it's easy to hurt
another human being
if you're careless
if you're stupid
or just plain mean
you can't take back
the hurt you give
you're gonna
have to face it
as long as you live
it doesn't matter
how bad you feel
it ain't gonna help
the other person heal
you can't take back
the hurt you give
you're gonna
have to face it
as long as you live
by Richard W. Bray
Telling more lies
To prove you aren't a liar
Committing arson
To cover up a fire
Pretending away
Facts that burn your soul
Pretending away
Truth that takes a toll
Festering lilies
Troubles grow like weeds
Caress and fondle
The monsters that you feed
Pretending away
The pain and the smell
Pretending away
The things you never tell
Cardboard illusions
Menageries of glass
Forsaken future
Imaginary past
Pretending away
What everybody sees
Pretending away
Your own reality
by Richard W. Bray
Tell me on a Friday
If it isn't working out
Give me two days
To cry my eyeballs out
I'll arise on Monday morning
With a pile of work to do
Before I can remember
There's no more me and you
The paradise where roses bloom
Is just another lonely room
Tell me on a Friday
When my day is done
And all my happy hopes
Can set with the sun
I'll have 48 hours
To completely fall apart
Then I'll pull myself together
And resuscitate my heart
The paradise where roses bloom
Is just another lonely room
by Richard W. Bray
a man-hating woman
and a woman-hating man
raised a couple kids
in a pool of quicksand
daughter got away
and overcome the sad
angry little mama's boy
blames everything on dad
a man-hating woman
and a woman-hating man
smells and yells and warning bells
forty years of rage
and they never even knew
they built their own cage
by Richard W. Bray
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.
—Emily Dickinson
I heard a funny story
I saw a good film
So many things I wanna tell you
Things to make you smile
So many things I wanna tell you
Every single day
So many things I wanna tell you
But you went away
I had a bad day
I wanted to cry
So many things I wanna tell you
To help me get by
So many things I wanna tell you
Every single day
So many things I wanna tell you
But you went away
I pulled myself together
Dug out of my ditch
So many things I wanna tell you
Life is such a bitch
So many things I wanna tell youEvery single day
So many things I wanna tell you
But you went away
Everything that happened
Was better with you
So many things I wanna tell you
But there’s nothing I can do
So many things I wanna tell you
Every single day
So many things I wanna tell you
But you went awayby Richard W. Bray
You did not come,
And marching Time drew on, and wore me numb,—
—Thomas Hardy, A Broken Appointment
I guess I just amused you
But I felt so much more
Wondrous happy singsong
Leading to your door
A kiss, a smile, a rainbow
Aren’t always what they seem
Underneath a streetlamp
Waiting on a dream
Time to face my sorrow
Time to live my fate
The moon is now descending
The hour is getting late
Hope, rejection, heartache —
My never-ending theme
Underneath a streetlamp
Waiting on a dream
Memories immortal
Melodies divine
Radiance and laughter
A moment of your time
A kiss, a smile, a rainbow
Aren’t always what they seem
Underneath a streetlamp
Waiting on a dream
by Richard W. Bray
To tease em, and thrill em, to torture and kill em,
Is her delight, they say
—Hard Hearted Hannah. Lyrics by Jack Yellen, Bob Bigelow, and Charles Bates
never said
i was nice
you got some sugar
with your spice
now it’s time
to run along
here’s a dime
to call your mom
never said
i was nice
love isn’t always
paradise
thank your stars
you got to be
with someone
as cool as me
never said
i was nice
please don’t make
me tell you twice
it shouldn’t be hard
to find the door
you don’t amuse
me anymore