Mom

This journey isn’t easy

This life can be unkind

But in my darkest hour

Some comfort I can find

Because you’ve always been here with me

And I’ve never walked alone

I don’t think I could have made it

If I'd had to on my own

You taught me grace and kindness

And planted every seed

You made me see inside myself

Was everything I’d need

But still I look to you for strength

And in the darkest night

You lift my weary spirit

I’d be lost without your light

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Vigilante

I’ve got an itchy trigger finger
I’ve got darkness in my heart
I’m a heartless vigilante
Just dying to do my part
To keep the good folks safe and sound
From hooded thugs like you
I don’t like the way you look, boy
So, it’s something I must do
I’m a self-appointed lawman
I’m a madman with a gun
I don’t need a goddamn reason
I’ll kill you just for fun
Because white is right and you are wrong
For being in this place
So, beg me as I shoot you
Wipe that smirk off of your face
I can murder for no reason
Never know, I might again
For my paranoid suspicions
Or the color of your skin
And I’ll walk away protected
By the laws that let you down
And more like me are waiting
For a chance in your hometown

Stream - February 15

It’s a burden, but I own it

I really wouldn’t change a thing

But my mind in the beginning

Long before I felt the sting

It’s the price for so much passion

And admission of the guilt

But I’m more than a spectator

In the cages I have built

I’m the prince who’s now a pauper

But a jester all the while

In the company of rulers

I confuse them with my smile

All the knowledge I’ve been given

All the sadness I have seen

Might drive another man insane

Or make him cold and mean

But the pilgrim knows his burden

Like the singer knows the song

Where the notes rise up to meet him

As he tries to carry on

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Stranger

I met a dying stranger

Someone who caught my eye

With wounds the naked eye can’t see

Too far gone to cry

And as I fumbled for the words

To let him know I cared

He laid my heart wide open

With the few words that he shared

He said “I’d love to sit and talk with you

But I’m afraid I’m too far gone

All my rhymes are out of reasons

And I’m tired of hanging on

You can lead a horse to water

You can teach an old dog tricks

But I’m empty and I’m broken

And there’s nothing left to fix

Save you efforts for another

Pull your heart off of your sleeve

I’ll be too long gone tomorrow

So brother, don’t you grieve

To some this life comes easy

Simple thoughts from simple minds

But you cannot hide the darkness

From one who isn’t blind

Remember this is all there is

No heaven and no hell

Remember what you will of me

And bid me now farewell.”

Then he left me stunned and silent

As he turned and walked away

Lost in what he told me

Left with nothing else to say

You see hope is all we cling to

And once it goes, it’s gone

It leaves behind an empty shell

That tries to carry on

So, if you’re out of reasons

And feeling all alone

Let your heart reach out to mine

Before it turns to stone

cn01122014

Broken

Broken clocks and faded colors

Glowing hands that tell no time

Flowing words that search for reasons

To these questions set in rhyme

Empty rooms and moonlight windows

Memories dance across the floor

To a tune long since forgotten

That we both sang once before

Broken promises and whispers

Spoken softly in the night

Midnight vows of restless lovers

Disappearing in the light

Where the glow of burning bridges

Brightly burns, then fades away

Like a dream you can’t remember

As the shadows come to stay

cn10072013

Paradox in Paradise

Living in the land of freedom

Where the jails all overflow

And the guilty thrive and prosper

While their victims never know

How they bully them and rob them

Of their children and the wealth

With enough to feed the people

Never caring for their health

And the ones who stand in power

Like the ones who stood before
Before the field is ever taken
Plan the outcome, know the score

Where the players die for nothing

Faceless pawns lost in the game

Someone's child is gone forever

Now a number not a name

So, the voices of the people

And their stories to be told

Fall on ears forever deafened

By the sound of counting gold

Has the dream become a nightmare

Is the truth forever lost
Do we find the price of freedom
Is never worth the cost

Life Without Parole

I have always kept my guard up

Hiding here behind these walls

But the loneliness wears on me

As I wander down these halls

To a graveyard filled with faces

Memories etched on every stone

No one's there to take their places

Feeling weary and alone

Empty rooms and hallowed footsteps

Silence echoes in the night

Tracing photographs and journeys

Silhouettes against the light

Recollections of some moment

From another place and time

In a prison here forever

Where the sentence fits the crime