Pull away from the screen
Put on your ramblin’ shoes
Get yourself outside
Or you’re gonna blow a fuse
Say hello to your body
Run and jump around
Try and race your shadow
To the other end of town
Take a walk in the forest
And hug the nearest tree
If you listen it will tell you
How to set your spirit free
The world is interactive
And the graphics are sublime
Open up your senses
And hear the cosmos chime
by Richard W. Bray
if you ever got a problem
or if you’re feeling down
you only gotta tell me
I’ll come riding into town
when walls are collapsing
and you can’t escape your trouble
I’ll be there in a minute
to protect you from the rubble
when life is an inferno
and things are looking dire
you’ll see me rushing in
to pull you from the fire
I’ll deliver you from danger
I’ll rescue you from strife
I’ll be your rope ladder
I’ll be your jaws of life
by Richard W. Bray
They had the best selection,
They were poisoned with protection
—Neil Young, Thrasher
Safe here in our little bubble
New ideas are too much trouble
We are good and we are true
There’s nothing we can learn from you
We don’t have to hear you speak
Tranquility is what we seek
Our habitat was purified
We weren’t allowed to play outside
Our tender souls demand protection
We can’t survive a mild infection
by Richard W. Bray
I chased annihilation
In a thousand roadside bars
Then I pulled myself together
And discovered who you are
Surprised to see me happy?
Disappointed I’m alive?
Were you quietly applauding
My inevitable demise?
A girl who never liked me
Said, “Hello” and wished me well
Disappointment in her voice said
“I’m amazed you’re not in hell”
Surprised to see me happy?
Disappointed I’m alive?
Were you quietly applauding
My inevitable demise?
Chastise and condemn
And tell yourself you’re blessed
I can only shrug:
I’m wishing everyone the best
Surprised to see me happy?
Disappointed I’m alive?
Were you quietly applauding
My inevitable demise?
by Richard W. Bray
You’re a backstabbing loser
And a four-faced snitch
A never-ending whimper
And a whiny little bitch
You swallow some drinks
And you talk a lot of shit
Nobody wants to listen to
A whiny little bitch
You got a lot of theories
But you’ll never admit
What you did to yourself
Cuz you’re a whiny little bitch
You’re a fixating fool
Never knowing when to quit
Nobody wants to listen to
A whiny little bitch
by Richard W. Bray
A time there was – as one may guess
And as, indeed, earth’s testimonies tell –
Before the birth of consciousness,
When all went well.
—Thomas Hardy, Before Life and After
Existence is a wound
That heals when you die
We can’t extinguish hurt
We can only try
You won’t earn any points
For trying to be nice
The cosmos doesn’t care
What we do with life
Everything we ever do
Is gonna fade away
The thing that really matters
Is how we act today
by Richard W. Bray
Happiness is a sad song
—Charles Schultz, from the book Happiness is a Warm Puppy
Everything was beautiful
Until it went wrong
Happiness
Is sad song
Weeping for Hecuba
And all those hurts beyond
Happiness
Is sad song
Poking ancient agony
Clutching what is gone
Happiness
Is sad song
Accepting my reality:
I loved you all along
Happiness
Is sad song
by Richard W. Bray
A good athlete must have that harmony of movements or rhythm, which is called “form”….From pitch, to swing, to ball, a whole series of rhythms are set off, one rhythm, or one motion, starting another. So it is in life—from sun, to moon, to earth, to night, to day, to you getting up in the morning and going out to play a game of ball. All the rhythms of life are in some way related, one to another. You, your baseball, and the universe are brothers through rhythms.
—Langston Hughes, The First Book of Rhythm
Get in sync
And harmonize
Earth and moon
And sun and sky
All the rhythms
Are connected
Ain’t a body
Unaffected
Sun ashinin’
Earth aspinnin’
Live the motion
Breathe the rhythm
by Richard W. Bray
Look at that messed up
Couple over there
She’s got a million tats
He never cuts his hair
Can’t you just be happy
They have one another?
Can’t you be happy
They found love with each other?
What could those people
Ever see in each other?
She’s the wrong age
And he’s the wrong color
If you got a comment
Just keep it in your throat
It isn’t your life
You don’t get a vote
So wrong for each other
Just headed for trouble
It really makes me sad
When the wrong people couple
In this crazy old world
It ain’t easy to stay warm
Can’t you just be happy
They found shelter from the storm?
by Richard W. Bray
O heart! oh blood that freezes, blood that burns!
Earth’s returns
For whole centuries of folly, noise and sin!
Shut them in,
With their triumphs and their glories and the rest!
Love is best
—Robert Browing, Love Among the Ruins
What has posterity ever done for me?
—Groucho Marx
You did it
For the People
Is what you
Told yourself
You thought
You were
Bigger than
Everybody else
You ruled
You conquered
You told people
What to do
Now you’re just
As dead
As everyone
You knew
Time
Gurgles on
It’s gonna
Wash away
Everything
We ever do
And everything
We say
Existence
Is a gift
Will you squander
Your ration?
Or will you
Live your life
For love
And compassion?
by Richard W. Bray
