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
See that messed up
Couple over there?
She’s got a million tats
And 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
Huge and horrible things
Happen every day
I won’t try and hide
I won’t look away
Keeping it together
And trying to cope
With a handful of love
And a sliver of hope
I won’t give in
I won’t be torn apart
By the greed and hate
And anger in my heart
Keeping it together
And trying to cope
With a handful of love
And a sliver of hope
Walking up a hill
I’ll walk till I drop
The walk is all I got
Won’t ever reach the top
Keeping it together
And trying to cope
With a handful of love
And a sliver of hope
by Richard W. Bray
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
—Phillip Larkin
In our lust for power and pelf
We pass on pain to son and daughter
I’ve passed along much hurt myself
It spreads and spreads like dye in water
Our lives are sad; our fate is strange
Life just seems like one big trap
Human beings will never change
Is existence merely crap?
Life is pain; there’s no exemption
I don’t seek meaning up above
Succor pain and seek redemption
In every act of hope and love
by Richard W. Bray
Been hived and herded
Doused and dirted
Desecrated
And deserted
Life is an ocean
Of misery and woe
Love is a notion
I’m fortunate to know
Been punched and prodded
Nailed and knotted
Fiends who plotted
Stomped and swatted
Life is an ocean
Of misery and woe
Love is a notion
I’m fortunate to know
Been kicked and slandered
Dumped and dandered
Pitched and pandered
Without candor
Life is an ocean
Of misery and woe
Love is a notion
I’m fortunate to know
by Richard W. Bray
Perhaps you laugh at me! Perhaps the whole United States are laughing at me too! I can’t stop for that! My business is to love.
—Emily Dickinson
Can’t weight it on a scale
Can’t plot it on a graph
The tremors won’t be measured
On a seismograph
You can do a million surveys
You can fill in all the bubbles
But you’ll never find a theory
To eliminate your troubles
Sooner if not later
Every statistician found
You can process all the data
But the variables confound
It can’t be quantified
It won’t fit on your chart
Your methods cannot measure
The circumference of the heart
by Richard W. Bray
If I let you love me
I will let you down
And when our love is done
A part of us will drown
If I let you love me
I’ll start to love you too
We’ll tear at one another
Cuz that’s what lovers do
If I let you love me
I’m taking on your weight
And someone will get hurt
And hurt will turn to hate
I won’t let you love me
Cuz I care for you too much
Attachment is no match
For the malady of touch
by Richard W. Bray
so many times
so many ways
i hurt you
for what I am
and who
i want to be
i devour
i disrupt and
i endure
my hunger
slashes you
it nibbles me
a thousand times
i can say
i’m sorry
but that’s
a stupid song
i sing for me
by Richard W. Bray
Fire, famine, mudslides,
Hurricanes and homicide,
Overburdened single moms,
Runaways and cluster bombs,
Veterans without a home,
Gramma livin all alone,
Busted dreams, massive debt,
Little kid who lost a pet,
Poverty and cheatin spouses,
Banks foreclosing on our houses,
Daddy bet the farm away,
Mommy shootin smack all day…
This world’s got
A lot to bring me down
There’s plenty
Of hurt to go around
And the only relief
That I know of
Is kindness
And fellowship
And love
Richard W. Bray
Pack a lunch
And fix her face
Today your little girl’s
Gonna join the race
She’s got a bag
That’s half her size
Time to swallow tears
And kiss goodbye
Got no choice
But to let her go
It’s a mighty pain
No one else could know
One last hug
Wish her well
Things that matter
Hurt like hell
Tempers shattered
All your light
Now the golden glow
Is an endless night
She held you up
For half a life
Nothing prepares you
To lose a wife
Got no choice
But to let her go
It’s a mighty pain
No one else could know
One last hug
Wish her well
Things that matter
Hurt like hell
by Richard W. Bray
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