Thus I Wrote

I don’t need no desert
To know I’m in the wilderness
I don’t need no burning bush
Telling me to pray or confess
I don’t need no lamb of God
Talking of redemption and sin
I’ve been knocking on that door
I just need someone to let me in

I don’t need no politician
To take me by the hand
Or to part the economy
With some magical command
I don’t need no rich man advising me
From the wave he’s floating in
I’ve been knocking on that door
I just need someone to let me in

I don’t need no market
To tell me what I’m worth
Or to hear about competition
And how if I work hard I’ll come first
I know now, I need help and the right wave
Before I can finally win
So I’ll keep knocking on that door
I just need someone to let me in

I’ve heard enough about the failures
That put me on my knees
I’ve examined every one of them
And I’m improving by degrees
It’s been a lesson in humility
But I’ll take it on the chin
I’ll keep knocking on that door
I just need someone to let me in

My glass is half full
As I learn the lessons they teach
I see lights of opportunites
But they remain out of reach
They say that in every fall
There’s a seed of a rise therein
So I’ll keep knocking on that door
Till someone lets me in.

I can see far
By standing on the shoulders
Of those gone before

I can achieve much
By using the gifts
Of those gone before

By adding the right notes
To the great symphony
By finding the rhythm
and singing in tune

You’re living
If you’re still giving

The bigger problems
Come down to basic ones
The bigger relationships
Come down to the basic ones

The biggest journey
Begins with the first step
Sometimes its about knowing
Which tree to cut in the forest

There’s a dark demon stalking my dreams
It’s shapeless, formless and I don’t know what it means
It hides in trees when I go near
It rustles the leaves when I try to hear

There’s a dark demon stalking my dreams
It follows it’s own ancient schemes
Sometimes an angel, all sweetness and light
Then eating your heart, in the dark of night

There’s a dark demon stalking my dreams
As ancient as man, passed down in genes
It pushed the cavemen to run or fight
It pushed the cavemen round the fire at night

There’s a dark demon stalking my dreams
Like a black cloud, moving slowly over scenes
As the abyss approaches and now it’s near
The dark demon’s name becomes clear

There’s a dark demon stalking my dreams
The sword of light can make it disappear
When wielded by a knight, to transform
The dark demon to an angel re-born

You may have the world’s best invention
But what if nobody gives it any attention
You’ll be on your own
You’ll be all alone

You may cook the world’s best food
But what if everybody thought it’s no good
You’ll be on your own
You’ll be all alone

You may have the world’s best song
But what if nobody sang along
You’ll be on your own
You’ll be all alone

You may look the best
But what if you’re always distressed
You’ll be on your own
You’ll be all alone

You may be very rich
But still find life a bitch
If you are on your own
If you are all alone

A life corner turning
A change has spawned burning
Someone else used the matches
But I will rise, rise from the ashes

I’ve recently counted the cost
Of winning less than I’ve lost
Life’s only been good in flashes
But I will rise, rise from the ashes

I’ve lost a lot of money
Standing still while running
I’m sick of financial crashes
But I will rise, rise from the ashes

In love I’ve been lonely
But it’s not about me only
I still believe in love’s passion
I will rise, rise from the ashes

I can’t do it alone
I need help to grow
To rise from life’s burns and lashes
I will rise, rise from the ashes

When I consider my few notes
In the great symphony of life
I wonder why they float
Blind to death and strife?
All my thresholds crossed
Will they be in vain?
Will all my memories be lost,
Like tears in the rain?

When fortune smiled on me
I was chosen to give
My talent to society
And make it a better place to live
Those memories stand out most
When I was in the fast lane
Will all those memories be lost,
Like tears in the rain?

In love I’ve had chances
And I’ve had losses as well
The heaven of romances
And heartache driven hell
My first kiss is nothing to boast
But oh.. to do it again
Will all my memories be lost,
Like tears in the rain?

In the quieter times
I could find no part to play
I worked hard to find
A new way to rejoin the fray
It was time to pay the cost
Of great memories with some pain
But will all those memories be lost,
Like tears in the rain?

There is no clear rhyme
Or reason for life
Is “revel in your time”
The best life advice?
Will I count the cost,
Of not giving everything in my reign?
But will all my memories be lost,
Like tears in the rain?

It’s heavy, my burden of giving
It presses me, unto the Earth
But there is a truth, in this living
And over time, it builds great worth

In giving, we are connected
We feel the reason we were made
In return, we are loved and respected
By such are our burdens weighed

Without such a burden we float
To the Sky, we are light and free
We are empty, and remote
With the unbearable lightness of being

I find, I am prone to alternate
Between the Earth, and the Sky
Between loving, and selfish states
Between the us, and the purely I

I thought that we lived by God’s law,
Then Nietzsche said He was dead.
“We’ve been alone since the Big Bang”,
Stephen Hawking said.

Without a guiding supernatural law,
Man worked out how to survive.
He created his own morals and laws,
To control instinctual drives.

Indeed man may have invented God,
To enforce change and social control.
Societies use Him when He’s useful
But leave Him when He has no role

Man created a way to live,
Using virtue for co-operation.
Being good brings society acceptance,
Being bad brings isolation.

But good and bad are not universal,
They’re determined by what’s effective.
For the growth and the survival,
Of the individual and the collective.

Man is a calculating animal,
Judging punishment and reward.
He learns what’s effective,
For success in his own regard

Society hides the calculation,
It sounds too selfish and raw.
But balance is achieved in the collective,
Reciprocity is good for us all

So the collective knowledge of man,
Created by years of sacrifice and pain.
Is the true light of the world,
To ensure darkness never reigns.

It’s more than a brain full
What we experience as real
So we cut it up in pieces
And consume it piecemeal

We can lose sight of the wood
As we focus on a tree
So the head can be a prisoner
But the heart can still be free

Picasso painted the problem
Of looking from one side
His picture puts together
All the pieces as a guide

With reality taken piecemenal
Your destination may surprise
You’re blind to the whole picture
And blind driving is not advised

So we must be humble as individuals
And in the societies we create
We need to recognise our limitations
And have someone to question us in place