There were always babies at the bus station and they were always crying. And these were not mild complaints. I couldnt understand how the least discomfort could take the form of agony. No other creature was so sensitive. The more I thought about it the clearer it became to me that what I was hearing was rage…
The rage of children seemed inexplicable other than as a breach of some deep and innate covenant having to do with how the world should be and wasnt. I understood that their raw exposure to the world was the world.
You dont think this is all a bit fanciful?
I do think.
How would a child know how the world should be?
A child would have to be born so. A sense of justice is common to the world. All mammals certainly. A dog knows perfectly well what is fair and what is not. He didnt learn it. He came with it.
—from Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy
You're gonna wonder why
As you wander on your way
The unfairness of the world
Will make a body rage
Don't be scared of words
Watch out for stones and sticks
You won't get blown away
When you build your thoughts with bricks
Perpetual injustice
Is an insult to the soul
Evil is eternal
Resistance makes us whole
A thousand paths before us
So many ways to live
It's a wicked wicked world
When we forget how to forgive
by Richard W. Bray
The fish wasn't fresh
The server was late
The "hand squeezed juice"
Was frozen concentrate
The peas were canned
It was domestic cheese
The Chardonnay was warm
And they didn’t let it breathe
I’m such a good person. Can’t you see?
The world depends on people like me
To maintain decorum and decency
The movie was dreadful
The plot was stale
The acting was wooden
An absolute fail
The mountains were awful
The snow was cold
It smelled like pine
The rocks were old
I’m such a good person. Can’t you see?
The world depends on people like me
To maintain decorum and decency
The novel was stuffy
A disgrace to the arts
The story was filled
With boring parts
What a hideous house
And don't call me a hater
Somebody oughta kill
The decorator
I’m such a good person. Can’t you see?
The world depends on people like me
To maintain decorum and decency
by Richard W. Bray
Dance, dance, for the figure is easy, The tune is catching and will not stop; Dance till the stars come down from the rafters; Dance, dance, dance till you drop. –W. H. Auden, Death’s Echo
Laughing in the face of evil
What else can you do?
Hold on real tight
To what’s good and close and true
You can only forgive
What was done to you
Everything else
Is left to You Know Who
The mind makes hell from heaven
It makes heaven out of hell
Own the space inside your head
And keep yourself well
A lot of things will happen
You don't always have to tell
Live your own story
It's not a thing to sell
Wish everyone the best
Play your own part
And dance every moment
To the song in your heart
by Richard W. Bray
I spent a whole lot of years
In an imaginary race
Learning to ignore
What was in front of my face
Forty-seven lies
And a bottle of gin
Tell yourself a story
Every time you don't win
I lived a sprawling dream
I signed above the line
Took a spin around the world
With my head in my behind
Forty-seven lies
And a bottle of gin
Like I never even saw
All the places I've been
Like a good little soldier
I had a happy little life
While every nephew and his uncle
Took a turn with my wife
Forty-seven lies
And a bottle of gin
I wonder if my son
Is my next of kin
Built myself a mansion
Then I tore it all down
When your whole life tumbles
It barely makes a sound
Forty-seven lies
And a bottle of gin
Tell yourself a story
Every time you don't win
Forty-seven lies
And a bottle of gin
Tell yourself a story
Every time you don't win
by Richard W. Bray
Sometimes life is gonna hurt
Attacking others makes it worse
It's gonna take a lot of work
But you don't have to be a jerk
Please, get some help with your disease
It really isn't very smart
To have a hatey hatey heart
A lot of bad things going on
That’s why we have to carry on
You don’t have to be so dour
Go outside and smell a flower
Please, get some help with your disease
It really isn't very smart
To have a hatey hatey heart
Don't wanna let your insides rust
Like your soul is full of pus
The thing you really need to know
Is how to let your anger go
Please, get some help with your disease
It really isn't very smart
To have a hatey hatey heart
Please, get some help with your disease
It really isn't very smart
To have a hatey hatey heart
by Richard W. Bray
Do you think of yourself as an atheist?
God no. Those were the good old days…
For a long time I’ve suspected that we might be simply incapable of imagining the epochal evils of which we stand rightly accused and I thought it at least possible that the structure of reality itself harbors something like the forms of which our sordid history is only a pale reflection.
—from Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthyWhat do you do when evil looks you in the eye?
Some people just start lying and lying
Until their life becomes like a Stairmaster of lies
From which they can never escape
What do you do when evil looks you in the eye?
Some people just look for something beautiful
And try to kill it
What do you do when evil looks you in the eye?
Some people just look for something they think they can control
What do you do when evil looks you in the eye?
Some people just sigh
And try
Not to cause any more pain than they have to
Just to get by
by Richard W. Bray
Laughter hope sock in the eye's Blog 