Tribute to Buck

Well I always thought the answer’s in the question

And it’s curiosity that holds the key

Yet what I sought was always where I’m standing

So I breathe the sunlit skies on bended knee

And I thought that I should share this special secret

And make sure that others saw what I could see

But the harder that I tried I saw so clearly

All I did was to create controversy

Now we argue and we fight about perspective

We condemn and then we hate furiously

What I thought would be the path to our perfection

Still what we think is not the way that it should be

Yes, it seem that every person has been given

Different ways that I think strange and that are free

Yet it’s Love that straightens paths

And fills the valleys

And I’m not the one to tell them who to be

Let the beat of different drums

Now bring us solace

And the sound of different songs now bring us peace

Cause the seed is deep within each newborn person

And it longs to feel its leaves touched by the breeze

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Service at Harper’s

They were having a service at Harpers Bar.

It’s about a block down from the community church.

The spirits flow freely there

And Honesty often erupts into a fight.

Twelve pickups and a few SUV’s

make an interesting congregation.

And each confession concludes with the listener’s exclamation of “No Shit!”.

And the man with a broken smile and dirty hands says, “Another round on me.” So the ex-football player with the white SUV knocks him off his stool until the bartender steps in and reminds them of their long friendship. Soon the shouts die down and Willie Nelson keeps playing on the juke box and two by two the patrons leave affected by the preacher’s words.

Three Questions

I can’t tell you who I am because

I’m hiding

I’m afraid I’ll be rejected if I do

Still, the thing about your love that I neglected

Is that I did the thing that you would never do

I left you and I thought it was the right thing

Thinking you deserved much more than what I was

But the opposite was true and it is frightening

To really, really know that I am loved

So from here I guess is really the big question

Do I come out of the cave into the sun?

Do I walk back through the gate that I had opened?

Do I come back to the place where life is fun?

Still, I’m feeling that I really

Lack the power

That I’m lost and I will never find the key

But you followed

And I hear your voice ascending

You were always mine and will forever be

You know

Well that’s the thing

You know

The fence that keeps us in

Also keeps us out

Some are electric

Touch one and you will

START!

To see them eat your crop

The one you thought was yours

And now feeds thousands

Same as before, but now there is no pay. Now there is no pay.

So where is this going, this land of the free, where it seems now everything Is

Except of course to me, except to me.

That fence has 50 thousand volts

It will end you here and there

I built it deep and tall, still

I am curious about that young woman there

Well that’s the thing, You know

The fence that keeps us in

Also keeps us out

You know

And so I stand

One in the promised land and the other not

Sand beneath our feet

Sage on hers and mine

And the wind blows free

And through

The wind is free

And still we hear

That Love will have its way

Have its Way

The Fallen

Now the fruit has fallen

Rotting on the ground

Seeds a generation

Wanting to be found

Pick the ripe and red one

See if it be sweet

That’s the only measure

One that we will keep

Still the bitter lemon

Has a place I fear

Mixed with sweet and flour

Gives a taste so dear

Now the book is growing

Recipes so clear

With a pinch of loving

Gets us through the year

Winter tho’ be coming

And the field be frost

Still the lowly tubers

Never see us lost

Water, pot and fire

Earth be one of those

Keep us from desire

Keeps away the crows

Now the earth be melting

Through the mud and slosh

Tiny leaves are peeking

Fearful of the frost

Some will grow as mighty

Some will stay below

All will give their bounty

Never wanting owes

Never wanting payment

Never asking why

Only to be growing

Reaching for the sky

Till the season’s harvest

Beauty is its sign

Dressed in red and yellow

Speaks that it is kind

Now you have more measures

Sweetness is just one

Even now the bitter

Stirred until it’s done

See the feast has started

Shout into the field

Everyone’s invited

If our “No” will yield.

Be Forgiving

Please don’t agree with me, forgive me.

Far Away and Far Behind

Reason has it

You are first

You’re the starbound

I’m the worst

From the mountain

See my kind

Far below and far behind

Always been this way

It seems

Orders from the thrones of kings

Build the tower

Chains that bind those

far below and far behind

Still the race was from the start

Between the head and in the heart

Now it seems we turn around

And head toward that flowered ground

To find our place has been reversed

Those who where last

Are now the first

So wait in joyful gratitude

For spring in lower latitudes

To not do so would be unkind

so far away and far behind

Violence

Violence is the severing of human connection. Judging is the weakening of the human connection.

Sure

Sure

You know

Certitude

It comes and goes

Authenticity

Is something different

It will make allowances

For all the faults that we have left

And found us wanting in deep regret

the only thing I know is true for now

Ears to Here

The language of my backyard poplar tree cannot be translated into English.  

At least not by me.

I understand a French poet tried it long ago.  Tho’ I don’t know if he was translating Poplar.  It could have been Oak or Elm.

“Lovely” was the word he left us with. Maybe that is the best we can do. Something always gets lost in translation.