Original Prose/Lyrics

Discussion in 'Quackenbush's' started by bystander, Jan 21, 2016.

  1. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Which Way Captain?

    I wondered how long it would take before I could only see your mind
    I didn’t long for the day but I knew we’d both leave our lust behind
    What takes me an early morning always took you most of the night
    I want to see things by day but you don’t like to dream by the light
    We sail side by side but my hull is made of steel and yours of wood
    We felt the same current but how it affected us we never understood

    The blue skies were too few
    And the sunrises were too red
    Maybe that’s why we drifted apart
    What a fisherman knew to be true
    We decided to ignore instead
    Because we sailed first with our heart

    I wondered who would decide which way to go when the skies parted
    A storm doesn’t listen but a glistening bow remembers where we started
    You don’t forget who you were with when waves are bigger than the boat
    That’s not the time for blame it’s just the way love sometimes has to float
    We didn’t know if by sail or prop was the best way to turn this thing around
    I wanted to believe in your instincts but instead I ran the boat aground

    The storms were too many
    And the sunsets we barely knew
    Maybe that’s why we drifted apart
    When the days heat was plenty
    And the evening breezes few
    We stopped sailing with our heart

    Copyright Bystander aka It's a Secret But It's Claimed By The Real Me Elsewhere
     
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  2. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Something to Forget

    Let’s forget all this stuff
    I know what you said
    How you loved everybody
    Or did they love you?
    You went along with it
    But they couldn’t handle it

    Collecting rings is like art
    But you let the dust collect
    The only feeling was disdain
    Empty fingers are never true
    Being asked was good enough
    But being free was better

    Let’s forget all this stuff
    Tradition is for our parents
    I know you’ve loved someone
    Maybe it was last night
    But he doesn’t know me
    He just knows I’m there

    You said call me when I’m free
    That sounded like a promise
    A wall is for the one who built it
    But a good climb once made my day
    You know what’s on the other side
    It’s the way we used to be

    Let’s forget all this stuff
    I have so much to say
    But I’m not sure enough
    My moods woke me up
    It wasn’t love that scared me
    It's that I change so much

    Copyright Bystander aka It's a Secret But It's Claimed By The Real Me Elsewhere
     
  3. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    An Eagle (for Glenn)

    Every day I am drawn closer to leaves in flight
    I do not understand how the spirit decides when to leave
    I see his body
    Lent to him by mortal marrow and masks
    Hiding the animation that reveals itself reluctantly
    Unless the gift is too great for ocean bottoms
    And now it is gone
    Leaving behind the recollections of a boy
    The shared time with the friends he loved
    And the songs that remind him of these things now


    Copyright Bystander aka It's a Secret But It's Claimed By The Real Me Elsewhere
     
  4. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Actions Not Words

    She begged me to stop
    She was standing on a mountaintop
    But I wasn’t there
    The only way she could reach it was with my thoughts
    No one else could ever imagine such a place for her
    But the rivers that took her there
    Transformed
    Back into ice crevices carved into her heart
    The winds that carried her
    Changed direction
    To await the birds that had all flown south
    The sounds that soothed her
    Grew silent
    Like the desolation of a dream waiting for me to wake up
    You angrily swept yourself away
    Not caring how fast you descended
    Or even that I had finally appeared at the summit
    There was no lie to tell
    Or truth to remember
    Only the myth of a love that you knew was real
    But was unable to believe in itself

    Copyright Bystander aka It's a Secret But It's Claimed By The Real Me Elsewhere
     
  5. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Ambiguity (what did I really mean?)

    Is it ambiguity that frustrates you;
    instead it was my gift to you

    But why question a bird in its cage
    or a caterpillar in its cocoon?

    That is not the life that matters,
    only the life to become; creation
    is not destiny and destiny is not
    the past for as the bird is released
    so too are words into your mind
    to fly where they may

    Do not hold them fast; let them
    take you where the vastness of
    your imagination and dreams
    may go because you will not see
    the cage; it will remain empty
    without memory or purpose

    The sky is who you are; there is
    nothing left of the past or what
    someone may have felt or thought
    at the time; the words have become
    your own, changing, mutable, free

    Copyright Bystander aka It's a Secret But It's Claimed By The Real Me Elsewhere
     
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2016
  6. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    The Naive Shore


    The Naive Shore

    The war is always far from the naive shore
    But the horror remains for some at home
    The faces of those who paid the price
    Grace small mountain towns standing alone

    Only quiet streets understand

    Setting sail with sad winds at their face
    No man can tell them of their fate
    For it has already been cast before them
    And now they live knowing it's too late

    But honor lives forever

    We can only fear each other
    For what we know
    Is what we are told to believe
    But still I believe in you
    Because you believe in me

    What land can we discover now?
    Who can we civilize while we kill their culture?
    We can only turn on ourselves
    Distant shores of honor no longer have a future

    Only a past

    He cannot remember a time when he could smile
    He knows the things that is a death warrant to leak
    It is unbearable to share time with those who do not care
    The truth is a door that opens to those who dare to speak

    If only they didn't bury the key

    We only fear each other
    For what we know
    Is what we are told to believe
    But still I believe in you
    Because your eyes are all I can see

    Copyright Bystander aka It's a Secret But It's Claimed By The Real Me Elsewhere
     
  7. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Saliva of Dreams

    Inside the saliva that forms when she parts her lips
    The dream was a steady drip
    He knew
    Art never passes beyond an approximation
    Unless it reaches someone
    But knowing the woman he loved dug her nails into his skin
    It was no longer an opinion
    Or an accusation
    It was reality
    And it no longer required a brush to play pretend
    To paint the warm tears upon a canvas required his own
    Because then he would know it was true
    Deciding between truth and faith tore his heart apart
    He wanted to believe
    And not know
    Because belief was hope
    And knowing was fear
    Fear that the cornerstone of his being was as human as blood
    Blood that could not be washed away
    Only form a river of electrical activity on a screen full of dots
    It meant he was alive
    But he realized he was translating himself from another life
    The words were easy to write
    But the meaning required a life to have been lived
    That way his errors could be identified
    And meaning
    And unresolved memories
    Like water spilling out his side
    Could moisten her lips while she made love to another man
    So he could dream again

    Copyright Bystander aka It's a Secret But It's Claimed By The Real Me Elsewhere
     
  8. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Living in a Hole

    She said being lonely is better than what time drags along
    It reminded me of a conversation from long ago
    It ended because nobody would admit they were wrong

    All my dreams vanished because I can’t sleep long enough
    A mind full of hope is like a sail full of promise
    But the wind only laughs when the seas get rough

    I thought about jumping
    But I started climbing instead
    I thought about crying
    But that’s not what my heart said
    My memories were once in my pocket
    Until they tore a hole in the thread

    You said it to me but I wasn’t time for it to sink in
    I didn’t listen but I hear it now
    You hear a voice but an echo tells you how long it’s been

    I thought about jumping
    But I started climbing instead
    I thought about laughing
    But not because of what you said
    My memories were once in my heart
    Until they tore a hole in my head

    Copyright Bystander aka It's a Secret But It's Claimed By The Real Me Elsewhere
     
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  9. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    What We Can Learn

    A glass of Cru does not make one a Frenchman
    Though you feel it in flow through your veins
    A pair of Lobbs does not make one an Englishman
    Though you will wish to walk like that again
    A silk Armani suit does not make one an Italian
    Though your new style will be your gain
    A parcel of land does make one a countryman
    Though you will hear the call of the plain
    A part in a play does not make one a thespian
    Though you may know how to explain
    A romantic kiss does not make one a husband
    Though she will forever live in your brain
    An eagle soaring does not make one a shaman
    Though you see it fly through the rain
    But the right woman can make you a gentleman
    And a soul can guide a humble man

    Copyright Bystander aka It's a Secret But It's Claimed By The Real Me Elsewhere
     
  10. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    An Adult

    I thought about growing up
    Then I remembered
    I did that a couple of weeks ago
    So now what
    I watched my old self
    It was a wild girl
    I once knew how to handle her
    Now I just wanted to raise her
    It all seemed so pointless
    Getting wasted
    Talking about seeing you on the other side
    Now I think about slamming doors
    I want to tell my neighbor how to change his life
    To quietly close a door is power
    It is control over the air around you
    Because you begin to glide
    But I don’t think he can do it
    Don’t get me wrong
    That wild girl looked so good
    You never grow out of that
    The problem is she wants conversation
    And fun
    You have to chase her all night
    Who has time for that?
    While I was thinking about it
    I heard some chords on a piano
    Everyone was impressed
    But I knew it was a trick
    It’s called practice
    Sometimes it’s just better to leave
    It’s better to be your parents
    It’s better to be strong
    Standing accused of being an adult
    It’s amazing
    To wake up so bored
    Because there is no dread
    No secrets
    Everything is in front of you
    Nothing is watching
    Nothing is behind the bush
    Nothing is in my hand
    Except the longing to touch you
    And that’s just it
    I can’t grow out of that
    It’s like love is always a child
    I thought I’d buried it
    I saw the flowers drop into the hole
    But then they grew
    I’d only planted them
    Somebody said you were a nice girl
    Yeah
    You were
    I know that
    Wild is wild
    But nice is loving a cat
    And you did
    I wondered if she stared out the window
    But I know better
    Reflection was not her style
    Neither was regret
    She’d as soon die on a plane crash tomorrow
    As grow to be an old lady
    It was all life to her
    You just live in the moment
    Then see what you got at the end of the day
    Then forget it
    But I couldn’t live like that
    I had to assume I was going to survive
    For a long time
    I don’t want to beg
    I don’t want to live in the cheapest place I can find
    But I will
    If I have to
    Because I have before
    Before I grew up
    It was only a couple of weeks ago
    Or years
    Or decades
    Or another life
    It seems I lived one once
    I think you were there
    Unless it’s a dream
    But there’s too much detail
    I never sleep that long anyway
    It had to be real
    That’s why I grew up
    Everything a young man needs
    Was inside you
    And I was there
    Inside
    And now I walk away
    All grown up
    Because you were so wild
    And I saw myself on the other side
    Emerging from the fog of your crazy world
    But it was beautiful
    Like a morning cloud in a valley
    I was in the valley
    Now I’m on a hill looking at the cloud
    And I know what’s going on down there
    Because you’re still there
    Because I am an adult
    And I hate it

    Copyright Bystander aka It's a Secret But It's Claimed By The Real Me Elsewhere
     
  11. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    You Became a Movie

    No further words are necessary
    What our eyes say will be enough
    The harvested past sustains us
    Insatiable to our appetites
    How we react is experience
    How we feel is knowledge
    How we live is what we choose

    I want you to know how I feel
    In the silence of the same dream
    Like seeing your child again
    In the laughter of a grandchild
    Going back in time
    That is why they cry
    This is what we know

    It’s what I thought anyway
    There was a time when I knew
    You loved me like no other
    I didn’t know about the gift
    The gift of someone who could love
    But that someone was in a movie
    And I’m here reading the credits

    Copyright Bystander aka It's a Secret But It's Claimed By The Real Me Elsewhere
     
  12. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    What'd I Say?

    I don’t even know how I got past your door
    I was wondering if I could walk through it
    I can’t be the messenger anymore
    Just a light at the end of the room
    But it’s my shadow that knows what to say

    I'm not a road or even a small tower
    You can look at me though if you dare
    You can go around the side but not know how
    Everyone who felt the same way knew why
    But everyone with their own mind said nothing

    A crowded room has spaces nobody can see
    I noticed it one time in a painting
    It was a long stretch of land
    It seemed like a good place to shoot a gun
    But not where spaces hide from one another

    Sometimes there’s so little to say to one another
    Except which way the money went today
    Everybody who digs a ditch wants a window
    Everybody with a window wants to open it
    I thought the answer came with a bottle

    You know you got lost before you started
    The sax in the song was too fast for you
    It was confusing anyway you heard it
    It didn’t add anything to the room
    So you left before you even got there

    I think I’m gonna’ laugh about it now
    Making sense never works for me
    No matter how far, they’ve already been there
    I thought about writing a song about you
    But a long explanation is too shallow
    And a short one is always too deep

    Copyright Bystander aka It's a Secret But It's Claimed By The Real Me Elsewhere
     
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2016
  13. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Make Sure Baby

    So you have a new boyfriend
    How about that
    He likes everything you like
    At least he’s smart enough to try
    Maybe in ten years you’ll know if he was serious

    So you have a new lover
    How’s it feel this time
    I won’t tell him the things you did
    Maybe he thinks like I do
    He’s the only man to make you love like you do

    Make sure baby
    Make sure it’s love
    You look too good for honesty
    A man will promise anything
    To make love to you

    So you think you’re in love
    How would you know
    Loneliness is nothing to compare love to
    But if you’re trying to forget me
    Look into his eyes, I will be waiting for you there

    You can’t make your bed with our sheets
    I took them home with me
    I didn’t wash them because it’s your memory
    I’ll bring them back someday
    But first you have to love him instead of me

    Make sure baby
    Make sure it’s love
    You look too good for honesty
    A man will promise anything
    To make love to you

    Copyright Bystander aka It's a Secret But It's Claimed By The Real Me Elsewhere
     
  14. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Is There A Time?


    Is there a time to be grateful for life, when
    so many long to be free of this cage; could
    it be only when selfishness knows no boundary,
    or when each season arrives, cleansing the
    past of its hold on our dreams

    Is it when I wish to be what I cannot see;
    nothing more than honest cry; as a baby
    would only know, without remorse or
    foresight

    Is it when I can only be what is real that
    I wish to be, the unseen senses in silent
    purpose and longing without pretense

    Is it when I wish to be only in turbulent
    flow; in horror and shame, because of
    what I know to be true of this life

    Is it when I wish to be in a constant state
    of inspiration; walking with nature;
    without conversation excepting my eyes

    Is it when I wish to be sad without laughter
    or lightness, raw nerved; expressed in
    pained fullness

    Is it when I wish to be of you, to mingle your
    pain with my own; to see your heart and
    it’s ugly stain of life; cracked and imperfect

    Is it when I wish to be, alone in my walk; to
    know what I am; dove or rock; kindness or
    unfeeling;

    Is it when I wish to be what cannot be touched
    by another's hand; a living soul, a pure spirit
    and nothing more, living in my own land
    without fences or title

    Is it when I wish to be involved, not entertained;
    original in thought, unexplained; piercing your
    skin not for a night but even after I am gone

    Is it when I wish to be myself but open, full
    of energy, honest in pure emotion; an actor yet
    real; a poet yet grounded; an artist who believes
    in despair as much as in hope

    Is there a time to be grateful for life, when I
    can thank God no matter how I long for love;
    no matter that the life of my father is over; no
    matter that the world does not care for my
    questions or my pain; tell me is there a time?

    Copyright Bystander aka It's a Secret But It's Claimed By The Real Me Elsewhere
     
  15. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Regret


    You can read what a man says;
    you don’t have to believe
    but what if he says something
    you already knew to be true?

    Do you wish to discover the meaning of life
    or is it just that you need a friend
    who already thinks like you?

    I called for all the words to gather
    but only twenty six letters arrived,
    each an island
    surrounded by promise
    separate but equal
    for what was one without another

    Except for I

    Then I realized it’s the same as a piano,
    everything is there that I need;
    it’s all up to me

    Every person who suffers
    and every person who laughs
    can never be fully described
    until someone decides to make people see

    Boys were once ready to be men
    but the girls wouldn’t let them

    So they crossed the river to the other side

    But instead of love
    they only found broken glass walls
    and grown women smiling, until
    they laid on no bed for a bride

    Then they find someone;
    and love them always,
    until they don’t

    The tides of emotion rise above us
    and we think,
    this is it

    That’s when you know it’s in God’s hands;
    for we weren’t meant to swim
    in waters he refuses to part

    We live knowing how we feel,
    anger, sorrow, joy
    and sometimes,
    we even know why

    Is it our destiny to watch women pass
    while we wait to catch their eye;
    and what could we say without a word
    that they would always remember?

    It was how we communicated as children

    That we recall
    love from afar
    the imagination
    able to pair
    with another
    but fired by
    uncertainty
    not so different
    than now

    I may never again speak of regret
    for what good to a condemned man
    or a man who walks freely
    as he did as a child

    What good would it do?

    What good would it do?

    Can you tell me?

    Take my letters
    use them as you will
    the answers are all there

    I cannot look at them any longer

    Copyright Bystander aka It's a Secret But It's Claimed By The Real Me Elsewhere
     
  16. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Mine Not Mine

    I watched the serenity, alone
    Reflections of a mountain sky
    I thought of skipping rocks
    But it wasn’t my right
    It would be unpleasing to the eye
    So my stones did not fly
    For upon still calm waters, to atone
    Is to accept peace in its natural state
    And not as something that I own

    I watched the war, alone
    Failure of the human spirit
    I thought about the legacy of man
    But what of my right
    Is it something that I inherit
    Or earn by merit
    For upon rippled waters, to atone
    Is to know a past life is not the fate
    That must cast its dominion upon my own

    Copyright Bystander blah blah blah...
     
  17. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Hunger

    I remember when I was hungry
    I still am
    But not like before
    I remember when I would climb out a window for you
    I wonder if I would do that again
    But I know you now
    The mystery is gone
    It's like money
    It once mattered
    It still does
    But not like that
    Not like it once did
    Now I just need enough to live
    Before it was a way to define myself
    And I hate that I ever thought like that
    I
    HATE
    THAT
    But I don't hate that I thought that way about you
    I
    LOVE
    THAT
    And you made me feel that way
    It can be that way again
    All we need is time
    Time for the mystery to build again
    Time for you to grow
    Time for me to grow
    To be so different than before
    I am
    I wonder if you are
    And that's what I need
    The mystery of you

    Copyright... yes yes yes
     
  18. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Diaspora

    Where have all the flowers gone?
    A nation weeps for you
    All we have are words
    Promises that were never true

    A spoken myth passed on
    Change... a far away place
    Eyes that seek the soul
    See only a blank face

    The petals wander alone
    Searching for a stem
    Unable to join together
    Unable to find begin again

    The plow destroyed the garden
    War, the hand on the till
    We, with our faded memories
    Take refuge in our daily pill

    The vultures glide above us
    Silently seeking their prey
    We, unknowing, flounder
    Grasping at honor as we play

    Our hearts confront the horror
    Inviting the bullet home
    Take us from this place
    We cannot grow in stone

    Copyright in all the right places
     
  19. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Here For You

    Without knowing how it happened
    A man’s heart can fail him
    His father gone, his spirit dampened
    His children near, for a while, but then
    Gone as meant to be
    Would it be worse if they stay
    But while longing is an empty knee
    The time must come for them to fly away

    But which pieces did they take
    And which pieces do remain?
    There is no accounting of what did break
    Only a heart that must learn to live again
    To trust once again in the sky
    An old friend watching as you return
    Is to know life becomes a cry
    As wings become flight and ashes an urn

    To wait for the next great love
    Is the way of heartache
    The time we give to what we are thinking of
    Is only what we decide to forsake
    But did my every loss soften my mind
    For I know of your sadness too
    And in it I have finally come to find
    That the time is now for me to comfort you

    Copyright... but of course
     
  20. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    The Path

    There’s a man standing at the end
    He said, “I’ll welcome you but only when
    you walk the length and breadth
    gasping for air and cursing the depth
    of the suffering you can’t overcome”

    It’s a path not a nail
    It’s calling you my son

    There’s a woman standing at the head
    She said, “Be born into this misery instead
    of thinking it’s something more or less,
    it doesn’t mean what we all bless
    or any of the things we have become”

    It’s a path not a sword
    It’s calling you my son

    There’s a mist floating you cannot find
    It revealed something to your mind
    “It is not where there is water or dust
    or within the heart of shiny things that rust,
    but you are deaf because you only play a drum”

    It’s a path not a stone
    It’s calling you my son

    There’s a light alternating between dim and bright
    It waits while you gather for a life without sight
    But what guides you will not speak as you wish
    It only feeds those starving for bread and fish
    While you walk with those who will not come

    It's a path not a judgment
    It's calling you my son


    Copyright today before breakfast
     
    Last edited: Jun 30, 2016
  21. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Passing The World By (now what?)

    I don’t know what to take seriously
    It seems it is only how I feel anymore
    Anymore
    How I feel anymore

    I’ve passed the world by
    Watching for the smiling grievers
    Just like me
    Trapped by choices made long ago

    The way a sad man can laugh
    Is just another miracle of life

    Hopping, stone to stone
    The distance widening each time
    The place to stand ever smaller
    As long as my feet are dry
    I will be held together by these small joys

    I think I have been blinded somehow
    It seems I’ve lost my way
    My way
    I’ve lost my way

    I don’t have to make myself write something
    That is where I live now
    Not in a closet
    Not in the jungle
    I don’t have to prove that to you

    I wonder about someone who takes life literally
    With a sword in their hand, dividing life before them
    I’ve felt the blade, thrust deeply
    And they told me it was God saving me
    Still, I continue on

    I am subdued not by sadness but by outrage
    I am subdued not by outrage but by sadness
    Hopping, stone to stone
    Carefully placed before me
    An old man cannot survive without his dignity

    I think I’ve not prepared myself for this
    The greatest challenge of a life
    My life
    The greatest challenge of my life


    Copyright just the other day
     
  22. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Waiting

    It’s not looking for me
    It hides on the wrong side of a cloud
    Where the sun is still bright
    And my tears cannot blur its light

    I asked the shadow why
    But it would rather be silent than loud
    I’m not sure how to make it right
    The moon lights the wrong side of night

    Waiting for something
    Waiting for someone
    They cannot hear you
    If they are not near you
    Tell them
    Tell them
    Or someone else will

    I can’t feel it inside
    Not when everybody acts so proud
    The sky is for birds in flight
    But blue reflections know nothing of sight

    Waiting for something
    Waiting for someone
    They can’t hear you
    They’re not near you
    You didn’t tell them
    You didn’t tell them
    But someone else did

    Copyright - Me
     
  23. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    She Left But Not Her Heart

    Just calm down
    He said it to nobody in particular
    But she knew who he was talking to
    Believe in me
    That’s what she wanted to say
    But she didn’t know if it was true

    You marry somebody
    It doesn’t have to be the wrong time
    It doesn’t have to be the wrong one
    You tried that life
    But one day there’s something more
    The stars stopped leading you home

    How do you live
    You left behind the blood you planted
    Your heart travels well but not today
    You feel the tremors
    That is who you are and it is dying
    Even the sun decided to walk away

    The harvest is done
    The people who were born with hope
    Live inside a prayer watching waiting
    What can we do
    The land of our birth is on fire again
    But my soul lives in the land of believing

    They don’t think of me
    I left and they said my tears are my affair
    If only a baby could decide for its mother
    I want to tell you
    I can never go back so why do I cry for them
    Comfort for my children is not their savior


    Copyright while I wrote it
     
  24. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Take My Blood

    I was wondering how old my blood was
    I haven’t bled in a long time
    At least not on the outside
    Maybe I should set some of it free
    Free to find a different body to love

    But I’m the nearest patient to the cure
    It’s hard to give up your life for another
    That’s exactly what we ask them to do
    And they cry and can never explain
    There is no perception to convince
    No reality to ignore
    They know

    I could never be a tool for God
    My dreams are not to bend your will
    I will not control you
    It is your choice

    I could never be an example for God
    My dreams are not to bend my will
    I cannot stop sinning
    That is my choice

    I don’t know if I’m supposed to be a hammer
    Or a wrench
    Should I put something inside of you
    Or remove the pain you came home with

    I could age ten years in two months
    I could reject the new world
    Let all my gray hair grow
    Let the sun wrinkle my face
    And become angry at feet on my lawn

    But I want to be wiser than that
    Without trying to be

    The memory of a child may not be the truth
    The lack of understanding creates dreams
    Dreams that become reality
    Reality that becomes who you are
    Even if you mother says it never happened

    I thought about carrying a book with me
    It would full of subversive quotes
    World weary conclusions
    Nothing about money
    But instead I carry it in my head
    I know all these things
    It’s hard to live past it like watching mile markers
    We record them in our head
    But after a while all we see are green rectangles

    I wanted to walk up to a woman
    A stranger
    Tell her she’s the one
    Kiss her
    And watch the look on her face

    It could never happen
    The days of bravery are over
    Now we must fear one another
    Fear feelings
    Fear the past
    Fear the culture
    Fear their space

    So I wait
    Wait to give you my blood
    But I’m not a hammer
    Or a wrench
    It is to be given freely
    To take nothing away
    So we can share the things together
    But not to be afraid
    To believe in something
    Naïve
    Idealistic
    Free

    Copyright while thinking about walking the wire
     
  25. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Painted Sunrise

    Your picture tells me more than I could ever say
    But not enough to tell me what I should think
    It is because your smile has become so effortless
    The corners of your mouth learned without me

    There is a love affair between us in my mind
    That is why you have settled for being alone
    My dreamscape desires made the choice for you
    Living in silent madness is better than what is real

    I thought to tell you but I'm so far away
    Like distant paintings with faded signatures
    The captured love of another man’s memory
    Has become my own way of missing you

    There is nothing anyone can say that I would hear
    Only you understand what I have dreamed
    Let me whisper words upon your lonely canvas
    Painting a new sunrise upon your sleepless soul

    Copyright before the sun came down
     
  26. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Seasick

    Just a lot of talk
    That’s all I can say
    Fill the world up
    Fill the air with my ways
    Even if they didn’t ask for that from me

    Do I have an alternative
    Suburban myths say no
    Great change means great suffering
    A madman’s dream
    He only needs a friend to know if it’s possible
    Let’s meet at dawn for another try

    A lock on the past
    And her heart
    But not upon mine
    She allows me to be free
    If then the chance remains
    For my return to her side
    But what I remember
    Is a movie with no end
    And a tragedy is how I must live
    With love I cannot ignore
    And a soul I cannot abandon

    I wondered if I could do it
    Nothing but water
    Sickness from within
    Unprepared for the unknown
    Day after day
    A test of my will
    Trying to see something
    Something I’ve never seen
    Or anyone else

    Still I have nightmares
    Even as I stand in watch
    Each swell sheaths my thoughts
    Is it for what I have done
    Or what I have seen?
    Written in scrolls
    Attached to trees of life
    Sashed by what divides mind and flesh
    Every entry penned is a ritual
    Or was it just a moment recorded on my mind?

    You thought you left yours behind
    But I can see it on the horizon
    You didn’t know where to go
    So I went there for you
    The tears behind my eyes wait
    When I reach what you can no longer feel
    I will give it a gentle whisper to come home

    Copyright somewhere on the ocean
     
  27. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Opposites

    Opposite ends of the sunshine
    Though warmth reaches us all
    It cannot tell us how we should feel
    Sometimes we don’t understand
    Why would the sun fail to see
    What is false and what is real?

    Opposite ends of the ocean
    Crushed by water or is it distance
    Is the deep the same as the surface?
    Still we stand on distant shores
    As swells dance with the moon
    Another light uncaring about justice

    Opposite ends of the earth
    Taking turns with light and dark
    Leaving messages on the moon
    I see you but you do not know me
    Will we decide to meet halfway
    Will it be midnight or high noon?

    Opposite ends of the rainbow
    Is it gold we hoard or colors?
    Will love decide which is right
    Through a prism we see images
    The times of our life and pain
    Can love share as we share light?

    Copyright in sadness
     
  28. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    I thought up this one after singing our anthem at the game last night...

    Anthem

    Did you honor his death by saying what was given
    to his mother is no longer your burden?
    The reason he died was not your purpose; it was
    not for you and of that you are certain
    But was he not someone who set you free by dying
    for the idea that you now assert?
    He never knew your anger, only that he received
    a bullet and his ideals are covered by dirt
    You are free to sit while a nation tries to believe in
    something, knowing that he did die
    Is it because only a certain race can rule the world
    or is the harbor torch the reason why?
    Reading the entire alphabet forwards and backwards
    does not reveal the truth of every tome
    Crying every time my grown son leaves does not
    mean that I do not have a life of my own
    To believe what we know to be true about the past
    need not seed tomorrow's foment
    And to encourage revolt by those who foster hatred
    is only the path of future torment
    It is not the destruction of the union that will unite us;
    only the bonds of love for what is written
    The words of freedom contain no ambiguity but the fire
    of hate makes only ash if we don’t listen
    It is not the strong to whom we always owe our thanks;
    it is the least of us for whom we wish to weep
    You say you will no longer salute our symbol of hope,
    but do you pray for his soul to keep?
    To those who would read the words and wave the flag is
    not a gun pointed at the poor among us
    Instead it would be they who would remind that a song
    is the moment equality becomes our purpose



    Copyright by bystander aka other names including my real one
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2016
  29. bystander

    bystander 10,000+ Posts

    Oh London
    We weep for you again
    Hatred upon your streets
    The cancer over which we weep

    Oh London
    Is it so the next life to be lost
    Is less than the virtue inviolate
    We preserve no matter the cost

    Oh London
    Is it so the fears we harbor
    Are less than the courage
    Of the martyrdom of the free

    Oh London
    Is it so we walk the streets
    With carefree gait and whistle
    While evil threatens our peace

    Oh London
    Is it so we must forever believe
    In faith and innocence first
    No matter the life we grieve

    Oh London
    Never surrender
    The final refuge of civilization
    Rests upon your bloody crown


    Copyright by bystander aka other names including my real one
     

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