The thing that's always there
In the alcoves of your mind
The thing that makes you lie
The thing that makes you blind
The thing you never mention
When you try and talk sense
Gossip, movies, politics
And current events
The thing that's deep below
And always at the surface
The ghost in the attic
The phantom in the furnace
Try and stay busy
Avoid, disrupt, deny
Wash your brain with booze
It never leaves your side
by Richard W. Bray
You can build yourself a mansion
On a big ole pile of sand
You can fabricate a future
In never never land
You can look inside a mirror
And see a fantasy
You can dream away your future
On what's never gonna be
Can't get from Wichita to Omaha
If you're stuck in Timbuktu
The things you did are on the way
To things you're gonna do
You can make believe you're someone else
And dream a happy dream
But being who you wanna be
Starts with coming clean
You can wake up every morning
And tell yourself a lie
You can repeat it and repeat it
Until the day you die
You can keep on treading water
And never wonder why
Or you can grab life by the collar
And look it in the eye
Can't get from Wichita to Omaha
If you're stuck in Timbuktu
The things you did are on the way
To things you're gonna do
You can make believe you're someone else
And dream a happy dream
But being who you wanna be
Starts with coming clean
by Richard W. Bray
They will come with many roses in the early afternoon
–Edward Arlington Robinson
Everything I do I think of you
The piece of you inside me
That does its best to guide me
Wonders why I do the things I do
Everything I do I think of you
I always feel much better
When I wear you like a sweater
I never shed the person that I knew
Everything I do I think of you
Your memory will stay
Until I fade away
My last goodbye will be our adieu
by Richard W. Bray
Can you build a world with lies?
where the roads are paved with gold
and you're never getting old
Can you build a world with lies?
where the skies are never gray
and you can wish your woes away
so many happy songs to sing
when sanity is not your thing
Can you build a world with lies?
where you can spin and spin and spin
with a chuckle and a grin
Can you build a world with lies?
where all the shitty things you do
are never coming back to you
by Richard W. Bray
What kind of beast would turn its life into words?
—Adrienne Rich
Relentlessly describing
Everything I see
I got a magic eye
The world will notice me
Countless dinner parties
Living in the glow
Don't know why I'm crying
Feelings come and go
Candor in my vision
The covenant I keep
I see for miles and miles
But I don't look in too deep
Wealth and fame and glory
Always on the phone
I told a thousand stories
But I never knew my own
by Richard W. Bray
On Saturday he comes to town
And puts some pints of whiskey down
Getting drunk and talking shit
All night long till he gets hit
A mixed-up mess of drink and smell
Living in your private hell
Getting drunk and talking shit
Spewing lies and gobs of spit
Thoughts revealed in wine are true
Uncovering the real you
Getting drunk and talking shit
Such an asshole when you’re lit
Folks who piss away their lives
Belching lies as sharp as knives
Getting drunk and talking shit
Losers don’t know when to quit
by Richard W. Bray
Escape hatch
In the portals of my mind
Hiding with the lies
That take up all my time
Escape hatch
Nowhere else to go
Putting on a mask
Putting on a show
Escape hatch
Can't avoid my brain
The truth is in the task
The truth is in the pain
Escape hatch
Time to shut the door
Time to cut the con
I don't need it anymore
by Richard W. Bray
laughing girls
and romping boys
a thousand lovely
aching joys
spots of time
the spirit captures
mundane moments
dizzy raptures
drink all this
the blessèd mood
little things
felt and viewed
By Richard W. Bray
I thought my brain was cured
But then you hurt me with your words
Like so many sticks and stones
I think your words can break my bones
When I hear your nasty sounds
Everything comes crashing down
People tell me I’m absurd
They really hurt me with their words
I’m traveling with a happy herd
Don’t try and hurt me with your words
I'm gonna burst just like a bubble
You’re gonna be in so much trouble
You’re such a silly stupid turd
You wanna hurt me with your words
Somebody needs to pass a law
To protect me from it all
By Richard W. Bray
He became a Marine on September 12th
Giving up status and material wealth
So many nightmares dancing in his skull
Davey lost it all to fentanyl
20 years of fighting in a foreign land
for a country that never even gave a damn
living with the hurt that never goes away
another buddy killed himself yesterday
Finding your friends in a gutted Humvee
Totally dismantled by an IED
Tommy still alive with half his brains gone
Muttering gibberish and asking for his mom
20 years of fighting in a foreign land
for a country that never even gave a damn
living with the hurt that never goes away
another buddy killed himself yesterday
Oscar in his living room, kids at play
Surrounded by love on a beautiful day
Don't make no sense when the demons get their way
He ran off in his truck and blew himself away
20 years of fighting in a foreign land
for a country that never even gave a damn
living with the hurt that never goes away
another buddy killed himself yesterday
another buddy killed himself yesterday
another buddy killed himself yesterday
another buddy killed himself yesterday
by Richard W. Bray
Laughter hope sock in the eye's Blog 