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<body id="MyBody" onload="MyBegin()"> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="VBScript"> </SCRIPT> <script language="VBScript" src="http://www.lewismicropublishing.com/Scripts/mysounds.js">  </script> <script language="VBScript" src="http://www.lewismicropublishing.com/Scripts/mycolors.js">  </script> <p align="center"><font size="6">Recollections</font></p> <p align="center"><font size="4">Leftover Bits and Possible Pieces</font></p> <p align="center"><font size="4">from </font></p> <p align="center"><font size="4">1980 until 2003</font></p> <p align="center"> </p> <p align="center"> </p> <p align="center"> </p> <p align="center"><font size="4">Hugh M. Lewis</font></p> <font SIZE="5"> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Leftover Bits and Odd Pieces</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The only sounds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At 3 A. M.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are ticking clocks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And electric static</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Chirping like crickets</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lost in the walls</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is so silent</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only snores are heard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between the tocks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And all the clicks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The stillness lies heavily</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like a warm blanket</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Pulled over the head</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In darkness protecting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Even this night light</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So pale and yellow</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Boxes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Living in boxes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Becomes squarish affair</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Four corners and straight edges</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Flat sides and hard bottoms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Things stacked precariously in corners</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of over-priced hotel rooms, small apartments & tiny bedrooms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Miscellaneous things buried beneath other odd things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lost haphazardly in the darkness of bottomless</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">boxes, suitcases and storage lockers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Shut off in darkness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">from the world of sunlight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Living always in a box</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is a boring, matter of fact style of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To find one's way, amongst and between all the boxes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is a puzzle without a simple solution</p> <hr> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">First Rain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We waken slowly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to a wet cold world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The sound of rain drops</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Splashing upon the deck</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As we open the curtains</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To a full window</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Overcast skies sullen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dressed in light grey</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The dew laden grass</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Green in the shadows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the low rain clouds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And low somber mists</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Peace reigns this morning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As distant cars glide</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Washing through the gutters</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Mockingbird</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sitting upon the overhead line</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Singing a strange tune</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A solitary serenade</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A song of nature's solace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the sun's place</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the skies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As I secretly spy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Beneath the leaves of this fig tree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I cannot help but wonder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If you are the same bird</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That used to sing to me in the morning darkness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">so many years ago</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And if you are not the same baby</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I picked up from the ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To return to the nest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So long ago</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And if you are not the same parent</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who built the nest in the tree out front</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who use to dive at my head</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Every time I came to close</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I think to myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As I listen to your song</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">mixed of both sadness and happiness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That you are perhaps indeed the same</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And that the years have made no difference</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Your song might be thousands of years old</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And your soul is no different</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Than the one who serenaded the Indians</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And who mocked the Romans</p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Night Shadows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In mid-October,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">when the moon is full</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The night is over-cast</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in bright moon-light</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and dark strange shadows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and even feint gray colors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">splashed here and there</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and in these shadows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in the short twilight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of the vernal night</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">happy enchanted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">spirits play hide and seek</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dancing and playing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Running and jumping</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">as evil spirits lurk close by</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">waiting to frighten</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">or taking fright</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">fleeing and shrieking</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">back into the night</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the wee morning darkness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As I lay half asleep on my bed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I listen to the sounds of the stillness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As it hums gently in my ear</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The dark tones shift slowly in a soft harmony</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And though my eyelids are tired and closed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My minds eye sees through the darkness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Guided by the feint echoes and pulses of the silence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Reverberating across the empty black spaces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And though I am alone the room is full</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And though it is dark, it is full of stillness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the imagination is free to see and believe</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whatever it will construct</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Though the clocks are ticking</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is true that even time stands still</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the mute silence of the room</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And though the silence is mute</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is true that it is not dumb</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That it knows and feels and hears and sees</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And it is the littlest things that are the most noticed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">am</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">adrift</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">all alone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">solo</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">castaway</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">adrift</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">lost at sea</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">upon the tides</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of stormy humanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is no port or harbor</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For brief sanctuary</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no place</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To put ashore</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">without solace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without an anchor</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or a beacon light</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">or landmark</p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <font FACE="Times"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In humility, Greatness glows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In silence, Understanding speaks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In patience, Wisdom learns</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In darkness, Truth seeks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In tolerance, Peace knows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In solitude, Courage keeps</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In hope, Faith earns</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In secrecy, Honesty sleeps</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In love, Life grows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p> </p> </font><b> <p ALIGN="CENTER">flotsam from a foreign land</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">cast adrift upon the warm currents</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">junk blown across by the winds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">rising and falling like the tide</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">coming to rest upon the shore</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a rotting, swollen plank of wood</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">planted upright in the muck</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">covered with barnacles and crawling crabs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">between the ocean and the land</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">motionless against the rolling surf</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">paper boats</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">little white wind boats</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">folded and fashioned by nimble fingers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">set into the lapping water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">floating off into the sea</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">sun waves burning on the surface</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">mysterious flames</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">dancing deep underneath the water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">growing into dark stormy clouds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">rising upon the horizon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">lightning flashing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in thunderous heaven</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">we walk alone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">hand in hand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">down the crowded, chaotic street</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the anonymous faces of abandoned people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">dirty hands reaching out for some shillings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the fast motorcycles and cars</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">we walk on</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">past the temples and the coffee shops</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">around the drains and the many obstacles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">by ourselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">we walk</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">without illusion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">we suffer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">only the silence of the burning sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">past the mourners dressed in black</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">past the open doorway</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and the old photo</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and open coffin</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">we walk on past the roasted duck</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">hanging on hooks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">past the hawker</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">sharpening his chopper</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">without words</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">we walk</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">down the street</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </b> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Old aunt</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">lights the joss and sticks it in the urns</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and burns the paper money</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in the large pot outside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">spirit bound smoke</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">sent heavenward</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Old uncle kneeling on the ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">shakes the joss toward the baby God</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">mumbling a low monotonous prayer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">under his breath</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the ritual fires are burning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the spirit smoke is curling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the ti koay is collecting mold</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and ashes from the burnt joss</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An old auntie cleans out the tea cups</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">an old uncle replaces the wilted flowers with new ones</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the winds blow through the open windows and doors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the paper lanterns suspended from the ceiling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">flutter and twirl and start spinning about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Old aunt is mopping the red tile floors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Old uncle is checking his ledger again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the same rituals quietly performed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a thousand and one times over</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">only one day or one hundred years</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Old uncle is dozing off</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Old aunty has gone out to buy something at the market</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The dragon slumbers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the phoenix has flown</p> <font FACE="Times"> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> </font><b><font SIZE="2"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I turn another page of my book</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As I glance into your dark face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At first I see my informant's funny look</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With tears in the corners of yellow, bloodshot eyes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I turn to the next page</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I look again into your face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To find the lines of lost youth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The wear and tear of age</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the blemishes of another life's vicissitudes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Beneath the rosie blush</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the blue-green mascara</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Brushed faintly over epicanthic folds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My informant no longer appears tearful</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And a smile soon breaks upon the swollen purple lips</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Covered by glossy red lipstick</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Revealing a mouthful of crooked white teeth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I turn the next page</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then I look again into your face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And find dark eyes of sadness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A puffy cheek that's been abused</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A bump upon a low forehead</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And scratch marks around the neck</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My informant's face is hiding her troubles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Behind an innocent smile</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Beneath the front of feline grace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Yet another page</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I once again peer into your face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And there I find beneath the feminine mask</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The tell-tale signs of advances you wish to make</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A silent question you are too afraid to ask</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Symptoms of suffering you cannot fake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There the lonely look of a lost child</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Longing for the warmth of a dead mother's embrace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The image of a young adult grown suddenly old</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From a new page</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I see into my informant's face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A foreign past full of strife</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without the full flowering of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a world you've somehow missed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and again the next page</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I look again into my informant's face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And there discover a touch of my own humanness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I peer into the puffy red eyes of my informant</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And find the small reflections of my own face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the black orbs of a dark distorted world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As I turn another page</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I look back into the eyes of my informant</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That look back through a world of lies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And there I finally find you looking into my world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I come to the last page</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I look one last time into my informant's eyes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And there at last I find my friend</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Waiting patiently at the other end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">for me to finally close my book</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </font></b> <p ALIGN="CENTER">sitting in a gold shop</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">talking about old acquaintances</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of people long since passed away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of names forgotten</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">with glassy looks in our eyes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of the times since past</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">for an instant their is a strange silence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and stillness over everything</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">outside a baby is crying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and shoppers walking by in the hot sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no one notices the spirits that hide in the sharp shadows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">who fill up all the empty spaces between the shop houses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and who glide down the streets between the cars</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">watching us from the infinite corners</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in all the wall mirrors of the shop</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">we are not alone with our audience</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">we make a joke and smile</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the gold seller makes me a special deal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">on a small gold bracelet for my daughter</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the door closes once again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">spirits rushing back inside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a few remaining</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">stranded outside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then the barking dog was near by</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and the ghost was far away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">now the dog is barking far away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and the spirits are close by.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the earth wind that carries all</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">from every corners</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">penetrates every nook and cranny</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">cleaning every crevice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">wearing mountains down to plains</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">drying oceans into deserts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">souls that howl in the barren trees</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">dried leaf spirits twist and turn in the corners of the buildings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">wind spirits whisper to me plaintively</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">through the window closed window</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the empty classroom is filled only with cold memories</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the names of forgotten student carved in wood</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the hallways echo with doors slamming and distant footsteps</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <font FACE="Times"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">flotsam from a foreign land</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">cast adrift upon the warm currents</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">junk blown across by the winds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">rising and falling like the tide</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">coming to rest upon the shore</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a rotting, swollen plank of wood</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">planted upright in the muck</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">covered with barnacles and crawling crabs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">between the ocean and the land</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">motionless against the rolling surf</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">paper boats</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">little white wind boats</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">folded and fashioned by nimble fingers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">set into the lapping water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">floating off into the sea</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">sun waves burning on the surface</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">mysterious flames</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">dancing deep underneath the water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">growing into dark stormy clouds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">rising upon the horizon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">lightning flashing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in thunderous heaven</p> <p> </p> </font> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">grandparents calling, grandchildren crying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">feint spirits of the dark morning wind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">blowing through my open window</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">where did you come from?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And where are you going?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">beckoning from afar</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So many forlorn faces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">peering through the empty spaces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So many restless hands</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Reaching to embrace me, to gently touch me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Calling me to a strange and distant place</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Beckoning me to join them in their reveries</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In some strange forest glade</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Forest grandchildren</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">born of the bear, the world, the eagle and the beaver</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">fleet as an antelope, silent as a fawn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">you stalk the midnight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">across the desert hills and the mountain streams</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">you dance by the moon light</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">amongst shadows and shimmering leaves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Grandchildren of the forest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the soul of the whole nation walks where you step</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and rests while you sleep</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the spirit of a mighty people dreams about forgotten deeds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">we trace our destiny in your stars</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">we count the days till you grow up</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and go off to seek your dreams</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">upon the plains and prairies of the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Midnight wind blowing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">past my bedroom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like a freight train</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">rushing by the building</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">walls creak as the winds moan</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">pressing upon every corner</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">unrelenting and restless</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">leaving a hollow, empty stillness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in its wake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Grandparents long gone away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">conjuring ghosts get back</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">go home to your final resting places</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">across the seas, lakes and steams</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">through the many trees of the forests of this land</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">leave this hallowed ground alone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">restless people dream and remember</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">awaken and forget</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <b> <p ALIGN="CENTER">one</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">solitary</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">saffron bonze</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">burning silence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">one lotus blooming</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">fires of defiance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">world to see</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">flame</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a prayer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a petrol can</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">unspoken protest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">black and white dressed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">sitting in the street</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">posture of protest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">bald peace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">serene</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">redemption</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">beyond retreat</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">last rites of salvation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">spiritual immolation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">parting prayer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">suffering</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">transcendent</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">frozen forever</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">on gray newsprint</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">buried in white lime</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">black blood and charred bones</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">seeking forever the flat sea</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">where every thing flows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">against which winds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">always blow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">alone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <font SIZE="5"> <hr> <p> </p> <p> </p> </font></b><font FACE="Times"> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like a new mother who in pain screams,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like a new born child crying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">who in purity beams</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like seagulls far inland flying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like a trickling stream</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and the roaring waterfall</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like the currents that ebb and flow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the tides that rise and fall</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and the waves that endlessly roll</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like a stone smoothed all round</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and the wood that drifts ashore</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like the invisible wind that whistles all around,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and the dust that always settles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like that tiny ants that abound</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like the heat of the sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and darkness of the night</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like the ugly cawing crows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">that flock and take flight</p> <p> </p> </font><b><font SIZE="5"> <hr> <p> </p> </font></b><font FACE="Times"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">within the labyrinth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of many twists and turns</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">hunting for the menotaur</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">becoming lost within its guts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in many different directions traveling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">without a clear sense of start or finish</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">guided only by the fear and uncertainty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">by the instinct for survival</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">stumbling somewhere in the middle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">upon the beast behind the barred door</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">its bloody fangs want to devour all human flesh</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">forced to fight and die or else flee</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in madness and insanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">without even a spot of light to illuminate the way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">but once dimly discovering the way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">finding the distant light</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">slowly growing in brightness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">around every corner</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">finally leaving its internal corridors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">forsaking whatever is left behind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">forsaking illusion and suffering</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">forsaking hope and promises</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">forsaking love and friendship</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">forsaking understanding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">forsaking knowledge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">forsaking existence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">forsaking all</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">even self</p> </font><b><font SIZE="5"> <hr> <p> </p> </font></b><font FACE="Times"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Such a long and hard journey</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just so that I could be here now</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To meet you face to face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So long to wait and so difficult to struggle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without ever knowing the reason</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But here we stand together</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And without words we know our intertwined destiny</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The ways of the world wind all about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whichever direction we decide to take</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Still leads us to our final destination</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We do not need to speak to know the way before us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Though we soon part</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The journey will have been worth the trouble</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We may meet again next time around</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and still require only the silence to know our souls</p> <p> </p> </font><b><font SIZE="5"> <hr> <p> </p> </font></b> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">bare barb</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">stinging touch</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">thorn among the roses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">blooming in all seasons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">hearts always open to the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">enduring, happy and sad, ever-lasting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">ever inviting, enticing, romancing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">your patiences long lasting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">through rain and sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">yet blossoming</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">then wilting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">falling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">fallen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">one by one</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">from off the hip</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">petals stirring in the breeze</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">colorful flames float upon the water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">perfume drifts between heaven and earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and blows with the leaves between mountains and valleys</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">lost within the lengthening shadows of the twilight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">between the rising moon and setting sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">ephemeral moments so enchanting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">brief spell finally broken</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">simple serenity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and beauty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">all gone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">but</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">tell me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">if you can</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">where are they now</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">my daughters of the soil?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Blown by the winds upon foreign shores</p> <b><font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <hr> </font></b> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The old cow's day old carcass lies stiff in the earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">bloated and rotting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the lions, the hyenas, the rats, the vultures, the ants and maggots</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">all get a share</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the photographer and film maker got their share to</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">it was a fine and fitting kill</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">an agonizing and obviously painful death</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">choked by the lion's powerful jaws</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">one can even smell</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the nauseating red flesh through the Television screen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">nature's laws fulfilled once again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">on prime time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a primal scene</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">recounted again and again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in a never-ending series of stalks and leaps</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and failures and successes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the great cycle of life comes again to another completion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">as a commercial comes on</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and I go to make some pop corn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Old mother is now dead</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">She died naturally</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Silently and slowly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Each takes its share</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The Hawk sib, the Wolf sib, the Snake sib</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and even other tribes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">all carry off parts and pieces of her body</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in separate directions of the compass</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to make sacrifices and offerings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to feast and celebrate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">there is so much of her to remove</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">else they would all have forgotten where they got it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and still so much more remains</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">that the carcass is left to rot and stagnate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and flies are allowed to fester on it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and then seeds will germinate and weeds will sprout on it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and in its forgotten place,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">perhaps a tall tree will grow.</p> <p> </p> <b><font SIZE="5"> <hr> </font></b><font FACE="Times"> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">rain is falling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">falling, falling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">spirits are crying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">crying, crying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">cats and dogs are calling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">calling, calling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">thunder is booming</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">booming, booming</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">lightening is striking</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">striking, striking</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Gods are fighting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">fighting, fighting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">ancestors are mourning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">mourning, mourning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">people are dying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">dying, dying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">children are laughing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">laughing, laughing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">palms are growing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">growing, growing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">worms are crawling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">crawling, crawling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">clocks are turning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">turning, turning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">earth is rejoicing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">rejoicing, rejoicing</p> <p> </p> </font><b><font SIZE="5"> <hr> <p> </p> </font></b> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wolves far-off prowling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">across brown sage-brush seas</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">prairie wind howling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">high up in creaking cottonwood trees</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">rhythmic spirits chanting, distant screaming</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">ghosts of children long asleep</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">restless souls a-dreaming</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">dreams of buffalo grass and six horned sheep</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">nuggets of gold lying in the ground like half-buried bison bones</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">along lost winding trails</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">among rattle snakes and prairie dog homes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">wind spirits calling, telling old tales</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of buried treasures, lost gold mines and gem stones</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of nameless graves and forgotten Indian braves</p> <p> </p> <b><font SIZE="5"> <hr> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If you touch the elephant,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">feel all over.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It's greatness is higher</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">than one hand may reach</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It's substance is too much</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to hold in both hands</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">by these human standards</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of measurement,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">perhaps it is fitting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">that the proverbial Elephant</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">should be old, wise</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and have a long memory.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </b> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I need now to reorganize my life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">let go of some things that have long been bothering me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">unload a few meaningless memories that plague</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">my every waking moment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I need to rethink the unthinkable</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and reevaluate my point and purpose</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">for being in this world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to regain my bearings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I need to come to terms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">with what I've now become</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and to forgive myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">for my many past mistakes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to try and make up for all I've now forsaken</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and to grieve once and for all</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">for all that's been lost</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I need to make peace finally</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">with my tormented soul</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and to liberate my spirit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">from the fallacies of a false and bitter ego</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to forge ahead renewed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">with refreshed vigor</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and restored hope</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I need to reset my compass</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and to change directions for a new tact</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to separate the mirage from the mountain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">that looms so ominously upon my horizon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">imagine a moment in time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">when people's petty egos and frustrations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">are no longer permitted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to take away others freedom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">or destroy human potential</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">when all living beings forgotten</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">are remembered and considered</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">important to the scheme of things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">this would be the coming</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of a paradise on earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a world without violence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">an honest history without lies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a society without competitive struggle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">without enforced exclusion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">deprivation or exploitation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">without privileged parasites being allowed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to promote their petty pride</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">at the expense and sacrifice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of the whole host of humanity</p> <hr> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Though no one else</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">may still believe in me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I yet believe in myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">though no one else may help me succeed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I must continue to help myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">though everyone else may strive</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to thwart my efforts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I must strive at all costs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to preserve my purpose</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">either by evasion or active defense</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">this is the promise and my purpose</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Though no one else</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">may still believe in me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I yet believe in myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">though no one else may help me succeed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I must continue to help myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">though everyone else may strive</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to thwart my efforts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I must strive at all costs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to preserve my purpose</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">either by evasion or active defense</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">this is the promise and my purpose</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the conspiracy of authority</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the complicity of conformity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the obfuscation of uniformity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the deadening silence of the system</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the triumph of the number</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the only crime of poverty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the only sin is joblessness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">money has become the only morality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">making more of it the exclusive purpose</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of existence in the modern world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">having more of it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to improve oneself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">charity, humility, generosity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the false conceptions of the dispossessed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the bane of the poor</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no more wars</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no more revolutions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no more violence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no more victimization</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no more exploitation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no more inequality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no more authoritarianism</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no more totalitarianism</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no more imperialism</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no more unconstrained capitalism</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no more princes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and no more paupers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no more haves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no more nots</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <b> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Snow Trails</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Snow Trail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </b> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The snow trail is white</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With trampled snow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is long.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The snow trail is cold.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The snow trail is dark.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The snow trail is lonely.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The snow trail winds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From my front door</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To the Classroom Buildings back door</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It winds beneath trees and around bushes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Through a primeval forest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Spotted with squirrel burrows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the urine-stains of foxes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I take this trail everyday,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Going from where I want to be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To where I need to be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everyday I start off in hope and expectation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of what the other end will bring</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everyday I return in frustration</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At what the trail brought to me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The snow trail winds through my life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From day to day and month to month</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It interconnects the moments, the dreams, the days and nights</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Snow trail begins in the darkness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And ends at the dawn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It traverses the margins of this earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Following the shadows cast down in the snow</p> <b> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </b><font SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The Raven</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The trickster raven</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Black and gray</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Off set against the white snow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It crosses my path once again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And flies directly overhead</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I here it calling plaintively</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the snow silence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From the tall alpha tree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There does not seem to be another soul</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For some distance around</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He talks in guttural sounds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That eerily penetrate the still forest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A few clumps of snow fall from the branches above</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From whence there is a sudden movement</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From its flight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It swoops down low overhead</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Harbinger of some future fate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As he leads me down the trail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I know not what its interests are</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nor its sadness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I only feel a shiver</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the cold</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Running down my spine</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As hurriedly I turn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And trudge ahead</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <b> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </b> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The phone range early</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Waking us up</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My mom had called</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To tell us that terrorists</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Were attacking America</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We rushed sleepy eyed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Downstairs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And tuned in the Television</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To see a smoking skyscraper</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In Manhattan</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Time froze that morning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It stayed still forever</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The day was as if a dream</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Somehow everything</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Had suddenly changed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It was all different now</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And would never be the same</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ever again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Thoughts about the loss of innocence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the education of children</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the crueler ways of the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The tide had suddenly gone out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And there would be no more returning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To the way it was before</p> <b> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </b> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It rained in September</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It woke us up early in the morning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And consumed the air waves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It rained so hard that day</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There was nothing left over</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But rubble, broken bodies and bits and pieces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of paper fluttering in the smoke</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It rained cats and dogs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And people and firemen and tears and blood</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It rained businessmen and secretaries</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It rained passengers and airplanes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It rained policemen and pilots</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It rained even more paper and people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It rained over the cars</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Over the streets</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the rain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Falling like steel and concrete hail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Shattered windows and lives and spirits</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It rained ceaselessly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And it rained thereafter</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Day after day</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And all that rain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fell complete on one small spot</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In downtown Manhattan</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But from that spot</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It quickly became a torrential flood</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That engulfed the entire earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <b> <hr> </b><font SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Academic Gatekeeper</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Academic gatekeeper</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sits within her office</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Waiting for the next naïve student</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To stumble through the threshold</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Her lair is a simple chair</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In front of her well ordered desk</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Her hair is hung in grey curls</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like hydra's head of snakes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">She seems permanently seated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Behind her executive desk</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Her dwelling place and the center of her existence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Her secretary feeds her coffee and pastries on demand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Authoritative maxims and commands</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Roll dryly from her tongue</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And, pressed between thin lips</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Manage to eject out like smoke rings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The young student is an innocent sacrifice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Unwitting of the ways of the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But a youth full of dreams and desires</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dashed like pumpkins on the road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">His intelligence turned upon itself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He casts for some larger reason in her words</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All quite rational and sensible sounding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet completely off the mark</p> <hr> <b> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </b> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cost</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of 9-11</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At least it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seems to me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Was something lost</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No amount of money can buy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Something hallowed beyond value</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Buried in the dust of ground zero</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Spread over Manhattan Island</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like an unnatural cloud</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Call it our innocence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And leave it at that</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or call it simply</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Liberty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It was a price too dear</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That no politician can pay</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That no party or lobby can buy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No administrator can mandate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Innocence lost</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like a child</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Come of age</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The forest trees are my friends</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The Spruce, the Birch, the Alder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They talk to me plaintively in the wind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Standing together and stretching from afar</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As I walk down snow-covered trail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hoping to spy a bear, a moose or night denizen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seeking a way out of my existential travail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I cannot say that of the human race I am a citizen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The dog knows things the master forgot</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And natural death knows no bounded cruelty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Suffering comes and goes in a day</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And lasts a lifetime</p> <b> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </b> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Snow Trail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The trail of snow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Winds compacted and white</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From our front door</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Down the steps</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Through the trees</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And across the Road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And then along the snow-bound way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Behind the campus</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Every day I beat the path</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Back and forth to my classes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I mark its gradual shifts and twists</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With my unsteady footfalls in the ice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In darkness and cold I make my way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And this trail that I have made</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And Christianed with my scent</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I know not its end nor its beginning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As it winds back and forth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between the many periods of my life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <b> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </b> <p ALIGN="CENTER"><font size="4">Paper Professor</font></p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I met the professor upon the elevator</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A young and somewhat fine featured man</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He told me he was going to the sixth floor</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without inquiring whether I was the elevator person.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The professor dropped his papers in the corridor</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They fell willy nilly to the tile floor in a disheveled pile</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He looked irritated and slightly embarrassed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Perhaps he expected me to pick them up as well.</p> <b> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </b> <p ALIGN="CENTER"><font size="4">Eskimo Mary</font></p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Mother Mary</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Makes her living</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lying upon her back</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Up and down the stairs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Her children bounce about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like elastic basket balls</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Banging against the thin dry walls</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The different men quietly come and go</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And come again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the afternoon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the state and the corporation and the village</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Make sure that Mary's children</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Have a new truck to ride in</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So proud she is in her roost</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Her crucifix hangs upon both doors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And a special teacher to give them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A little extra attention</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As I contemplate the possibility</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of immaculate conception</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <b> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> <font SIZE="5">Rosie's Poesy</p> </font></b><font SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">everything and everyone using and being used</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">producing and consuming without end in sight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">just awaiting in nervous anticipation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">for our next turn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">upon this magical carousel ride</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">upon our everlasting carnival</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the golden sands of precious</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">irrecoverable time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">meanwhile slipping so subtly, so suddenly through our fingers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">falling forever from our momentary lives</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">letting go the albatross of future opportunities</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to fly forever away and never to return again to our hands</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">relinquishing the right to merely work and live</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">meaning vanquished in the quest for material security</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">with only an expensive insurance policy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a specious guarantee against a grand, uncertain future</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">promising to protect us from our own</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">final, inexorable fate</p> <p> </p> </font><b> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> </b><font SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">at the edge of existence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">living upon the margins of the mainstream</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like sitting immovable upon the banks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of a broad span of river</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">without a visible beginning or end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">just a long slow bend in a big flow of water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">gradually turning out of sight upstream</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">disappearing downstream upon my horizons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">watching many boats floating by</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the passengers partying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">or fishing or relaxing in the sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">living without a life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">futureward hopes floating by</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">drifting down with the currents</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">vanishing out of sight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">out of mind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">it is a class difference</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">without privilege or prerogative</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">without any corner of the vast market of authority</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">denied any access to all the many material resources</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">refused any spiritual succur</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like a zombie among the living</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a pariah amidst the prejudiced and proud</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a homeless derelict in the shadows of skyscrapers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a vagrant at the side of a busy road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like a ghost in a crowded, busy place</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">alone and unfelt</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">anonymous</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">unseen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">squeezed into and out of existence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">by cold, manipulating hands</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and nameless, unsmiling faces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">what is this new blindness?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to look, but to be unable to see</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">what is this new deafness?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to listen, but not to hear the sounds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of mournful, wailing souls</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and spirits quietly crying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">what is this new ignorance?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to experience so much</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">but to learn so little</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">about living and dying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">what is this kind of apathy?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">born of prosperity and ambition?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to bombard the senses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">but to fail to feel</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the sympathy of genuine sorrow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the empathy of authentic agony</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">what is this new disease of modern comfort?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">that conveniently uses up contemporary reality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">for the ephemeral, vicarious brevity of the moment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">substituting sensuous satisfaction for soulful meaning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">merely to throw it all away like so much rubbish</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the marvelously functional structure</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of our new man-made reality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the miraculous madness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of megalopolis</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the megalomania</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of modern mythologies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no longer the impoverished poet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no more the productive painter</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">now just an anonymous no one</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the visions have all but vanished</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the imagination gone for good</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">soulful energies all but dissipated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">dessicated beneath the burning sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">words hang hollowly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">upon the empty atmosphere</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">too many days of pointless depression</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">too many moments of emotional exasperation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">too many long hours of nervous desperation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">joys and angers drowned</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in too many bottles of beer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">mellowed out to nothing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">by too many fruitless years</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">penniless, jobless, without any proper place in life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">now just another illegitimate nobody</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">an anonymous anybody</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">where do all these super-people come from</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">every year a fresh new batch</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">every generation a better breed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">so new and so improved</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">so much energy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">so much vitality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">so much competitive spirit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to succeed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">so smart</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">so good</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">superiority demonstrated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">over and over again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">jobs all belong to them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">they belong to the jobs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">proven by the very highest standards</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of our System</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">but I can no longer keep up</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">with this "human" race</p> <p> </p> </font><b> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </b><font SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the days fold into more days</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">crossed off upon the calendar</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">weeks go by in a vicious, unrelenting repetition</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">then the months change names</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and the seasons wax and wane</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and then the years pile up</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like so many pieces of paper</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and soon one loses count of it all</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the ticking of the electric clock</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">taking its toll upon life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">losing count of all the hours, days, weeks and months</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">year after year slips effortlessly by</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">with new calendars hung upon the wall</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">yesterdays full of distant memories</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">scattered haphazardly over the forgotten past</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and the relative importance of tomorrow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">diminishes in its turn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">now I've come full circle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to where I began a decade ago</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">once again I am back to where I started</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">so many years previously</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">my life seems like circles within larger circles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">enclosed by even more circles of larger size</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">always continuously closing upon themselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">containing cycles within even more cycles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">always encompassed within an every enlarging cycle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">forever closing, completing, never-ending</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">always enlarging to encompass the immediate tomorrow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">starting out again just like before</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">still incomplete</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">only a little different from before</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a bit worse for wear with my life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">still not complete</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">passive in life's changing changelessness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">always subject to its imperative like before</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">not escaping from the inextricable paradox of life's circles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">without commanding them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">predicting them, altering them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">always lying upon the furthest boundaries of our horizons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">episodes ending only to begin over again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a never-ever-ending process</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of ending and beginning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">again and again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and over again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the final solution</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to the persistent problem of poverty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the official eyesore of the fabled fabulous city upon the hill</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">formulated in the files of big Brain Bureaucracy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">first imagined in the computer-electronic visions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of the academic plants of artificial intelligence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">concocted in the laborious laboratories of almighty technocracy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">older big brother of the establishment of the status quo</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">lending a helping hand to younger little sister</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of the ethnic order of the fifth world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in the ghetto, in the slum, in the barrio, in the parking lot</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Bingo boingo, pachinko pinhead pinball</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the new lottery game of contemporary living</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">legalized, systematized, organized, administrated, formalized</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">manufacturing the brand new Brand Name of Sub-Sub-Urbanism</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of the Paper Proletariate Force of the Quasi-Semi-Underemployable</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Manipulating the poor People of the Poor</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">who are impatiently standing, ungraciously waiting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in the long, interminable, single file line in front of a single window</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">without any signs, announcements, directions or instructions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">waiting endlessly in a line that never seems to move</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">stretching around the building corners way out of sight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in a line that never gets any shorter or faster</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">introducing the new Permanent Residents of of the ignonimous</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">new Industrial-Government Welfare State of Poverty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in the midst of the affluent, effluent Televised Video-land</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of Pastuerized, Homogenized Milk and Honey, White Bread</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Margarine, and Free, Funded Sex Education and Illiteracy Programs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">new Mass Media Families of Fatherless children and Homeless adults</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and stray dogs and abandoned cats all waiting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">for their turn next in the long, long line</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in order to purchase for a dollar a new State Lottery Ticket</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to win a trip on board the Lucky Luxury Train</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of the Los Angeles-Anaheim-Las Vegas Express</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Club Fed Triple X-rated Fantasy Vacation for two</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">all the multitude who play unwittingly against the house advantage</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">ingeniously built into the blue-print by the city corps</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of Civil Engineers and Sanitation Technicians and Health Officials</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">playing against overwhelming risks and an infinitude of secret, unknown, hidden variables</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">just behind the closed, locked, bolted and barred back door</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">so many hapless suffering from the epidemic syndromes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of the Gambler's Fallacy, AIDs, AFDC , AAA, EOE, Drugs and Cancer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">without ever realizing the really real odds of a billion to one</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">against survival in the Twenty-First Century Real Estate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Country Club and Country Home for Retired Cadillac-Mongers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">just waiting indecently in line for just the rare opportunity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of the next-to-impossible chance to get a decent job</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">just to work the system, play the game, and finally beat the odds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">against pulling themselves up by their own bootless straps</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and strapless boots</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">just in order to win the privilege of not needing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to work so hard just to earn enough money to not be able to live</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to eat, pay the rent, pay the bills, insurance, buy clothes, etc.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">unable in and out of newscasts and videos to follow completely</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the over-extended, over-determined vicious Logic of the the Lie</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">ignorant of the inner Sanctum of the Grand Circle of Deceit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and Intelligence and Complete Domestic Security and the Bomb</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and the Pill and the I.U.D. and the Rubber and Condom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Trick tests, Holy writ, Sacred speeches, Authorized lectures</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Official forms, Formal Competitions, Equal Opportunity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Discrimination, Oral Interview and Anal Intercourse</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">continuously aping and uppin' the ante and Image of Success</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">for becoming a Progressive, Aggressive Young Yuppie on the Move</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">on the make, in the wake, in the quake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">raising the stakes of living and dying in a used Toyota</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">on the super Freeway to Nipponese heaven</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">entranced by the magical flashing lights of the Dreamland of Success</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">desperately driven by the flow of traffic</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to immoral extremes at the edges of euphoria</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in the margins of mania-land</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">by the inexorable guilt of being poor and fear of failure</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the Perfectionist's Upper-Middle Class Fantasy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of Fortune's False Hopes in Southern California</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">with the Few Winners denying the lost lot of the many Losers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">blinded by the base, vulgar illusions of Mass Media Mentality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sublimating the unbridgeable Gap between Mr. Want and Ms. Need</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">denying the stress, the emptiness, the sordid materialisms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of the meaninglessness of the all-consuming modern lifestyle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of Making It In The Fast Lane All The Way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to Fat Consumption Super City</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the shared elusiveness of the Good Life of Over Consumption</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and Good Times of High Cholesterol in the Shared Company</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of Good Friends orgasmically acting out the miserable</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">make-believe orgiastic mythology</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of the Rich and Interesting Plastic Life of the sun-bleached</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Beautiful People in their private, perpetual psychological</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">State of Boredom and Repetition-Compulsion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">while reality is slipping rapidly through one's fingertips</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like so much loose, petty change</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the Grand Lottery Game of Modern Living</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The Imperative of Making It</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the Final Solution</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">another Form to fill out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">another Test to take</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">another over-priced six-pack</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and Anti-Abortion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">God is on our side</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the System's Final Solution</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to the Problem of Poverty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">as one matures with the years of experience</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">ripening in the wisdom of the ages</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">extremes lose their exciting, dangerous edges</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and the more solid middle ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">is sought for its substantial character</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">one then seeks the golden mean</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">cultivating the sense of balance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and proper proportion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in all that is done and said and thought</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in how to present oneself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to others in the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to find harmony between</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">thoughts and actions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">between private and public</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">involvement and refrain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">subtlety is cultivated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">with spiritual involvement</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and soulful movement</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">extravagance, exaggeration, loud expression</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">all extremes become disdained</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">respect becomes more important than truth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">appreciation more valuable than criticism</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">giving more worthwhile than mere receiving</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">reciprocity and compromise</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">better than power and control</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">refinement more preferable to vulgar experience</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">education and maturity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">better than the lessons of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and simplistic superiority</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">growing up in spite of the hard knocks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and not because of them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">one reaps what one sows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the Kharma of giving and taking</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no matter how far-off</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">down the road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">poetic returns</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">becoming one's final lot</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">just deserves the final measure</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of the soul</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a miser with emotions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">selfish with the soul</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">if one is a drunkard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a narrow-minded bigot</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and alienates people from one's love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">always flowing around</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">if one chooses excuses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">for things said and done</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">or left unsaid and undone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">if apathy and antipathy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">become substitutes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">for natural empathy and human sympathy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">then one cannot blame others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">for eventual losses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">at the anti-climax of such an empty life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">or find fault with the entire world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">for finally feeling cheated and robbed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of life's simple pleasures</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">but if one is generous</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">with heart and soul</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">then though many may joke</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and call one a fool</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">at least others cannot lay blame</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">or find great fault</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">if further down the road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">one is no longer a stranger to oneself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">living to impress only the self</p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">there is security about my small typewriter</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">nothing fancy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">not a big word processor</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the chair with its big soft pillow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">is warm and comfortable to sit in</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">upon its keys I type away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the entire day</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">ordering my scattered thoughts and feelings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">onto a single scrap of paper</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">expressing the stacatto rhythym of my life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I type to the ticking of the clock</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">seconds turn into words</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">words into minutes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">minutes turn into pages</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and pages into hours and days</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and I grow gradually about my typewriter</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like a lone, solitary tree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">rooting to a rock</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I embrace it with my entire being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in spiritual love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and practical hate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">when frustrated I pound the table</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">when it doesn't do what I want it to do</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">my fingers have read through volumes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">my eyes have written reams</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">my wisdom is deeper rooted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">than the mere mechanics of the machine</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">deeper than the surface of the paper</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">it has become my medium</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and I have become its vehicle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">our intelligence flows through my body</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like electricity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">through my fingertips</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">onto the keys depressing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">leaving a permanent impression</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of black ink on white paper</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">upon an ephemeral, delicate tissue of paper</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">as fragile as the leaf upon a tree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">many such leaves I grow a little tree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and many such trees I plant my forest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and in my forest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">my imagination runs wild</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">my heart and soul dwell in the freedom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of a separate, private sanctuary</p> <hr> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The final solution to the grand old system</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">puppet people with well coordinated performances</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">with wooden faces and plastic smiles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">politeness made into an art of conceit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">becoming the effrontery of emptiness and meaninglessness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a nice way to keep at arms length</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the real and important issues</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a convenient way of avoiding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">important points</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">modern existence refined to a process</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">an exact science of behavioral prediction and control</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">propagating the deceit of the Golden Rule</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the official delousing ceremony</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">deliberately creating the illusion of false hopes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">instilling an obedient attitude</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of silent, passive conformity and complacency</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the final proof of the success of the Program</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">more than twenty-two catches in Passing the Almighty Buck</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">isolating the human, alienating humanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">atomizing the psyche, eradicating nature</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">beyond any single person's horizons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">robotrons and humanoids efficient to the nth degree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">unquestioning to the everlasting end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">obfuscating the truth of a false, contrived sense of security</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">behind the flood of forms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a deluge of secular writ</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">hiding behind the reality behind the mechanical beast</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the Gates are shut and locked forever to the uninitiated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the ranks are closed tight to all outsiders</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">one must pass through the secret rituals of the back door</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to become a rubber-stamped official member</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of the Inner Sanctum of the Established Elite</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">deprived of token tickets for entrance into the bowels</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">for passing through the bureaucratic barricades</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the Final Affirmative Action of the Operational Positivists</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to sacrifice the many for the sake of the untouchable few</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in the name of justice and equality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">without any appropriate means of financial support</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to slowly die a living death of Walking Poverty</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">attempting desperately</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">one last show</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to gather together</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">all about myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">those many remnants</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">those bits and pieces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">once filled with so much</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">meaning in my life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">so many things have changed now</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and I am no longer so sure exactly how</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">but I know they are no longer the same</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">as they once seemed to be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It all seems much less to me now</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">than what it once was</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like so much more</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no longer the vigorous young man</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the strong human being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">my lost lot in life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">cast aside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in the sands of time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in spite of many wishes and hopes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and many futile efforts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">here now I am</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">confused</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no longer knowing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">who or what I am</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">or why</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I have all but given up hope</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">upon my misbegotten world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and the big world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">has all but given up hope on me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">perhaps it is too late now</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">perhaps my die are finally cast</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">my fate determined</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">my meager destiny</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">all but played out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to no avail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no one notices</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no one seems to care</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">any longer</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">freedom at last</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">from the fetters of life's inconveniences</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">from the bondage of brotherly love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">ended now the ceaseless distractions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the torturous day-to-day details</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of routine compliance and conventional conformity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">unconscious restrictions of petty responsibilities</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">undermining every effort at self-expression</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">determining every act of self-sacrifice and charity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in this tragi-comic melodrama of life's mediocrity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">here today, gone tomorrow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the past becomes grand confusion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">misbegotten memories and lost motivations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">time now to don new clothes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to shuck off the tattered threads of worn-out times</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">whatever valuable may remain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">surviving remnants of yesterday's dreams</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">tomorrow's new wardrobe</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">one cannot help but become impressed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">before all knowledge of humanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">by the endlessness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of many book-lined corridors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">one cannot help but express</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">utter humility</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in the sublime presence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of so many forgotten texts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">neither prostrating oneself in divine worship</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">nor demonstrating arrogant, haughty pride</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">but merely mindful play and innocent jest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">curiously strolling down the many aisles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">as the spirit so desires</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">stopping now and then</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">choosing interesting titles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">but not taking too long</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">with this or that interesting bit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">not remaining in any single spot</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">moving on to the next point of interest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">perusing many volumes alone the way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">why have we been so blessed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in this time of our history</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">by some mysterious power</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">yet misunderstood by our naive science</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">how shall we spend the little time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">we have left in our lives</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">squandering it, miserly, wasting it, mindlessly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in endless obsessive perseveration</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and inner toil of frustration</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">pursuing hopelessly false values</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">or shall we try to make the most</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of the mind we have been blessed with?</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">warming our hands</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">by the glow of the fire</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">not daring to draw too near</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">fueling the forge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of mythological being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">master blacksmith</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">reworking his magic metal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">pounding its molten meddle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">into suitable, malleable shapes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">quenching the heat</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in the sizzling broth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">tapping, rapping it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">for the volcanic touch</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">testing its temper</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">for mystical strength</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">striking it against</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the magical stone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">sparks flying in a cascade</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">from the spinning wheel</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">touching its sharpened edge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">with the draw of a thumb</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">pumping the bellows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of spiritual breath</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">we the apprentices</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of black magic</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">stand about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in hypnotic fascination</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">awestricken</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">by the golden transmutation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">humankind divined</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in the forge of being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">divinity commonplace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in the molten metal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">cast more coal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">into the furnace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">steal the heat</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">from the bowels of nature</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">work our miracles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">into human shape</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">make magical weapons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to strike at demons</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER">as another day begins</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">time to start afresh</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">another new life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">dreams of yesteryear</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">all vanished</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">with the rising</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of a new sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">hoping tomorrow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">will be different</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">somehow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">better than yesterday</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">expecting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">only more disappointment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">suffering unexpected distraction</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">every morning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a new lease on life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">flying out my open window</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">forever</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">every evening</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">just another day gone by</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in the preoccupation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">with everyday things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">feeling a failure</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of a decade of self-deceit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">every little error</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">becoming enlarged</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">every mistake magnified</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">beneath the lens</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of existential introspection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no longer really knowing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">what it's all about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">now not knowing anymore</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">how to begin again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like before</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">problematic issues</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">perplex my mind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">producing cacophany</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">hodge-podge delight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">mosaic of confusion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">tattered dreams</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">bright ideas</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">boiled by the sun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">now sunken</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">into unconsciousness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">only vague</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">mental meanderings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">muddle mosaic</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of miscellaneous things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">creative spirit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">dissipated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">conformity of intellect</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">thoughts of many others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">invading the psyche</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">flooding the conscious</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no longer really defining</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a clear division</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">thinking continually back</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">upon the many years</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">events so composing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">this muddled life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">never having know</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">tomorrows prospects</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">worldly plans</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">dashed</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">who can keep up?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">who can compete?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no matter how good one might be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">there is always someone better</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">waiting to prove themselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">on down the dirty road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">especially when the odds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">are set against you</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and the rules really don't seem fair</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">even though they are telling you differently</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">what kind of a game to keep on playing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">only to know you'll lose in the end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no matter how hard you may be trying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a game without a real end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a life without real success</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a joke without a real conclusion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">better to play a solitary game</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">with one's own rules</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">better to compete against oneself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to try to become better than one was</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">not to worry too much</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">about success or failure</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">amongst all the others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">better to be left alone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to create one's own success and failure</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no matter how petty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no matter how personal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no matter how private</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no matter how naive or trite</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">this is the only true road</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to authentic self-satisfaction</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the only real odds for consolation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">from the misfortunes and unfairness of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the only real odds for defining meaning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of one's own success or failure</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">this is the only real chance to win the game</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in one's own terms, on one's own ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">rather than pay too much heed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to the projective criticisms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of selfish, envious others</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">what is the measure of human greatness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">that so stands apart from the common lot of mediocrity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">that serves as a guiding light for others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">is all of it mere a fiction, a myth of history?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What are the essential qualities, the elements</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the necessary workings, the circumstantial factors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of that characteristic we call genius?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">how to rise above the field of sundry undergrowth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to flourish freely in the fresh air and sunshine?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">How to measure the superlative by only standard means?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">How to comprehend the exceptional by only rule-bound ways?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is it not enough to be merely different for difference sake?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is it not enough to simply be exploratory, creative and new?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">How to create the subtle complexities, the sublime qualities?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">How to perfect the relevant, the appropriate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To achieve the power and profundity?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Upon what factors of life, what decisions of existence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Does becoming great entail?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">How to overcome the tremendous inertia</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The clinging dependency, the gravitational attraction</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of the law of averages</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of the demands of consensus and the baser pleasures</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">how to escape the historical momentum of the great mass</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of common humanity and to achieve the momentousness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of individual meaning?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Humankind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">born, living, procreating and dying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in anonymity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">so many making chicken scratches upon the earth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">only a few leaving an indelible mark</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">upon the human record</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">have moved so many times</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I now do not know any longer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">where my home really is</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">only a sense of spirit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">drifting ghost-like from place to place</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">blowing haphazardly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">with the direction of the prevailing wind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">wandering with the vagaries of unpredictable fate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">have changed my clothes so many times</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">have stepped into so many different shoes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I no longer really know who I am</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">or what I'm all about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the center of balance of my mind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">has suddenly disappeared</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no longer do I honestly feel a center of being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">it has become all entirely situational</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">meaning is now no more than relative to circumstances</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">an orientation, a continual reorientation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in constantly changing places, constantly altering times</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no longer with a center point of gravity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a common ground for meaning, for communion with others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no longer a fixed frame of universal reference</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no longer with the security of a place to call home</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">which isn't only ephemeral, temporary, vicarious</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">can no longer honestly admit what tomorrow may bring</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">now my life is filled with only disjointed memories</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a disparate series of fragmented moments and momentos</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no longer with any sense of unity about my being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">or a common theme of meaningful purpose to my future</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">displaced feelings from another period and place</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no longer relevant to here and now</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">not appropriate for making a new future</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">only a personal history quickly receding upon my horizon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a prodigal son who's gone too far</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a human without a home</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a man without a country</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a sheep that's strayed too far</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">from the common fold</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a pray to wolves and demons</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">all these many people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">toing and froing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">coming and going</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">hurrying about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">busy being busy with business</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">striving for power</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">moving toward greater perfection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">making more progress</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">making it all happen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in the name of progress</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">staying busy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">keeping busy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">so busy with progressing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">every year better than before</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">more than before</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a new improved version</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a better brand of progress</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">so busy with progressing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">so preoccupied with power</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">so obsessed with perfection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">making it all come about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in the name of God, Gold and Glory</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in the name of the nation of perfection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in the name of the land of progress and prosperity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in the name of the new state of power</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">prosperous people, people prosperousness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">not knowing what its really like</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to be Godless in the land of God</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to be imperfect in the race of perfection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to be powerless in the state of power</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to be regressing in an age of progress</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">prosperity--plenty of perfection, plenty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">progressing, plenty of power, plenty of poverty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">isn't it so wonderful, so marvelous, so miraculous</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">this new land of plenty, prosperity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">poverty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and people</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">mental-vicariousness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">meta-vicarious</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to talk of the greenery</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">making reference to the shores</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">upon the other side of the sea</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">mentioning some meaning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">about happiness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">delighting in the happiness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of the meaning just mentioned</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">passing away the moments</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">whiling away life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">just sitting on top of a wall</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to have to choose between</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">reality and fantasy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">is there some</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">poetic necessity?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">or merely a definitional turn of phrase</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a tricky twist of the tongue in the cheek</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">muttering some nonsense about justice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">is the deed of the word any less decisive</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">than the word of the deed?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">is the power of the pen and paper</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">any less vicious than the life of the sword?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">is living in the act any less by proxy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">than dwelling in the dominion of the thought?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">exaggerated existentiality and emphasized meaninglessness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of a modern lifestyle carried to logical extremes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">tainting everything experienced</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">with a feeling of alienation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the negative of the positive</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">tarnishing values with distance and difference</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the detachment of attachment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">who's to equivocate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and expound upon ultimate truth?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">who's to question the existential imperative</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of the final authority of living and dying?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">when the little poet writes for all Poetry</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">when the small critic speaks for the whole world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">when the miniature mind moralizes for all humanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">mental midgets casting giant shadows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">moral morons enacting great things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">small mouths spitting out large words</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">tiny talents mimickng great genius</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">petty egos emulating big souls</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">then the meaning of living and dying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">comes full circle in the dialectic</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of trivia and beauty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">man and woman</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">rising together and falling apart</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">love and hate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">joining hand-in-hand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">dancing to the dialectic of life and death</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">on the way to heaven and hell</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">indifference awaits impatiently like a wall flower</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">for the anti-climax of the final closing act</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">speak to me about final peace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and the progress of civilization</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and the prosperity of the people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">when there will be no more wars</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">when there will be no more poverty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no more inequity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">tell me about paradise</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">when you wipe away my final tears</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">nothing seems fair or just</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no one seems to really care</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">everyone is caught up in their own situation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no one wants to be reminded of too much</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of their own plight or misforunate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">enough it is to know such problems are there</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">much less to worry about it all being fair</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">people like to pull up a few flowers for the weeds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">when you call me on the telephone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">complaining about all the unfairness and antipathy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">how can we change these things in life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">beyond our own existential dilemmas</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and when people do care it is merely token</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">or guided by selfish motivations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">how to change the world for the better</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">when so much of the world is so resistant to change</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">when so many so adamantly refuse to change their lives</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">who are afraid of unintended consequences</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">such different changes might bring</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no matter how many times or how hard we may try</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">always there is someone in the way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the grass is always greener on the other side</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the weeds have always overgrown this side</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">poor poet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">trying to make some sense</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a few disjunct lines</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of utter nonsense</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">collecting together</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">many scattered thoughts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">if only he could make some cents</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">for his sparse and meager words</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to pay for his full fare</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a small stipend</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to make life seem a little more fair</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">searching for things to write about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">searching for words to express those things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">searching for lost meanings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">hidden somewhere in those words</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">searching for some kind of success</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">behind the story</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of an unfinished life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">easy enough to call oneself something</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a painter, a poet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">then a woodworker, a writer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">even an "anthropologist" somewhere between times</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">how he manages to do so much</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">with such little effort expended</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">trying to invent another new line</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">trying to think up a different turn of phrase</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">trying to reinvigorate his creativity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">heedlessly ignoring the conventions of the trade</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">trying to recapture some lost spirit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of a youth that's suddenly vanished</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">that's silently stalked away</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">another average poem of medium length</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">nothing too unusual, nothing spectacularly outstanding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">just another fragile, thin page in a poor poet's life story</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">just another small addition to a growing pile of paper</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">building a life from used scratch</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">building a house from used paper</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">making a mountain of used scraps</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">many little piles of used pieces of wasted paper</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">just something to do, while waiting to find a job</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">just something to waste one's time with</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">while waiting to look for a real living</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">an excuse for not earning any real money</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">making mythical paper money</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to buy a third-class ticket</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">aboard a common train</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">carrying all the average people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to somewhere inbetween</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">middle-class</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">heaven</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">wishing only to return back home again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">without really having a home to go back to</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">standing resolutely at the edge of history</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">suffering the infinite vertigo of groundlessness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a quivering fear of falling over the edge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">into the dark abyss just beyond</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">both feet planted firmly upon solid ground</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the winds behind me are blowing heavily</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">bearing strongly upon my backside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">nudging me, forcing me closer to the edge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">there is no turning back the clock</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">time has pushed this encounter with eternity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">past the point of no return</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">poetic justice must be served</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">great depths must follow upon the heals of great heights</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">beyond the chasm there can be no clear vision</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">no illumination of what lies upon the other side</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">only a single, deep, dark sense of discontinuity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a momentous break in time and space</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a momentary hiatus of timelessness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">at a long journey's end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">where the bottom rests no one can know</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">forward, downward the paths lead to my future</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">over this edge of final departure from the past</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">onward our common destiny shall lead us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">whatever our trials and tribulations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">into the great disparity of the darkness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">where no light illuminates the unknown</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the years have made their mark</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">upon this restless soul</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">spirit is crippled</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">brains are addled</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">hands scarred</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">creativity dissipated with bodily strength</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">fat and bone and skin only remaining</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">sexual vigor is a thing of a slipping memory</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">poetry is at a loss for words</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">only wisdom gained is a substitute</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of a lost, unlived life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the lessons of many mistakes unlearned</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the experiences of many losses forgotten</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">love and devotion become a prison</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a web of entanglement of despair and disillusionment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">hate becomes a sordid joke of honesty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">taunting false idealisms so youthful</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">tainting humble realities so tarnished with time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">never had a real name to call myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a true social identity I could sincerely, genuinely believe in</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">or get lost in whole-heartedly and unreservedly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">commitment is no longer just a four letter word</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a perverse fetish of the power of love and hate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">but it becomes merely the irreversible process</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">of day-to-day living in a common world of humanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">my intellect clouded over by a haze, a glaze of booze</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in a permanent daze of semi-conscious awakening all my days</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">perennial unemployment has left its vicious mark</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like a crude tattoo across my face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like some victim's mask I can't erase</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">following me like some guilty shadow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">moral misdeeds of my youthful mistakes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">haunt my memories and torment my dreams with violence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">stalking my future success</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">like some dangerous, wounded animal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">friends and enemies wonder amongst themselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What kind of damaged creature is this?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like some common conspiracy against a monstrous aberration</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the misguided spirit of an all too common Humanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">what becomes of a common humanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">when it becomes merely anonymous</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">without some sense of personal, collective moral identity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">without a common hope for a better future</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">better than a tragic past</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">without even a penny or a chance in the present?</p> <hr> </font><font SIZE="6"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Reflections</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The world suffers from acute socio-moral dwarfism</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A few intellectuals and revolutionaries have bestowed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Upon the moral midgets of humanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the megalo-maniacal self-appointed leaders of human civilization</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A new toy to go to war with--the bomb</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Yet it will be too late</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is like giving a child a loaded handgun with a hair-trigger</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It will inadvertently commit suicide</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Racial suicide is the higher fate of humanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Atrophied in their educational development</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is no hope for humanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As long as it continues</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To wallow in its moral pigsty it possesses so dearly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Radical pacifist and humanist revolution, from inside out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On the part of every human as a conscientious objector</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Must be made to happen quickly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Before some adled moral midget</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Gets his fingers on the controls of humanity's destiny</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Human rights is the problem</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life and health to each</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Human born</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Liberty and freedom to grow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The capacity to pursue</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That which makes such happiness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In each person's own world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without threat of transgression</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Slavery is the problem</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To false beliefs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To political organizations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To society and ignorance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The wisest course is one of</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Strict noninterference</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the rights of others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And one of self-emancipation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From slavehood</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Humankind knows too well</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">How to be slaves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We must now learn about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Human rights</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Which are natural, inalienable</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And sacred</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Violence is learned early</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When a young child</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who can barely count</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or even tie his shoes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Knows to throw a stone in contempt</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What of my art or my poetry</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When the world unrealized</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dwarfs reality and makes us seem so small</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who is the fool who wishes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By his actions or his thoughts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To upset other people's worlds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To force upon them the unwanted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To bring upon themselves their own problems</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To live in each other in neglect of the self</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The higher destiny alludes human possession</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Every person must have the space to grow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The freedom to decide</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The time to learn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The solitude to contemplate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The solidarity of the rich experiences of life.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Malcontent and restless my should resides</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I have been between without some lifelong purpose</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without some religion or some external dealing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To which I might sacrifice myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It has all been ad lib art to try to define some</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the real reason's of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without which all I would have would be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To commit suicide or just to live half-heartedly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As if I were dead</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Imprisoned in my mind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And my soul a slave</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I look at my art and think</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What a waste of time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And think life a waste of time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I realize then that for all my hardships</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There are people worse off than I</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without the same wealth or chances</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why must I play games with my soul?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Most people are led through life by desires of the flesh</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Instead of leading their lives with reason</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My heart has been compensation and sublimation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of other people's unsatisfied desires</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why can't I just let it be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Contentment is divine</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <font SIZE="5"> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of all the titles and degrees of importance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To attain and have conferred upon one's reputation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is no better title than being a whole human</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of all the ideals and creeds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is no greater nor higher belief</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Than in being one's own human</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No matter how humble or how noble</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The human element gives to live</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Meaning and sustenance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nonmaterial and nonsocial</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It can be the dearest and the cheapest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To exploit and propagate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The intellectual's grand dilemma</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I saw a doodling by a master artist</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A unique piece on notebook paper</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The only one of its kind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A true collector's find</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That sold for six grand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I thought how many mouths six thousand might feed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">How many human lives might be worth more than that</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I thought of the millions of unique people of the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And wondered what could possibly be in a name</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be worth so much and so little</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Though there may be thousands of cheap imitations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And though most of human existence signifies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nonsensical and temporary business</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just one successful human in a million</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Makes it worth the expense</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That people must be free do do those things they need</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That is most important to their lives</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Normative freedom in living as they choose</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Though their choices be in ignorance or prejudice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">However much one may wish to interfere in other's lives</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The meek unpresuming hands-off attitude is always better</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In honest and open social relationships</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ony one person is fooled and hurt by dishonesty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And that is the self</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Honesty is all</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No matter how distorted or perverted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life has a natural right to persist</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No matter how much they are lifers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Humans have a right to live</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">People must be left alone to do their own thing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whether it be good or bad</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always the best policy in the long run</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As long as it harms no one but the self</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The mark of true greatness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is in being human</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Open and honest with the self</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No other value or belief</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Has the same measure of importance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Than the belief in being human</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <font SIZE="5"> <hr> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The subtle power of creation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So deep in soulful movement</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In song, rhyme, melody</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The visual inspiration</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Subjectivity that transcends</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The philosopher's relativity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And limited visions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of a small world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Making seem too weak</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The scientists methods</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A timeless value</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To reach across seas</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And through the ages</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To make seem two strangers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lost on a sea of loneliness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Physically separate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Soulfully together</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The hear of love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What is this of death</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If not for that precious jewel</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The real wealth of humanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then death is just another statistic</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Such artists are immortal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Yet in this particular death</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As singular part of me has died also</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The anonymity of the should</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Tender memories arise</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Unique entities</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Gone forever</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is no need for a God</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When one has learned to live</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">content with oneself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">let me not hear of despair</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life maybe a game</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of which death has the final call</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">yet it is a reality to be played</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A responsibility not to be shirked</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Truth is also a reality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As a part of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not to be denied either</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The courage of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the volition of rationality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not the dishonesty and the irrationality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not the fear of death</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But to die in a violent manner</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To perish too young to know</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">all the secrets of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not to be able to live to a ripe old age</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And pass away quietly and gratefully</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The game lost or won</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life fulfilled right or wrong</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That is the crime</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is the violence that is so unnatural</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And not the death</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why is this cruelty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When will this violence cease</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And in its place reign peace</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> </font> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To make the complex</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">seem simple</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To make the simple</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">seem complex</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That is the value</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the artist's creation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The philosopher's reason</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The scientists deduction</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life has an end beyond itself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life is integration</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No need for divination beyond</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Negation of life is self-defeating</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Affirmation of life is natural</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In all the fine progress</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The wealth that civilization has blessed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Upon humanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To enable fuller expression of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Something is yet missing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Something lost</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or worse yet never known</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That the aborigine and the native</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Understood full well</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To live content within one's own nature</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A dilemma of a dual dichotomization</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For all the destruction and death</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That which has accompanied</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That which we honor as progress</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The murder and violence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The persistent ignorance and the prejudice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The alienation and the lonely despair</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the malcontent living vicariously</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Values in negation of human nature</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Two divergent tendencies that</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a quickening acceleration</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Threaten to tear humanity apart</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Into the oblivion of the primitive condition</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On the brink of paradise</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the paradox of all this human story</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like so many grains of sand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So many atoms and drops of water</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The resolution of the problem</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is in a single entity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Human nature</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be able to look inside oneself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To reject the insecurity of fear</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To recognize all one's own negative tendencies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To shoulder the responsibility of courage</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To acknowledge all one's positive tendencies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To deny the first and fulfill the second</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To achieve integrity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Never despair of one's purpose</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Against a tide of many</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That purpose is all important</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is the ultimate solution</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I look inside myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Survey my past record</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Question my future</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Experience the moment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An integrity never to be repeated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Alone as an island</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Despair and hope</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I have not given up the fight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I yet live</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Enraptured in narcissistic self-expression</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Forever battling negative regressions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Losing ground and winning only small victories</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> </font> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Too limited and weak</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To convey adequately</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the higher emotions and transcendent rationality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Words, in mimicry of true intellection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Make seem of the infinitely complex</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Reductively oversimplified</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Prejudices spoken and thoughts influenced</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What is the point of these words</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To convey meanings of truth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While overcomplicating those things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Which are in reality very simple</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Knowledge of which is ever evasive</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Simple paradoxes, dilemmas and ambiguities</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Made into difficult problems</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without any definitive solutions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While surveying my own existence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I see many diverse contradictions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between my thoughts and my actions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The casual resolution of which</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">has been my central effort</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While the worst prejudices have been</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Those unresolved and unrecognized contradictions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Disguised by the apparent</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Facility of living</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To think only in terms of tendencies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Possibilities, probabilities and patternings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of interference both destructive and constructive</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What is this of a holo-universe</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And a holographic soul</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When each individual is uniquely spontaneous and instantaneous</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Every action forming a different entity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Reality is diversely omni-directional</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Composed of many directions and interrelations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While thought remains in a single orientation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Many people speaking and thinking</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In many different words</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In argument destructively interfering</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everyone meaning the same thing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without realizing it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only through concise, objectified constructs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Formalized self-expressions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Achieved alone and without the interference of others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">May prejudice be transcended and reflection of truth attained</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fame is the illusion of social recognition</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A substitute for inner identity and complacency</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fortune is a compensation for lost time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That cannot be bought or relived</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Faith is the crutch of an insecure soul</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Reneging of individual responsibility and leadership</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The motives are the important factors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In all human actions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Motivations are the richness and depravity of existence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I've been searching for the proper motivation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To enable myself to constructively utilize my time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and my thoughts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in a personal manner</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To achieve self-maturation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dependencies on other people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Selfless narcissism</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Social exploitation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Authoritative prejudice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Arising from ignorance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Breeding fear of the unknown</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Around which death-motivations grow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">These things can never attain transcendent maturation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Learning to cope with loneliness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While transcending the imposition of others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The fate of human existence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Greatness is in name only</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">True value is only within oneself</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> </font> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Never talk about others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Except to their faces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Never argue any issue</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Allow only congenial discussion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Through open, two-way communication</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Listening and speaking</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Never criticize, categorize, or dichotomize,</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Never speak of truth in self-righteousness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Never verbally express an opinion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Except when asked</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or when the situation demands correction</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To protect the self and others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And except through literal transmission</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> </font> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If every human lived by the commandment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Thou shalt not kill"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then there would be no wars or murder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of any sort</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet why do people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Continue to ignore this most ancient and reverent</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Teaching of human culture?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No rationalization can justify war</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without first denying this first principle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Humans have progressed in the technical aspects of living</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The technical aspects of death have evolved concurrently</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Revealing to honest and simple inquiry</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The failure of human values and educational development</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To keep pace with the proclaimed "progress"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Modern" humanity is more brutal than its ancient ancestors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A case of mass mania</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">by a majority of overgrown children</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Immature adults atrophied in youth by the lack of proper schooling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The climactic revelation is fast approaching</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The catastrophic fate of a democratic humanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the majority has failed to live naturally with themselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Striving in many distorted and unnatural ways</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To live vicariously in death and self-destruction</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If all people should consider the first moral teaching</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The precept of human culture and values</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And throw down their weapons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then civilization would become truly human</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">this is the starting point of peace and paradise</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Pacifist revolution by the conscientious objector</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The first moral precept of culture</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is the final human imperative for survival</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"thou shalt not kill!"</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <hr> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Have no expectations and you will not suffer disillusionment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In your plans</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Make no value judgments and you will not be dissatisfied</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Be satisfied with the results but always try to do better</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Never give up trying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Even in the most desperate moments</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Success and failure follow each other</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">both are continual and temporary</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always pursue your ends yet never carry one</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In fixed behavior patterns to the point of absurdity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That you become self-defeating</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There are always alternative courses of action</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">However much hidden or unknown</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only by trying, experimenting, experience fully</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Will these new alternatives</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hitherto unknown to you</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">be discovered</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Never fear to initiate new plans of action</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The most you can lose is your life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And when you are dead it won't matter anyway</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Caution is the crutch for the crippled</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Others will cast you in roles you do not fit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only by yourself can you find your proper role</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Let no one stand in the way of your plans</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet make no one but yourself the ends or means of plans</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There are very few true best friends</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Do not be fooled by the fakers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A person must learn to be his own best friend</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Before he can truly befriend an other</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life is a game meant to be played</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Work hard, play hard, live hard, die hard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Drink to the wealth and health of living fully</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Experiment, explore, experience and express</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Satisfaction is guaranteed.</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> </font> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There are three kinds of love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The first is an inner form</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A self-centered love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Giving itself to narcissism</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In mind and body</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is a stillborn love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of immaturity or the atrophied</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That leads to hate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For the weak and wounded soul</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And eventuates in corruption</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And destruction of everything</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That is not the self</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is a second form of love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An external kind of romanticism</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That has its roots in sexuality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It involves relatedness to the outside world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A giving of oneself to something else</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is a growing and fulfilling love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Yet it is only an interface</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A pathway between the self and truth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Leading to the third kind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Yet if growth of love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fixates in this interim</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The results are a total selflessness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A neglect of the self</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And misunderstanding and confusion of reality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ending in self-sacrifice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The third form of love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is the most difficult to describe</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Because it is the most rarely realized</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the least felt or understood</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Yet it is the most beautiful</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the most powerful form of love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That a human can hope to attain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is love full grown and mature</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is simply a love of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">a sublime and intuitive understanding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And reverence for the infinite experiences</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life has to offer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the self is transcended</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To a superior sense of being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Neither completely selfish nor selfless</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But of a much greater essence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A self at one with reality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A oneness from which neither the subjective</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nor the objective can be divorced</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This third form of love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is at once the highest goal of self-fulfillment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That any human can hope to achieve in life.</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> </font> <hr> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I have learned the hard way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of all the many things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That I do not like</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And that I do not want to do</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I have found in life only a few things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That appeal to me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And only fewer that I want to do</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the conventions which pervade</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Every facet of life to an unconscious degree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The subtle biases that slant our thoughts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Intellect can be as much a hindrance and a menace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As it is a value to discovery</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Insofar as convention is well established</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And taken for granted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Theory and thought must conform</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And ensuring action made very predictable</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Behavior becomes self-limiting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and un conducive to invention and creation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is the revolution against this convention</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The trespassing into the forbidden realm</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the ignorant and the unknown</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The temporary suspension of logic</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The acceptance of the apparently illogical</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That mysterious process known as creativity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is allowed to occur</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Knowledge and logic alone are sterile tools</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Incapable of discovering the unexplored realm</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That alone is the means of virility and progress</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Yet without these sterile tools of science</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The intuitive quality of creativity is blind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And discovery of the unknown is useless</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is to the extent that a person</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Rises above the culture in which he was born and raised in</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That he behaves as a sentient and worthy individual</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That he is truly human</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There are many different and inherently interesting cultures</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Each with its own self-limiting set</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of conscious and unconscious conventions of behavior</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So many people have come and gone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the world is such a big place</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">that it is very easy to lose a sense of personal purpose</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And to become apathetic and insensitive to the needs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of other humans and to learn how to neglect</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The fundamental responsibility of being human</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My single soul is relatively unimportant in this world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I suppose it is my fate to be lonely</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be withdrawn and abnormal in many ways</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I must content myself with my lot in life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Those very few things that make me happy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In order to survive.</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What is this nonsense about the beauty of love?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That it is the all-important part of our lives</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A romantic infatuation with the ideal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Blinding to the reality of an ugly world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">People live so much of their lives</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In vicarious notions of wishes, dreams, hopes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of fantasies of the past and future</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dreaming of some other world as if in a trance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and when these vicarious states of existence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Come into conflict with the reality of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They become the source of much anxiety</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fears, regressions, inner dissonance and introspection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The only real evidence of love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">that I have found in life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is the love that springs from satisfaction of needs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is a completely selfish and utilitarian in this sense</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is based on our dependence upon others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On the practical necessities our lives entail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It leads to dependency on others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to the extent that reality determines our fate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And limits us through our need-dependencies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Does romantic love take over</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As a means of compensation for the poverty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And consolation for the depravity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This is the extent to which love becomes realistic</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the best course is to resist our ever-present urges</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to digress from the present situation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To desist from many vicarious behavior patterns</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And to try consciously to glean from moment to moment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The most real love we can from our limited lives</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to do one thing at a time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Concentrating every effort into a single direction</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And never to procrastinate in our self-fulfillment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To integrate the divisive tendencies of living</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This is the only means of spiritual transcendence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of personality growth and the realization of true love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Improvement is slow and tedious</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But it is a sure result</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of real love</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> </font> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When the voice of inner confusion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Becomes so overwhelming</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That one cannot accomplish</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Anything objective</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What can be done?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I have given up hope</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For those who will not change themselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When they have so many opportunities</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Change is such a difficult thing to accomplish</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But I do not believe it to be impossible</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There are so many people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who have made a responsibility out of irresponsibility</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A religion of selfless sacrifice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And institutions of selfish gain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Structures of belief</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By which convention and conformity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Become a means for making money</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And a standard of worship</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why is it so--</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What is the origin of our common strife</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That is so deeply rooted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In human nature?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">How can there be so many selfish and blind people?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There are no simple solutions to such complex problems</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The answers evade my consciousness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I am left hopeless</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My own ignorance overwhelms me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The origin of man's competitive nature</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Keeps him from attaining his higher destiny</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Suicide is the final act</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In this human tragedy</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> </font> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Some say it's there when you are born</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Others say that you acquire it when you are young</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Some say that the world gives it to you</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Others believe it comes from within</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Many do not know they have it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until the come of age and their eyes open wide</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To the world which surrounds them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Yet others go through the whole of their lives</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without ever knowing that they have it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And thus die ignorant and if not happy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">then some would say at least content</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is something hard to define</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And as hard to get rid of</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is not quite a disease</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And something akin to a monkey on the back</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It can lead a person down many stray paths</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That end in cul-de-sac's</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In search of something undefined and unknown</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It can lead a person into many unhealthy behaviors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No matter how hard one may try</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or how hard one may want to get rid of it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It seems almost impossible to do</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Somehow or another it always seems to creep back inside of us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sometimes it makes one question</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whether you possess it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or if it really possesses you</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And wonder how vile and ugly it must be when exposed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Naked embarrassment when cast from its natural abode within</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Often it makes one throw up his hands</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And say "that's life"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The more I go through this world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The more I realize how many people have it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And never have I found one without it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Such lucky people must be very rare indeed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Remember this</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whatever it may be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or feel like inside of a person</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The more one can define it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That is the solution to the problem</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The more one controls it and can rid oneself of it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The happier and freer that person will be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To give up on it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is to give up on oneself and let it control you</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is to give up on life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And to eventually die</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> </font> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What is this nonsense about love?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">True love is an end in itself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That must not be adulterated by petty human desire</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is nothing romantic about real love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the sacrifices, pains and suffering</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Al the selfish desires and needs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The costs one is will to be subjected to and endure</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is real love worth it?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">True love is rare</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That much more precious when found</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seldom does it ever occur</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like two distant bodies on a collision course</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The chances against it are great</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">More often love is muted and distorted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A thing of chance or of happenstance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An imperfection of human engineering</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That has not transcended the corporeal flesh and bones</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The spirit of love imprisoned</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dependency is a better name to call such baser love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When a boy and a girl love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Intimacy and curiosity brings them too close</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ignorant of their own nature</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">they live together in their shared infatuations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For only a little while</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then both boy feels trapped</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the girl feels cheated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They both loved each other unfairly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But neither can be to blame</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">both have lost their innocence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They loved a little but not enough</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In time they become a man and a woman</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With many such loves come and gone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And for new love to endure</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Often requires a sacrifice of one for the other</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or to forsake themselves for the sake of their children</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who become their parent's whole love of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And thus a different and purer kind of love is born</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">all the petty things that stand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the way of true love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We either love ourselves too much</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be able to truly love anyone else</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or else we have not yet learned to truly love ourselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So that others may love us also</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To love and to be loved are not the same</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <hr> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Every human being lives in a completely subjective world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And each person's biggest problem is how to know</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Other people's worlds and reality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">they are often mistaken in thinking such knowledge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Comes from self-denial or overcoming that inherent subjectivity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Yet this is humanly impossible</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the biggest problem is precisely how to know ourselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To feel whole within our subjective worlds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And to gain that feeling requires complete isolation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From the knowledge and world of others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We can never hope to learn to be ourselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As long as there are other people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We need to worry about or consider</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet when we withdraw into ourselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The feeling of loneliness soon commands</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We find ourselves missing others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While at a loss of our own knowledge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Loneliness is no the only feeling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We need to be subjected to in our solitude</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Love overcomes loneliness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No matter how much we may fail in the attempt</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We weill always try to overcome our subjectivity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">this is the grand human dilemma</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is the heart of humankind's greatest problem</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One we shall never completely solve or escape</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I have no friends</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I hate most of this world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I am stingy and stubborn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Many think I am despicable</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And worthy only of their contempt</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I am worthless to anyone else</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I am worthy only to myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I am cowardly and arrogant</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My values are strange and distorted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From the social norm</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I do not find the same meaning in life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That others find in it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I am selfish and take for granted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My few advantages and attributes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The older I grow the worse I become</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And my existence becomes stranger</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Even though I think I know everything</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I always find there is more to know</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ungratefully I eat my own words</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet the more I experience and learn</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The more intriguing and interesting</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I find my selfish world to be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In spite of al my decadence and corruption</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The lonelier my life becomes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The less need I have for others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Their thoughts, opinions or needs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The more I come to understand and know</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The greater is my feeling of love for my life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life is only a game and death is its end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without death life would be meaningless</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Call it what they may</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Respect my life they must</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <font SIZE="5"> <hr> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We are born innocent and ignorant</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Into a world full of apathy and antipathy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And sympathy and empathy are second-class virtues</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What a crime and pity it is</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to be over-sensitive</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a world so brutishly insensitive</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is better to be dull and uncaring</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To give up on oneself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And to allow one's soul to become molded haphazardly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By chance influences and the whims of jealous, selfish people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is all too easy to become a true believer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In some superhuman delusion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is not as easy to remain a non-believer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And to just accept disillusionment as logical fate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The price one must pay for wisdom is innocence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The more knowing of truth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The more guilty we become</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And those who remain insensitive in ignorance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Elude themselves about their innocence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But they are just as guilty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the crime of being inhuman</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Simply because we have forsaken an insensitive world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And have refused to give up on our souls</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to let ourselves become victimized</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By the selfishness of others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Simply by refusing to be insensitive</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By being human and not inhuman</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are we guilty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What more eternal hell is there</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Than to be boring in a boring world?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <font SIZE="5"> <hr> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only forty years ago, Japan and Germany</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Were a hated enemy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And now they are our unquestioned allies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the USSR, was was then our ally</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Became almost overnight, our hated enemy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What kind of idiocy is this?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To what honorable purpose has all this murder been?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To absolutely no purpose</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And now we rest complacently</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On the brink of global holocaust</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While primitives still control our destiny</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What is this about marriage?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For years a brother-in-law and a good friend</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And then after the divorce a complete stranger</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the friendships made and lost</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the struggles fought, won and lost</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the work without purpose and play without sense</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">all the silly games that at one time seemed so important</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">People will readily sacrifice their lives for any illusion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet they cannot just live and let live</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">they will sacrifice so many other's lives just to keep from dying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and what is this inconsolable fear of death</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When death is nothing but the end of the game of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the behavior that seems so normal and natural</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Upon closer scrutiny revels itself to be alien and pathological</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">How can so many people live their lives out so unquestioningly?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">People are like isolated ships passing in the night</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They can live so physically close to one another</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet in ignorance and apathy remain complete strangers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Those with whom we are so intimate and physically share one another</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Often, all too often we are still foreign spiritually</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And emotionally separated by a gulf of misunderstanding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I have a pair of sex organs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That I have rarely used</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I feel deeply that they have been wasted for nothing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I look at most people and they are utterly alone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I see so many lonely eyes craving fulfillment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I tell myself to be satisfied with my lot in life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet I can't help thinking that there must be more</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That which is humanly normal is very unnatural</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">How much greater alienation do we need tolerate?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We are willing to live with ourselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As if to live with the unknown</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whenever I accomplish some task</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I feel like I should celebrate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I discover only that I really do not know how</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to be nice to myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I could go out and get drunk, but that is not being nice to myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I realize that I don't know how to make myself happy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">though I am so selfish in so many ways</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Happiness comes and goes like a tramp</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The lack of honesty and the tremendous hypocrisy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So many people are trying to fool each other</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And are only fooling themselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I return to my lonely cell</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To sit and stare blindly at the walls</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Once marked for a loser</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a game one never had a chance to play</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is no escaping from that prejudice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Good or bad</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A person is what he is</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An end without need of justification</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For other's sake</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is not the people themselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That re so despicable</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But their unchanging behavior</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For which they are irresponsible</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is no arbitrary choice of birth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No one every asked to be born</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In such a world as this</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet here we are all the same</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With every right to remain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Once fate has decided the wealth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And poverty of our lives</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then all the illusions vanish into meaninglessness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And we go on living without question</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life runs on empty dreams</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Schools run on illusions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A machine that feeds us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Undigested and partly processed knowledge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Crammed down our throats</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And we recurgitate it on demand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When the proper buttons are pushed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When people leave school</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They think and act like they know a great deal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To find that they know very little about life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">School is insulated from the harsher realities</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But without believers school and life are nothing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Once upon a time one played the game so hard</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So determined to be a winner</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only to discover the infinitude of chance influences</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That go into the modeling of every human life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And go beyond any human's capacity to alter</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We are by-products of a system we can never understand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Games are good in proper perspective</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But when life becomes a game</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That is only too bad</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">How can one compete with others when he is a non-competitor?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">How can one lose in a game he doesn't play?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who started this grand game?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One soon discovers that much is lost when he gives up the game</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He loses contact with all those who still play foolheartedly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And finds out that most human behavior is geared toward destruction</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The price of human existence is a difficult one to pay</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Most people are unwilling or unable to change their behavior</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And persist in behavior that fills the tremendous gap</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between birth and death with wasted time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This is a tremendous poverty that is difficult to overcome</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Many people have nothing better to do than to sport illusion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And these people that waste their precious time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are the least likely to honestly admit the unimportance of it all</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the superficiality, trivia, waste</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Imagine it all banished by a single act of collective willpower</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No more religions, no more politics, no more wars</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No more making a game of living and dying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No more killing by selfish people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the great majority of humanity are alienated, intolerant and unquestioning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One discovers in truth that there is nothing new in reality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Its all been here long before humans with our petty ignorance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Happened upon the scene</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is only in the mind that the gap exists</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between ourselves and reality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the many theories and ideas that define the limits</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of human ignorance and prejudice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If humanity could learn reality overnight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the morning most behavior would cease</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">People would go on living</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without the need to murder or even control others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But it is well that while there is only one reality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is a tremendous diversity of theoretical possibilities</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For these possibilities generate new realities</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I have given up projecting negative emotions upon myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Except for the guilt that is my responsibility</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I have given up trying to understand other people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Trying to change them or to influence them in any way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">People are too caught up in other's problems and destinies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Things that they can only negatively influence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When they neglect their own self-made souls</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Independence from other people's dependencies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is the only path to freedom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I will sit contentedly in my lonely cell</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And let the trivial world pass me by</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without too much regret.</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The individual is a phenomenon of growth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That when separated from the main stream</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By the sanctuary of some small and quite pool</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Can grow like a flower blossoming</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And while for many the current of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is far too swift and strong</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is the blooming of human nature</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If left for a long enough time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Unaffected by the eddies and whirlpools</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And so rarely has such development</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Been left completely uninfluenced and independent</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That whether or not it has an end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is a question open to debate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is enough to have faith</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That it has no human end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Except death</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This is natural culture</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is also an artificial culture</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The collective influence of many such individuals</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The contributions of many people's immortal efforts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Have built a great temple</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of philosophy, science, knowledge and art</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is intangible and immaterial</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It can only be entered by reason and intuition</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This temple has become so immensely grand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That it is quite incomprehensible in its entirety</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A person may spend an entire life-time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Just appreciating the beauty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of only a small portion of it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This temple</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Which is shared by all humanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is much greater</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Than any temple</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">made of stone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And whether there is any limit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To the extent of its construction</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is also a question</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That is open to debate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is enough to have faith</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That it is truly unlimited.</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I always wonder about myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whether I am a paranoid artist</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or an artistic paranoid</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or just a hypcrite fooling only myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our more deep-seated prejudices and biases</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are clues to our inner weaknesses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We project on others those qualities</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That we reject within ourselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To find ourselves the greatest perpetrators</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the merciless victims of self-manipulation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And what good actors we really must be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Able to fit many parts with ease</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To put on any face, costume and fit any character</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From our hidden treasures</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whenever occasion of need arises</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And who do we strive to impress most</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ourselves or others?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is not well</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be so certain about the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or aout one's own nature, life or destiny</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be so detached from one's emotions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is a very sick state of being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To know oneself too well.</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On paper or canvas</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always beginning my art</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On a clean surface</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">by the time I'm done</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I've done more erasing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Than drawing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So it seems with existence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life becomes delineated by the mistakes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Two steps forward and one backward</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I have so little to show</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For all the planning, worrying and tiring effort</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet to question whether it's all been worth it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is to foolishly beg for an impossible wish</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As I become older</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The more my past mistakes and success stack up</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the more accepting I become of my fate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The fewer are the possibilities for change</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Time shortens a my character becomes more inflexible</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Yet the fewer become the trivial worries</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the lighter my burden</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the final judgment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whether the strength of wisdom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or the weakness of infirmity shall prevail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If this is what maturity is</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then it has been worth the losses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Maturity is meeting the loud audacity of inexperienced youth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With a generous and simple smile</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Needing only silence to express its profundity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The days, weeks, months of the years</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The holidays and seasons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">those cycles by which our passing is marked</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Quicken in tempo</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As memories increase and excitement wanes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Growing old consists of changes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sneaking up from behind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And being unexpectedly surprised</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It means bearing witness to many strange feelings and experiences</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That leave one in bewilderment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It means finding that world of which you were once a part</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">slowly fading out to become mere memories</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While reality has suddenly changed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It means becoming bored and restless</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet being to tired and weak to change</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What a fine line</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Separating the good from the bad</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That differentiates the natural from the pathological</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Which distinguishes greatness from deviance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And genius from insanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Makes one wonder if it might not be contrived rationality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What a thin cord</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between life and death</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The callings and elements of all extremes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are to be found in each and every soul</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the conflicts that consumes the interior world of the soul</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Find expression and reflection in the exterior world of the other</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The key to every kind of human power</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Rests within the heart of will power</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The core of all the worlds most pressing problems</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">May be found within the solitary individual</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The solution to a better world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">May only be realized in solitude</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <font SIZE="5"> <hr> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To perish by intention or accident</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Would be to please others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who despise my self-respect</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to give up and to take one's own life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is an admission of defeat</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And a victory for the conquering worms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is to allow the many losers in life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who do not have the courage to realize their potential</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And who exploit the energies of others like parasites</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To become the winners in one's death</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet to allow my brief life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to be consumed in frustration and despair</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to quit trying to improve myself in the things I do</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And not to attempt</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To achieve some golden balance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To glean a little happiness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To feel a little love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To understand a little truth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It would be just as well to be dead</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Than to suffer the other world that does not care</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And that persecutes the world of the self</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Never listen or follow other people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The self will always be misled</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life will founder upon the shoals of hardship</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and the future will be a dead-end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">True sacrilege is for those others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who live life as if they were dead</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who neglect the callings of the spirit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lucky I am to be born and live</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In this place and time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For in almost any other place and time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My lot in life would have been</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Most difficult and different</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <font SIZE="5"> <hr> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When the holocaust is done</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What will it be like then?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When the amount of death and devastation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Have set a new worldwide record</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What use then will be these politician's promises?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When the few desperate survivors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wonder in dazed bewilderment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And suffer the shock of traumatic disillusionment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who would believe it were possible?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When children and pets are incinerated and blown to bits</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When all traces of civilization and culture</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Have crumbled like crushed dust</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who will accept the diffused responsibility</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For the resurrection of the primitive?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When the world is beset by the holocaust</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like a thousand earthquakes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A thousand tornados</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A thousand tidal waves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A thousand typhoons</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A thousand floods and inundations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A thousand volcanic eruptions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A thousand firestorms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A thousand pestilential plagues</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A thousand infectious diseases</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A thousand disastrous accidents</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A thousand natural disasters</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A thousand draughts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A thousand famines</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All within the brief span of a single day</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What good will then be the personal power</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And petty selfishness of those</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who refused to believe that it could happen?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What good will be all the denials and refusals</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To confront and solve the problems beforehand?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What it is all over and the problems have just begun</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When then will be the divine and holy intervention</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the salvation of the devoted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By a messiah, a Jesus, a Mohammed, a Buddha</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or any other demigod or false idol</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The megatons of mega-deaths that will rain down</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Torrentially upon the megalopolises of this brave new world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And reduce it swiftly to its most primitive elements</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the return to a cowardly world of fear and ignorance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The reign of an unnatural selection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Thousands of deadly bombs ready to be used</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What can happen eventually will happen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To entertain a false sense of pride</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to believe in a false sense of hope</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To trust a false sense of security</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To acept false promises and praise false leaders</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The consequences of such minor mistakes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are unacceptably self-evident</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The continuing persistence of false delusions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Will only lead to holocaust</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To believe blindly is to commit a crime</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To deny the truth is to transgress upon humanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to be deceitful is to crucify the future of civilization</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet who will be punished for this general irresponsibility?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our posterity.</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is no more generous consolation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nor more relaxing respite</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Than gentle unsullied slumber</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To forget all the worrisome trivialities</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the illusions of a well-contrived dreamland</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What wondrous machinations are our dreams</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Veritable holographic programs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Strange and intriguing confabulations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An endless series of possibilities</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Drawn from a multifaceted holographic memory</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It makes on wonder who directs our dreams</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We are not just a passive audience</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We become the main characters</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Actively alive in all the senses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">True to life drama</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No better way to act out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our most vicarious fantasies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet in our sleep</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">there is another dreamlike state</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Midway between deep sleep</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And full wakefulness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A semi-conscious state of awakening</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In which the mind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Content as it is in such harmony</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Resists for a brief time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The complete interruption</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the confusions of reality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is in such a state</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only vaguely felt and strangely indefinable</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That the truths of life a most intensely felt</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With a sense of whole indulgence of emotion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And in a complete sense of confident certainty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It would behoove ourselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To bring greater clarity and understanding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That transition state of being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Into closer touch with awakened consciousness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then might reality be improvable</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And be rid of all these confusions and anxieties</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That so plague and hinder all our wakeful activity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As it is description cannot even come close in comparison</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Except perhaps in a few rare exalted states</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of super consciousness and semi-consciousness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <font SIZE="5"> <hr> <p> </p> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What strength has the hones and simple soul</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Against the many complex devices and tricky weapons of the world?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What power to overcome the prejudice, ignorance and fear</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To defeat all strategems of force and terror?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With what may the greed for god, gold and glory</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Be confidently confronted and completely disposed?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is only one way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That is the power of love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Love is adulterated by many disguises</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Stripped of all the ill-contrived deceptions and romantic illusions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">True love is a naked baby</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That has not label and knows no condition</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The object of true love is an end by itself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That needs not to be justified, forgiven nor forsaken</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nor subordinated to any other end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">the human capacity for true love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is the best sign of hope</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For the salvation of humanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">True love shall eventually triumph</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Over all manner of lesser human power</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hope for future success</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Resides within me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I place complete confidence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In myself as a person</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I gamble my whole life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On that trust</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In my own integrity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Others derogate what I am</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or who I may potentially be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They fit me into narrow contexts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of their own small worlds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without consideration for my feelings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And unwisely pass judgment upon me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">About which I do not agree</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I have become tired and impatient</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Playing useless games</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I have written my own</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Declaration of Independence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And no one can take it away from me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Except by murdering me.</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Human existence is caught in a dilemma</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In every aspect there is a double meaning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For our behavior</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And sometimes in stress</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our standards become double-crossed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By our actions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">there is plain common sense</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And then there is an underlying meaning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only available through reflection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The final interpretation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Be it good or bad</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Depends upon the consistency and accuracy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of those theories of deeper understanding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They does not alter the truth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It only determines our understanding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And interpretation of it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Read the writing on the wall</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And those books that re like so many bricks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That construct our world of conceptual world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In any painting or poem</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The artist's soul is plainly revealed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With honest and clever interpretation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Glean the most essential elements</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And fit them in with the artist's life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That is the best means of interpretation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Take a long look</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At those things I have done</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Though they may be simple and few</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Yet to the honest observer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They allow a glimpse</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the direction that I have come</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And an intuition of the way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I am headed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And a brief understanding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of ourselves</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our world so neatly compartmentalized</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Into so many opposing views</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With an obscuring veil</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Blinding us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From other worlds and lives</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And separating us into lonely citizens</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Survey the vast immeasurable reaches</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of our incomprehensible universe</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Consider the diminished meaning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of being a human ant</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a redundant and wasteful world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Those ideals we once believed so true</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Become suddenly foolish fallacies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of strange and newly discovered realities</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Making our actions seem so futile</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Feeling strongly the debilitating impotency</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of a sorely shrunken comprehension</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Witness the birth of a new world superman</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With such hopes and expectations of greatness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Immune to those human weaknesses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Insensitive to those humble feelings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the old world man</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sense of purpose, honor and integrity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Squashed by the shear magnitude</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of boredom, apathy and namelessness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Space voyager and mountain mover</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Noble warrior and strange journeyer through time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Overwhelmed by an inundation of artificial harmonies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wounded ego crawling into a shell of make believe</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hiding from a fragile paper world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Frightened by imagined shadow monsters</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So much of the way we think</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seems so dichotomized</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Into opposing worlds of belief</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A division that seems so evident</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Coursing through every mode of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Coming between every word and act</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet so difficult to define</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To sacrifice seems so human</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whether to sacrifice oneself or another</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whether to opt for fulfillment of desire</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the closeness of family</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or to struggle against loneliness and despair</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Through an uncertain career of self-gratification</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who can be to blame for such difficult choices</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When there are so many little considerations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Each individual born into a unique set of circumstances</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Each with a different set of problems to solve</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To make the poor rich</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To make the rich happy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Such easy words to write</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So hard to be born to a fate of poverty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And so difficult to sacrifice for change</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where does the money, time, and energy come from?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where does the motivation, concern, hope and willpower materialize?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why should people opt for things unknown and unrealized</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When it is so easy to despair and quit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And to accept one's own fate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The difficulty is to maintain a balance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between security and sacrifice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between dependency and integrity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between desire and deferment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between liberty and responsibility</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between freedom and justice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Between living and dying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An ego problem</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To create means of compromise</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And not to tip the scales too much</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In either direction</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life is not fair</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No one ever said it was fair</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life is extremely unfair</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And for many it is very unhappy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Much more hardship than pleasure</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Too bad all people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Can't have their fair share</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of those few simple things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That everyone deserves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Love, health and a little contentment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not to need to spend their precious lives</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Searching for things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That were never there</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We are witnesses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To only the beginning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of many new and unusual problems</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be solved</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So weak is our understanding and foresight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That in ignorance we have slipped into them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without seeking prevention</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The illness of this new way of living</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Has not yet manifested itself completely</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A generation born with unsurpassed expectations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of having fun, of an easy living, and material wealth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of growth, and achievement unending</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to face a difficult life of difficult times</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With learned dependency, helplessness and laziness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The good times are fading slowly away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And those who must face them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Have not been prepared to do so</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be born to stupid parents</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The wrong color or in religious ignorance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to be too fat or too ugly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be handicapped or stigmatized</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To have some disproportionate feature</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or idiosyncratic behavior</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or just to be plain and unexceptional</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">These are to be part of a social disease</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That must confront an inbred racism</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">that cuts across social groups</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The fate of not being born wealthy, beautiful or powerful</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be condemned by heritage and birthright</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To a meager and disproportionately dissatisfying life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What a pity to have expectations too high</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For one's own lot in life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What rational and sane person</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Would not seek improvement in his life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If that person were given the opportunity?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What person wouldn't stand in line</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If he figured the chances were good?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who doesn't want a chance to prove himself?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who doesn't want a good job</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and success from working hard?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet what are people to do</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When they are not allowed those chances</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When their luck is down</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And no jobs are to be found</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And no support is around?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Peel off every label</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And underneath there will always be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only pure human being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Running on empty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This world is so well controlled</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That few people ever realize</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">that they are actually playing a game</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The people on the top</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Want to remain on top</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the people beneath</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Struggle against one another to climb higher up</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In all their competition they keep bringing each other down</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The people at the bottom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Face insuperable odds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Withut help from above</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Their chances of success are nil</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Their chances of survival grim</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Truth is the key to success</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Understanding is a tool well guarded by the system</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Innuendos, musical chairs, illusions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">trivia, delusions, sensationalism, commercialism</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Propaganda and enforced ignorance and prejudice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are all used to overwhelm the senses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And sap that psychic power</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of those who get behind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Yet once knowing that well guarded secret</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is nothing to stop you</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Except that no ne around you</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Will listen or believe in you</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the price you must pay</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For writing it all down</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is with your life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And who in the system pays the highest price</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For acceptance, respect and gratitude</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is the young men who bear the burden</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who go to war or go to prison</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who pay for their food with their sweat and muscles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who aren't given credit for their brains</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who in laconic fashion are left in poverty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who work hardest for little satisfaction</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who are left without emotional security</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or the chance to fulfill their own being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Making human rights seem a joke</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I would gladly lay down my life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If it would save others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And make me a hero</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I wait patiently and resolutely</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For any little chance to prove myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet such opportunities are few and meager</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I vie for a chance for excitement</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">for any opportunity for self-improvement</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet to face a life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of petty frustration and unending boredom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And in my despair I have given up my wait</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and have decided to make my own opportunities</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">to give up playing other people's games</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To become good at playing my own</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Exceptional as my strategy may be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I am not sure of where it will get to</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But it can't be much worse than it has already been</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No matter how bad things get in the future</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Trying to return to some yesterday</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Will only make things worse</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is no returning in life</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <hr> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Learn to encounter wholly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Rather than to be controlled by a plan</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Start from scratch</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And resurrect the shambles of ignorance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To make a decision</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ride it out to the end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Learn from the many mistakes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And try it all again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Turn a deaf ear to the crowd</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Rely upon one's own experience</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And one's own best judgment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Improving that decision-making ability</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And turn it into a talent</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By which to impress others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Learn to listen to the noiseless callings of the heart</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And let the visceral feeling of intuition</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Become the guiding light</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Develop a unique style of self-expression</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Normative development is stemmed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Very early in the flock</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Transcend the abject poverty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That abounds and surrounds the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With competent self-reliance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is intuition that</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Has lead humanity for the darkness of the past</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is intuition that creates the arts, sciences, mathematics and philosophy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Those things that are humankind's pride</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is intuition that brightens</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Our stormy future</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I am so burnt out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So irretrievably lost</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ignorance engulfs and stifles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A frightening curtain of blindness and illusion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To figure it all out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why we don't think</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The world is much harder</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Than it really seems</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everything is too complex</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There are no easy answers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I'm so lazy and believe in play</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Other's think I'm nothing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet I find no recourse</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">there is so much to thing about</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So many directions in which to go</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is so much t do</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I play so many games</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A confused hedonist without pleasure</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I am so ungrateful</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And yet I am so lucky</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The overwhelming majesty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of being alive and life all around</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There are so many difficult choices</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You do not need to look for problems</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They will come to you by the dozen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All you have to do</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is to sit back and wait</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When I am old and experienced</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then I can say how it really is</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I can tell everyone how I feel</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But then they won't listen to me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I never stop moving forward</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The world never stops changing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My mind tells me to change</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But my body doesn't want to move</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I put the dog into my prison world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I didn't even ask it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A world of love and hate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Married and conceived humanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Admit and apologize</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Mother I have murdered father</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And now I have become enslaved to his memory</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Trying to resurrect his ego</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Crucified on the cross of holiness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I don't see how I'll get too far</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Doing things like I am</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">People like me never get very far</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There's no evidence of people like me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always burning bridges behind them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Day in and day out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Week after week after week after week</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I keep doing the same old thing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I keep going in the same old direction</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And don't really know why</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why waste time worrying</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">About a few moments of a long life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When in the vast incomprehensible universe</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Time is without end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When the bleak and cold expanses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are measured by many lifetimes of instantaneity?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The whole human event is but a brief and passing phenomenon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That diminishes a single human lifetime into utter meaninglessness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This petty human existence is not so meaningful to me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To require the effort of pinching every second</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To squeeze the most juice from life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The importance comes in being able</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To meet adequately the unpredictable train of events</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a consistent manner</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To work from a stance of a well unified sense of integrity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So as not to have my senses and rationality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Be so overwhelmed by unexpected events</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That I lose control over my behavior</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And lose foresight of my final goal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To live life as fully as possible</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If it means sometimes appearing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Slow and awkward to others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is their misconception</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From trying to take things too fast</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">People can believe what they want</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And can maintain any value system they desire</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So long as they do not harm others by their behavior</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or try to force others to accept those values</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Isn't that the problem of the world?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">People forcing values upon others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without regard for personal integrity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without the grant of individual liberty?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For people to choose their own value system</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It begins with a selfish parent</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who tries to govern the life of the child</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By dictating every little choice and decision</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not giving that child the chance to develop normatively</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It becomes an integral part of the vast and complex social system</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The individual being forced to accept</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A regimen of preclusive values that he did not formulate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or else suffer rejection with all its insufferable consequences</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">People so unwilling to relinquish to others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That necessary freedom of expression</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whose own petty fears and frustration</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Become debilitating for others about them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The worst part of this human story</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are the tragic consequences</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of so minor a neglect of personal responsibility</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The sorrow and the hurt of so many lost souls that goes unmended</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The crippling dependency and stifling conformity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The lack of self-confidence and the need for crowd approval</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the most despicable characteristics of human nature</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To improve their own world and the world of others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">People must help themselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But they must be given the chance to do so</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But the grant of freedom by others who can stand in their way</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It seems so strange</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sometimes feeling so happy and elated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Other times feeling so sad and depressed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The littlest unexpected event</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Triggering a whole multitude</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of adverse or positive overreactions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So finely tuned to the nuances</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the varied environments one encounters</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So sensitive to the slightest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sign or symbol of change</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So easy to be knocked off balance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So easy to become astray and be set askew</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By some pessimistic or optimistic indication</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Often in the bet of times</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Encountering some little fault or foreboding occurence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Often in the worst of moods</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Such a minor encouragement</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It doesn't take very much</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To set in motion a whole train of responses</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without intention</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without even awareness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of one's own rhythms</p> <font SIZE="5"> <hr> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER"><font size="6">Dreams</font></p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Thirty</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Burn Out</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(sitting in my little apartment)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Have reached the end of my proverbial rope</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Search aimlessly for new ideas</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But return empty handed time and again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Past memories intrude on my freedom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the only security left</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is to crawl inside a bottle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To wait for the soul</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To come home again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or else move to a new address</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Thirty-Three</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hair</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(musings on my first non-military hair-cut)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The mythical symbol of masculine strength</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And of feminine seduction</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Grown long and care-free in easier times</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or in rebellion against the custom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cut short in times of strife</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A sacrifice to some higher deity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When short a symbol of slave-hood</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When long a symbol of autonomy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An independent way of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Autonomy has a curious meaning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A precious thing when hard fought for and not given away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Taken for granted and abused when it comes too easy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As if it cannot be lost</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Spoiling many by its great wealth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But the source of creativity and progress</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Heart of liberty and equality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The power behind human rights</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That must be exercised to remain strong</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Forty-Two</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Leadership</p> </font><font SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(among men)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Too many self-proclaimed leaders</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In dress of arrogant disguises</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Showing off masks of authority</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They will say almost anything</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But are of superficial interface</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Very insecure underneath</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They know almost nothing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">About the truth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But they'll do the job</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As compromising magicians</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They all value their paychecks</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">More than your life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Families in all shapes and sizes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Social units of law and order</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Close knit with strong ties</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With togetherness enduring</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Almost any crises or dilemma</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Affiliating with some religion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Possessing characteristic dogmas</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Insulated from changes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Blessed with a sense of belonging</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hopes in definite form</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In possession of love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Comfort of the home</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Till death do they part</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But families are entrapments</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That tie the individual in the game</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who must escape the nest</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To explore the risky world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And discover one's true potential</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Alone as a human being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The true leaders won't solicit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The needs of other people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They look only to themselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For guidance and impression</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Their creations serve only</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The best examples of inspiration</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">True leaders are rare friends hard to find</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But they all come from some kind of home</p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Forty-Three</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cruise Control</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(L.A. to Chicago and back)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Beer in the lap</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Roach on a clip</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Three way stereo</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Jamming to an oldie</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Air conditioner cooling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Scenery fleeting by</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Through smoke-stained</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Windows</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Miles of highway</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Uncrowded stretch</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On a full tank</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No cops in sight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cruising contentment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">65 miles an hour</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Humming minutes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the fast lane</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Reflectors on the left</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Old farts on the right</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Tolling death</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of city dogs and cats</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And country animals</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Reciting stories</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of near escapes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and classic accidents</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fate of modern living</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In languid illusion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of complete control</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cruising in comfort</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To a speedy death</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Forty-Five</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Artist</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(writer and would-be genius)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life divided unrelentingly into many episodes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of unsuppressible desires and loves acquired</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An insatiable perfectionist endlessly exploring</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To discover something a little better than before</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Torn apart from the bloodstream of society</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Heart in sentient creation transcending mere subjectivity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a lonely world with few good friends</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wondering in ceaseless amazement and critically examining</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The true value of his labors and himself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And at the subtlety of ulterior motivations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To ride the crest in the vanguard of progress</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Giving form to revolution and new wealth for humanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Frustrated writer who dreams of being an artist</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And to photograph instead of yielding a weapon</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Writing in waiting poor didactic verse all of similar vein</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And can't make it rhyme or dance through the imagination</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Torn in two by the emotions of having and relinquishing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To please himself with outward satisfaction</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or to be left alone with inward reflection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Questioning always with pen in hand</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is it a crutch of insecurity and fear of reality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or only a self-defense against some latently felt inferiority?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Believing rhyme to be the non-spontaneous limitation of freedom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Remembering that an artist seeks to please only oneself</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Forty-Seven</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Empty</p> </font><font SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(another end of a day)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Devoid of content</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Empty without ideas</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Vague dissatisfaction</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Formless inspiration</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like an empty glass</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Waiting to be refilled</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With another beer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or to be knocked</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Off the table</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And shattered</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why the anxious desire</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For something better</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Continually frustrated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As time slips slowly by?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why not some final contentment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or just give up the game?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It's so easy to ask a question</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It's so much harder to give an answer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That makes real sense</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cheap talent reeking of self</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Pretentious allusion of easy truth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Mocking perfection and hard work</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The best things in life are free</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lonely thought of death</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Leaves one empty inside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A wasted moment of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Add another to the list</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Quantity with no quality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A contempt for critics</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A deep glass when empty</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is only very shallow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not like some ancient proverb</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A mere fragile vessel</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of transparent reflection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An empty self</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Waiting until</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Tomorrow</p> <hr> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fifty-seven</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Grain</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(contemplation of sand at Huntington Beach)</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Single miniscule particle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Unique reflection of wisdom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Question, answer and question</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Strong force of love exploding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With immediate bonds of trust</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Rebounding in perpetual flux</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Spiraling far downward</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Weak force of fear imploding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a foreign bondage of mistrust</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Pervading the whole</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Composing all matters</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Creating eternal contention</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of continuous cancellation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Death steals from happiness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the creeping moments</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of living in remembrance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Imaginings of vivid reality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of those entities who were</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A part of us</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And are no more</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Making all endeavors temporary</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Superficial and repetitious occurrences</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Casting doubt on even the most important parts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While making life too valuable</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not to be wasted or squandered</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By matters that prove afterward</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So unimportant</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">You who have all the answers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And know what is best for everyone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Have never gleaned</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From this single grain</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The truth of silence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only those who have best communicated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Alone inward reflections of feelings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Have done anything</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of lasting value</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The stars that shine tonight</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Have shone for the ancient primitive</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It has been but a handful of grains</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Amongst an infinitude of many</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That has been the only truth wealth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of petty human existence</p> <hr> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fifty-Nine</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Anonymous</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(in a big city)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Trying to break out and to change</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Growing tired of the same old scene</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The game is dragging out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While talk is cheap</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And effort must wait for seconds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wishing to return to the beautiful dreams</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of times past when things were better</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But think that its too impossible</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then it seemed like such a big world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When one was so little</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everyone telling you what they think</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And feeling guilty about being so selfish</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While dividing up the pie of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without thinking about the whole</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And what might be better done</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Talking about the things one hates</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To find oneself the greatest perpetrator</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without acknowledging the responsibility</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For the things that are being done</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In living so many wasted lives</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Rationalizing on a beer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life is the same anyway</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So it doesn't really make such a big difference</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When it comes down to the line</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everyone covers their own ass first</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And why not rationalize on beauty?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And where has culture gone?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When dying so lonely a life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The same mysterious way as being born</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wishing to leave something behind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It need not have a name on it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But it can't be just any old thing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It must mean something to someone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That makes life worthwhile</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Even if for just the moment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So tomorrow is the time for change</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Radicalizing out and becoming different</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Want nothing and they cannot take it away</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Transcending the whole world in some self-creation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Putting aside the primitive irrelevancies</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Caring for nothing but living</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sixty</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Changes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Changes are happening</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So subtle that I couldn't say</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What they might become</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But definite and irrepressible</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While reflections of the environment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are in a state of continual transience</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is but of superficial make up</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Hiding the essence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That's unchanged</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Thus is the experience of living</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Forever in forward motion unstoppable</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Leaving behind irretrievable pasts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To stop changing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is to slowly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Die</p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sixty-Four</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Short</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life is so short</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As so many other things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are so short lived</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Brief moments in love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It sometimes seems</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That the best things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are always</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Too short</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like this poem</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That makes no sense</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is so short</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is this some joke?</p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sixty-Seven</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Cross-roads</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The human pilgrimage</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Has reached a cross-roads</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Unlike any before</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where unstoppably powerful forces</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only vaguely discernable</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Are on a head-on</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Collision course</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like some gathering storm</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All that's left is hope</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That the human travelers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Will survive the accident</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And weather the storm</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be able to continue</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Their age-old journey</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seventy-Two</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I. D.</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(putting it together)</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dichotomize the world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Subject-object tendency</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Outside subordination</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Inside pedestal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Unquestioned fear</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Disintegrating frustration</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Integrate living creativity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Becoming one change</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Transcending conflict</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of high essence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Courage being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Inner complacency</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I must renounce one</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Can't relinquish the other</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Consuming passion of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Toying with insanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Selfish ugliness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Social creation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A part of myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I can't amputate</p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seventy-Three</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Revolution</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(the changing of the self)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Revolution has a bloody history</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Dirty implication of four letters</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A proverbial fate of humanity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A nature to be long suffered</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Until some peaceable kingdom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Can be created synthetically</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The body politic has disgraced it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But it is blind without a mind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The future to see like some mystic</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nor without a crutch to carry it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Forward to its destiny</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Let peace reign in revolution</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fomenting inner rebellion</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seventy-Six</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Sacrifice</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(once more)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It seems to me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Time and again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That I'm doomed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To suffer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A peculiar fate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be lonely</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without companionship</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be frustrated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In what should be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Naturally mine</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My life unfolds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Before me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I feel</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is some</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Wisdom to this madness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A governing purpose</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That led me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Unwittingly through</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Too many dangers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But I can't say</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What it really is</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Something like Deja vue</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In patterns growing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And cycles repeating</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Happiness and sadness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In perpetual dance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To live only</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I do</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And to love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The world by them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Others think</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That I am strange</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But I've given up caring</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If I must sacrifice</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A part of myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Let me do it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Alone</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I think about suicide</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And decide</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That it's just better</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To wait around</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To see what happens next</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But when I die</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Make music</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">At my grave</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And drink a beer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In celebration</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why can't I love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Outside myself?</p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Eighty-Five</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Critic</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(At six o'clock low)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As I sit in my space capsule</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With seat belt unfastened</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ready to blast off</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But my juices</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I can't get them flowing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My drive motors</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Have petered out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They must be replenished</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With another beer</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And some more music</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What will the critics</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Make of this lousy verse?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who loves a six o'clock critic</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who makes it a profession</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not trying to do better?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Critics can say</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Whatever they may</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I got that to rhyme</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This should be written</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On the wall</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As far as I care</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This five minute</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Concoction</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is a masterpiece</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Still in the making</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I thought that maybe</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My stuff would get better</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In due time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But it's only grown worse</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I guess its time to quit or make some changes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Eighty-Two</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When?</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(asked the interviewer)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">He asked me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With decisive authority</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When will you be respectable?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When will you get a good job?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When will you learn a profession?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When will you grow up?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Never</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I replied</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Off the top of my head</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I'll die first</p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Eighty-Four</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fool</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(myself)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I think back</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On all the foolish things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That I have done</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And all that I didn't do</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">These things frighten me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I want to isolate myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From this complex world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But when in inspiration</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I do the things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I like best to do</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I feel good afterwards</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And forget my anxieties</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For the time being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Success and idiocy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Follow each other</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I remember the past</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And as I see the present</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To promise myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is all I can do</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To try to do better</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Tomorrow</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Eighty-Six</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nowhere</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(very fast)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where are my friends now?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I know happier people next door</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I know sadder people next door</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I return to this sterile place</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From all the fabulous places</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I know that fabulousness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is just an expensive illusion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">For I have known starving people</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I have starved for love</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Too long to be fooled</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By cheap imitations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of neurotic emptiness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the children pay in the end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The world teeters</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With man against man</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But the woman</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who is behind the man</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Goes unnoticed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In all the stories</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Except McBeth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Behind every great man's soul</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Stands a mother's conscience</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I wonder who rules</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This small world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The great human dilemma</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is only a simple paradox</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When it is solved</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But it is just as complex</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like a circle going nowhere</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The big world is not as it seems</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is bigger yet</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Humans are natural specialists</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Any expert can tell you that</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everything fits properly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then why all the speeches</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the articles of faith</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In all the written words?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">They are the people's illusions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And not what is real</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When will be the grand disillusionment</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life is a rock and roll song</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">and life is death</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So what draws me here again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like a growing animal</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That I must feed?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If I can throw my hand outside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Then why must I be so lonely</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And where do I fit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In this lonely world?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where do we go from here?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Eighty-Eight</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Portrait</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(in pen)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I picked up a pen</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But not to write</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To create another way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One which I have</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Long neglected and frustrated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A part of me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Atrophied in my youth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What is the immense power</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the self</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To be capable of compensation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My dear family who loves me so</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Have stolen parts of me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Over the years</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And I am left without anything</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But fragments of myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Scattered to the winds</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I have listened too long</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And have felt too much</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of too many other's needs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To the neglect of my own</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everyone is neurotic</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Neurotic people must frustrate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And disturb other's chances</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And people try to change in others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What which they fear they can't control</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Money has had a transient quality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And time has been in temporary quantity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I no longer care</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">About all the officiality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And titles of certitude that surround</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Everything with trivial importance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That schools so educate</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Most of what I have learned</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I have not needed nor used</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And have only forgotten</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Teachers too often avoid and critically repress</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That nebulous void of spontaneous creativity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With which they cannot cope</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I have had to relearn how to be myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I have grown tired of being belittled</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By other's sanctimonious self ratings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I need prove myself to no one</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Except to myself in reflection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Greatness is really incompetence reversed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And goodness is only hypocrisy fooled</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While love means ignorance neglected</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The self is only lonely</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As I look into the mirror and see through</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the vicarious fantasies to find simply, only myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I renounce the game of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And vow to reach out beyond this world in exploration</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Most of my time has been wasted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On dead ends and toil without purpose</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Nothing that I have with me now</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Seems of any meaning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If I can condense what I feel is important</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Down into a single word</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That would be myself</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A single life consuming instant</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not a consumed lifetime</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A silent picture can speak very loudly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">in deed</p> <p> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ninety</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Foolish Perfection</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(or the Perfect Fool)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The fool plays games with perfection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Creating with minutest detail</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Vibrant lines of tension</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Question the inner motives and emotions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When in frustration all that has been accomplished</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is swiftly destroyed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Not good enough to have served an imperfect end</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Perfection is a fool's game</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And imperfection a rebellious note</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The weekends convolute around my life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The same time of the week again</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In repetition through a meaningless existence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And people want more than they ask for or deserve</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But will never give for nothing</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If I were at this moment someone different</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The whole world would be otherwise</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What are these silly notions of rationality</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">When we are all so subjectively ourselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The world is all relative</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And humans can't put themselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In other people's shoes</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">No matter how much they may try</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or desire to be different</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I see my limitations as my loneliness consumes me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why people hold so tightly to empty illusions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Like measuring sticks to give dimension to emptiness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And scope to limited imperfections of forgotten pasts</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I am more or less the same stuff</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As when I was different</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Common clay that can be shaped into a thousand forms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Yet neither more nor less but always the same substance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The void of being is all pervasive</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And it makes no difference</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where I may be or where I am not</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or what others may see in me or say</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As underneath I would be the same human as I am now</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Too bad that I can't be just that</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Human being unviolated and naturally imperfect</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Even if I were a different being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Underneath all the superficiality I would still be only me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So why must I try to hide it</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">There is a single common line</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That holds the subjective world together</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And people feel it inside of their souls</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Full of nameless emotion and pent up energy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It can't be crossed without upsetting their lives</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To try to touch it is to threaten their security</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As they will not relent to their inner nature</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I am tired of shooting at the stars</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I think I will bring my aim more earthbound</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">If I could extract and condense</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">All the unlonely moments from my whole life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I could fit them all into a single month of real living</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">So why should I put off that which could be now</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The jealous expectation of some inhuman perfection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The fool plays a game</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To create, destroy, and create again aimlessly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Jealous of perfection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Silently smiling</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Saying too much in stubborn muteness</p> <hr> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ninety-Three</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Comp-Soma</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Plans always become compromised</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Expectations frustrated</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By unforeseen limitations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Things never work out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The way they were designed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But liberty is being able</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To compromise with life's realities</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And still be satisfied with the results</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A healthy sort of lifestyle</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Coping with imperfection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That is the beauty of creation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The simple elegance of living</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Being able to turn inwardly</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Completely ignoring life's demands</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And unlimited freely do the things</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The way one wants to do them</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To work hard in spite of limits</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or not at all because of limits</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Complete freedom of objectivity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The limits then are from the self</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only subjectively suffered</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The only way of defeating</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The universal tyranny of authority</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Transcending temporal being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Infatuations floating from face to face</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And spatial habituations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Fantasies transporting from place to place</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Days and hopes adrift</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On an open and stormy sea</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Restless for some point or port</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To find sanctuary</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From the froth and broil</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And to rekindle one's tomorrow</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A somnambulate dance through life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I barely know you</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But that little knowledge</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Begets an ancient story</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ninety-Four</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Frontier</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">(generations over space)</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Generation upon generation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of hardy pioneers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In the protestant spirit</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of hard work</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And spiritual rebellion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Have built upon this land</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A great civilization</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In unsurpassed wealth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of humanity's idealism</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In culmination</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the lives of many</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In what gratitude</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is the new generation?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Young rebels who love music</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With little appreciation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without concern for themselves</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">An anticlimactic revelation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Life in the fast lane</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is a lonely place to be</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In disheartening realization</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of a different kind of being</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a slow cumulative living</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without worry for time</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Lines curve into circles</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the path is ancient</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In harder times</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Selfish people come out</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">From the woodwork</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ostentatious background manifestations</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Usurped by a different breed</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Either great inner listening</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or greater outer obedience</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A cacophony of dissonance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As the word issues from every breath</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Explaining everything in simple terms</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A path that leads to both</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Greater wealth and stagnation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Always forward motion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Looking backward</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </font> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ninety-Six</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Somewhere?</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where are the artists?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where is the culture?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Who around here appreciates</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Living for one's work?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We value defense</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To protect our belongings</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And our liberties</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We value our jobs</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And our professions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We value hard work</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And physical recreation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of every kind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We value our cars</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And our color televisions</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We value high living</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And fast competition</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">We value what we wear</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And how we appear to others</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">But what good is all this</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">After you are dead</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And your grandchildren</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Inherit our world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What good is an artist</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the value of "culture"?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What good is just being human?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Where is the divine inspiration</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the cooperative solidarity?</p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Ninety-Eight</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Prophecy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The ancient prophecy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Is now in the process of revelation</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of utopia or decadence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In a shrinking world</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In war or peace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The ultimate climax of history</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To prove a tragedy or comedy</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The grand finale</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of the epic human odyssey</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Through the dimensions of universe</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The gulf is widening</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While no savior has come</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To walk on the quaking waters</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Separating human existence</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And the island of paradise</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Only poor messengers on high</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Scoundrels of ill-betiding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Mystic soothsayers of scientific cleanliness</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And what will be our fate?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Children of a peaceable kingdom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or adults in a hell-hold of anguish</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To realize the prophecy of life</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or to wait for the executioner's song</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While the conqueror worm is well-nourished</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">By diseased souls forsaken by their Gods</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I am the volition of becoming</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">The self seeks its reflection</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Integrity, unity, divinity</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I am truth</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">as I am</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">one</p> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">One Hundred and One</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To a Toad</p> </font> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As I sit here and dream</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I think back to the monsters</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">That rolled across the land</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">"Let nothing stand in the way"</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Was their death scream</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Noise deafening and dust blinding</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Huge mechanical toads</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Little ants hiding inside</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With nowhere to run</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Steel ships on a gentle, sandy sea</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Charging into a rough storm</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of fire and smoke</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A hundred guns sounding off simultaneously</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In distinct and different tunes each</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In volley and thunderous noise</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">A calamitous, deafening dissonance</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Of inner confusion</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On line together</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Trying to hear a subtle note</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As I wake up each morning</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I am confronted</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With a special mission</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">My task was not finished</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">With the end of a normal tour</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">It is my fate to quest beyond</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Without any clear or rigid answers</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Formulas there are many</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Each a game for the mind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">And nothing more</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Too serious to play the common games</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To break free from the usual path</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">On a different course</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">While gentle music assists me on my way</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">In search of some golden key</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">To eternal freedom</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or spiritual harmony</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Or just the illusive resemblance of peace</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Words are only conceptions of the mind</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">This poesy must await further invention</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As I sit here and dream</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Why all the answers?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">What is the problem?</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Please tell me</p> <p ALIGN="CENTER">As I toy with my sanity</p> <hr> <p ALIGN="CENTER"><font size="6">Moments</font></p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Imagine all the weighty titles of authority</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And all the officious heirs of nobility</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To be but false illusions of human ability</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Disguising lives of weakness</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">On top of a mountain</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of existential pettiness</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Imagine the only true nobility</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To be found in life</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In the absolute loneliness</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of the self</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In utter humility</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Imagine all our glorious efforts</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To help others</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To be all in vain</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">and all our selfless sacrifices</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To end only in hurt</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">and the only means of helping others</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is to turn away in selfishness</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Imagine all our petty defeats</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And dreaded plagues</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Supplicated by our friendships</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And our individual responsibility</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Transferred upon others we call friends</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And as it is in each person's life</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">So it is with the vast crowds</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Imagine responsibility of the whole of humanity</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And for the self</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Diffused into nothingness</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Displaced by the crystallized and permanent</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Power structures of authority</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And in the end</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">There is nothing more to do</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Than to perish in holocaust or famine</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Imagine all the friendships</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To be but secret conspiracies of entrapment</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And all the polite courtesies and intimate expressions of love</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To be but seditious and slanderous sarcasm</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And insulting lies</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Imagine every word spoken</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To have a double meaning</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Every sentence written</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To end in deception</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And every face to bear two sides</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Imagine the only true reward of life</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To be had in death</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And the only real hope</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is to dwell in disillusionment and desperation</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And the only good help</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is to be found in lonely subjectivity</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of selfish motivation</p> <p> </p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> <hr> </font> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Freedom is an illusion</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">There is nothing in life</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That can be freely taken</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Without some price</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That must be paid</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The cost of political freedom</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is social responsibility</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The cost of moral freedom</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is ethical obligation</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">the cost of spiritual freedom</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is material impoverishment</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">the cost of a free life</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is self-determined death</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Freedom and determination</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Can never be sundered</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Or reversed</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Without causing</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Unnatural harm to life</p> <font SIZE="5"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <hr> </font> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Nothing is ever said</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That has not been said before</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In some other manner</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Nothing is ever thought</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That has not been thought before</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In some other person's silence</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Nothing is ever done</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That has not been done before</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In some other way</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Our individuality is but delusion</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Our sense of self is but reflection</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of other people's expressions</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">As we entertain fantasies</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of our own great images</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And glorious future becoming</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Feelings experience by many others</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In many other places</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And in many other times</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The only thing absolute about our existence</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is the extreme relativity of our willpower</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In time and place</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Our prejudices are our intelligence</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Our beliefs are our ignorance</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Our causes are our wills</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Our responsibility is our guilt</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In the peaceful interlude</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Our passage is our inescapable paradox</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We stand witnesses</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To yet another tragic episode</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In our continuing human epic</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <font SIZE="5"> <hr> </font> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Some lots are cast more fortunately</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Many others are unfortunate</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Scratch the shallow surface</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Find disappointment</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In the imperfect distortion</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Reach underneath the interface</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To gain only shallow disillusionment</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Fathom the depths to reach the bottom</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Find only the absolute darkness</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of the labyrinth of insanity</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Break free from the bonds of sanctuary</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To find only abandonment</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In endless void</p> <p> </p> <font SIZE="5"> <hr> </font> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">This art work you call merely meretricious</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That you degrade as unmeritorious</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Evoking feelings that are merely salacious</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">It was not painted by a critic</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">But was the earnest work of an honest poet</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To understand the meaning of this masterpiece</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">It is not enough to simply open one's eyes</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">But you must open your mind as well</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">An artist's understanding is different</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">From the scientist's</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Photographic reflection of reality</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is not the artist's goal</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">It is a private world of imagination</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">So do not try to scientifically analyze</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">This work of art</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Learn to simply enjoy this masterpiece</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And perhaps you will also learn</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">A little bit of truth</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The artist's pathway is not a happy one</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">It is a lonely and abandoned route</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">But it is a very fruitful one</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">An artist's masterpiece is like a piece of fruit</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">One of a vast many of an artist's rich fruit tree</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Each fruit must be viewed in relation to all the others</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The tree has its roots in common ground</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And itself is the product of artistic seed</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">From a long lineage of many such trees</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And each piece of fruit in its turn has many such seeds</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">There is nothing new under the shade</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of an artist's fruit tree</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">I wonder if it is worth</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Suffering the rude crudeness</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of the common crowd</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Insulting such fine virtue</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">By their base vulgarity</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">But there is nothing like seeing</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The colors in their full intensity</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And the forms in their mighty proportionality</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The statues in all their naked dimensionality</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Revealing the imperfections of the artist's personality</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Counterbalanced by the power of his spontaneity</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Turning everything he touches</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Into a spiritual and priceless form of gold</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Creating life</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">From lifeless clay</p> </font> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">As great is the scientist's objectivity</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Equally power is the artist's subjectivity</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Opposed on the ends of the rainbow</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That spans our common world</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And carries our dreams aloft</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In search of some magical treasures</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To enrich our common lives</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Science has no absolute claim to truth</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Or to the great evil that besets our exterior lives</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Art has no monopoly over beauty</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">It suffers as much guilt in disrupting our interior lives</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">An artist can be as equally corrupted as a scientist</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">But the only thing worse than poor art and bad science</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is the intolerance of distasteful art</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And the burning of bad books</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Philosophy has only as much a hold on ignorance</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">As religion as a firm footing on understanding</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Philosophy has no sovereignty over reason</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">As religion has no possession over goodness</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Art, science, religion and philosophy</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Stand in uneasy relation to one another</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In regard to the self and the other</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Each is comprehensive in our lives</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And yet none is complete without the others</p> </font> <hr> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">A master of imperfection</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">An imperfect painting</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">An impatient poem</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is this my final judgment?</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Am I not worth</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">One penny or minute more?</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Too difficult it is</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To dwell without satisfaction</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To live without security</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To achieve without proper motivation</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To exist</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To merely exist</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And nothing more</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Outside of the all powerful</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Social system of reward</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And never-ending punishment</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To exist as perfectly as possible</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Along the edge of sanity</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In order to live to completion</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">But without falling off</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Into the abyss of shadow</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is this a sad or happy commentary</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Upon a meager and petty existence</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of one single human being</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Dwelling among a multitude of many?</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Does this existence rate criticism</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">From strangers</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Or authoritative analysis</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">From superiors?</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Existing without guilt</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Existing without innocence</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Passing ignorantly future ward</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And yet I must</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Come to terms</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">With myself</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">to achieve inner sanctum from insanity</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To avoid the corruption of competition</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And the pollution of dishonesty</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To find peace in solitude</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To comfort the pains</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of a distraught heart</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And to quell the storms</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of desperate desire</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And if this final understanding</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is achieved through self-destruction</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Then I have only to ask</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Whether it is to be an act of courage</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Or an one of cowardice</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Or merely the simple cessation</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To a meaningless existence?</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p> </p> </font> <hr> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">How shall I combat</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The ills of this world</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">If I persist in harboring</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Deep within myself</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That secret weapon</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Like a spoiled child</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Who hides his precious toys?</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">What good are my strengths</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">If I allow others</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To make them my greatest weaknesses?</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Do not insult me with your ignorance</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Do not deceive me with your prejudiced thoughts</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Beware my secret weapon</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That in its revelation</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">I might jump into your head games</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And leave you absolutely bewildered</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Where are we headed?</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">What is next in store for us</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In this grand scheme of things?</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is it to be a tragic fall from grace</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Or is it but a small jump to yet grander heights?</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To a new glory</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">With an astounding panorama</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">With love and beauty</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And hope abounding to the furthest horizons</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Malingering malcontent</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Malicious martinet</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Bellicose and truculent</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">With martial manners</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Contumacious of just authority</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Manipulating and misusing power</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To force your perverted niche</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Upon nature</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In a new world</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That no longer</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Has any need for your kind</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">What is your place now?</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Where will you go?</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">When the many people you molest and enslave</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Awaken to protest and shrug you off</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Like some bad habit?</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">My children born without</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In sad poverty</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Wasting away to an early death</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Do not fear the darkness</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Do not relinquish hope for happiness</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Though love is destitute</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In this irrationality of human society</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">There is mercy yet to be found</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Dwelling deep within the hardened hearts</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That mercy will yet triumph over evil</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That controls our behavior</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Do not cry my little children of the world</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Though misery and hunger</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Stalk your sorrowful souls</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Even in your mother's womb</p> </font> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">All life is composed</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of but an infinite amount</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of minute details</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To look for meaning</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Beyond this mosaic</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Past the images of reality</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is but mere human folly</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In truth</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Life is meaningless</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Absolutely relative</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To search for meaning</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Beyond existence</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is to go against</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The very nature of life</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And to delude ourselves</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In our beliefs</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In the beginning</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">There is only nothing</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In the end</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">There is still only nothing</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In between there are but petty games</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That we will play or not</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Some lots are cast more fortunately</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Many others are unfortunate</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Scratch the shallow surface</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Find disappointment</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In the imperfect distortion</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Reach underneath the interface</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To gain only shallow disillusionment</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Fathom the depths to reach the bottom</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Find only the absolute darkness</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of the labyrinth of insanity</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Break free from the bonds of sanctuary</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To find only abandonment</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In endless void</p> </font> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The moment of reckoning</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Has arrived upon this scene</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And now I must choose in solitude</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">What weapon I shall sacrifice</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Whether the pen</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Or the brush</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Which shall I make my shield and arrow</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In my daily confrontation</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To carry both is to divide</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The strength and loyalty of the heart</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Against the soul</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In ineffectual conflict</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And to tear my being apart</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">From the inside out</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And yet I cannot find</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The courage</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To relinquish one</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">For the other</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And so in my unsolvable dilemma</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Render both muted and spoiled</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Thus I ponder my self-defeating travail</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Wandering down the mysterious forest trail</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Wondering when shall be my final passage</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">From which there is no return</p> </font> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Dwelling alone</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">On an abandoned island</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In the middle</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of a vast sea of humanity</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Braving the storms of misfortune</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Animistic artist</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Conjuring to life images</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Poet that composes</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Living without rhythm</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Without rhyme</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Writer who creates</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">With words and pictures</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">New worlds and the lives of many</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Philosopher who conceives</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The meaning of silence</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And comprehends the vastness</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of an empty universe</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Meaning forced into being</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Through the eyes</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Through the fingers</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Sharing kinship</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">With the prehistoric</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Cave dweller and star gazer</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Estranged from afar</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">With the contemporary lifestyles</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Muttering privately</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Under one's breath</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">A strong contempt of critics</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Working alone</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">A whole lifetime</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Spent in toil</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">From dawn to dusk</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">On works for none to ever see</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Working until the final parting</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Perishing in the desert fires</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In vain pursuit</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of mirages and strange visions</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of mythical paradises</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Passing into oblivion</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Unknown and unimportant</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Fulfilled lifetime</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of an estranged artist</p> </font> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The crippling burden</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of beguiling uncertainty</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Carried upon one's back</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">From day to day</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">All the difficult choices</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That confuse one's efforts</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And turn all plans</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To frustration and failure</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">When all days</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">End in depression</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">But what great relief it is</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To finally make a decision</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That is straight and true</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Unloading the indecision</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Turning subjective nonsense</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Into objective rationality</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">It makes the fight so much easier</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To stand up before all the others</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Now I have conquered my loneliness</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And do the things I like best</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In solitude</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Away from other's influence</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">and now they must bear</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">My new found freedom</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">I have myself</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">I have nothing else</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And want nothing else</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To make me happy</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Others who like to see me down</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Have not yet defeated me</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And I have scored</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">One more small victory</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In this game of life</p> </font> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">You who know so much about me</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Without even asking what I think</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">You who can plan my future so well</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Without even knowing about my past</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">You who say you have me figured out</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Without even sharing my values or feelings</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">How can you be so ignorant</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Who are these self-important people</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That I have never heard of until now?</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">My art is right in front of you</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And you suggest that I ought to advertise</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">What I do must stand on its own</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Its intrinsic merit</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Must withstand the test of time</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Its integrity shall speak for itself</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And these petty strategies</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That are so well designed to alter the inevitable</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And to hurry the passage of time</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Silence your mouth before me</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Before I read through your</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Shallow disguises</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And breach your weak defenses</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To uncover the true nature</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of your naked, ugly soul</p> </font> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">I do not fear</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The regression and hostility</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">From my enemies</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">So much as I fear the apathy</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of the anonymous crowds</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Who in untouchable ignorance</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Claim innocence from their behavior</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And shirk their moral responsibility</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Who in unbelievable prejudice</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Allow injustice to persist</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">I do not fear</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The death and destruction</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of war and murder</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">As much as I fear the changelessness</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And overwhelming pressure to conform</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">By the living dead</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Who in mass</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Walk the face of the earth</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">As in a lifelong trance</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">I fear the ignorance</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That blinds people to the truth</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That limits what people think and do</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And the distortion of their vision</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That keeps people</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">From living naturally</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">I do not fear hatred</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">So much as I fear those</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Who just do not care</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">For it is in this carelessness</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That the unmaking of humankind</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is to be most readily found</p> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The problem of truth</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is that in all its relativity</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">It is humanly absolute</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And even though it is absolutely unknowable</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">All humans need truth</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">So desperately</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The nature of truth</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is a human dilemma</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">A paradox of being</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Inside-out and outside-in</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">At the same time</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Two parallel realities</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Unfolding concurrently in the mind</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Yet rarely are they allowed to meet</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Face to face</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And become one</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Truth is disguised</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">By many false pretensions</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">It becomes distorted and misshapen</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And thus rendered impotent</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Its natural beauty is mistakenly marred</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">It appears unattractive and repulsive</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Truth is denied and lied about</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Deception hides truth</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And destroys it at the root</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of its life and effectiveness</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">So that the happiness of people</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Thus unseen and unknown</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">May be stolen by unscrupulous persons</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And its value transformed by deceit</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Into a destructive force</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That make people into mere material things</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And enslaves the soul</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Truth is ignored</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">As ignorance is taught</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And in ignorance humans live and die</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Without ever knowing or experiencing</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The glory of truth</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The beauty of truth</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Must be shared unconditionally and openly</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">For its lure and attraction</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To take affect</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Upon the human heart</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The quest for truth</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Will never end</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">It is an artistic vision</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of a grand future</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">A dream of infinite forever</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In a golden paradise of eternal happiness</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">It is a search for El Dorado</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That fountain of youth</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">By which the old may find renewal</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">By which the dead</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">May find revival</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And the dispirited</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Resurrection</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The path of truth</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is a solitary one</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Alone that there is much loneliness</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">But also much love of life</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That is the highest</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">End and means of truth</p> </font> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Our is an age of great things</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Come and gone by</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of great experiments and greater mistakes</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of grand dramas played upon many stages</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In many corners of the globe</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Ours is an age of grand schemes</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of revolutions turned sour</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">An age of great excitement and climax</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of great anti-heroes and disillusionment</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Ours is an age of great disparity</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of tremendous material belonging</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And unprecedented human poverty</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">An age of unrivaled potentiality and achievement</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And of disheartening calamity</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Ours is an age of great diversity</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of great ignorance and great wisdom</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Ours is an age of many great changes</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And of overpowering conformity</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Ours is an age unparalleled and unprecedented</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In the history of human civilization</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">What is the worth of a few hundred</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Or of a few thousand</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">When measured against the billions</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Who walk the earth and exist</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">From day to day?</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">What is the meaning of any single soul</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">When the voices of millions</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Clamor to be heard?</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Yet where in this great new age</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is there space for a single solitary soul</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Or the time to listen</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To the complaints of one unhappy heart?</p> <p> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">If secrets are not soon to be shared</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Then chances are they will never be known</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The fires of desire soon die out</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">If not fed with mysterious intrigue and curious fancy</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And fleeting love will grow wild</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Out of control of one's impassioned heart</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">the closeness of new found intimacy</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Will suffocate beneath too close scrutiny</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And the attraction of new found possibility</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Will subside beneath too late familiarity</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The excitement will wear off</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Never to share the climactic ecstasies</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">What could of been becomes mere fantasy</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Cast into the well of human imperturbability</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And just as with old lovers</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">New lovers shall never be the same</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">It is never enough</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To take refuge</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In the hollow shell that remains</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">From the ever returning loneliness</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of the imprisoned heart</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Fleeting love vicariously lived</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Brief haphazard escapades</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Mere random distractions</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">From the inescapable drudgery</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Of the duties of life</p> </font> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <hr> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <font FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">This game</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Is so convincing</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">If would be</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Almost overwhelmingly so</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">If it weren't</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">For the simple</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Facts of life</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And death</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And the utter</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Boredom</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Subduing interest and attention</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That now and then</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Creeps back onto the stage</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Despite our earnest efforts</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Uncharitable refusals</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And dishonest denials</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The story is only mildly amusing</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The dialogue is roundly dissatisfying</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The settings are all so well placed</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The designs are so well contrived</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The parts so well played</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">It would all be so believable</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">If not for one single flaw</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">A minor imperfection</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That makes the hypocrisy so revealing</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">It is so like</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The usual petty people</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Putting so much stock</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In first impressions</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And superficial appearances</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Hiding behind disguises</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To push and pull in indiscretion</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In this and that direction</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The innocent youths</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Until in fits of passion</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Youth rebels</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And in revolution screaming</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Stops the whole play short</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And upsets the entire stage</p> </font> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <hr> <p> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">This mighty powerful thing</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">That we call by so many names</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">It is so vast, so powerful</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">So complicated, so enormous and so grand</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">That in simple truth</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">We do not understand it</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">Except in the vaguest and most general terms</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">Of our most abstracted mentalities</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">It defies the precision</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">Of our fine instrumentation</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">It leaves our system</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">Stymied and baffled in confusion</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">Seeming so weak by comparison</font></p> <font SIZE="5" FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">It lives our lives</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">Thinks our thoughts</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">Motivates our actions</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">Determines our wills</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">And sets our common fate</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">It diminishes our conceived dignity</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">Into inscrutable insecurity</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">It is the greatest divinity</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">Possibly imaginable in our small skulls</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">In spite of all its indefinable uncertainty</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">It leaves me without doubt</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">As to the compelling necessity</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">Of my next breath</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">Or as the reality of life and death</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">It is the very matter of our bodies</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">And the very essence of our lives</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">It is the energy of the sun and stars</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">And the blood of all life</font></p> <font SIZE="5" FACE="Book Antiqua"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> </font> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">To merely call it God</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">Would be to do it a grave injustice</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">For what just God</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">Would have allowed humanity</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">To suffer so much</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">It is much greater than our petty conceptions</font></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><font FACE="Book Antiqua" size="3">Of divinity</font></p> <font SIZE="5"> <hr> <p ALIGN="center"> </p> <p align="center"><font face="Palatino,Book Antiqua">Copyright © 2003 by Hugh M. Lewis<br> </font>August 17, 2006 </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="CENTER"> </p> </font> <p align="center"> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"> s="na";c="na";j="na";f=""+escape(document.referrer) </script> <script language="javascript1.2" type="text/javascript"> s=screen.width;v=navigator.appName if (v != "Netscape") {c=screen.colorDepth} else {c=screen.pixelDepth} j=navigator.javaEnabled() </script> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"> function pr(n) {document.write(n,"\n");} NS2Ch=0 if (navigator.appName == "Netscape" && navigator.appVersion.charAt(0) == "2") {NS2Ch=1} if (NS2Ch == 0) { r="&size="+s+"&colors="+c+"&referer="+f+"&java="+j+"" pr("<A HREF=\"http://www.TheCounter.com\" TARGET=\"_top\"><IMG"+ " BORDER=0 SRC=\"http://c1.thecounter.com/id=515383"+r+"\"><\/A>")} </script> <NOSCRIPT> <a HREF="http://www.TheCounter.com" TARGET="_top"><img SRC="http://c1.thecounter.com/id=515383" ALT="TC" BORDER="0" width="88" height="31"></a> </NOSCRIPT>  </body>