Thus I Wrote

Immigrants arrive
And women have new roles
Rules change as midwives
For a new evolving whole

I see factions fight
To invade my space
I feel claustrophobhic
Trying to keep my place

I feel more uncertain
And fearful of my fate
The world is changing
But that’s a natural state

And I have come to trust
That the invisible hand,
Of consensus in this world
Knows better than I understand

We all want our space
Created within the human race
And so far as we can see
For us, the best way is democracy

Life is a compromise
But we developed a common view
That the needs of the many
Must outweigh the needs of the few

A multicultural society
Has many minorities
And a more fragmented common view
Because they must be included too

But we all want our space
Created within the human race
And so far as we can see
For us, the best way is democracy

You want opportunity and to be free
And to choose who, the government will be
You want fairness and you want rights,
And justice to give, it all some bite

And thus is created your space
And those of everyone
And the boundaries in the race
Agreed by you and everyone

So we create our space
Within the human race
With responsibility
To others in our democracy

Some say…
“Sticks and stones
May break our bones
But words cannot hurt us…”

But words can be gratuitously insulting
And words can be exclusive
But why not be courteous?
And why not be inclusive?
To feel good about ourselves
Must we be abusive?
Do hurting words come easy
And nourishing ones elusive?

We can disapprove of what you say
But we defend your right to say it
(And our right to ignore what you say
And not to listen while you say it)
If it does not clearly incite
Others to anger and fight
To use sticks and stones
To break our bones

Words convey the ideas
Our humanity needs to grow
And defending free speech
Is the only way we know
To allow potential good ideas
A fertile place to grow
But words can never condone
Using sticks and stones
To break our bones

We have also learned
From past experiences burned
That your crime of intolerance
Is best fought by tolerance
And to grow and be free
We need to live in unity
And not use sticks and stones
To break our bones

Little Cancer
I’ve got my eye on you
You’ve got big ideas
What’re you gonna do?

Little Cancer
You killed 12 today
All that hurt & pain now
What’re you trying to say?

You can’t live all on your own
You will die before you are grown

Little Cancer,
You’ve taken drugs since birth
And to feed your habit
You must scorch the earth

Little Cancer
We cannot fear you
You’re black with hate now
Can we ever reach you?

You can’t live all on your own
You will die before you are grown

Little Cancer
We will unite to defend
Our right to speak and
Our right to grow & blend

Little Cancer
You may have killed a part
But we hold hands together
To feed the light in our hearts

You can’t live all on your own
You will die before you are grown

I told a joke
And it was misunderstood
I didn’t play the social games
Like many others could
I thought of the future
And I weighed it all in my head
But I left much undone
And I left much unsaid

I pushed the world
And the world it punched back
It cycled and it swirled
And it went from white to black
I bow to the collective
To the secular unseen hand
To the arbiter of who’s effective
Of who falls and who stands

I drew an eight
When I needed a Jack
But I’ll play the hand I’m dealt
Cos there’s no use looking back

I asked why
But no answer came
So I studied wise men
But the answer was still the same
I’m a leaf in the forest green
I’m a drop in the ocean blue
But I miss the love I’ve seen
And I miss the God I knew

How did we find
Ourselves on different sides?
What started as a join
Became a chasm wide
I wish that I could hold you
Like when our love was new
But our demands they were too many
And our gifts they were too few

I drew an eight
When I needed a Jack
But I’ll play the hand I’m dealt
Cos there’s no use looking back

You move over shimmering waters,
You see your face in the deep
You create and you hope
That you’ll find what you seek

And you dig deep in the earth,
Its all sticky, wet and black.
Ah..you’re soaked by the rain,
But you don’t turn back.

You see your love measured out,
Into fine, crystal glasses.
And handed out anxiously,
To the next person who passes.

You see the sun rise
You see it fall to the earth again
You see the leaves grow and die
In a forest that still remains

Oh..dream is all you seem to do
You hope for tomorrow
Because today just won’t do
Oh..dream is all you seem to do
You search for beauty
And a love that is true.

You see a baby born,
All crying and bloody red.
You see his mother sleeping
Her hair matted in her bed.

And you hear a trumpet call,
At dawn on a lonely hill.
And you see a lion tear
Into its captured kill.

Oh..dream is all you seem to do
You hope for tomorrow
Because today just won’t do
Oh..dream is all you seem to do
You search for beauty
And a love that is true

I told a joke
And it was misunderstood
I did not play the social games
As well as many others could
I worried about the future
I weighed all in my head
I left much undone
I left much unsaid

I pushed the world
And the world it punched back
It cycled and it swirled
It changed from white to black
I bow to the collective
To the secular unseen hand
To the arbiter of what’s effective
Of who falls and who stands

I asked why
But alone no answer came
So I studied some wise men
But the answer was still the same
I’m a drop in the ocean blue
I’m a leaf in the forest green
I miss the God I knew
I miss the love I’ve seen

How did we find
Ourselves on different sides?
What started as a join
Is now a chasm wide
I wish that I could hold you
Like when our love was new
But our demands they were too many
And our gifts they were too few

I drew an eight
When I needed a Jack
You gotta play the hand you’re dealt
Cos there’s no use looking back
I love to play
And I’ll never fold
I’ll play a better way
With the cards I hold

I’m in the eye of the storm
I’m in the deadening calm
I see tomorrow’s form
I hear tomorrow’s psalm
I find I am now apart
I have no hand to hold
I’m a self aware art
A wonder to behold

In the stillness I forgive
The futility of why
The loneliness of live
The inevitability of die
I’m a drop in the ocean blue
I’m a leaf in the forest green
I miss the God I knew
I miss the love I’ve seen

I search for a reason
My soul to drive
Without hunger’s treason
I’m not fully alive
I stand on the shoulders
Of those gone before
I’m a baton holder
From past to future’s door

I bow to the collective
The secular unseen hand
The arbiter of my perspective
The creator of my commands
The connector of those giving
To those who are needing
The cutter from the living
In one cut or slowly bleeding

I was a sandman
In my desert home
I was a searching man
For a direction I roamed
I consider the lilies
As they wave in the field
They bravely ignore Achilles
They bravely trust and yield

He took a risk for his creation
His reward the riches of nations
He has talent and tenacity
But I don’t trust his veracity
He acts the eagle but he’s a vulture
Living off the bones of our culture

With his power he endowed
On his life a secret shroud
Over how he nurtures
His company’s culture
So that the end it seems
Justifies his grubby means

His people are guided
By the culture he decided
By the clearly given rewards
Approved by the board
So why does our society fail
To throw him in jail?

This is a clear defect.
If he has such an effect
If he is king of all he surveys
And all value only he purveys
Why is systemic wrongdoing
Somehow not his doing?

He created the culture
To lead his vultures
To achieve the first mover advantage
He gave his soul to manage
From criminal activity
He got market exclusivity….

Now he’s untouchable in his tower
Of political and media power

The truth of beauty
Is in the underlying duty
Form is the birth of function
Removing faults at every junction

Do we need God as referee
When we now have CCTV?
Do we not need religion because
We now have so many laws?

We are so pragmatic
But we’ve lost some magic
Old people die alone
Such a hidden misery grown

We have yet to count the cost
Of the love we have lost