the warmth of you
melts away the hurt
love like a river
washing out the dirt
the song of you
pulses through my mind
your tender melody
compassionate and kind
the joy of you
sparkles like a star
I wish I could absorb
everything you are
by Richard W. Bray
tie yourself up in a not
think about what people do
and crave what people got
ignite your blood like gasoline
turn the damage inside out
explode like a machine
pull your heart out through your gut
slash and maim and trash and burn
and smash and maul and cut
by Richard W. Bray
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
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
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
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
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
existence
is a chain
the cost of flesh
is pain
live your hurt
don’t feed it
don’t take a knife
and bleed it
open up
and breathe
don’t grate yourself
like cheese
by Richard W. Bray
Feelings are the engine
That transport every notion
Thought is merely freight
Carried by emotion
No one is impartial
Ideas don’t live in air
Logic is an afterthought
You think because you care
Thoughts appear rational
But this is an illusion
We aspire after stars
In dust of confusion
by Richard W. Bray
You can pry
And you can peel
You can flay
You can reveal
Strip me naked
To my soul
Detach my parts
To get my whole
Unlock pieces
That are real
Why I do
And what I feel
But who can ever tell me why
Cannonball Adderley makes me cry?
by Richard W. Bray
