blue planet,
Belgrade and Paris and London and Baghdad,
Dying of thirst in shifting desert sands,
Perched like terrorized authors,
Atop desolate skyscrapers,
Lonely words pouring down from perilous heights,
Jamieson, Ibsen, Wu Cheng'en,
Beaten into submission,
All the skin torn away,
Exposing sinew and bone,
Raw sunlight streaming into darkness,
Lava screaming over bleeding hearts and lost souls,
Erickson, Solzhenitsyn, Tomlinson,
Beating on barred and battered doors,
Waiting for rich heaven to reach down,
Lift up our prodigal human spirit,
Gain a reckless foothold in the tiniest crevasse,
Kierkegaard, Krishnamurti, Confucius,
Perhaps on this barren moonscape,
If we all pray,
If we all hope,
Socrates, Nietzche, Plato,
If we all get up off the right side of bed,
Raise our left hand so we blink,
Open our third eye,
Speak in castle tones,
Maybe all those barbarian barricades,
Maybe all those cruel ramparts,
Will ultimately shift and fall,
Lift in bits and pieces like a transcendental mist,
Allowing us to rise into a blessed space,
Where Angels will comfort us,
Where God shall meet us,
Treating us all as one,
Inviting us into a Holy fold,
Where light and joy and happiness,
Where sacredness can heal us,
Gathering once again with our dead children,
Reminding us we are truly loved.

Tears will never be enough . . .
Broken me . . . broken you . . .
Dreaming about an unbroken world . . .
Imagine us wandering . . . mingling with those unbroken few . . .
Take what you want . . . leave the rest . . .
If it weren't for the stars . . . and all our cosmic dreams . . .
Where would we be . . . who could ever guess . . .
Where enchanted heaven begins . . .
Where would human being end . . .
Could we ever be forgiven our loveless sins . . .
I'm nothing but a shadow in the forest . . .
Nothing but a breath of sapient breeze . . . or so it seems . . .
But then who would ever truly care . . .
Don't search for me because you won't find me there . . .
I'm not really anything at all . . . just a figment . . .
Splendidly grafted with the perfumed air . . .
Just a faded pigment . . .  like a stigmatized umbra on a fractured wall . . .
Through the mystic wood . . . down to the enchanted pond . . .
In search of musing swans . . . and other fleeting joy . . .
That amphibious spellbound place . . .
Where ethereal mist lifts skyward through curling fragile fronds . . .
Rising electrified in the whistling air . . .  like the majesty of trumpeting swans . . .
Mystifying every eclectic part . . . perhaps coy happiness in kind . . .
Burning in every beating heart . . . meeting every yearning soul . . .
Of each starry-eyed girl . . .
Of every dreaming boy . . .
Mesmerized perhaps we find . . . waking along that accomplished line . . .
Perhaps in fateful time . . . a measure of divinity and perfection . . .
Curiously wading that miraculous unbroken shoal . . .

Gun Shot - Brian's Ghost

Brian's ghost living inside my hovel wall,
Why did he so suddenly have to go?
How did a novel lad get in there at all?
Only the wending wind and God knows,
Only the mending sky saw him leave,
Shrouded by the trending autumn mist so it goes,
As September dropped her coloured leaves,
All those brave memories that were his to tell,
When my friend Brian still lived and breathed.
Mixing with the fragrant earth as he fell,
Rambling roots collecting bits and pieces of him now,
While the mystic rain falls like tear drops,
While ambling clouds fear all the what and how,
Reaching for that rambling ceiling where living truth stops,
Now Brian's reeling ghost appears sometimes,
Frigid and weeping upon my dank and dripping roof,
Reflecting all those rigid things living spoke of in rhymes,
All those secret thoughts checkered death has kept so aloof,
Wondering why my young boyhood friend had to bleed and die,
So Brian's ghost still dwells hidden within my painted wall,
Why a bullet found its fatal mark leaving his face so bloodied and awry.
Haunting moans in that suffering void with Brian's ghostly call,
Waiting for his angel to gently grasp his spectre hand,
Marveling as the twinkling stars graze a warping sky,
Lead him from this wispy grieving place to a holy land,
Witnessing the blessed sun rising by and by,
After all these phantasmic years while so many of us cried,
Knowing spectral ghosts appear as they so often try,
By and by when all our reticent tears have finally dried,
Calling to the living reminding us of how we fail and fall,
Imagining new ways and brighter days in a happier light,
Leaving behind once and for all that thin intrepid wall,
Where nothing including ghostly death ever felt quite right,
Summer died with its coloured tone reflecting Brian's dying call.

Jack and Beat,
On the fleet road again,
Poesy Jill crawled up beat hill,
Searching for desolation peak,
Angels tuned in with beatnik karma,
Turned on those hipsters peaked,
Turning beaked mountains upside down,
Traveling moaning city streets inside and out,
Descending into hip bottles of cheap wine,
Scratching the bottom of rich beat verse,
Ascending arm in arm with resounding dharma,
Sounding to the deep beat bottom,
Beat . . . beat . . . beat . . . ,
Jack and Beat snap nicotine stained fingers digging it,
Dig it deep tasting all that manic sweet,
Far back into dharma's naked far-out street,
Finding hip self on that deep beat road,
Deep beat . . . deep beat . . . deep beat . . . ,
Where stoned angels and drunk poets grooved with shy Raphael,
Behooving drink with smooth jazz and street bleat,
Flint poetry rising skint like Bird soaring high,
Roaring like lions those hip hepsters jived to fly.

Swimming in that swift river of mystical streams,
Coloured markers numbering emotional undress,
I wonder if love still lives in your heart or simply in your dreams?
Vexed intimacy writhes with love's attire and emotional duress.

Every time I lose a piece of you,
Colours in my world seem to change,
All those lost markers love shared too,
Numbering all those moments love arranged.

Our broken hearts have us crying . . . crying . . . crying,
I know we're searching and finding true love is tough,
Soaring past blinding stars and broken clouds I see you trying,
But tears no matter how they fall will never be enough.

Now we're growing new pairs of wings,
Farewell to lofty perches fly off to miraculous far off places,
Perhaps our curious hearts will yet find wondrous things,
Witness light in new ways reflected off other shining faces.

Two lonely planets spinning hapless around an atomic sun,
Trying to capture pleasing sunlight as we resolutely spin,
But all this surging cosmic energy urges us onward as we run,
Untamed comets tease us reminding love that we forever sin.

If it weren't for those radiant stars,
How would passionate love ever see?
Void of cosmic dreams which are always ours,
How would divine heaven ever begin to be?

There is an ardent fire burning in our wounded souls as we know,
I'm afraid to turn my back in case I turn around to find love gone,
Daring to close my eyes how will love ever find us as we grow?
Darling let love guide me back to you before the coming dawn!

There's a Thunderbird living in my beating heart,
Chanting love's precious name every night and every day,
Hoping disintegrated love will find us so we don't end up so far apart,
Peering down from saviour heaven love truly wishes you would stay.

Perched on the edge of love's high precarious cleft,
So there in time love finally stands hand in hand with us,
All that remains is purity ascending far above love's deep rift,
Precipitous love diminishing time into particles of simple us. 

Beaming we dream through a dark unstable universe,
Time diminishing into streaming existential light,
As rivers of love remold all our want and need into simple verse,
Capturing love in our hearts we may then find what is true and right.
 

I've been to ethereal zones,
Where Tasman currents mingle with a Coral sea,
Crossing demarcation lines and forbidding oceans,
Long before Walmart and McDonalds and Coles,
Fixed human attitudes and ocean latitudes,
Messing with our fragile world,
Gnarling our hair as we curled our lips,
With all that modern snarling and guile,
So here I am,
This whole megalithic while,
Naked under the burning desert sun,
Galloping on my wild horse alongside warragal divinity,
Realizing there are no messiahs living or dead,
Revelations perched high in orchestral trees,
Vibrato and harmony recreating a forgotten chord,
Coloured tones striking our polyphonic world,
So here I am,
Discreetly underdressed and unfurled,
Uncurling mangled myth with tangled words,
Trotting through a maze of foreign lands,
Exploring pungent markets full of noisy hordes and busy hands,
Drumming up extraordinary memories,
Divining respite dreams and other herbal remedies,
Twitching sorcery twisting musical chants and fetes,
Magicians bewitching village kids into bleating goats,
Sanctimonious Carpocrates flying hi ho over roiling streets,
Witnessing a toiling remorseful moon,
Watching silver slivers of that lonely orb morph to blood red,
Morphemic Paul stealing from mindful Peter because of what mystic John said,
Theology mixing with philosophy like it merited some Mediterranean street cred,
Once upon a time in exotic Beirut,
Pious Athens and Rome donned a similar suit,
Lebanon's fallen cedars verily sanctified,
Midst all this hallowed dread.

It was the day after,
I'd finally found the courage,
Asking you for a divorce,
After all the lonely difficult years,
Enough was enough,
Disjointed by our terminal marriage,
Lacking intimacy and kisses,
We'd managed to stay so far apart,
Then that uncommon winter day,
Such extraordinary November light,
No lasting gloom or ultimate doom,
Mixing relief with ultimate sorrow,
No happy feelings on the coming morrow,
All those things we had won then lost,
Do you recall that three egg omelette I stirred up for us?
Best tasting ever in that mundane atmosphere,
Plain truth plated and laid out before us,
A spoiled menu with an undefined future,
That strange recipe surrounding us with cruel fear,
Indulgent us having tied our desperate knot,
Honestly hoping true love was what our marriage bought,
But dishonest intimacy tricked us,
Blinded by our undone past,
Mismatched so the story goes,
Now a dozen years later,
I still somehow clearly know,
How recklessly delicious that cheesy omelette!
How discombobulated we were!
Scrambling our hidden grief with secret relief,
Whipped and boxed into that dark and sombre space,
Confused by this crazy flagrant case,
How did we find our way to this difficult place?
Standing there swallowing mouthfuls of omelette,
While our troubled minds choked on where we'd been and how we'd met,
As our failed marriage fell to Humpty Dumpty pieces,
Morsels of shattered egg shell scattered across our unswept floor,
Calcified messages clinging to our messy plates,
What a solemn reluctant mood,
Reliving a myriad of yoked feelings and hard memories,
Reading between decades and volumes of dividing lines,
Splitting that dish of tasteless yet delicious eggs,
While we both hastily fell silent,
Plunging into a downward humbling spiral,
Waking in that viral fumbling place,
Where both of us crumbled,
Tumbling hard from marriage and precious grace.