Foggy Memory

I've grown a beard to show that time has passed.

I've donned my glasses and bought a new sport coat.

I fill the gaps of conversation with tales of business and pleasure.

I exaggerate my meager trials into legends of surmounted tribulation.

I laugh.

I sigh.

I flirt.

I curse.

I live.

I walk through afternoon showers and reflect on the days of old.

The rain seeps through the polyester and sticks to my skin.

It's cold.

I saw your name on a message board.

There I sat with the foggy memory of you

and, for a moment, that's all there was to do.

The Story of You

I wrote a story, the story of two.

It's a story of me, it's the story of you.

It's got a background that leads with some flair.

It sets up the plot, with no detail spared.

Are we fighting a dragon or solving a crime?

Are we dancing and singing to song and to rhyme?

Are we racing, so dashing, through streets in the night?

Are we saving the world in a last epic fight?

Tell me, tell me, tell me how it ends!

Oh please let me see through the curves and the bends!

Are you a hero or maybe just plot?

Are you a villain or just wayward thought?

 

I wrote a story, the story of you,

I'm tired of writing so I'll pass it to you.

It's a story of love but it's missing it's end;

the reception has gathered, if you'd only press send.

 

Feel the twists of the tension as we build out the tale;

the bruises and burns from this story regaled. 

I dare not succumb to the heat from this friction,

but the dramas of life are rarely just fiction.

Buck up Buttercup

We started the evening as strangers though we left a little less so.

You'd be surprised the things you'll find, if you take the time to know. 

The rolling stone's eroding, though it cracks a lovely tune.

You'll get just what you needed, but there ain't no silver spoon.

 

I see myself a cowboy on the lonesome western plains,

allowed to sulk in sorrow, seeking pity for my pains.

Now I break mystique so quickly under a flash of wit and charm

and I'd trade the plains so quickly just to have you on my arm. 

 

Why the back and forth of the rats run 'round the maze?

If all is said, from born to dead, in a single locking gaze.

There's a lifetime in a moment, if we only make the time.

The mountains aren't an obstacle when you say you love to climb.

 

I'm bucking up on buttercups; barrel down the path again.

Chasing falling stars under guiding lights and helping hands of friends.

I hope the hope is worth it like it's rarely been before;

the buttercups are blooming and there's only time for more.

What Beauty There’ll Be

In life, in life, what beauty there'll be!

The mountain top snow that melts to the sea.

The forests regrown from scarred and burned land;

the rocks and stones crushed down to the sand.

It's static this change and it lights like a bolt,

o'er canvas of marvel where beauty invokes.

A splashing and swirling abundance of wonder,

it flashes like lighting and crackles like thunder.

 

Kinship and friendship and most of all love,

these are the drippings of paint from above.

And still more amazing are the wonders unseen

connections of lovers like the magic of dreams.

What beauty, what beauty, what beauty there'll be!

hands interlaced like the roots of a tree.

Shall it grow wide and shady or up to god's light

no matter its stature, it's the sight of all sights.

Be as the mountains, eternal and bold.

Be as the forests, and live as you grow.

Be as the desert and shift with the times.

and always see beauty, for the sun ever shines.

 

Paradise in the Rain

The palm tree is dripping rain onto the flooded sidewalk below.

The wheels send geysers high and bright as commuters make their way.

A man walks unbothered, it's more than nylon that keeps him dry.

The birds endure upon electrified lines while steel still soars above.

The neon sign weeps its welcome to the weary, worn, and wet.

Paradise remains unshaken, in such defiance to the times.

Disguise

Your happiest perfect day

still there's sadness in your eyes. 

You have your pretty makeup

but it makes a poor disguise.

I wish I could console you,

or even just ask you why,

but today's the day you married

and it was the other guy.

 

Remember all the good times

that we had back in the day?

Look now how a decade past,

they all just washed away.

You were my muse or siren,

emanating loving glow.

Yet we find we only are

someone we used to know.

Frames

Time goes on and people change.

Don't judge them on what's left them;

be kind to what remains.

We're just peering at the paintings:

captured moments in their frames.

Don't judge them on what's left them;

be kind to what remains.

Trips Around the Sun

I just turned 20 and my life's ahead of me.

I'm living for the moment I'm finally feeling free.

I'm chasing the horizon, gonna find what life's about;

20 trips around the sun and I'll never tire out.

 

30's now upon me and I'm feeling so refined.

I've reigned the restless spirit and I've quieted the mind.

I've done a lot of running, now it's time to settle down;

30 trips around the sun and I'm starting to feel found.

 

The big 4-0 is coming and it's hitting like a train,

the wrinkles started forming and my knee's all filled with pain.

I guess I'll pick up golfing, trade my favorite beer for wine;

40 trips around the sun, I guess I'm doing fine.

I just passed by 50 and I don't know where it went,

the time it seemed to fly on by no matter how it's spent.

All the joys and wonder and the troubles I've been through;

50 trips around the sun and there's so much left to do.

 

60 years I've walked this earth, what adventures I have had,

it wasn't always easy, but the worst days weren't that bad.

Looking back I only think of times so well and good;

60 trips around the sun and I'm living as I should.

 

70 came and went and I'm really slowing down.

I'm sitting now more peacefully, seeing beauty all around.

I have such great perspective, with all that I have seen.

70 trips around the sun and so much life between.

 

80's now approached me but my days aren't quite yet done.

Though my body is much older, my life's still filled with fun.

I can't say for certain now what's coming around the bend;

80 trips around the sun and I'd love to go again.

Sea of Holes

My feet were burned by roasting coal, 

a cryptic message there foretold.

I felt the heat and longed for cold 

and paid a price that wasn't sold.

 

The shell of that which used to be

turns unto fish and swims to sea.

I saw it all in morbid dreams

she passed beyond in front of me.

There set adrift a Sea of Holes:

a wayward grave of lofty goals.

The river flows o'er shores and shoals,

deposits one on banks of souls.

Cosmic Cowboy

Blasted off from Brownsville, Texas

one-way ticket to the stars.

Waved an adios to atmosphere,

Waved a howdy back from Mars. 

 

He's gonna rustle him up stardust;

he's gonna find himself a home.

He's gonna kick it in the cosmos,

but it's a long long way to go.

 

Shine on you Cosmic Cowboy,

but don't board your ship alone.

Shine on you Cosmic Cowboy,

but don't forget us here at home.

 

How's the view from Albireo?

counting asteroids one by one.

When you picnic at Polaris,

do you dream about our sun?

When you survive the supernova,

when you've tied up red Quasars,

How many light years will you travel?

When you come back from those stars?

 

Shine on you Cosmic Cowboy,

but don't board your ship alone.

Shine on you Cosmic Cowboy,

but don't forget us here at home.

 

Stellar sisters

cosmic brothers

stand together

love each other

 

Stellar sisters

cosmic brothers

stand together

love each other

 

Stellar sisters

cosmic brothers

stand together

love each other

 

Shine on y'all Cosmic Cowboys.

You'll never board your ships alone.

Shine on y'all Cosmic Cowboys.

In the cosmos we will roam.

In the cosmos we will roam.

and I feel like I am home.