Happiness is a sad song
—Charles Schultz, from the book Happiness is a Warm Puppy
Everything was beautiful
Until it went wrong
Happiness
Is sad song
Weeping for Hecuba
And all those hurts beyond
Happiness
Is sad song
Poking ancient agony
Clutching what is gone
Happiness
Is sad song
Accepting my reality:
I loved you all along
Happiness
Is sad song
by Richard W. Bray
My guts are bleeding
My anatomy’s afire
The fog is receding
I’m a loser and a liar
Takes a toll on my health
When I pretend to be ok
Been lying to myself
Since I sent you away
Alone in my room
A wayward little boy
Living on the fumes
Of the love I destroyed
by Richard W. Bray
Never liked anyone
More than I like you
But keeping us together
Was more than I could do
Never lost anything
More lovable than you
I’m less than a man
For what I put you through
Paying the price
For being a dunce
True Love ain’t a thing
That happens more than once
by Richard W. Bray
You went out for some coffee
But you never came back
Now you call me on the phone
And you wanna slither back
You disrupt and take advantage
Everywhere you go
You owe a thousand dollars
To everyone I know
Do you ever stop to think
About the things you’re doin’?
Do you ever contemplate
Your trail of wreck and ruin?
You’ve worn out every welcome
From here to Timbuktu
After all the things you did
Why should I get back with you?
“I just need another chance”
Is all you ever say
Take your basket full of sorry
And please just go away
by Richard W. Bray
After all the things I done
I can never hurt enough
It ain’t my conscience talking
It’s the ghost of our love
I wake up in evening
Feel you breathing on my skin
Just the ghost of our love
It’s teasing me again
The ghost of our love
Is laughing in my face
Every time I try and find
Somebody to replace it
The ghost of our love
Reminds me all the time
I’m just another scoundrel
Who cannot face my crime
by Richard W. Bray
I tried to feed a hunger
That grew and grew
I climbed a million mountains
For that perfect view
Never knew where I was going
But I kept pushing through
Till a thousand wrong turns
Led me to you
Been a lotta places
Where the wind blows cold
I never take advice
I don’t do what I’m told
Ended with a prize
Amazing to behold
I chased a million rainbows
And you’re my pot of gold
by Richard W. Bray
Every breath I take
Fills me up with pain
I go out every morning
Pretending like I’m sane
I’m a lost hopeless goner
Living in vain
Defeated and depleted
Nowhere left to go
Every ounce of marrow
Drained from my soul
Impossible to dream
That I’ll ever be whole
That smile on my face
Is a crumbling façade
Like Alfred E. Neuman
I pretend it isn’t odd
Just another day for
A stumbling, bumbling fraud
Defeated and depleted
Nowhere left to go
Every ounce of marrow
Drained from my soul
Impossible to dream
That I’ll ever be whole
At the end of my rope
And hanging by a thread
I could’ve had love
I chose freedom instead
Still, it’s nice to know
I’ll feel better when I’m dead
Defeated and depleted
Nowhere left to go
Every ounce of marrow
Drained from my soul
Impossible to dream
That I’ll ever be whole
by Richard W. Bray
I never made it home
To love you like I should
Got a long list of reasons
But none of ’em are good
I stopped to check the score
I had money on the game
I was headed out the door
When my appetizers came
I was feeling kinda lucky
My dice were getting hot
Some dude from Kentucky
Was lining up the shots
I was scared I’d miss something
I was totally right
It was the same old nothing
That I’m doing every night
I started painting red
Didn’t know when to stop
Got punched in the head
When I spit on a cop
So I’ll spend another night
In this stinky old cell
I never did you right
But I always meant well
I never made it home
To love you like I should
Got a long list of reasons
But none of ’em are good
by Richard W. Bray
If only I was taller
I’d be in the NBA
If only you were perfect
I never would betray
If only I were lucky
Things never go my way
If only I were handsome
Love would never go astray
If only everybody
Would just let me be me
If only somebody
Would love me just for me
If only life were fair
I never would complain
If only this world
Didn’t have so much pain
If only the past
Was something I didn’t know
If only you still loved me
Like you did long ago
by Richard W. Bray
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.
—Thomas Hardy, The Darkling Thrush
Icy winds blast frigid cold
In this everywhere of snow
Little bird you are so strong
Light up the evening with a song
Is there no place you can go
To warm your fragile feathered soul?
How can you radiate delight
On this coldest winter’s night?
The greatest courage is to sing
In the face of shocks and stings
by Richard W. Bray
