Our Year One

I can tell you a little something about the Gulf of Napoli,

that's as good a sales pitch as I had for the gal in front of me.

A tall brunette beauty with her glasses scratched to hell—

a hidden stain on her shirt, but nonetheless a belle.

 

Though I left with just a maybe, maybe that's just what it took.

She'd never been out fishing, but she could clearly set a hook. 

I knew she was something special when I took her to the store.

We came for frozen cherries, but we found a little more.

*chorus*

It's dollar-fifty hotdogs

but it's fancy dinners too. 

Lazy days on a hated couch 

and dances all night through.

It's 2010 Suduiraut.

It's slogging through a run.

It's everything I could have dreamed 

and it's only our year one.

and it's only

our

year

one. 

 

God dropped his giant orange bowling ball in the land of Montreal.

I can show you where is landed, though no one saw it fall.

We were sitting eating cheese curds as I lost the words to say—

a peculiar place to fall in love, between oranges and freeways.

 

You can decorate a palm tree, for a Christmas in the sun. 

You’ll make a little pastry and I’ll sass you just for fun. 

That Biscayne Bay’s a beauty, but you’ve got the upper hand. 

What a treasure of a memory as we walked the golden sands. 

*chorus*

It's dollar-fifty hotdogs

but it's fancy dinners too. 

Lazy days on a hated couch 

and dances all night through.

It's 2010 Suduiraut.

It's slogging through a run.

It's everything I could have dreamed 

and it's only our year one.

and it's only

our

year

one. 

 

What stories will we tell at our year five or our year 10?

What time apart will we endure and loving passions spend?

Will we travel distant horizons and cross through foreign lands? 

Or be at home with new loved ones and crafting future plans?

Love's a bolt of lightning and I feel electrified.

I'm beholden to the thought of you like it's burning deep inside.

There are hardly words to type, nor songs to draft by pen 

that could ever in a hundred tries to capture the year it's been.

 

*outro*

What a year it’s been.

What a year it’s been. 

What a year it’s been. 

What a year it's been. 

 

 

Lagoons and Bays

So nice to paddle calmer waters, the only wake from me.

Turquoise green lagoons and bays from once the swelling sea. 

There is no motor humming that shakes me to my bone

just dripping drops behind me as I make my way back home. 

 

The ships are moored with sail to board sheltered from the wind.

Buoys adrift that feel the shifts, but nonetheless stay pinned. 

The ospreys watch me closely from bastions near the shore;

they're fishing for their dinner while I fish for something more.

 

I plunk the paddle right, then I dip the paddle left,

the motions may propel me, though I feel the water's heft. 

I don't suppose it fights me, just lets me know it's there.

It heals itself so quickly from the paddle's digging tear.  

 

The beach, my destination, calls me on to feel its shore.

The tides again are shifting going back to sea once more.

I look back at the water, it's as if I never came.

The banks of green lagoons and bays is the place I shall remain. 

Before the Church Bells Chime

You said you don't want flowers—they'll die here in your home.

There lives a husk and shadow where the beauty used to glow. 

How sad it feels, as endings near, they're not with us anymore

but beauty in impermanence is a beauty to adore.

 

For it's true, that we too, are here but for a time;

the fruit that swells, grows and dwells, may die upon the vine.

Ain't it sweet — ain't that neat — that before the church bells chime

if you want to taste the sugar, you must catch it in its prime.

I'll buy you pretty flowers because I like the way they bloom

I'll pick all the lovely colors, put one out in every room.

They may just last a week or so then they'll wilt and so it goes

let's take a second, see the beauty. Stop and smell the rose.

 

 

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.

 

Kaleidoscope

Twist and turn the kaleidoscope but all I see is blue,

shattered and refracted light in the memories of you.

The grass is always greener but there's never greener grass.

Green exists, just once, it feels, but only in the past.

Twist and turn the kaleidoscope but all see is red,

broken, battered pieces of a past that's long been dead.

Shorts #4

Two sit on a train,

each other they face.

One sees where they're going.

One sees where they went. 

Still they're beholden 

and even desire

to keep moving forward,

to keep moving onward.

Been Around the World

 

Been around the world and seen a million things

chased a million dreams, it's a million scenes

in a movie going on and on around the sun

walk don't run and we'll have some fun.

Oh gonna move it right,

gonna move it all night long,

gonna shake our hips to the sound of the song.

Oh gonna move it right,

gonna move it all night long,

gonna dance all night till the break of dawn.

Been around the world and what have I seen?

The desert, the green, oh I've seen everything.

Been around the world and what have I heard?

The bees and the birds, the people, their words.

Ohh wayyy ohh ah ah

dance all night till the break of dawn.

Ohh wayy ohh ah aha

shake your hips to the sound of the song.

Ohh wayyy ohh ah ah

dance all night till the break of dawn.

Ohh wayy ohh ah aha

shake your hips to the sound of the song

Been around the world and the things I have learned?

The wood and herb like a love can be burned.

Been around the world and what do I know?

The tree and the soul, with sunshine they’ll grow. 

Oh gonna move it right,

gonna move it all night long,

gonna shake our hips to the sound of the song.

Oh gonna move it right,

gonna move it all night long,

gonna dance all night till the break of dawn.

**

Been around the world

what have I felt?

The first card played,

the last card dealt. 

Been around the world

what did I do?

I loved myself.

I loved you too. 

**

Ohh wayyy ohh ah ah

dance all night till the break of dawn.

Ohh wayy ohh ah aha 

shake your hips to the sound of the song.

Ohh wayyy ohh ah ah

dance all night till the break of dawn.

Ohh wayy ohh ah aha

shake your hips to the sound of the song.

Been around the world and seen a million things

chased a million dreams, it's a million scenes.

A movie going on and on around the sun

walk don't run and we'll have some fun.

 

Bumpers Down

Strikes and gutters, wins and losses.

We bowl with the bumpers down.

The mouth that smiles may reconcile 

and even form a frown.

Glory, glory, glory to the times!

May they always be so good.

And when they turn, and they will turn

may we remember what we should.

The Dream is Dead, Long Live the Dream

I said that I'd be married by the age of 23

but now I'm pushing 30 and still single as can be.

I said I'd leave this city, but I'm stranded here instead

and the dreams I set before me are just feeling pretty dead.

 

But long live the dream.

I used to see the clouded skies and think about the rain.

I'd think about the floods that'd come but not what still remained.

I'd curse the sorrows pushed on me like I'm the only one

but between the drops of rain I still can feel the sun

So feel the sun,

feel it shine.

Just be here now,

outside the mind.

Nothing behind us,

nothing ahead.

It's all around us,

the dream is dead.

The dream is dead. 

Long live the dream.

Forget the loss and gain and what remained, and everything in between.

That dream is dead.

Long live the dream.

Long live the moment that we're present in cause that is the dream.

Long live this dream.

It's scary getting out there, pushing hard against the grain.

It's brutal staying neutral and not giving into pain.

Memories are liars of a time that's dead and gone;

It's only in the moment where you cease to be the pawn.

 

so long live this dream.

To keep the keel colliding with the ocean waves below

gotta keep the motor running hard and never let it slow.

Practice makes it perfect, but perfect's just a lie.

To move into the present means the past will have to die.

So let it die,

so you may rise.

Just be here now

and be so high.

Nothing behind us,

nothing ahead.

It's all around us,

the dream is dead.

The dream is dead.

Long live the dream.

Forget the loss and gain and what remained, and everything in between.

That dream is dead.

Long live the dream.

Long live the moment that we're present in cause that is the dream.

Long live this dream

Expectations torture us,

the future takes more from us

and thinking on the past steals from today.

 

So let's be here, victorious.

Take a second, it's glorious.

Let's see what life is like outside the fray.   

The dream is dead. 

 

The dream is dead.

Long live the dream.

Forget the loss and gain and what remained, and everything in between.

That dream is dead.

Long live the dream.

Long live the dream.

 

Long live this dream.

Dance in My Dreams

I'll love you longer than a life will allow,

it may bend but not waiver and it damn sure won't bow.

I think back so fondly of the times that we had

I cherish the memories, both lovely and sad.

 

It's candlelit dinners with wine to no end,

it's long distance road trips with curves and with bends.

It's every adventure, it's every slow night.

It's every warm laugh and it's every cold fight.

 

Our love's everlasting, you took it with you.

I'll take it on too and I'll carry it through.

You're no longer with me or so it may seem,

but you live on forever, when we dance in my dreams.

You may be gone, but we still dance in my dreams.

You had a hell of a two-step, my partner in crime

lost in a moment and frozen in time.

I know you'll be waiting, we'll dance on again

the oceans our dance floor, our music the wind.

 

You were my girlfriend or maybe my dog.

You were some light well far out in the fog.

You were a feeling so warm in the cold

You were the lifeline I knew I could hold.

What is the difference between a memory and dream?

I'll make up the stories if it's all the true to me.

Why must we lose and then never regain?

I'll draw the pictures, to hell with the frames.

 

Our love's everlasting, you took it with you.

I'll take it on too and I'll carry it through.

You're no longer with me or so it may seem,

but you live on forever, when we dance in my dreams.

You may be gone, but we dance in my dreams. 

Post Oak Memories

Me and the trees, this long winter it seems 
are a little less green now than we used to be.

Horizons are calling, as distant as near. 

The future is changing, as hazy as clear. 

 

Wisdom, hard-battled, I've fought on to learn.
Through fires of my passions, so hot that they burn.
Blown 'way the smoke, so now I may see.
The past is the past and now I am free.

—

I’ve got post oak memories of a time long ago,
like the muddy brown Brazos white dusted with snow.
I’ve rambled and wandered so long I don’t know,
but I feel in my heart I’ve got places to go.

I feel in my soul I've got places to go.

—

Here's where I sit now and here's where I stand.

In any such case, still, a man's just a man.

I wander alone both by choice and by not.

Is the fish or the fisher the one who's been caught?

 

The sights I have captured in frames and in cards.

The memories I captured in smiles and scars.

Adventure awaits for as far as I'll roam,

though I long for a place that a man could call home.

 

—

I’ve got post oak memories of a time long ago
like the muddy brown Brazos white dusted with snow.
I’ve rambled and wandered so long I don’t know,
but I feel in my heart I’ve got places to go.

I feel in my soul I've got places to go.

*

What will I see next?

Where will I be?

Will I be there alone or have someone with me?

When will I stop it?

Where will I stay?

Am I on an adventure or running away?

—

 

My hatred, my anger, my grief, and my pride

are all washed away in the rivers of time.

They were my people and they were my friends

by the banks of the Brazos from start until end.

 

I may have wandered but the post oaks have not,

each one in their place still unmoved from it's spot.

The times are a-changing, the post oaks will not.

The past stays a teacher for those who'll be taught.

 

--

 

And when I start slowing; my star dulls its shine.

When I know I'm approaching the end of my time,

I'll wander once more till I come round again

and I'll sit by the Brazos when I reach my end.

 

By the muddy brown Brazos my journey shall end.