Tag Archives: mistakes

Slip, Trip, Stumble and Fall

I had it easy, or so I’ve been told:
good luck and fortune to have and to hold
Plenty good lovin’ and good-timin’ friends
Who swore they’d back me up until the end

But all too easy, it slipped right away;
No more tomorrow, and not much today.
Dreams turned to nightmares, and sunshine to rain;
And how it hurts me now to have to explain.

Sometimes you slip, trip, stumble and fall;
Leavin’ you no chance to make sense of it all.
Without a warning, you get that wake up call
And you slip, trip, stumble and fall.

Some kinds of trouble you just can’t outrun;
bad situations when you’re under the gun.
Sometimes a sure thing is riddled with doubt;
no big surprise when the whole bottom drops out

No sense to argue, no reason to cry
No point in sittin’ there wonderin’ why
It’s bound to happen to you, just wait and see
Sooner or later, eventually

Sometimes you slip, trip, stumble and fall;
Leavin’ you no chance to make sense of it all.
Without a warning, you get that wake up call
And you slip, trip, stumble and fall.

29 APR 2009

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New myths are required

There’s just so much that you can take
as karmic payment for mistakes
before you start to wonder and
imagine that you understand
the link from cause to each effect:
that every action or neglect
results in a changed universe
that’s neither better, nor is worse,
but different, needing different acts,
new myths to organize the facts,
revised agendas, maps and tools,
new visions, sages, holy fools,
and more important than the rest,
new meanings for both cursed and blessed.

On faith, we take for granted most
of our advantages, and coast
through life without imagining
much beyond what each new day brings,
and fail, too often, to observe
that most get just what they deserve,
or at least, just what their belief
embraces: joy, bliss, sorrow, grief.
Through all the trials, tests and strife
we must accept, to accept life,
one thing remains: those who feel blessed
are obligated to the rest.
To claim dominion of some kind
is to expect that dumb and blind
the world will simply bow and serve,
a sad fate that nothing deserves.

09 JUN 2005

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No More Sad Weepings of Regret

No more sad weepings of regret
for could have beens and not quite yets,
for rituals left incomplete
for locked doors facing empty streets

for words lost in a tempest’s rage
for missteps on an unlit stage
for ancient wounds now faded scars
for long burnt out, far distant stars

for fashions past that won’t return
for matches far too wet to burn
for verbal gaffes, for unrhymed verse
for knowledge gathered and dispersed

for books unwritten and unread
for love once endless, but now dead
for rusting bars on unlit cells
for buckets drawn from empty wells

for seeds and wild oats never sown
for first together, then alone
for motions carried just for spite
for daylight’s retreat into night

for a whole lifetime spent for naught
for fish, and punchlines, left uncaught
for seeming more, and being less
for each new forwarding address

for moments passed that are no more
for losing count, for keeping score
for hours lost in speechless grief
for seeking elsewhere for relief

for finding fault, for feeling shame
for wanting to assign the blame
for wasting one more second’s worth
of this brief span we have on earth.

06 APR 2005

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Concerning Past and Present Loves

Concerning K. I cannot say it came as much surprise
There always was a kind of fuzz that lingered in her eyes
And anyway, the games you play get serious enough
Without the threat of psychopathy breaking all your stuff

Concerning E. it seems to me our ages were all wrong
We didn’t grow up with the same books or sing the same songs
And furthermore, her mom got sore that I was more secure
Than her strange fundamentalist preacher man could endure

Concerning M., I won’t condemn the daydreams of the past
But it was never meant to be, and never meant to last
And in end, I won’t pretend that dream died slow and hard
But there was no room for me then or now on her dance card

Concerning V. I won’t deceive you, that was a mistake
She wanted oatmeal safety and I gave her nut and flake
And when it stopped and she just dropped me, it was for the best
There wasn’t any way I could have sat through the whole test

Concerning J. I went away before something could gel
But we were shooting in the dark, as far as I could tell
And so to speak, as different freaks our paths would never meet
Except at the rain-soaked crosswalk of some Seattle street

Concerning G., and M., and R., and maybe J., and C.
There were some magic moments, but they’re all now history
In retrospect, if I neglect to mention you by name
It’s not that you are unimportant; just say I’m to blame

Concerning S., now, more or less, there is so much to say
I wouldn’t trade what I have lost for what I have today
And truth be told, now getting old seems less a cross to bear
Because a life worth living is a life you want to share

21 JUN 2004

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