Labour makes us hard
Feeds us
Body and soul
We labour for the lords and masters
We are but slaves
And all that labour
Ends in some disaster
Such an undulating mass of humanity
Millions dressed in their uniforms
Billions that servility wants to reform
I wonder if God sees the insanity
Evolving in this universe
God so masterly formed
Some eyes are full of kindness
Some eyes are full of hate
Some hearts are full of compassion
Some hearts want to ration at the gate
Love and empathy
For there is often little sympathy
Some call it destiny
Some call it fate
But love
If love
We love
Might
See the truth
Would we be so ruthless
Could we be so uncouth
Confusion makes us all moody and in despair
Pollution makes us breathe filth and dirty air
How dare we
Don't we care
Strike me deaf and dumb
I wake and feel numb
All the goodness of the earth
Is buried beneath our feet
While plastic excess continues to fill every road and street
When rivers fail to run
When forests fail to grow
Perhaps then
We'll wake
Perhaps then
We'll know
Hardship has made us hard
War buries us with all our fears
If peace can exist
If love can rise and perhaps persist
Who would rule the earth
Who would be the masters
Maybe we just need to run faster
Maybe we can avoid further disaster
Have the village Shaman
Toss their sacred bones
Have the villagers stand together
Singing in sacred tones
The sun will continue to rise and shine
The moon will still reflect all that fine light
But it is only us
Who can define what is right
If we only sing patriotic songs
Confine what is wrong
I truly fear
Seven billion dreamers can't be wrong
Our final path
Won't be very long
Even with all those curves and lines
Tattooed upon you and all your kin
Years of imaginary prayers and mantras
Some imagined glory and fantasy
Tattooed upon your skin
Making us go blind
To this madness we're all stuck in
In this madness we all find

I've got prayer flags in my window

dharma

Turmeric staining prayers upon my soul

samadhi

When God Almighty comes knocking

nirvana

I'll not abandon my sacred path or goal

In the beginning
God climbed out of his black hole
Resigned
There would be light
Enlightenment came
With the brand new dawn
A profound garden
Blooming in the new universe
First man and woman
Waking in ephemeral Eden
Finding they have two legs
Standing
Those pubescent ancient few
Wondering
About the moon and night and day
Pondering
The rise and bloom of the sun
Ridding them of all their public gloom
They realized some beginning
Chants and prayers
A rare golden goblet
Out of the universal din
Emergence from the roomy void
Life
Within this universal sacred garden
A red rose grew
Bursting with enlightenment
A super nova too
Fragrant honeyed poetry
Consecrating divine heaven
Brilliance with so much chemistry and worth
As it is
On this blue earth

I've been on pins and needles
Wond'ring if all these questionable terms
Are causing how skeptical this all feels
Or is it all those lousy memories of hers
Feeding this bonfire she's started under my bed
Or is it just all those rousing things she's said
Making me squirm like a worm
Roasting in the boastful sun
I feel like I'm writhing
Inside my exploding head
I feel like my brain's eroding
As parts of me wash away
I want to up and run
There's a loaded gun
In my trembling hand
Her finger's on the hair trigger
I wonder what her mind really figures
I keep thinking she wants to scream
When I take a stand
When all my remarkable mem'ries surface
As my harsh thoughts
And harmful words
Repaint the world
Rewriting every story
Remolding this ice age land
There's a glacier
Grinding through this quaint ancient valley
Every rock and pebble
Recounted in the final tally
Every drop of freezing water
Weighed as it washes through my hands

Forever has come and gone again
Each of our dreams has risen
Then crashed together
I wonder if anyone listens
Harried by this wicked storm
That's so quickly arisen
Tearing us apart
As our respectful feelings
Are smashed by this stormy weather
Dashed like a dying bird
Plucked of all its colourful feathers

What once was beauty
And so iridescent
Is now so dark and grey
So unpleasant
Because of age-old words
I've spoken
Because a bright-eyed Shaman
Has deciphered the bones
We have tossed
Because a sleeping demon
Suddenly woke and has arisen
Causing the uneasy earth itself
To move beneath our unsteady feet
In our anxious houses
Igniting fires
Causing this frightful blaze
Razing us in our full attire

Our world's burning
What a dreadful cost
I  turn around three times
Thinking each time
That what we had is surely lost
As the stars fall down
Around our feet
As flames devour our flammable words
We speak each and every time
Making us twirl
Swirl and dance
That cursed dance of death
Departing we roil
Boiling in this stew we've made
Making us twist and turn
Where we are restless
Alongside open graves
Where our darkest mem'ries
Are quietly laid.

If only we had some faith
For goodness sake
If only our hopes and dreams
Could be good and real
And not just fake
If only the brilliant sun would shine
Upon this dark and drastic place
If only redemption
Could remake
All this cold and hurtful disgrace
If only truth and beauty
Could place a smile
Upon this sad and sorrowful face.

There are so many wicked houses
That need burning down
There are so many wicked demons
That I've found
Forgiveness escapes me
As I kindle each fire
I've tossed my burning heart
Into the flames that make me
Confess my wicked sins and attire
Love has torn me apart
Bit by bit
Love has left me in pieces
Cursed by all my wicked fits.

So many foreign dreams and tales
All that steely talk about Stalin
All those unfeeling political stars and stripes
Infringing on profound borders
Pushing and pulling
Pulling and pushing
Like an angry rip tide
Trying to drown the world
Trying to tear the earth apart
The colour of the world
So many dialects
Language only some understand
Subversive ideas that corrupt the world
That sorrowful essence love cannot include
If only we remained as children
Instead of turning into grievous monsters
Greed stirs the pot
Want makes us go blind
If only I would finally wake
To feel the truthful sun
To see beauty in the rising tide
To see peace opening doors
If only the world were one in kind
A peaceful loving mind
Remind me we are not in love
With the Angel of Death
Perhaps then peace and love might find us
Kiss us when we go to bed
Let us know that we all are safe
Show us that God truly isn't dead

Once
When I was
But a child
Long before
You were born
Wandering deep in the forest
I met a prowling tiger
Neither of us
Dared make a sound
Expectantly pondering
Inspecting each other
We keep scrutinizing
Bright shafts of sunlight
Piercing the forest canopy
Respecting that space
Like some courageous creature
Journeying forever from the stars
A distant bird called out
Awakening that striking tiger
And my stricken self
Two hearts loudly beating
Unfazed and gazing up
Staring apprehensively
Into those tall looming trees
Through that misty canopy
Beyond the veiled sky
Far away in time
Where revelations often lie
A blistering vision we shared
Fare from mystic heaven
Like some mystery we dreamed
A cryptic bird called out again
A fearless blessing so it seemed

one of his students
some live with faith
one of his students
some dwell on religion
one of his students
asked Buddha
some kneel before icons
one of his students
some pray to dead saints
one of his students
asked Buddha
"are you the messiah?"
one of his students
some bow down to god
"no" answered Buddha
some bow down to gods
one of his students
"then are you a healer?"
one of his students
some dwell on mysticism
one of his students
"no" replied Buddha
one of his students
some rely on incantations and magic
one of his students
some worship before idols
one of his students
"then are you a teacher?"
persisted one of his students
some pray to dead prophets
one of his students
"no, I am not a teacher."
one of his students
"then what are you?"
asked one of his students
exasperated
one of his students
some believe in voodoo and cannibalism
the taste of flesh and fresh blood
one of his students
some stripped to the bone
one of his students
"I am awake"
Buddha replied
one of his students
a sacrificial lamb
one of his students
some imagine life out of death
one of his students
some cry out to God for resurrection
some cry out for a King
one of his students
some mill around vexed by predilection
one of his students
some believe in crucifixion
some have faith in martyrdom
one of his students
some are sleeping
one of his students
some are dreaming
one of his students
some are invisible
one of his students
Buddha
one of his students