~The Poets Dream~

Soon winter will be upon us.

One can feel the cool Canadian breeze in the air today.

In a few days the leaves will all turn brown and fall to the ground.

Autumn and spring become the stepping stones to the unseen.

A time to be born,

A time to die,

Many sit around the camp fire asking why.

 

Guitar player,

Ancient warrior of wisdom,

Play your soft chords that lead the chosen to discover

And re-discover reason.

Some of us commit treason,

Others ride the tide from season to season,

We will return again.

 

The clouds faces are tucked away in the corners of my mind.

The sun beams through the spaces like a flashlight

Violently searching the night.

My body explodes into the heart of the sun.

 

Floating through the clouds,

The memories come rushing back to meet me now.

Of you and me and how happy we used to be.

Rising up to that space between earth and heaven, I had a dream.

I had a dream of a place where people walk safely down the street,

Everyone has enough to eat,

No one ever misses a beat.

A place where the waves always reach the shore

And no one kills the children anymore.

 

Hold on to the dream,

Hold on to the dream…

JvLs

~What She Has Done~

She opened the door and was blinded by the rising sun.

Knowing that one day she will be gone,

She looks around and asks herself – “in the end, what will I have done?”

There is so much to be said,

But I am just one voice.

What will I have done?

In the end, it boils down to choice,

Even though we are one voice.

Together we can sing loud enough to awake the Gods,

Cause mountains to crumble

And make the most disciplined musician stumble.

 

All she wants in this world is to be heard.

What will I have done?

She bends down and looks into the eyes of her only son.

What and inspiration!

What a destination!

What a beautiful creation!

 

She opens the door and is blinded by the setting sun.

Knowing that one day she will be gone,

A tear rolls down her cheek as she bends down and stairs into the eyes

Of the beauty of what she has done.

JvLs

~Turn and Walk Away~

After shaking hands for the last time,

He slowly turned and walked away,

Knowing that another legacy was born

And another part of the present is now a part of the past.

 

On each occasion it was time to say goodbye.

Goodbye to old friends gone astray

And start a new life after leaving the always lingering

Hallways behind.

 

‘t is the day to say fare the well.

A day to cry and say goodbye to a first love.

The couple strode out of the building,

Embraced and turned to walk away.

Goodbye to the street lights that lit the paths of your hometown.

The emptiness opens its door.

Seeing visions of childhood play,

He turned and walked away.

 

And now it is time to settle down, say hello.

Find love, live life, raise a family.

He will always remember the final smiles,

The endless handshakes,

The hard times and the easy times.

They will be remembered with love.

So here’s to all of you!

Seeing visions of a life that has passed,

He turned and walked away.

JvLs

~Lying Upon the Beams (of Life)

In the isolated remains inside the dimensions of my soul

Lays a strength to carry on,

To an eternity I am off.

The curtain hangs low over my existence,

For I have become a man of surrounded dreams,

Body lying upon the beams of life awaiting my turn,

Awaiting my future.

For my eyes, they may be blind, but I can hear and feel the wasted years,

Unnecessary tears,

Unwanted fears,

How I enjoyed the depression of those years!

 

As the birds nest by the lake,

I start to awake, catching the smell of this fresh, new day.

I pray that the sun will never sink

And people will think.

Think about life, all the climbs and dives.

 

So hello to you,

It’s good to see you again.

To laugh, to cry,

To remember and forget.

It is good to once again pretend that the gold lies around the next bend,

For I see you my friend.

JvLs

 

 

~The Secret~ 

The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.

The secret of time is that time is not real.

The secret of love is the opening of ones heart.

JvLs

Before I release this, I have to say a few words about it. I am not a very political guy. Not left. Not right. Centered I’d say. I am an artist, however, and I see and feel what’s going on around me and beyond. I wrote this piece in 1991. I was going through some of my old stuff recently when I found this. Suddenly it dawned on me how relevant it is today. That saddened me extremely, because it was 27 years ago! I’ll leave an after thought…

~You Can Call It A Sad Song~

The world, the world,

I am concerned for our world.

Confusion in our streets, among our people.

Which is which, who is who?

What happened to right and wrong?

You can call it a sad song.

 

And there’s a falling across the sea’s.

After only a few months of the certain death of socialism and communism,

Suddenly, it lives again.

At least the wall still falls in Germany!

 

As the clock slowly ticks away,

Here in the U.S.A. we begin a new day.

It’s 1991 and the times, they have changed.

By 2060 we will have lost the world we built and worked and fought and died for.

The day after day struggle to preserve the heritage we once knew is fading away.

And you can call it a sad song.

 

The trees are all dying.

The rain forests are turning to desert sand,

Becoming a wasted land.

Winter, spring, summer, fall –

Who can tell the difference anymore?

With no more room to put our garbage,

It lines our streets and fills our oceans.

So you can call it a sad song,

But I say “united we stand, divided we fall!”

JvLs

…So there it is. Does that sound familiar. Shortly after I wrote that it felt like we, as a people, united again. Maybe it was because we had a moment of peace after the Gulf war and until 9/11? After 9/11 we definitely united. Everyone had an American flag flying in front of their house and on their cars.  Mine still flies.

I ask you, what is going on? Underneath it all, are we not Americans? It pains me to see so much division. I feel like it is not leading to good places.  Can we lay it all down? I thought we had gotten beyond race and origin.  It’s all B.S. to me.  We must not judge a person by the color of their skin, or the country they came from! We can only judge a person by their heart and their values. Nothing else matters, does it? You are either a good person or a bad person. It’s all about love. That’s it. So let’s get back to being one.

**Please feel free to leave a comment. Let’s start a discussion. One by one, we can make a difference!

 

via A Good Days Trip

~A Good Days Trip~

I’ll trip the walls of your creation if you,

In turn, will save my soul!

It is time to lay down my guns,

My shields, my sunglasses and face the world.

Face life, death, love, hate, ruin, sadness

And happiness.

 

Still remains the question –

“Mother, did the wall need to be so high?”

It is hump day here in the Valley of Despair.

Can I go out and play – pray?

No?!

Let me live! I want to live.

 

I sit here now smoking a cigarette

And drinking a beer.

Listening to Bach on the radio,

I ask where is the path –

East, west, north or south?

I want you to hold me tight,

Knock me down, drag me around,

Let me know everything is going to be alright.

 

We belong in a world where nothing is wrong.

That is what dreams are made of.

So dry your eyes,

Leave all the tears inside.

Come take a chance down by the Oceanside.

 

Can you feel it?

The change is coming. Nothing is the same.

Why can’t things stay gold?

Because everything is for sale just to be sold.

 

Can you hear it?

The music floating through the breeze?

It’s Jimi, alive again!

Give the people what they want

And we want and we want!

The cycles of time go ’round and ’round.

I ask you – who beats the funeral drum?

Not Stevie Ray.

 

I can hear it now,

A guitars voice coming to town.

Where have those friends gone?

Why did they leave when we needed them most?

Where is Jimi now?

What happened to Janis?

And why won’t MoJoRisen write in?

I can see the taxi waiting,

But Mr. Chapin  has lost his license

And Bonzo’s drums sit in silence.

I can hear it now.

 

We belong in a world where nothing is wrong.

That’s what dreams are made of.

So dry your eyes,

Leave all the tears inside,

Take a chance down by the Oceanside.

JvLs

~Bliss Within the Mist~

We are not seeking the greener side of the grass,

For it is the grass itself that we seek.

In the rear view mirror can be seen the city,

Ugly, dark and bleak.

Ahead can be seen a mountain town filled with history and class.

 

It is here we search for a new life.

Here are new friends to find.

There is nothing left to remind us of how life was so unkind.

It is here we find peaceful bliss within mist.

 

Trees all around,

Streams rapidly flowing by at feet,

Lakes filled with desert love.

Mountains so high they are able to touch the sky.

The only object is the many trees.

Fields and fields of cancer and loss of reality.

No sound, except the singing bee’s

And the animals running through this land of beauty

With a passion for individuality.

 

A land where peace and quiet stand out.

A land build for longtime  meditation.

Sitting at a warm fire, beneath a blanket of stars,

Having cold remembrances of how hard life used to be.

Slowly a tear falls.

It is here we find peaceful bliss within the mist.

JvLs

~The Beat of A Single Drum~

Clouds in the sky,

Eyes swelled with tears

As they majestically pass by

Like the slow parade of years.

 

The beat of a single drum

comes flying through and endures in their ears,

A native drum from a far away land.

 

It fights to break a long silence,

But it is too late,

Their people are dead

And their land is gone.

 

Clouds in their eyes

As only a few are left,

Fending for their lives

To the beat of a single drum.

JvLs