Between the lines
Listen
Can you hear me
Do you care
Do you grasp
These words I share?
I'm screaming in cipher
Can you see?
The words are just words
To disguise meanings
Inside of me
I look at you just so
I need to know
Can I trust you
Do you understand or
Am I just reading in?
I can't say what I want to
What I desperately mean
I mustn't
I won't
But I tell you the truth
With my gestures
With my eyes
Within these words
Of my lies
Crack open the bottle
Taste the wine
Desecration of grapes
Once vibrant on vines
Truly to hear me
You must witness the signs
And be vigil to listen
Between the lines
E2001-2014
I will answer you
My love
I’ll never ignore you
I’ll answer with my eyes
Respond with my sigh
Soft brush of my touch
Back of my arm on your thigh
Innocent, but not so
I’ll answer with my smile
Taste your hair in my mouth
Feel you laced through my soul
I’ll look through your image
Wherever I go
And one day
Soon as I can
I’ll answer with my kiss
Ask for you with my ring
And surrender everything
In you I found light
Now I want to be yours
For the rest of my life
E2002-2014
Caring is clutter
Caring for you
Clutters my life
I find myself
Thinking for two
Without you
I can do what I want
How I want when I want
Where I want or choose
To do nothing at all
I don't have to think
About you
Caring’s like a three-leg race
Two legs tied together
Restricting movement
I'm better off
You’re better off without
Thoughts cloud with laughter
When you call
When you don't
It's anticipation
Of when you will
The only relief comes
After you’ve called
Then I can move freely
But can I?
You clutter me and I’m confused
I must accept new concepts
Learn new things, your things
Just walk away
And take this fog with you
Give back my life, as mine
Not ours
Because I can't
I’ve neither the will or ability
I'm trapped within us
The loss would be clutter
It would fade in time
Why me?
Why did you find me?
Why seek me out?
But you’ll have to do it
Make the cut, because
Given clutter or freedom
I’d choose you
E2003-2014
Cindy
Never fails
Every time you come around
I catch you like a cold
And it takes a week
Maybe seven days
To get over you
And you never ask
And you never call
You just be contagious
I wish there was a shot
To protect me from you
Or better yet a shot
To make you catch me too
Then you couldn’t
Get over me so easily
We could be sick together
You make me sick
E2004-2014
Let go and let God
There are six billion saints
On the planet
But most of them can't see
Beyond their own circumstance
E2005-2015
The world stops
When I’m near you
The world stops
And I feel like
God's inside me
I become anxious
Afraid, and my eyes
Brake just before tears
Watching and waiting
I listen
All I care about
Everything is you
I feel guilty
Of letting the world go
You're my obsession
My addiction
Because of this
I’m afraid of you
And I’m in love, of you
Can't just disappear
I’d be nothing to you
So I do my best to please
You’re my joy
You’re my stress
You’re my pain
And you’re my reason
I wish you knew that
E2006-2015
Supervision enhancement
Any grandparent
Worth their salt
Knows just how
To teach a child
The correct prefix
To call China
On Mommy’s cell phone
E2007-2015
Light up the night
My glass isn’t half empty
Because you’re not here
It is half full
Because you were
We spend life looking
For answers we hope to find
But when you found me
I found something
2008-2015
Risk metrics
Initial impression
Expression
Pleasant smile
Sound of your voice
Your eyes and lips
Symmetry silhouette
Your hands and touch
Ease to be near
Bright light of your soul
Allure of your darkness
Soft-spoken impact
Sharp passion and wit
Quiescent strength
Ok, I’m compelled
Can it age like wine
Are you vulnerable
Are you sure?
Did you cause me
To write this at 3AM?
How’d you do that?
Against my heart
Are you dangerous?
Could we find harmony?
Dare I allow you
Next to my side
Near, to stain me?
Know what’s wrong
With your metrics?
Nothing
2009-2015
What a mess
If we focus too hard
On the mess we’ve created
We’ll miss the mess
We’re about to create
E2010-2015
Love thy neighbor
Think about
The great people in your life
What do they have in common?
They listen
They encourage
They’re happy to see you
They ask about your day
They take time to care
They don’t judge your actions
Never seem to have problems
Or try to solve everything
They’re always positive
They’re always there
And you’re drawn to them
Because a life of faith
Is a life of serving
Everyone has problems
Everyone
Great people
Aren’t driven by their troubles
What motivates them
Is being there for others
Being there for you
And calming your fears
That’s true greatness
There’s potential for greatness
In each of us
E2011-2016
She matters
Respect things important
To a girl
And find contentment
In your life
Respect things important
To a woman
And bring contentment
To your wife
Accept the two
As one the same
And make the husband
Wall of fame
E2012-2016
Competition you
Life’s a competition
But it’s not with another
It’s with yourself
The part that wants to succeed
Against the part that doesn’t
Who’s side are you on?
Athletes train to win
Always searching to achieve
You’d best get after it
You only have so much time
Anyone can achieve failure
But if you seek excellence
Everyone will notice
The cheetah sprints because
‘It’s how you get there’
E2013-2016
Change and strength
Do you cry
For the end of a chapter?
Or for fear
Of the next one to come?
Do you exalt in a promise
Only tomorrow can bring?
And what if you fall
What if?
Look around you
The strongest people
Have fallen the hardest
And gotten up
They get it
Assess your path
Distinguish what works
Discard what fails
Embrace your stride
The quickest path forward
Holds the least steps back
You can’t embrace your future
With arms filled with past
Put down regret
And pick up tomorrow
E2014-2016
To the girl who chased me
Saturday night
You pulled over
East Jump Off Joe
Saw you at the gas pumps
Peering through reckless hair
You were looking too
Out through the glass
I saw you
You were fine
Too young I thought
Best let it go
Then you were gone
Nice, but good riddance
Of course then I turned off
And there you were
Icy roads
I couldn’t let you catch me
Spoil the fun
What do you think you know
Angel Flats?
I wasn’t going home
You couldn’t know
We sought the same I suspect
Love that lives for fire
Perilous danger
Matter and antimatter
A new sun a new dawn
Creation
It’s not real you know
It‘s why I’ve come not to expect
Not to imagine or want
Perhaps hold for a moment
Tonight you were my smile
It felt nice to be sought again
Worthy of pursuit again
You made love good again
Tonight you made me feel
E2015-2017
Butterflies in Heaven
Bullets turn to butterflies
In Heaven
If gangsters wake up there
And try to shoot each other
Only butterflies come out
And they finally see
The senselessness of fear
And greatness of love
Maybe it’s Heaven
But maybe it’s not
Either way
They’re stuck there
E2016-2017
Secret to happiness
The natural law of the jungle
Is every man for himself
With a focus on self
I need I desire I want
I did I got I don’t have
I should have
I’m entitled to
It’s mine
My body my looks
My faults my weight
My wealth my phone
My friends my image
My pride my things
My troubles myself
My my my
There’s no bitter person
Who doesn’t covet life
Through their own reflection
I lack begins with I
There’s no gracious person
Depressed for lack of someone to help
There’s no shortage of need
A parent’s first thought
In a car accident is their child
I find the less time
I spend thinking about me
The richer my life becomes
Time’s better spent
Bitterness steals your life
Steals your looks your health
And leads to discontent
It serves no other purpose
We can’t control life
But we can control
How we receive it
So maybe
Natural law is wrong
Try this law
[infinity – πr2 = happiness]
‘It’s the area outside the circle.’
There’s a crazy wonderful life
That begins just outside of you
E2017-2017
The beginning
Thank you
For sharing my journey
I’ve been candid
Shared my heart
Perhaps my anger
At times shame
Not every word is true
Though many are
I hope you’ve discovered
That you’re ok
And it’s good
To be honest
At least with yourself
So this is the end
Thank you again
Shall
E2018-2020
