Live On

Each day, y'have to go on,
E'en if your life has changed,
You've lost all your friends, your job, loved ones,
Not ended, rearranged,

You have to hold onto what you know's real,
The things you've created,
The air leaving your lungs, joining the earth,
Those things you have not believed, breath bated,

But don't let too much time pass, mulling these,
You'll become memories,
Stop time as it continues all around,
What is real will then flee,

You'll disappear,
You'll witness your demise,
Learn how little others considered you,
Like seeing your funeral with your'n eyes.

Chicken or Egg

Chicken or the egg, first?
Why is that the question?
It doesn't help sort out the bad egg,
Before its conception,

It doesn't explain the chicken gone wrong,
Born of the perfect egg,
Frankly, chickens all look the same to me,
'Less it's left the brood's, on the street and begs,

Or it's running free range while the rest's cooped,
Wouldn't that be a coup?
E'en if it knew its perfect upbringing,
Still, the egg gives no clue.

How about you?
Did you incubate well?
You kind and giving in your fledgling years?
Chicken or egg? Either can go to hell.

This Time, You Can Read It

I'm amazed ev'rytime,
My credit card's working,
Why should an asshole like me have credit?
Wait, because I'm working,

I've been working ev'ry day for a few years,
And I'm not complaining,
It's just what people do as part of life,
E'en when others' complaints are raining,

Because it's a given,
Living involves doing some working,
Even for your loved ones,
And that living should involve no irking,

It just should be,
It's not a fucking chore,
If you don't think I'm not talking to you,
You don't get how you represent your soul.

Waiting For The Bridge

I'm waiting for a boat,
Memories from my youth,
The bridge goes up, keeping me from my goal,
'Fore I lost my first tooth,

This one looks like it may be from Russia,
There's an app for that now,
Just like all the things in life you can know,
It's not about learning, but knowing how,

But the kids are still stoked by the ship's size,
Well, the grown-ups are, too,
How can something that big actu'lly still float?!
You'd think the damn thing flew.

There goes the horn,
The bridge is going down,
This wait will soon escape my memory,
Along with the reason it was profound.

Check Out

You took too long punching,
The numbers on the pad,
Because there is something inside your brain,
That also made you sad,

And anxious, too, my god you could feel it,
So much not going f'you,
Then the cashier announces to the line,
There's another cash open by aisle two,

Fuck, now you're the center of attention!
You never wanted that,
The guy behind me was mumbling curses,
When you left your wallet,

But I was cool,
Where did I have to be?
Leaving you behind to make you feel worse?
What kind of challenged dick would that make me?

Welcome Back

Look back to where you walked,
Just a few steps ago,
A trillion more touched the same soil before,
To points we'll never know,

Places, like people, that have come and gone,
Erased from history,
Blip upon blip among blips upon blips,
Beings who saw the world differently.

Forget space, look at time to know your worth,
Adjust for total span,
On that line it's hard to be e'en a dot,
Pixels would be too grand,

Just like you are,
Strutting like you're the first,
The thoughts that you treasure are old, old ground,
A beaten path, a trillion times traversed.

Welcome

What do you want to do?
The world is your oyster,
There's absolutely nothing in your way,
That you can't just ignore,

When you were born, you were an empty slate,
Fed by your five senses,
So enthralled by the possibilities,
You didn't care they were building fences,

For what could a barrier do to you?
You ne'er saw one before,
You could walk through it as far as you knew,
Besides, you could just soar,

Up to the sun,
There's no wax on your wings
'Less you think there's reason to be restrained,
You should be able to do anything.

The Spark

What starts revolution?
No one can really say.
It's hard to move the complacent masses,
That's how they're kept at bay,

But at just the right time, in the right place,
Neither of which be planned,
Someone stays seated or gets maced by cops,
Sparking the complacent to take a stand,

Somehow the notion of status quo shifts,
Or what's real's plain to see,
That despite what the rulers have told them,
How things are, need not be.

But what's the key,
That will open our minds?
Is it a tipping point of oppression,
Or th'rev'lutionary bent of mankind?

What's Next?

A tune just caught my ear,
While my mind was open,
'All the broken hearts in the world still beat'*,
A cry in the ocean,

And what of the ones that are yet untouched,
Is it their time will come?
As much a part of life as growing hair,
Or befriending then betraying someone.

That is the shame when the innocent die,
They ne'er got to be shunned,
Felt the sorrow of unrequited love,
Or incarceration,

Then there is us,
Is the journey e'er done?
A life spent getting the innocence back,
We're a scale model of evolution.

*Ingrid Michaelson

That Crack

That crack in the ceiling,
Makes me question my walls,
They may not be set on hard enough ground,
Causing the house to fall,

I actually know nothing about it,
I'm not an engineer,
I'm short of the dedication to math,
And the creativity wrapped in fear.

I'm pretty sure it means nothing at all,
My gut is never wrong,
Sure, sometimes it gets upset with my food,
For, for my'eart it does long.

But that is love,
It's a magnetic field.
They're produced absolutely anywhere,
Elemental particles choose to feel.

The Thaw

The air is cold today,
Just like other things, too,
Your feet pressing up against my warm calves,
My heart assessing you,

The bodies of flies wrapped in spider's web,
Making my daughter squirm,
Her feet crushing insects she'll never know
As she begs me not to fix hook with worm,

The stares of strangers I pass on the street,
We've all been trained this way,
The unheeded cries of your soul's desires,
Slain for this land we've laid,

That can't be changed,
Unless you too are cold,
Resisting the cries of the souls nearest,
Who, too, are just doing what they were told.

Speak

Hard not to say something,
Despite what you are told,
Observe from the heart and you're called a child,
No compassion, you're old,

See both sides, and you're a politician,
Take a side, you're bias,
Embrace desires that fulfill you, selfish,
Defend society's structure, pious,

Yell from the depths of sorrow, you've lost touch,
Can't you see other's pain?
Speak only to yourself, there's something wrong,
Tweaks needed for your brain,

Even this here,
Don't think it is exempt,
The observations of a voice unknown?
Its lies with pity, its truths with contempt.

Jazz, Man

Just follow the jazz, man,
There's no thinking in there,
Just a moment timelessly repeated,
'Midst a frantic, fresh blare,

There are no troubles hiding in that space,
Wanting to adjust you,
You'll be twisted, turned, spun, and razzmatazzed,
A soul-prancing escape without the blues,

Those are your feet tapping and head bobbing,
The world's not collapsing,
Or if it was, you'd never notice it,
That groove's so entrancing,

May't be with you,
Until your teeth fall out,
Equality sweeps across the nation,
While your heart collapses from rocking out.

Avoiding

Got up before the kids,
But I've got more to do,
Before I'm allowed to go to my job,
'Cause I already grew.

I wanted to be ready 'fore they woke,
We've a schedule to keep,
It will still be fun, or what is the point,
Of getting into anything too deep?

Sure, we'll also watch TV together,
That is fun too, you know.
How can a mind be prepared for the day,
Without dipping its toe,

T'get used to it, 
Stead of jumping right in?
Do that once, you learn it's not worth the shock.
You may as well jump into the ocean.

Afar

There's a haze in my brain,
You know what I mean, right?
The world passes you by, tears, woes and smiles,
Amazing, out of sight,

Magical, you stop and think about it,
As observer, not you,
All happening while haziness persists,
Independently of the things you do,

Then you jump out of your mind's dull cobwebs,
Raise your arms, scream out loud,
Everybody stops to see what you want,
And you're instantly cowed,

You're not you, now,
Do you know who you are?
Oh my god, now you're other ones,
No longer can you observe from afar.

Soreness

I don't know what to say,
I don't know what to say,
In the stillness of my heart there is peace,
So, for what can I pray?

To withstand the salvo of life's attacks?
No one is safe from that,
E'en the one poolside, no money worries,
Does not live outside of this basic fact,

That one must live among other people,
Completely separate,
We're all here to experience ourselves,
To live and then to let,

We have no claim,
No matter what came 'fore,
In the context of love for your fellows,
On the journey reserved for ev'ry soul.

New Territory

What's the warrior code,

When life's started anew,

Scents now mingled with one-time enemies,

Not all sure of the feud?

The former laws meant to protect the clan,

Might be of an old way,

If history teaches us anything,

It's what's good once mayn't be right today,

'Cept, of course, that you do unto others,

As you'd want done yourself,

Which begs the question, what is it you want?

It's same as someone else?

It may not be,

There're fighters and menders,

What's good for the goose won't fill your belly,

Sometimes the cure isn't always tender. 

Trudging Through Murkiness

The light is much too close,
It darkens my vision,
Puts into questions the routes I've taken,
To this situation,

From a marker that was no starting point,
To an undefined end,
Guided by instinct and loved ones' words,
Each step fueled by different intentions,

It didn't need to culminate to this,
Nor to anything else,
Is the goal to help others find their end,
Or to find it yourself?

Can you do both?
By example, maybe,
Which means guiding will only make a guide,
Leading one down the path of the guidee.

See

I see in my vision,
Small moving points of light,
They flit here and there, a thousand of them,
If I look at them right,

Otherwise I can see only the sky,
Clouds, birds, towers and planes,
Back again and I notice hazy streaks,
Like a falling ooze I just cannot name,

Which of these visions turn out to be real?
Which should guide my actions?
Neither are in a world that I can touch,
Or know in some fashion,

But I must act,
As each person 'fore me,
Their existence mattering just as thoughts,
Pale copies of what they themselves did see.

Stand Up

You can stand up one time,
You'll be struck down with pain,
Just like insurance comp'nies e'er say no,
Your first attempt to claim,

Most will remain down, a law of nature,
But you may rise again,
Standing, you'll see others if you look hard,
Trounced from masters and slaves with cries of shame,

Are you the one with enough self-belief,
Even should you be maimed,
To howl that what you believe's true for you,
That your god is your name?

For then they'll see,
That you will not be tamed,
This is how all realities are born,
The road for all revolution's the same.