DESERT
I step out the door and into the sky
Another fork in the road,
Another tattoo on my soul.
The sun grows brighter with each step to the west
Desert is glorious and mountains a success
Beauty surrounds me with her peaceful mountains
And through this desert there are plenty of fountains
The freedom of the desert's warmth
And the vision that I walk towards
Breeze on the naked trees, whisper to me
'Cause nature's its own reward in a desert sea.
STORM
Reclining on a bed with a pen in my hand
I hear the thunder beat.
I'm listening to nature's percussion band.
I hear the ocean falling around me,
But I'm under a roof with conditioned air
On a dry mattress with pillows to spare.
This is God bringing back to the tree,
This is God providing for me,
This is God ever forgiving me.
SISTER (that's me)
Bless my sister, the gal who shared her soul
Sacred is the loving embracement no one can owe
From Christmas mornings to slumber parties
to mischievous stories of school sneak-ins before tardies
Viewing your art in astonishment
like a message to me, creativity's sent.
My deserving hero,
I feel the love of her grace and courage to my apprenticeship.
Seeing your tears draws in fears
because of the burn, scare, and sears
I'm a lucky man with God's love sent
With the love of the Lord I must repent.
CHOOSE YOUR PATH
Life's not all about Chinese food and kickin' back.
Used to think it was 'til I ran into reality slack
Slip into another portrait of how things should be
Break the mold of economy souls fishing liberally
Shake the views of the cement personality
Destiny is not for the frozen ones
You gotta decide to make yourself a chosen one
So go ahead and do the math
You can't wait for others to choose your path.
BRAND NEW START
A fool without a prayer and he's all out of breath
He tried to put his hands together but was twitching bad from meth
The sun shined down beside him and leaned on his neck
He looked up to be blinded but only for a sec
Breathing in and out deeply, he confessed with his tongue
20-something years old and he felt so young
Lifted is the burden that drenched his heart
Ready now for a new way, a brand new start.
QUESTIONS
Sometimes I write a line and then scratch it out
I continuously question my consistency
Wonder who or what I really wanna be
It's even hard to look in the mirror
'Cause the image behind my eyelids looks clearer
Can I come to terms with my external temple,
Or is it my soul I hold lamental?
I CAN
I can feel myself get lower
I can feel the pain in the power
I can see the lights in the mirror
I can see the hands on the hour.
FIRST STEP
First step, swallow my pride.
Second step, just take the ride.
Third step, stop shruggin' my shoulders.
Fourth step, realize that I'm older.
Many more steps, too many to mention.
Can't gain it all in a single session.
But I should always try to hold my head high.
Gotta know it's okay for my soul to cry.
I'm a man looking for his place in this world,
Crawling out of the smoke that left my mind swirled.
DIVORCE
A tear drop hits the page
A wrinkle hits my age
A twinkle burns in the skies
An indescribable warmth dies
As the love unties.
OVERRATED
Thinking about all the times I moan...
It makes me sick.
'Cause I'm not abandoned and alone
Love and family's thick.
We can be so ungrateful,
Taking luxuries for granted.
Taking luxuries for granted.
So when you can't afford the new fad
remember food's in your belly, ain't got it too bad.
I'm not starving and I got love,
family, friends, and God above.
Tangibles and throw-aways are overrated
It's all smoke from a green flame, quickly dissipated.
HIGH IN A DREAM
Getting my high in a dream,
waking up to a grace gleam.
Thanking God smoke was only in my sub-conscience
like the lost soul who has hope in his responses.
Scared as hell as I feel my soaking back.
It was just a fantasy. Now I come back.
Like a looking glass of my past,
it's not in the urinary tract, at last.
Smelling, feeling, dealing,
Then I fall from the ceiling.
What a forgiving crash--
Waking up with no stash.
EXECUTION OF INSTINCT
The time has come for me to change
Flip my life and rearrange
Give my soul to Someone else
And let God's angels ring their bells
All I need is an American dream
No picket fence 'cause that's not what I mean
Paying taxes to old folk
Collecting possessions instead of being broke
Adopt a dog and name it something true
Raise that pup and do what I gotta do
Keep a routine, sleep, work, and play
Wake up again to do it the next day.
Somehow I can't believe this is coming from my heart
but I know it is true 'cause my pen begins where the beat starts.
THE RING MASTER
For years, the freaks shed their tears
While their master sits and waits.
The show's all over and who gets the cheers?
The ring master and his two dates.
The ring master and his two dates.
The deformed grow old and fed up faster
and the strong man bends the bars.
The rebels tie up the ring master,
The rebels tie up the ring master,
all laugh near and far.
He was the caster
of their humiliation
They sought peace by sitting him in their situation,
But it brought no consolation.
GOLD
Money is success
or so it is told.
People, they always be chasing that gold.
Catch it, want more, and they're sold.
ALICE
When danger isn't adventure,
then I don't know what story you are in.
When adventures get stranger,
You need not match the Cheshire's grin.
The touch of the glass
felt like the thickness of mist.
The entrance through which she passed,
the terror of bliss.
More than what she used to be,
But lesser, too, at times.
Taking the distortion and awkward things she sees,
As natural as, in a windless sky, the singing of blown chimes.
HARVESTING A DREAM
I'm not sick of think'n 'bout destinations,
but I want to be there.
I'm waiting for the occasion.
I'm gonna get there.
Tomorrow is today before you know,
I will someday reap what I sow.
Things will be the same and different. I know.
Yeah, jah know I'll be harvesting a dream.
Yes, I know I'll be harvesting my dream.
AWAKENED
Seems like whenever the time comes to test myself
I always seem to fail.
Living hour for hour, leaving my soul on the shelf,
but who's gonna post my bail?
Chasing a tangible dream that wasn't on any map,
floating on a raft with no sail.
Ocean and sand on just another beach,
All along I'm like a puppet on a string,
grasping for something I can't reach.
But now it's gotta give, cause I'm tired of taking.
It's time to live, now that my soul's awakened.
NOW
They say you should stay
on this afternoon
But I just want to play
Music's infinite tune
It's easy, the song today
'Cause “now” is what I'm gonna play
Can't let today take away from tomorrow
Don't want to let happiness sour to sorrow.
ALL YOU NEED
I never had such an urge to sing as I do today.
I never had such a rush in my ring as I do today.
Thinkin' 'bout how it came from a sprout
It got watered by a heavenly spout
Seeds unfertilized can still shout
Raw material is all you need
Remember this when you plant the seed
It takes more than supplies to succeed
Just remember “love is all you need.”
TRYING
Trying to help myself when all it does is hurt
Trying to redeem myself when they think I'm dirt
Always under someone's watchful eye
Hiding away so they don't throw tissues when I cry
I like the tears to just fall down my face
Drop after drop, like a destiny race
Things so simple are just tearing me limb from limb
I don't think I'll ever have a chance to win
On the other hand, I'll just fight expectation's odds
And just pass on the side of the man who sits by and nods.
My destiny is between my fate and my God's.
WAR
I'm at war with my own temple
Some say it's cause I'm a little mental
My body is scarred but my heart is pure
Sick of this and ready to move on
Today is another opportunistic dawn
Diving drops of rain come here to saturate me
Been scorched in a desert,
Now I'm swimming in a sea.
Invisible clouds seem to shade my skin.
How did it all begin?
WHAT I WANNA BE
I'm sick of writing 'bout despair
all this negative and how I don't care.
But deep inside, I really do want something better.
Living the dream, receiving a golden letter.
A dog and I woman and I would feel like a king.
Don't need a platinum or a lexus for my soul to bling-bling.
I wanna feel happy about the things I do
I wanna be a man that lives true.
PICTURE OF CONFUSION
A picture of confusion is me.
Scared of the unknown and what I'm to be.
All I want is an American Dream
But somehow I feel that's not what it seems.
Alone again like that guy from Kung-fu
Gonna head on a journey I don't know I can do.
CONTROLLED
I was buzzin' one day and I started coughing
I noticed I wanted (“needed”) another nail in the coffin
I don't like this feeling of being controlled
It never makes me feel great, just satisfied
Might as well end it before I've died
Too many times my exception borrowed,
All burnt away, conscience led to sorrow.
Check my heart's inventory, yeah I know it's not empty..
'Cause love is glory and compassion is sympathy.
Life my voice to a full extent
It's never too later for a devil to repent.
HOUSE ON A HILL
I'll pass on another status symbol
'Cause I don't want a house on a hill
Refreshing is life if you keep it simple
So I don't want a house on a hill
I won't crave a jealous intention
You can keep your house on a hill
I don't seek a social intervention
You can have your house on a hill.
ANGER
Anger can get out of control
For advice, feel inside of your soul
Breathe in, breathe out,
Ignore the demons who shout.
Don't end the pointless encounter in violence,
Pull out two fingers, walk away in peaceful silence.
A fist for a fist...
Whatever happened to “a kiss for a kiss”?
HARVESTING A DREAM
I'm not sick of think'n 'bout destinations,
but I want to be there.
I'm waiting for the occasion.
I'm gonna get there.
Tomorrow is today before you know,
I will someday reap what I sow.
Things will be the same and different. I know.
Yeah, jah know I'll be harvesting a dream.
Yes, I know I'll be harvesting my dream.
AWAKENED
Seems like whenever the time comes to test myself
I always seem to fail.
Living hour for hour, leaving my soul on the shelf,
but who's gonna post my bail?
Chasing a tangible dream that wasn't on any map,
floating on a raft with no sail.
Ocean and sand on just another beach,
All along I'm like a puppet on a string,
grasping for something I can't reach.
But now it's gotta give, cause I'm tired of taking.
It's time to live, now that my soul's awakened.
SONG
As silence breaks the day of my heart
I listen for the music begin to start.
I love hearing and feeling the power of His song.
It's a pounding weapon of love given by our Creator.
It always seems to stump the anti-peace propigator.
I can't dance to the ill-rythmed beat of gunfire
'cause glory mixed with blood is one thing I'll never desire.
HACKY SACK
Skyward it flies,
The momentum—will it die?
More amazing with each play,
It's over—on the ground it lays.
Flashbacks of the event immediately occur and soon decay.
Nothin' like hack'n on a sunny day.
