The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round

Smirking teenagers riding the bus

Whispering about other passengers

Distracted by everything, focused on nothing

College students are self absorbed

Yet polite and oddly mannered

The elderly look sad as if all their cares

Over a lifetime accompany them on the bus

The driver is grumpy

Who wouldn’t be in such heavy traffic

But he is able and efficient

Someone talks too loud about ice cream

Someone else has their ipod on too loud

Someone else is me, trying to read David Copperfield

The bus ride is in fits and stops

But the bus is warm and eventually I’m able to focus on Uriah Heep

And am glad he’s not on the bus

Telegraph Avenue

I saw your the legions of lonely drifters pouring into Berkeley

Sad badly drawn faces and hard scrabble lives 

They could not be untangled from the despair of ruinous events

There was an uncommon mix of anger and joy

Alternately rising from the shuffling hordes

They sought peace with dignity

But often brought their addictions and insanity

We danced around them

Sometimes offering help

Sometimes offering the jack boot

They raged under hot suns 

Sought shelter from drenching rains

They asked constantly

We seldom gave

These are the moments of sad wisdom

When we decide to ration our humanity

Impatience with their clarity

Longing for their ramblings

Confused by how they frame us within their minds

Ignoring their slurred words and scabby arms

Selling bits of them

They choke on our intolerance

But never fade

Cloudy Night Ramble

In great castles beyond watching eyes

Is the cacophony of laughter as lovers lay in languor

The dance of brightly clad ladies accompanies shapely silences

Lifting the clouds away for a peak

One sees the wisps of calculating lightening

But the mysterious envy of the watchful

Dies under the weight of old truths

And burdens of yesteryear are lifted

As if cold catches of radiant grass speak

Miles of tenderness is upon the land

And so we flock to where nothing matters

But to make the most of our insincerity

Love conquers in the end

So the gate minders sleep

Happily letting us cavort with wonder

Till dawn doth does up a parting

Another fantasy well met

Merry Christmas

Jingle bells decking my halls

With Rudolph and his red nose

I strike a Christmas pose

Oh blessed season of colorful lights

You offer love to replace the fights

But too many choose just the glitter

So after the holidays hearts turn bitter

Let us be always joyful never Scrooges

Let us serve one another and be not corporate stooges

Give us this season the gift of love

Let us shun the hawk and embrace the dove

Santa we thank you for your gifts

If only you could also repair all our rifts

The happy Yule season and the colorful tree

Such a cheery sight to behold and see

Merry Christmas to us everyone

May we have peace in addition to the fun

He Talks to Jesus

There is a man living alone outside a village

He talks to Jesus everyday

You cannot convince him otherwise

Nor should you try

He is certain of what he does

He has seen angels in his attic

He is certain of it

This is man without doubts

He is certain of his plow

Of his dog, Vic

A believer in his garden

Faithful to his well

True to his visions

The man has a perpetual stubble on his chin

To other people he is gruff

His mate died long ago

They were childless

He doesn’t leave his land

Visiting town only to buy food and supplies

Talking to Jesus during his walks

Tending his chickens

Scrambling their eggs

Enjoying coffee before a roaring fire

Resolute in his few beliefs

Determined to see out every day

Never lonely

Who’s to tell him to live another way?

Who’s to tell him to change?

He is clean

He talks to Jesus

In his own mind

Which is strong, clear and his very own

Yup

A Prayer

Oh you faded man of empty dreams and forgotten promises

Leave us to our own devices

As you leave those, guide us into temptation

Let us not be drawn in any further by your vacuous meanderings

Let us have strength to wonder at the improbability of the holy

Give us this day our daily reprieve from the mindless chatter

Let us feel the strength and power of the unity within our universe

Draw us kindly but swiftly away from equivocation with evil forces

Those hateful wielders of unjust powers

Be us oh mighty we and be we oh loving us

We are our mantra

We are our serenity

Let us not touch the scalding fires of man made hells

But let us bathe in the tender caress of a million hugs

Give us peace eternal as we damn the noisy and infernal

Soar from the banality of your evil

Reach heavenward for the goodness of our past souls

We reject that which seeks to bind us to anger

We rejoice in the light of a child’s tender kiss

Forever and never hey men

Thoughts in Sequence

Gossamer wings on gray black days

Flushing out the debris of our thinking

The pain of lightness burns my sorrow

An awkward silence of gusting winds

Drowns the guttural clang of lost hopes

Sighs of gigantic proportions were conflicted

Tolerance is understandable and chimes with radiance

I lose the sense of caution

When raindrops clutter the desperate dreams

But anguish always gives way to stocking footed strolls

In a backyard of bedrooms of moonlight wonder

Nothing but lust-less drama and evocative memories

Strawberries forever!