3/19/2006 12:40 PM
Byrd (for my friend)
I saw a byrd
With a broken wing
He had to walk
Everywhere he would go
And he spent each day
In memories
Lost in the way things were
In every life
There’s a turning point
On this narrow road
We travel on
Something will seem
That it’s a world away
Then you turn around
It’s next to you
Would you help me up
When I have fallen down
Or would you
Not look back
Go home
And pray for me
Sometimes life
Seems like a falling star
Burning bridges
With every step you take
It doesn’t matter
How others picture you
The most important part
Is what you know
You are
3/18/2006 12:05 PM
Are there people out there
Who care about someone else
Are they few and far between
Or just hard to be seen
Like a porcupine
Are they hiding in a cardboard box
Or sitting at home
Thinking they are safe
Behind their front door locks
Are there people out there
Who long to be kind
They get up every day
Go their way
And close their mind
To everything
They see and hear
All the hatred
All the fear
Hoping if they turn their back
It will go away
Are there people out there
Who will stick their neck out
While all the others are quiet
That’s the time
They will shout
About the injustice
That they see
The inhumanity
Are there people out there
Searching for love
Showing the scars
Left from those
Who swore that they would never
Hurt them
There are people out there
Who know of love
They can not stay
In the back of the class
They must go to the front
And teach
3/16/2006 9:15 AM
When you meet someone
Look in their eyes
You may feel
Warmth
A sense of kindness
That seems
Inviting
After you become aware
You will notice
Other people
Who seem to have
Ice in their soul
Don’t walk
Run
Away from these people
Before they entangle
You
In their web
3/15/2006 8:15PM
You have lived your life
Now you are ready for your reward
But you never noticed birds, flowers, or trees
And worst of all
You never seemed at ease
You had no time for kindness
Shied away from love
Took too much for granted
Spent your time
Looking down
Never above
Do you really deserve a reward?
3/1/1996 2:00 PM
We all take so many things for granted. Assigning them a permanence that exists only in our minds. Everything associated with life is a miracle. We all have only so many days to gaze up at the clouds or to see the stars on a clear night. We also get to look upon the face of a loved one a limited amount of time. There is just not enough time in anyone’s life to waste on hatred, prejudice, or destruction.
We are taught or shown so many of the wrong things and very few of the right. So many never have the chance to learn love and kindness. You cannot find it through anything but direct contact. All the bad things of life are also passed on through direct contact. Many parents pass on from generation to generation their misguided views on race, religion, and countless other misnomers.
A young child can be formed much as a potter forms a piece of clay. I cannot see anything worse than allowing destructive forces to manifest themselves in the mind of youth. There can be nothing good to come out of this situation.
Unconditional love seems to be a rare commodity. It should have a value much greater than all the gold, diamonds, etc., on Earth. Yet, those that have been blessed to know it usually take it for granted or keep it to themselves, as you would lock up a memento in your attic.
3/17/1993 9:50 PM
Monks sat in dim candle-lit monasteries high in the Himalayan Mountains of Tibet while around the Earth, Indians sat by the warmth of a campfire and they all searched their souls for purpose and understanding. Neither group knew of any existence of life beyond their own proximity, yet they picked up the same basic thoughts.
12/11/1974 8:20 PM
A ripple in the ocean
Rushing to the shore
Time passing by
We have no control
Of so many things
We can’t even control our tongues
They lash out at so many
Innocent victims
Spoken words are as ripples
In the ocean
They proceed until they have run
Their course
Slowed only as they pass
The broken hearts
That line the way
8/6/1974 7:30 PM
You are in the warmth of summer
Among the frost of Fall
You are everything to me
And you are, most of all
A kind and tender person
So full of love for life
Yet life will deal you hardships
Laughter turns to woe
Why that things should be that way
It is not mine to know
I only know I love you
Though you weren’t always shown
But now, there’s no time or way
Your happiness is all to me
If there be any justice
And love should receive reward
You’ll be among the counted
3/15/2006 12:53PM
I want to start
A revolution of kindness
Fighting against hatred
Trying to kill single-mindedness
But it is hard to find soldiers
Who will leave their egos
At the door
And let love
Be limitless
Someone who has come to know
No matter
Where it is
Or what it is
The only difference
Is the container
Someone who can watch a bird
Fly from tree to tree
And realize
That bird has something
We try to achieve
Freedom
If there is something
Within you
That wants to kill it
So it cannot fly
Then you are someone
Who need not
Apply
3/15/2006 12:20PM
If you could travel
In a dream
Not be heard
And not be seen
To the mountains
of Columbia
You would witness
Some of the kindest
and most intelligent
People
On this Planet
So in-touch with Life
Dancing with the Universe
Abilities beyond belief
Natural
Harming no one
Chewing coca leaves
To function in the altitude
No salt
They are being held prisoners
They can’t visit the ocean
Cocaine traffickers rule the lowlands
Wake up
You are not only hurting
Yourself
Kogi
3/11/2006 10:05 PM
If you turn it around
Will it fit the other way
Would you like to hear
The hateful words you say
Try to look
From a different
Point of view
You become someone else
And they become you
Remember the old saying
Don’t judge
Until you have worn someone’s shoes
I say
Don’t despise
Until you have seen
Through their eyes
No one has a choice
Over how their life begins
Everyone has a choice
From there until the end
3/13/2006 9:35 AM
They sat around the table
Like every day before
Someone turned on the news
An old woman
Had been abused
They heard
But did not listen
Pass me the potatoes
My boss is driving me nuts
Shouldn’t someone go get Grandma
So she can enjoy the meal
She makes me feel uneasy
She doesn’t know
What is real
3/13/2006 10:15 AM
The wind is blowing hard
And you worry
About your hair
The trees accept the wind
And let it make them strong
Until the day
They can’t take it anymore
The force has knocked them down
But come the Spring
Close to where they fell
New trees have emerged
Nature
The ultimate recycler
03/13/2006 2:20 PM
Do you believe in something
Enough to die for it
Or do you only believe enough
To kill for it
Passivity is not innocence
Don’t lie to yourself
Pretending you are not a part
Of all the negative forces
You see daily
Everything is interconnected
You are a part of everything
That has ever been
Or will ever be
Do you hate
Because it has touched you
Or were you taught
Can you see love
From a mile away
Or not even
When it’s next to you
Act now or react later
01/04/1987 2:20 PM
There’s a Baskin-Robins teepee
In the middle of New Mexico
Where, if you have a mind to
You can stop and eat ice cream
Now that’s what I call progress
Progress should be something
Something mighty good
Where nothing used to be
And it sets my mind to wander
Back through the ages
When the cowboys and Indians
Fought it out to own something
You can’t own anyway
If they had crossed the mountain
Looked down and seen that teepee
They could have rode down
Got a banana split
Flipped a coin to see who pays
Then grabbed a napkin
Wiped their faces
Mount their horses
Wave
And ride away
6/8/1984 6:50 PM
I sit in the darkness
And think of the light
Sometimes in daydreams
I long for the night
Filled with confusion
Watching the fight
Between all these illusions
Wondering which one is right
People locked in their houses
As thieves roam in the night
Those who should be laughing
Held captive by fright
Why pray for salvation
From this world and it’s plight
You saw something so wrong
And didn’t try to make it right
11/6/1978 9:45PM
If I was blind
With no way to see
Things I care for now
Would mean nothing to me
I wouldn’t love you for your face
For it through time is changing
I would love you for your laugh
And the tenderness of your touch
But I have the ability to see things
Not as they are
But as I was taught to see them
10/9/1978 9:30PM
As you walk the beach, the warmth of the sun, thundering force of the surf, you spot a beautiful shell. You grow closer longing to touch this unique natural beauty, but as you grow closer you notice that it is not perfect. The torture of the waves somehow cracked the shell. It loses its luster and you quickly start looking for other items of interest. How can creatures so physically flawed and imperfect be so skeptical of other parts of nature? Nature, such a miracle, so outrageously beautiful.
We can’t see past the ends of our noses.
Staring at thorns on the prettiest roses.
3/3/2006 9:50AM
Is it totally useless
Should you
Just throw up your hands
Get behind some stained glass window
Fall down on your knees
And pray
This benefits only one
You
Go out into the world
And do something
It doesn’t have to be grand
Shake someone’s hand
You don’t have to go a mile
Look at someone
And smile
It doesn’t have to glisten
When someone is talking
Listen
Kindness is contagious
Don’t inoculate yourself
Against it
7/20/2002 11AM
I went for a ride today
In one of the finest cars around
People came to see me
From many different towns
They brought flowers
And lots of food to eat
But I was gone
Couldn’t see the tears in their eyes
Never again to feel the warmth
Of a summer day
Only a memory
In the corner of their minds
But when you think of me
And I surely hope you do
I will come back
And although you won’t see it
There will be a smile upon my face
1/13/1977 10:20PM – from my Father
When you have lived your life
Three things can happen
If someone remembers you
In a good way
That’s heaven
If someone remembers you
In a bad way
That’s hell
The last is by far the worst
If someone remembers you
Not at all
2/28/06 5PM
As I was walking one day
I was approached by a unique man
There was something about him
Different than anyone I had ever met
He told me
Beware and be aware
Of the fire
As I gazed at him
I felt mesmerized
The kindness in his eyes
The quality of his clothing
The way he carried himself
He said
"I must go"
And quickly departed
I stood there hypnotized
Wondering what he meant
Contemplating how sincere and honest he seemed
I suddenly felt warm
All over
I also smelled something
Different than ever before
I turned quickly around
and realized
I was on fire
1/17/89 9:30 pm
So many feel that there is nothing that can be done about the current destructive forces on Earth. Some even go so far as to try to justify their lack of involvement by telling themselves that it is meant to be this way. You can get no further from the truth than that.
11/22/92 7:00 pm
Human beings spend their first days of life more helpless and dependent than probably any other species. In the early development stages, whereas other animals pass on to their offspring instincts that improve the odds of their survival, humans seem to mirror their attitudes and generationally accepted prejudices upon their young.
8/29/03 10:41 pm
Would it be so hard
To smile at someone
Passing by
Because within you
Lies the power
To make someone
Laugh or cry
2/6/04 12:40 PM
I've been watching people
Sitting on the fence
Between wrong and right
But I have never seen anyone black
Or anyone who is white
Just a world of off-white people
Screaming that their God is right
Its all so insane
No thought of what is important
No concern
For peace and kindness
Too much hatred
So much blindness
2/24/06 2:30 PM
Can You
Move like a termite
Twenty feet below the ground
Without the ability to see
Through hard soil and rocks
To a small amount of moisture
Underneath a fallen tree
Can you
Fly like a hummingbird
From flower to flower
Upside-down and backwards
With such precision
Gathering nectar and pollen
With abounding energy
Can you
Work together like ants
Placing a pulp like coating
Over their hillside home
Waiting for the rains
To turn their ship over
Sailing through the storm
Can you
Like some lizards
Lay eggs in the sand
Cover them up and leave
And come back
The day they hatch
Can you
Like a butterfly
Place an egg on a leaf
And leave
Knowing that egg
Contains all the necessities
To complete all of the steps
Of its miraculous existence
Can you
Quit killing each other
Stop fearing the unknown
Tell no more lies
Realize that you
Are a part of everything
No better
No worse
