While The Mother Sleeps

a mother wakes and views
On the hill,
behind the house
The empty swing hung from the Scotch pine
Swaying in the wind,
waiting to be used again.
the red clay mud grown over with weeds
children's feet no longer stunt the seeds
a mother cries, tries denying they are gone.

The children went away long ago
The toys still in their chest
they remain unused,
but their memory is all that's left

A lone man stands by the river
As the Ohio flows itself away
the years flood back in muddy waters
things once mysterious become known
fishing out his father's mistakes
fishing out his own.
a message in a bottle floats
on years to his son

the hallow.
foggy, covered with leaves
once harboured here a child
hiding in the autumn morn
and from his parents scorn
his soul drank from these streams
knowing life can fall apart at the seams.

a child goes to the door alone
while the mother sleeps
things learned at a tender age
are things learned for keeps
and so the child looks out on an empty world
while the mother sleeps

Smiles

Smiles
They go without saying
No need for stating
That happiness is evident there
Lives without a care
But underneath the meaning translated
Destiny has anticipated more
we sell ourselves short - the world's whore
And what for? they're searching too...
For something they couldn't get from parents or you
People just need sometimes to search
Either to rebel against or prove what they learned in church
And God's still there
Yes, He'll always care
You'll still need to make that choice
Sit alone and try to be on your own
Or listen to the soul within, the Holy Spirit's voice
the work that's invisible within
But outwardly it's plain
To the world you'll always be insane.

Shades of Blue

He's trapped inside
a little boy scarred and afraid
buried beneath the life he lived
and the choices that he made
He reaches for the rescue
Reaches for the shore
but the increasing burdens of living
wash over him all the more

The security we crave
birth to the grave
wasn't there, wasn't available for him
thoughts of survival push the person behind
protective walls of the mind
so the man you see before you
isn't a boy that grew
he's the hard shell of locked emotions
emotions in shades of blue

Shades of blue
Color my life, color my soul
Shades of blue
Shades of blue
Memories of the boy I once knew
Where is he now?
Hiding in the shades of blue

How long do I endure the cold -
deepness in which the real me is lost
Who can pay the ransom
the price that finding me will cost
The reward isn't enough for many
but for me it's a chance to feel
life for real - a life if any
until finding this boy becomes true
I'll stay hiding in his shades of blue

Poppies

Poppies are beautiful
They become venom in my veins
See as I see me fly
Trying to catch sunlight through the rain
fishing on an empty ocean
dreams escape my reality
I drop my net in hopes to find
The joy that comes from peace of mind
Somehow the shadows on the ceiling
Give me the opposite feeling.

Tina is a doll to have around
But she's a bitch when she leaves town
Push the gas, goes so fast
Gotta drive to stay alive
Sunshine through the skyline
I still miss Tina all the time
But we grew apartI have changed
She stayed the same
Let others give their hearts and feel the shame.

Up all night, snow so white
I can see me in the mirror, mirror.
Stayed awake for wakeful's sake
Eyes with dark circles on, squintin at the break of dawn.
And so this goes on and on
Months and years are wasted
Reality is, half a decade won't let me face it.
Take away my Snow White
And I won't even have a life.

Sunday With Mom and Dad

Sitting with friends, some I met tonight
Thinking I finally made it
But tragedy delayed it.

Sunday's with mom and dad
Simple pleasures in those precious hours
It's life and relationships in a bouquet of flowers

I'm tryin'
Trying for what they hold dear
To keep my life, to live it near
to their expectations
And yet the deep calls out to me
Travel makes my sanity
I wonder where their desire ends
I wonder where I begin
But I do know there's got to be an end.

Strange feelings pass through sobriety
Familiar reality at the bottom of my drink
Crazy to most, getting an insight to living here

Shameful trips south people don't see
what they're all about
Plainly an appeasing offering to my need
A change, a dramatic switch is what I plead

The Drunk's Beer Song

Illusions of activity
Sitting in front of the TV
Drinkin' a beer.
The world outside is passin' me by
I'm not gonna even ask why
Just sit here drinkin' a beer.
I've got plans every other evenin'
With a few ladies who are quite pleasin'
I'll spend time with them drinkin' a beer.

Drinkin' a beer, drinkin' a beer
There's not much more in life that brings me cheer
Than...drinkin a beer.
drink, drink, drinkin a beer.

If I ever get to the bottom of this bottle
I'll head to the carry-out full throttle
so I can be again, drinkin a beer

Well just last week, my honey and me
Went out to dine
and she wanted wine
I said fine...for you..
but waiter soon as you can
I pointed to Bud
and to the back he ran
to fetch me
a bottle of beer!

Plastic Existence

Plastic existence
what's real anymore
media mind control
All we think, read, see
So what's left
Let it be
But no they can't do that
they have to take
more, and more
take it all.
Everytime I have a thought
It goes out the window.

Guess This is Life

Places, places call out to my soul
Nothing holds me back from discovery
And my journey makes me whole

People,
people stranded in their lives
Perpetuating tradition and hormones
Men take
and women become wives

{chorus} Huh...guess this is life
Said...huh, huh, huh, huh,
Yeah this is life.

Frankly, frankly I don't give a hoot
So the days fly by lonely, introspective
But stating that fact is a point rendered moot.
It's a bag of mixed emotions everytime someone says "you're cute".

{Chorus}

People,
people become so soulless in places
Places that I've been.
Regaining meaning in my reflections
A memorial again.
Many wouldn't believe what they mean to me
And society won't let me show
and they'll never see.

{Chorus}Repeat