Seeking Serenity
Every four years
Eyes fill with tears,
As politicians slaves to corporations,
Grown larger than some distant nations,
Start thumping their chest
If they come ahead,
As they do their best
To do as corporate powers said.
Have you heard the tale
of two million Americans in jail,
or six times more
than thirty years before?
Are there leaders today
To help us find our way?
Anyone like Martin Luther King
Who was shot in the spring,
Leaving others to sing
“Let Freedom Ring”?
Do you feel mistreated?
Do you feel like you’ve been cheated?
Are you tired of the buying of elections?
Are you drowning in your reflections?
You go to the supermarket to find some cheap fruit,
The fruit of the labor was easy to loot.
It’s the global economy on parade,
A good deal for you leaves someone underpaid.
Beside the march a guy sold pictures of Bin Laden,
A guy who looked like he was among the downtrodden,
Someone pointed to the picture asking “Do you like this man?”
He said “No, I’m just trying to make a living in Pakistan.”
Pakistan, where civil war is waiting
For American troops to come and increase the hating.
Sometimes I’m up late at night,
Wondering why people have to fight,
Maybe it’s just karma they need to play out.
It’s kind of pathetic, it makes me want to shout.
A Cool November Evening
Love is kind
And sometimes blind
But never mind
It’s hard to find—
Don’t look behind—
This time is time
To walk the line
And say “the time is mine”,
You tie the vine
And sip the wine,
The taste is fine,
Almost divine…
The wind benign
Blows her a sign.
He had taken his licks
And had his kicks,
But the night scared him that night,
Filled him with fright,
Took away his sight,
Moved him to fight
For something that might
Make him know what was right—
To not forget the plight
Of those feeling the bite
Of lies painted white
Obstructing birds’ flight
And squeezing veins tight.
Where was the light
Of eyes shining bright
Transcending the spite?
Turning stones
Melting phones
Feeling hung up
Crushing bones
Matching clones
Feeling peachy
Shining shoes
Both sides lose
Hitting her up.
Sky is blue
My heart too
Feeling cheesy
Kill the light
Still the night
Whispers softly
Missed your fun
Tell someone
You need honey
Bleeding stops
Bumper crops
Feeling sunny
Flowers grow
Rosters crow
It’s a new day.
Saris in the Distance
At night again, I see her standing
A gentle look, my heart starts pounding
Frozen lips keep on demanding
A distance kept, an understanding
That seems to suggest a longer wait—
I slow down and hesitate
Before I find she’s closed the gate
That opens only when the breeze walks in
And waves her hair and watches men
Who have come to taste her truth within.
Seeing her stand there again
I’m wiser now than I was then,
The distance she keeps
Like distant water on dry land,
Like a mirage in the desert,
Like a castle in the sand,
It passes, slowly.
I am not moved by your mountains
Nor frightened by your storms,
I am not hungry by your side
Nor seeking other forms,
To pass the day inside your dreams
A river crawls or so it seems
To seep inside the soil.
Inside of me my mother calls
To cease my bitter toil.
My skin feels gently torn,
A child of love is born
Not to get used to the words we used to
Say to each other, whenever, together—
Oh there’s no use in trying to remember—
I hear footsteps now.
Fragments
The look of leisure in her eyes,
A hint of seizure between her sighs,
He loved her like the stars above,
Like an angel’s song,
Like a morning dove,
Like the gentle wind that strokes her hair,
Like children’s laughter at a country fair.
She was just a face without a name,
But he touched her just the same,
Like a herd of caribou crossing a plain,
He sped towards her heart but in vain.
Eventually he starts to act nervous,
Leading her to ask exactly what is the purpose
Of wanting to conceal a desire easily known,
As he reaches for a drink she reaches for a stone.
Our lives come and go within a blink of a stone’s many years,
And yet we’re able to bundle together a million hidden fears,
As if acting according to our mind’s desire
Would lead us into some kind of infernal fire.
I’m tired of pretending
That I haven’t stopped spending
My nights thinking ‘bout you.
I’m just a guy spinning in a game without winning a heart that breaks me in two,
I’m not ready to lose you but maybe I’ll choose to leave you in another one’s arms,
It’s starting to seem like some terrible dream has made me forget all your charms.
I live beneath still waters, I never move at all.
With a seashell to my ear I wait for the sirens’ call.
I know the serpent never lets go but still I want to fall.
To stop my pain from flowing I have to build a dam.
By the circles under my eyes you can tell how old I am,
Like rings in the bark of a tree it’s plain for anyone to see
When I’m short of breath, I shake myself, it’s a way for me to feel free.
Sometimes I feel like bells that ring
Chiming while others sing.
Sometimes I feel like I belong
Dancing to a lover’s song.
Sometimes my imagination gets the best of me,
Dancing like a falling tree.
The tree breaks as it hits the ground
As my heart aches but without a sound.
Sometimes it’s difficult to see without a sense of history
Of lives that have passed without a trace
Of crimes for historians to erase.
Voices in my head make the time pass by
While choices that I’m fed leave me wondering why
I have this restless feeling
For kisses to be stealing
From a distant stranger’s hand,
From grains of a beach’s sand.
To the one who loves to smile
Who has made my head spin for a while,
I couldn’t help but notice your style,
The way you put my heart on trial.
As my eyes rest upon your skin,
I try to feel your truth within.
Like a ball of energy rolling down a hill
You gather speed and momentum until
Some individual comes to obstruct your way,
Prompting you to say what you need to say
For you to continue your journey ahead
Traveling from adventure to adventure,
Keeping your soul well fed.
To the one who loves to dance and moves with grace,
I saw you last night in a faraway place,
In a land full of wild animals you were the queen,
Knowing what others didn’t know, seeing what couldn’t be seen.
Some can’t bear the thought of finding love
Cause who is there to thank above
For kisses that flow close to the shore,
While the government shields the rich from the poor?
But time is a place where nomads run,
Mine is the heart that seeks the sun,
Hers is the part that sleeps undone,
By the cry, by the warmth of a chosen one.