HOME                                Ramblings about  “Point of View”

 

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BALANCE SHEET

MUSEUM OF MY RANGE

WITHIN US

HONESTY

A DIFFERENT KIND OF BLISS

ENDEAVOR

ONE CAN

WHAT IS COMING?

WHERE IS IT WRITTEN?

A WEALTHY MAN

FRIEND

SOMETIMES IN THE DARKNESS

WHAT DOES AN ARTIST DO?

ESCAPE

SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS

WALK THE LAND

NEW WORLD

Y2K

 

 

 

 

BALANCE SHEET

 

On the precipice of life I stand

Looking for tomorrow

Not realizing, I must repay

What from the future I did borrow

 

Tomorrow is today, relived

Refinement done eternal

A lifetime spent perfecting life

But few do leave a journal

 

Each in turn must live anew

Learn with their own eyes

Wisdom coming late I fear

From logic in demise

 

 

 

       

 

 

 

MUSEUM OF MY RANGE

 

In the closet of my mind

        Where old personas stay

I search around for right one which

        Will serve my needs today

 

But all, it seems are lacking in

        Essential elements

Like old soldiers uniforms

        No longer fit contents

 

As I have grown into some new

        And different kind of person

I’ve left behind the world I knew

        The me I was, undone

 

Perhaps it isn’t fair to say

        I’m new and different now

All I am had lain in wait

        To find way out somehow

 

Here and there as doors did open

        Parts of me escaped

Slowly then as time went by

        My self became reshaped

 

So truth be told, persona’s not

        The clothes in which we play

But skin that is the surface of

        The one we are today

 

It is a form of nakedness

        Pure us, and unashamed

I journeyed back through my old selves

        Best parts I have reclaimed

 

I’ll look ahead to who I’ll be

        As life does bring it’s change

And relegate that room of ME’s

        To, museum of my range

       

       

 

WITHIN US

 

Life exists, all around us

        We merely must observe

Open up our hearts and minds

        Take in what we deserve

 

Nothing special we must do

        Except to be ourselves

To get the finest life can give

        In our hearts we all must delve

 

To find the door and swing it wide

        Illuminate our fears

Open up that private place

        Been locked away for years

 

Share that place with someone special

Though you think you’ll be ashamed

Glory in the freedom found

        As acceptance is acclaimed

 

Feel the weight of yesterday

        Dissipate in light

 Feel your souls connecting

        As your heart takes off in flight

 

Know the world as never seen

        Or heard or felt by you

Know the world as one great self

        In connection see the truth

 

Instead of looking outward

        To find life’s happiness

Find within, a river flows

        That brings a constant yes

 

All the beauty you imagine

        All the joy your dreams convey

All the feelings you’ve desired

        All the things you cannot say               

 

All the colors of the rainbow

        Each and every hue

All the music of the angels

        Starts within us, … me and you.

 

 

 

HONESTY

 

When life seems gray though skies are sunny

        When nothing brings a smile

When introspection finds us lacking

        When friends, our anger riles

 

When days seem right for other people

        But ours have gone awry

We need to look beneath the surface

        See self with sharper eye

 

Has our ego run amok

        Clouded what we see

Have we been less than honest, someone

Other tried to be

 

Honesty is our salvation

        Brings the sun, sets us free

Be the best of who we are

        No regrets, if this we’ll see

 

 

 

A DIFFERENT KIND OF BLISS

 

Sunday brunch alone

        As good as lonely gets

Introspection comes

        Emptiness forgets

 

Food becomes your love

        Your mouth receives a kiss

Aromas are familiar

        A different kind of bliss

 

 

 

ENDEAVOR

 

The universe is all of us

        Is within and is without

The farther in we look to see

        We’re left with little doubt

 

Linked together everyone

        inside see clarity

The world within reaches out

        Awareness comes to be

 

You and I are one, and not

        We’re all, in different way

Each effects the others when

        Our essence we convey

 

These clothes of flesh are simply role

        We each could be the other

Father could be mother and

        Sister could be brother

 

In loving of ourselves we see

        We really love the other

If clearly kept this picture would

        The lord, in us discover

 

A simple truth, we all are one

        Discerned from complication

The limits of our boundaries now

        Are only concentration

 

Like endless mirrors face to face

        The view goes on forever

Time and space, our minds dissolve

        We are what we endeavor

 

 

 

ONE CAN

 

One cannot think the lord

        Only feel

One cannot see love

        Only experience

One cannot make connection

        Only be joined by love

One cannot reason life

        Only understand

One can be all

        Only by loving

 

 

 

WHAT IS COMING?

 

Flying through the air

        Like an arrow on its way

I wonder what new tricks on me,

Life is going to play

 

It’s been a great adventure thus

        Far through all my years

Whatever I have coming now

        I surely have no fears

 

 

 

WHERE IS IT WRITTEN?

 

Where is it written

        Man should struggle so

Think, reflect, recall

        Himself to know

That life should be

Not simple, slow

And he forever be

        Restless so?

 

Who was the sage

        That did dictate

To very few

        Man would relate

And grow to be

        Proficient in his hate?

 

What addled author

        Did demand

Man should conquer man

        Throughout the land

Take as slaves his brothers

        Their labor to command

For his own conversion

        Them to poverty remand?

 

What fevered brow compute

        Races that dilute

Must be subservient to

Dogma resolute

From brains of those who don’t

And no longer are astute?

 

What demented pious mind

        Directed men to blind

Cut out tongues that spoke

        Of religion most unkind

Tortured many brethren

        Whose thoughts they couldn’t bind

Manufactured answers

        For ones they couldn’t find?

 

What priest of higher thought

        Told all he ruled they ought

Kill those who don’t believe

        The things that they’ve been taught

Directed his disciples

        Murder writer if he’s caught?

 

Why do we continue

        To travel on a road

Directed toward disaster

        No thought, respond to goad

Watch, as through the world

        Fission does explode?

Abhorrent leaders rail

        Against the proper mode

 

How are we convinced

        To do the things we shouldn’t

Led by politicians who

        (By) Themselves alone couldn’t

Surrounded by our peers

        Helped to do the things we wouldn’t?

 

How, has it escaped us

        That our thoughts have been replaced

By the greed and power hunger

        That no longer is disgraced

That the rules of golden learned

        As children were erased

As television taught us

        Insidiously case by case

That good is bad and “bad” is right

        That “in your face,” is delight

If you’re lacking you may take it

        From some other, they wont fight

Satisfaction is the measure

        Not the truth of wrong or right?

 

How is it we can put

        A man in outer space

Spend some billions more

        Lose pounds around our waist

Make, of killing tools

        A giant grizzly race

For poor and disadvantaged

        Find no living space

Brilliant minds at work

        Industries create

Beauty and the surface

        Subjects we fixate

Deep enduring values

        Fail to contemplate?

 

Where, in our (humble) start

        Did reason come apart?

From Eden where began

        Man’s history one heart

From one religion whole

        To many that did start

From rules designed for living

To death for some impart

 

How did we lose our way

        Leave morals to decay

Decry all other’s good

        Follow doctrine to dismay

Let “them” with our minds play

        Put the fault of ours on “they”?

 

I have a better plan

        Bring survival back to man

Simplify the rules

        So all who want to, can

Listen not to serpents

        Here since time began

Look inside, discover

        The best we are of man

Use the mind god gave us

        Not another mother’s son

Use it to solve problems

        So pride we will have won

Do what needs our doing

        From discomfort can not run

The pain of abrogation

        Can never be undone

 

Start with loving you

        Then another when you’re done

Think of ways to give

        Not greedy ways rerun

Strive to shed new light

        Not build a better gun

Devote your heart to love

        Do it one by one        

 

I’m afraid that we will perish

        Unless we learn to cherish

Every life to come and go

        On this earth turning slow

We’ve mistreated all our gifts

        Produced, not harmony but rifts

Without any reason

        Though we search and we sift

 

We’ve become a world of brutes

        Our logic convolutes

For the future does not suit

        Wandering from our roots

We became new recruits

        That plundered and destroyed

All the values we enjoyed

        Till we came upon this day

Quite frantic to delay

        The awful price we must pay

There is nothing left to say…

        On this earth we must stay

To survive…. Let us pray

 

 

 

A WEALTHY MAN

 

I count myself a wealthy man

        I have everything I need

The sun shines every day for me

        My family I can feed

 

I have a roof to shelter me

        And clothes protect my skin

I have the love my children give

        As well as other kin

 

I have the freedom to be me

        To do as I see fit

I’ve music and my poetry

        And live by my own wit

 

I’ll soon be married, come next May

        My love and I’ll be one

Partners in adventure we’ll

        Be having lots of fun

 

I cannot think a thing I need

        More than I have got

I count myself a wealthy man

        It doesn’t take a lot

       

 

 

FRIEND

 

A voice comes through the telephone

        It Brightens up my day

Fills my life with sunshine

        In a very special way

 

Connection in an instant is

        There without a thought

All that was comes rushing in

        In my throat my breath is caught

 

I am warm from head to toe

        Joy washes over me

Reuniting with a friend

Fills my heart and lets me see

 

That every one I love

        Becomes in turn a key

Opens doors to new horizons

        Becomes a part, expanding me

 

 

 

SOMETIMES IN THE DARKNESS

 

Sometimes in the darkness when

        I find myself awake

I ponder my good fortune

        The turns my life does take

 

My enemies are few

        Too few to give me scare

I see the silver lining

        In all I am aware

 

I’m constantly in change

        Though stability is my mode

I welcome each new turn

        That appears in my life’s road

 

I see a great adventure in

        The years that lie ahead

Uncertainty, embraced

        Past good fortune it has led

 

Despite the many changes and

        Surprises I have had

I’ve been blessed with love of life

        It is hard to get me mad

 

 

 

WHAT DOES AN ARTIST DO?

 

What does an artist do? I ask

        What makes their lives unique?

Is there some simple answer to

        The things that bring mystique?

 

I think we all are looking for

Answers not existing

It’s not what artists do that matters

        But who they are, insisting

 

A feeling strong exerts itself

        In ways not understood

It must be heard in any form

        Like paint or stone or wood

 

They live their lives in great full measure

        Sensitivity is their ace

It may not show to you or me

        But their work is filled with grace

 

Each work is true a puzzle piece

        The world in their own view

Combined as group to point our eyes

        Perspective ever new

 

To see ourselves as we cannot

        Help us find our way

Provide a mirror we can’t ignore

        Disaster help defray

 

To see the beauty of a rose

        And all of Gods creations

To know that we’re not here alone

        With all, we have relations

 

Oceans deep and mountains high

        Rocks and trees and sand

Animals and stars above

        All made by his wise hand

 

One family we, throughout the heavens

        Human and all others

Related in some cosmic way

        The artist’s eye uncovers

 

 

 

ESCAPE

 

There is a picture on my wall

        A place so far away

I can leave here any time

        Go there any day

 

In the merest of an instant I

        Escape where I am now

A door into another world

        An artist did endow

 

 

 

SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS

 

We all do search for happiness

        But know not what it is

How then will we identify

        When found, this much sought bliss

 

To complicate the matter more

        It changes day to day

Were we to reach our goal, how would

        Or could we make it stay

 

And finally conundrum plain

        Once we have achieved

The happiness we thought we sought

        We find we are deceived

 

We are alive, live and breathe

        Dynamic, ever changing

Our view of life, and therefore needs

        We’re always rearranging

 

Happiness is not a thing

        To be intently sought

But state of mind from process done

        A perception gained not bought

 

The goal is life, lived to the fullest

        To stretch expand and know

Happiness the prize for this

        On us life will bestow

 

 

 

WALK THE LAND

 

You listen to the news at night

        Hear it with one ear

A droning kind of background noise

        That seldom Does n’t seems so near

 

It doesn’t seem to matter much

        Each day it is the same

Sounds to fill the emptiness

        On you they have no claim

 

Like Oklahoma City, horror

        Filmed and brought to you

It all seems so unreal somehow

        And shortly fades from view

 

To know the truth, to understand

You… must walk the land

 

East of Tucumcari where

The sky surrounds the land

Front and back, side to side

        The creator shows His hand

 

Stand in awe of all you see

        Too much to fit the eye

If you’re not there to see it all

        You’ll never get to try

 

Look upon the Painted Desert

        Or dunes of pure white sand

Feel the tension drain away

        Along with life’s demands

 

No picture, in your place could stand,

To feel, … you walk the land

 

On the plains of Texas, cattle

        Seen living real

Forever in your mind they’ll be

        Not just another meal

 

As you travel see men’s faces, it is

        There life’s story shows

Shake their hands and feel the warmth

        That sincerity bestows

 

To know the mettle of our people

You… must walk the land

 

From coast to chiseled coast

        American Indians kept in drawers

See them on a pueblo, buy

        Their lives in trading stores

 

Can’t even read the many glyphs

        Left written on the wall

A rich and vibrant heritage

        Remains unshared with us all

 

There’s more to this sad story if

The knowledge you can stand

Open up your eyes and see

        If you dare… to walk the land

 

In the cities people live in

        Pretty caves high off the ground

Distanced from their brothers who

        Die in poverty all around

 

Homeless people, growing numbers

        Symptoms of disease

No one helps their neighbor cause

        Contact will displease

 

Want to see the future coming?

I implore you,… walk the land

 

The end is not in sight yet but

        Incongruity is here

We have land and food for all

        But no one seems to care

 

See the trouble we are all in…

Go forth and walk the land

 

For some their hope has gone away,

        Others take and do not pay,

Solutions here are easy, but

        Politics is in the way

 

Law is fine for lawyers but

        We are born of love

And that is where the answer lies

        Natures laws are from above

 

If we could all just walk the land

        Look each other in the eye

Give a piece of who we are

        Help a neighbor to get by

 

Perhaps the shame of eye averted

        Or dignity seen destroyed

Will prod us all to be inclined

        Our talents be employed

 

To solve a problem of the soul

        Not of technology

We’re all his children, have and not

        Both must be, if each be free

 

In our harbor stands a lady

        A tall and regal beauty

Gave hope to many millions as

        Was designed her duty

 

No other stands in all the world

        A symbol quite so clear

A promise made for all to see

        Her people, to take care

 

This land is grand from end to end

        From sea to shining sea

Get out and walk this land I plead

        (Don’t let her promise, empty be)

        Help her promise, truthful be

 

 

 

NEW WORLD

 

Builders come with truck and hoe     

        Houses through the trees will grow

Forest beings flee their foe

        As river life new change will know

 

Water clean may cease to be

        Or dry up unexpectedly

We will lose our rock and tree

When blasting ends the scenery

 

Ahead the builder looks to see

        How large his profit might well be

As we, our view and privacy

        Bereft, do mourn with constancy

 

When finally we are alone

        By this scarred unnatural zone

We find the birds long warbled tone

        Replaced by auto engines moan

 

In conservation, mistakenly

        We are relieved of much we see

Or love, because God made it be

        Lost until eternity

 

When all is new and uniform

        Development become the norm

When what we were is changed and torn

        Will we love this new world, born?

 

Too late you planners, wisdom comes

        When subdivision faults are drums

Beaten by the scourge of sums

        That come together haunting, numbs

 

Little things paid no regard

        Of life, the quality, we did discard

Will prove to be a teacher hard

        As we reflect, we did not guard

 

The rights of all, the real bedrock

        The theory on which, we must take stock

All living things, not nature mock

        Preserve His work, destruction block

       

A solemn task, another’s shoes

        To wear, despite our different views

Let not our own conceit confuse

        The role we play, and not abuse

 

We are here but for an instant

        A better place to leave, our intent

It cannot be, if build and foment

        Is path we take, our use of moment.

 

       

 

Y2K

 

Oh restless soul contain your fear

Of what for sure is drawing near

Of changing date disaster bring

Threaten all my loved offspring

 

I have lived a life but they

Have more to travel than was their way

‘Tis not fair that we begin

To understand but cannot win

 

Choices hard will be made

As each our future lives afraid

Guarantees, there aren’t any

As suffering sure will come to many

 

Now a measure of us each

Will be seen as life will teach

Self sufficiency, or breach

Our goal of future, from our reach