May 13, 2014
You can take a bunch of pills
Drink that whiskey by the cup
But your anguish and your ills
Will survive if you wake up
Can’t hide from the hurt
You gotta love it like a friend
It tells you who you are
It tells you what you gotta mend
You can pack up all that pain
You can shove it down deep
But the hurt will still remain
It’ll surface when you sleep
Can’t hide from the hurt
You gotta love it like a friend
It tells you who you are
It tells you what you gotta mend
You can fill up every day
You can work around the clock
You can play and play and play
You can talk and talk and talk
Can’t hide from the hurt
You gotta love it like a friend
It tells you who you are
It tells you what you gotta mend
by Richard W. Bray
Tags: country music, Country Music Lyrics, denial, Humor, lyrics, pain
Posted in denial, If it sounds country, Lyrics | Leave a Comment »
May 11, 2014
Sorrow seems more general than it did, and not the estate of a few persons, since the war began; and if the anguish of others helped one with one’s own, now would be many medicines.
Suffer, squirm, and die
I hope your life is hell
Your hurt is my elixir
I’m doing pretty well
Your torment is my tonic
Your pain is my success
I pray for mass affliction
I feed on your distress
Your agony refreshes
And fills my world with joy
The cure for all that ails
Is to damage and destroy
Misery rejuvenates
It whitens every stain
All of my misfortune
Is abolished in your pain
by Richard W. Bray
Tags: Emily Dickinson, Poetry, War
Posted in Emily Dickinson, Poetry | Leave a Comment »
May 7, 2014
In the dirty grubby grime
Is where I like to spend my time
Nothing feeds the living blood
Like sloppy teeming murky mud
I genuflect and praise and bless
The sullied sloppy sultry mess
A boggy swamp rejuvenates
The muck is where life germinates
Terrified of nature’s touch
Are folks who like to bathe too much
You’ll be inert and none the wiser
With too much soap and sanitizer
Deliver me from points pristine
The antiseptic and the clean
Spotless dreams cannot console
The barren sparkling stainless soul
by Richard W. Bray
Tags: dirty, filth, grime, muck, Poetry
Posted in Poetry | Leave a Comment »
May 1, 2014
Fresh and springy
Sunny day
Flowers pushing
Up to say
“Live your
Happy-spangled day
And mosey on
Your special way”
Burst it out
And don’t be coy
Smell the colors
Live the joy
Be a playful
Bouncy boy
The universe
Will be your toy
by Richard W. Bray
Tags: Children's Literature, children's poetry, happy, happy kids, Poetry, spring
Posted in Poetry for Kids | Leave a Comment »
April 24, 2014
Hit the road for half a life
And braved a million hassles
I found myself the perfect wife
And built myself a castle
Clinging to a dream because
I’m scared I’m gonna drown
Clinging to what never was
To keep from going down
She didn’t seem to mind too much
All that time apart
I did my best to keep in touch
And please her fickle heart
Clinging to a dream because
I’m scared I’m gonna drown
Clinging to what never was
To keep from going down
Filled a house with kids and stuff
And somehow we got by
Concocting fibs and jolly bluffs
A fabricated lie
Clinging to a dream because
I’m scared I’m gonna drown
Clinging to what never was
To keep from going down
Reality is almost gone
Couldn’t get much insaner
The whole town knows what’s going on
With my wife and her trainer
Clinging to a dream because
I’m scared I’m gonna drown
Clinging to what never was
To keep from going down
by Richard W. Bray
Tags: country music, Country Music Lyrics, infidelity, lyrics, sad songs
Posted in If it sounds country, sad songs | Leave a Comment »
April 17, 2014
I ate your lunch, but don’t you see?
You left it right in front of me
I’m sorry that you’re feeling cross
I’m sorry but you’re not my boss
All my friends thought it was funny
When I dipped your phone in honey
I’m sorry you can’t take a joke
I’m sorry you’re a stodgy bloke
I’ll raise some hell and make a fuss
I’ll fart and belch and shout and cuss
I’m sorry if you think I’m rude
I’m sorry you’re a silly prude
As long as everyone is free
I’ll be the man I want to be
I’m sorry you’re hung up on rules
I’m sorry you were raised by fools
by Richard W. Bray
Tags: bad manners, Children's Literature, Humor, humorous poetry, Poetry, rude people
Posted in Poetry, Poetry for Kids | Leave a Comment »
April 13, 2014
I had no time to Hate—
Because
The Grave would hinder Me—
And Life was not so
Ample I
Could finish—Enmity—
—Emily Dickinson
The human mind is capable of generating rational thoughts, but thinking is not a rational process. Our thoughts are the fruit of our emotions. The poet Theodore Roethke points out
We Think by Feeling
Our perceptions are limited and transcendence is an illusion. Wallace Stevens reminds us
Your world is you. I am my world
It’s not my task in life to figure out who the good people are. There are people that I admire; there are people that I enjoy being around; there are people who annoy me; there are people that I don’t enjoy being around. But people are not what I think about them. And whatever fraction of my life I spend evaluating the overall worth of particular human beings is a waste of my precious time on earth. Life is not a contest, and even if it were, no one appointed me judge.
We see others through the prism of how we wish to perceive ourselves. W.H. Auden explains
A friend is the old, old tale of Narcissus.
It is easier to feel compassion for others when I am feeling good about myself. And forgiving myself for my imperfections makes it easier to accept the imperfections of others.
My cruel and petty and spiteful impulses are the excrescence of my inadequacies. I cannot make these impulses go away. But I can endeavor to check myself whenever I fantasize about seeing bad things happen to other people. It’s a perpetual struggle.
by Richard W. Bray
Tags: Bantams in Pine-Woods, Death's Echo, Emily Dickinson, I Had No Time for Hate, W.H. Auden, Wallace Stephens
Posted in Emily Dickinson, Essay, Morsel, Poetry, W.H. Auden | Leave a Comment »
April 5, 2014
She was sultry, she was fine
But that vixen wasn’t mine
When her boyfriend busted in
He was angrier than sin
He teaches Tae kwon do
I’m in a cast from head to toe
My hunger
Trumped my fear
That’s why you’ll
Find me here
I tried to drive my car
After hitting sixteen bars
That kindly EMT
Asked me if I saw the tree
It’s a wonder I ain’t dead
But I’m handcuffed to my bed
My hunger
Trumped my fear
That’s why you’ll
Find me here
I can never get enough
I want everybody’s stuff
I know every single trick
I sneak right in and grab it quick
I tried it one too many times
Now I’m in Chino doing time
My hunger
Trumped my fear
That’s why you’ll
Find me here
by Richard W. Bray
Tags: country music, Country Music Lyrics, Humor, lyrics
Posted in If it sounds country, Lyrics | Leave a Comment »
April 1, 2014
waiting as
my coffee cooks
my morning
contemplation
hooks
my mind on
tasks that
make a day
folks to see
and bills
to pay…
I do the
things I
gotta do
to build
a life for
me and you
only thing
I’m sure
about
life is who
we care about
by Richard W. Bray
Tags: coffee, country music, Country Music Lyrics, love songs, lyrics
Posted in If it sounds country, love songs, Lyrics | Leave a Comment »
March 27, 2014
I’ll be friendly
I’ll be flirty
I’ll make manager
By thirty
I turn it off
I turn it on
I’m your friend
Until you’re gone
Talk all about
The kids and wife
I’ll say you have
An awesome life
I turn it off
I turn it on
I’m your friend
Until you’re gone
I’m here all night
This round’s on me
With all my fake
Sincerity
I turn it off
I turn it on
I’m your friend
Until you’re gone
You’re not my pal
You ain’t my friend
You’re just the
Means to an end
I turn it off
I turn it on
I’m your friend
Until you’re gone
by Richard W. Bray
Tags: country music, Country Music Lyrics, lyrics, Schmooze button, schmoozers
Posted in If it sounds country, Lyrics | Leave a Comment »
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