Down by the old canal, 

On that night time city street, 

Just listening to the music, 

Wondering who I’ll chance to meet, 

Quite a while into the sunset, 

But still alive and kicking, 

Never thought that I would still be here, 

And the plot begins to thicken, 

Lots of those poor choices, 

Hard years fading in my wake, 

Lots of time lost getting better, 

No clue what it would take, 

Took a wrong turn years ago, 

When I was maybe twenty two, 

Took thirty years of trying, 

Just learning what to do.

Seeking justice in an unjust world, 

Setting out with sails unfurled, 

Leaving all my hopes to fate, 

Weathering the storms of hate, 

This course I’ve sailed on all my life, 

Although sometimes it causes strife, 

Sailing on the waves of time, 

Seeking love and life sublime.

All the dreams and nightmares, 

And things we never did, 

Words that weren’t written, 

Feelings that were hid, 

Memories fade to fiction, 

Reality starts to fade, 

Feels like we’re forgetting, 

Some due that went unpaid, 

From before the age of conscience, 

To consider what we’d done, 

In the blissful arms of ignorance, 

We we’re basking in the sun, 

Now regrets come flooding upward, 

The sentence has been passed, 

Some said “forgive yourself”, 

But it seems the die’s been cast.

At the End of the Day 

When the sunlight fades, end of the day, 

What last words will we all say, 

We had the garden, threw it away, 

Now there’s only Hell to pay, 

Wise men and sages all down through time, 

Tried and tried to tell us war is a crime, 

But never heard since we crawled from the slime, 

Just kept on hating, no reason or rhyme,

Eye Of The Beholder 

Another night I sit and write, 

The same thoughts bend my brain, 

The world, the sky, the people's cry, 

Are we really all insane. 

Madness here psychosis there, 

Everywhere are minds a smolder, 

Sanity is only in, 

The eye of the beholder. 

We beat our young, spoil our pets, 

And hurt each other wholesale, 

We make up rules to smother love, 

And sell our bodies retail. 

We work each day to build our death, 

On both sides of the planet, 

Never learning from our past, 

Though we never quite outran it.

Tears on each other’s sleeves, 

Hugs for the one that leaves, 

Out the storefront window, 

Scene played in the heat, 

Sad songs, sung inside.

Kids in Cages 

Words are hard to find these days, 

Failing in so many ways, 

Kids in cages hear their cries, 

This is how a nation dies, 

Kids in cages, no one cares, 

No one speaks out, no one dares, 

All around us life goes on, 

No one sees our soul is gone, 

Kids in cages, can’t you see, 

The evil poisons you and me, 

It seems more normal every day, 

No one knows there’s Hell to pay, 

Kids in cages, fleeing fear, 

We don’t even shed a tear, 

Running from a killing land, 

We’re too cruel to understand, 

Kids in cages coming here, 

Escaping from a land of fear, 

Screens that lull us back to sleep, 

Seems we’re turning into sheep.

Stopped in one warm evening, 

To hear an old friend sing, 

Sat right up waiting for the break, 

Not sure what the night would bring, 

Three lost years faded quickly, 

As I listened to her voice, 

It was like we’d never parted, 

Even though it was my choice, 

I could have chose to follow, 

But her dreams aimed far away, 

She said she had to travel, 

I had nothing left to say, 

I always thought I’d be the leaver, 
It’s the way I’ve always been, 

Now I’m the one that’s lonesome, 

Dreaming we could start again.

Of all the songs that you could sing, 

It had to be that one, 

Every single time I hear it, 

My heart comes all undone, 

Goes wandering back to better days, 

Before we fell apart, 

Makes me want to go and look you up, 

Try to make another start. 

I tried it several times before, 

It always ends the same, 

We find the button not to push, 

It’s the way we play the game, 

We don’t seem to know the way, 

To leave well enough alone, 

Always wanting something more, 

Until loving is unknown.                         

I'm tired of staying quiet as I watch this hard rain fall, 

Even though I saw it coming, I just didn't make the call, 

Now as the storm continues and I watch the waters rise, 

All the things I thought were sacred are destroyed before my eyes, 

The closed up shops on Main St. tell a tale of better times, 

While the thieves high up on Wall St. are rewarded for their crimes, 

Over on the avenue our wants are turned to needs, 

While the pundits on the radio scream their hateful screeds.