Tag Archives: worry

Don’t Worry, Be Happy: canzone

Canto I. Don’t Worry

There is no cause for worry or alarm.
The world will carry on despite your fears;
true love will never languish in the arms
of its emotions’ mirror once there found,
though those who seek destruction may surround
and threaten to destroy the cause of life.
Who cares what fools decide to rally ‘round
this tired and jaded banner of deceit?

There is no cause to fear the coming storm:
at least, that’s what the pundits tend to say;
and who, believing their opinion best,
would dare to contradict such acumen?
Believe, believe, and trust your overlords;
it serves their common interest to thwart
what thoughts of revolution might ensue
should you and I begin to doubt and think.

There is no cause for worry, for no harm
will come to those who meekly bow their heads;
the cannon fodder used to fire loud guns
is manufactured from the irksome weeds.
What good is it to argue, in a rage,
against the great inevitable truth?
What difference does it make that a great lie
has molded us subservient since youth?

Canto II. Just Believe

Who calls this thing for what it is? The truth?
In whose inane philosophy of life
does anything not bite that grows a tooth
or fail to cut whose hand may hold a knife?
Where is it written that all men are just,
that goodness lurks inside the human breast?
We see an enemy because we must,
and separate our good from all the rest.

Who when they are attacked, turns either cheek,
or answers with meek love the fatal stab?
There is no place in this world for the weak;
and doubtful, much space there beyond the slab.
When mirth and goodness fill the world, at last,
when virtuous and kind men rule as kings,
perhaps when that great loaded die is cast
will anyone care much for these fool things.

Who reaches out for what they think divine,
and moves and acts according to the good,
forsaking lustful urging for what’s mine
that makes no sacrifices, even when it should?
What men believe reflects in how they move;
their words mean next to nothing, if their acts
would they and their vain gods, both liars prove.
This is not my conjecture, just the facts.

Canto III. Be Happy

Is ignorance of evil really bliss,
so any knowledge can bring only pain?
What kind of life is made from thoughts like this,
that would eschew all sunshine for a rain
to wash away all purpose and desire
and in its place leave just some bland ennui,
that keeps just above freezing, with no fire,
the heart just barely beating, almost free?

And what is happiness, in such a place,
without an individual life-spark,
a gray and dismal world without a face
with eyes only accustomed to the dark,
whose hope is but a pipe-dream, with no point,
the vain illusion of childhood and youth,
who seek some strengthless victor to annoint
who conquers without battle, strife, or truth?

But still, no cause for worry, friends of mine;
the world is not designed to pass away.
what wills itself to live, will all be fine,
and can survive all trials, come what may.
The crucible you’ve called for has arrived!
Rejoice! They have now standardized the test,
and soon, there’ll be no need for shuck and jive
to separate the chaff from all the rest.

30 JAN 2017

Share This:

Lay down

Lay down your weary tune;
lay down your weary tune.
You’ve been singing it for far too long.
When others faltered, you still held on strong:
never a missed note or phrase gone wrong.
Lay down your weary tune.

Lay down your worried mind;
lay down your worried mind.
All those ideas that still carry you,
lost dreams and wishes that have not come true,
still doing nothing with nothing to do:
lay down your worried mind.

Lay down your troubled heart;
lay down your troubled heart;
You’ve let your flame go out and found the dark,
toasted with gasoline to find a spark,
and in the scheme of things, to leave your mark.
Lay down your troubled heart.

Lay down your weary tune;
lay down your weary tune.
Just find another, something more inspired:
outside the door where things are still not wired.
Leave that old one to quietly retire;
lay down your weary tune.

03 FEB 2013

Share This:

Ten Seconds Too Long

Standing in the echo of the last show’s fading note,
wondering through the night about the last song that I wrote:
the one that drew a line and put me on the other side;
was that what we both wanted, or was it just foolish pride?

I wouldn’t be so worried if there was some way to know
how long that it might take before I stop loving you so;
see, I can handle heartache and a lot of misery,
but it would make it so much easier thinking it will only be …

Seven days and fourteen hours and twenty seconds more
until you come back to your senses and are standing at that door
with a handful of good reasons, each one worth the staying for.
I may not know too much, but I know now that you’ve been gone
seven days and fourteen hours and ten seconds too long.

Listening to the raindrops fall against the windowpane,
running through the last things that we said, time and again;
every word seems like an echo slowly fading with the night
that takes with it the good we had as it slips out of sight.

I wouldn’t care so much if I was more sure that we had
enough of the good times to outweigh what we know was bad;
but we got out of balance somewhere there toward the end.
I know it’s for the better, but I also know it’s been

Seven days and fourteen hours and twenty seconds more
since you came to your senses and walked straight out that front door
with a handful of good reasons, each one worth your leaving for.
I may not know too much, but I know now that you’ve been gone
seven days and fourteen hours and ten seconds too long.

In the arsenal of love, the deadliest of tools
is memory, that brings down both the wise man and the fool,
and over time, serves to remind us where we went astray
by keeping in our minds the worst mistakes we ever made

and now it’s …

Seven days and fourteen hours and twenty seconds more
until you come back to your senses and are standing at that door
with a handful of good reasons, each one worth the staying for.
I may not know too much, but I know now that you’ve been gone
seven days and fourteen hours and ten seconds too long.

1 APR 2006

Share This:

Seed Thought on Worrying

Here’s something that regardless of your worldview and spiritual/religious persuation, it is useful to bear in mind:

If there is a way to overcome the suffering, then there is no need to worrry; if there is no way to overcome the suffering, then there is no use in worrying. — Shantideva, A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life

Share This: