*** temporal ***

temporal shift, in glimmering waves,

tighten your lids and vice-pry your third eye:

slowly close the gates in the face of the two old folk who can’t take a joke

it’s you and I, withered and dry, glimpse of fate yet to come by

what did we expect? A life of deliberate excess, haunting us in the end

all the practicing hate, we preach by example, toll goes up when path is trampled

settled score...in the midst of settled dust...in the future...soft-cored individuals

will stop and reevaluate bloodlust...evolving from past mistakes they must

the responsibility, the larger than unending life legacy

the good the bad and all that heavy stuff...

Belongs To Us

soften the core, drop all guns to the floor

soften the core, armistice evermore

shift again - second gear, tighten your lids to a squint, vice-pry your third eye:

underrated, overhated, now they’re facing

the greatest hardship of all - the rolling around that follows the fall

they’re the two small children on the side of the road;

nobody around to reach out and anchor them home

retraced all our steps and been led astray

let us pray they make out better than ourselves

drain our blood feud now, pass some dignity down;

bequeath the lesson of our hard fought battles

rather than the resin; when you’ve died see your pride no longer matters

settled score...in the midst of settled dust...in the future...well-lored individuals

will establish a far more enduring trust...

ending the era, shaking out the rust, dried blood

the responsibility, the larger than unending life legacy,

the good the bad and all that heavy stuff...

Belongs With Us

bury the hatchets, bloody and cracked with years of abusive usage

in the twilight let us make things right so we can sleep well

throughout the permanent midnight

we’ve reaped, we’ve sowed, but the debt’s still owed for the borrowed land

been constantly wronged, yeah we’ve sinned as long but it still doesn’t evenly pan

the mess we make, eggs we break in the omelette’s name

means of the kind toward the ends in mind

those made by our foes as well, our collective broken shells - cannot be left behind

punish the enemies sworn until hell...punish - ourselves

cleared dust, cleared names, dead end, endgame, dead dogs lie, not to awake

no more temporal shifts, into awareness drift, now...

open your sight, inhale through your third eye

and all you see is a desolate battlefield...and all you see is a desecrated garden

don’t bury yourself here though, head in your hands,

there’s hope yet - not for us, but for the land

done our part - and now take heart - remember that the soil’s still fertile...

soil’s still fertile

now we go and wait for the gates and send our children off to life

*** the last laugh ***

never saying that i didn’t warn them they march on down their heads all bowed

their feet all chafed and bound and rather than meet my scornful jeer they bare

their backs to the razor of recompense and bleed into the boiling pool of their own dreams

and not knowing if cool cleansing tears lay in there, or indeed within them...

such is a depiction of hell from the vantage of the throne at midnite

(the worst in me is laughing best)

*** ode to hope ***

never let go the coal

someday, child, it will be diamond

though in your path hellfire engulf you

may wolves of the night rend your breast

know the charge you are bid to pursue

keep that black bit of soul - that little coal - tightly clenched

for there will great lush shades of green be

dancing with teasing amberlights evermore

shall all this and more true enlightened eyes see

in the wake of a glance through a soul clear as diamond

do not despair, child of promise

child, someday, someday...

*** ****½ ***

we didn’t quite make it, guess i might as well die

*** fucked on nihilism ***

like robots synchronized, they say, don’t make us shoot you - you know we’ll really do it too

a laugh and a half

fucked on nihilism...

it’s a state of being / like a junkie on his favorite drug

it’s a numb sensation / limbo’s elation

as anchored, solidified, the day - a cold nowhere place, no endangerment no escape

a laugh and a half

fucked on nihilism...

it’s a whole new level see / a solemn revelry

it’s the only way / cause of soul’s slow decay

*** pivotal ***

pull the grenade, throw the pin repent the confession salvation the sin

you say my apathy is my predetermined downfall, I don’t give a fuck I’m ten thousand miles tall

I dig shit that makes no sense until the end like jibberish unfolding in a mirror

I dig it like a hole - and I don’t leave enough room to crawl up to breathe

everything is looked at in the way that it is

counteract the collective consciousness and you’ll find the cure for the common cold

like it was right behind the fucking cushions on the couch

this is the vertex - i can lead a horse to water, but drink your own awareness, bitch

get on

pull the grenade from the pin stick back in forgot my confession run fresh out of sin

my apathy is my primary determination, six foot one in the high seat of content (contention)

*** ruby ***

blackness | swelling within me _ not from cigarrettes it’s from you

my ducts sealed push blood for tears, drenching the scar i see through

i nightmare in white and black with occasional shades of grey

ruby, jade eyed wonder, clad in pink and white stripes, your heart all onyx

at first sight routine, first grade still naive enough to dare to dream

first kiss yours and mine, your second - my best friend - was that fucking called for?

see my features in dream sequence frame by frame cause i’m not breathing

recall, recall, it’s the only sour taste that stays behind, can’t wash it out of mind

until you’re old enough to hold enough liquor to feel bold enough to say fuck it, ‘nother day

the face i turn to the world a caricature scrawled by a primate on the wall of a cave

nothing from within betrayed - not a shred of trust inside of me - thanks to the stale moment be

ruby ruby ruby ruby - you’ve made this cynic out of me

ruby ruby - yours is the only face I see, haunting memory

*** sated ***

You hurt me so bad and then want me to forget about you

Because it makes things easier

But scars are visible even to the forgetful eye

I still remember you still bleed from your now unfastened hooks

Baited back into venus flytrap and feeling so degraded

And here all I ever wanted was to be sated

(pre-chorus)

Warmth - I miss tequila days

Facefirst in sunbaked pavement

I recollect I was then content

(chorus)

Like a feather fall

Like a feather fall

Like a feather fall

Yeah like a falling feather falls

Like a feather fall - I lay me down in my bed

And my dreams of you are wet (end chorus)

Give me a fucking knife

(chorus)

I plead and cajole make an ass of myself

In case you didn’t know I don’t take rejection well

(pre-chorus x2, chorus)

Didn’t I order a knife? Don’t expect a tip - save this

Enjoy every moment living in the present

Not enough time to stray from your line

Or you’ll run circles in your mind trying to retrace your step

Like a curse I still love you hence I can never rest

Don’t listen to your heart because it doesn’t know best

Now that I’ve got this baggage off my chest

I can lay me down and tilt my head to the sunset facing west

(pre-chorus)

(chorus)

*** so forlorn ***

so forlorn

take my life keep the change

i am a man in desperate need of a change

I RUN OUT INTO THE COLD SCREAMING FOR SOME ANSWERS

TRY TO REMEMBER THE ACQUAINTANCES FORGOT A BLEEDING FACE MONTAGUE

TRY TO FORM A FACE I CAN PRESENT TO THE WORLD NO SUCH LUCK SO FUCK

ON I PRESS FURTHER INTO THE COLD

hey - give it one more day

if you don't stay, you take all of me

the last time you went away

i was so forlorn i forgot how to pray

*** hard night’s mid ***

A spirit visited me

In the midst of my void of sobriety

I come bearing truth, it said

I come bearing truth

But it was all a lie, and it was just a dream

Then again my arm shows where I cut myself and screamed

The truth evokes such fear in me

A spirit whispered to me

Through the open window, riding the night breeze

I come bearing truth, it said

I come bearing truth

But it was all contrived, I won't be thus deceived

Then again, the spirit's face, revealed - looks just like me

The truth exists inside of me

Frightened, hiding

Forever lying

To the world outside

*** have nice days ***

I don’t expect to ever see her again

That’s all well and fine I can vent through my pen

Song on a napkin, strum on my guitar

Hope you somehow hear its message even though you’re so far

Have nice days, have nice days yeah

Even though they’ll be had without me go and have them anyways

Have nice days, I wish the life long best for you

Have nice days, and have yourself nice long lonely nights too

*** awash ***

awash in splendor yeah

awash in flame

been through catharsis

but...i feel the same

same old shit

save our ship

save our ship from the same old shit

hey yeah

we're sinking in this shit

*** never enough ***
daily renew this self-avowed statement of purpose

shall not take a life today - GENUINE, self full-failing prophecy

by nightfall all has fallen into disarray another erased by steps misplaced

want not fake my life today

I seem to be the sole believer in righting the wrongs, and rectifying the fuck-ups

I seem to be the sole receiver of pundit's lists so long, all of them crying "you fucked up!"

never look twice because I don’t care or perhaps it’s fear either way I deserve no praise

never look back...

*** despite ***

despite everything in spite of myself just to spite you

i reach above the fence to pluck an apple, fits my hand

if it’s not my land, hell the land owns me life and limb

just well taken care of - you know you really should spoil your tree

before you poison me -- neglect is a drug with steady supply

despite the world population it’s a lonely fucking place to die

despite my wishes i spit the seed at your feet and leave it up to you

SEEK

Pleas fall on tone deaf ears

Of those colorblind to your silver tears

Now child be not so misled

They’re full aware of your pain and dread

See, they lack the incentive to give a damn

Those who would aid you are plagued by demons of their own

What I impart to you is an age-old tried and true plan

Turn your fear and reliance into rage and defiance and

Stand up stand tall stand alone...

(chorus) No mercy no prisoners no recompense no reconsideration

The world on a string pended from the ceiling - a speedbag to vent your deepest frustrations

It becomes a seek and destroy; a Helene loose in the walls of troy (end chorus)

There are voices of wisdom within you cajoling for the violent release they demand

And it’s the choices you make concerning their fate that determine exactly where you stand

stand up stand tall stand alone...

(chorus)

You ask how this senseless chaos will expose the simple answers you crave

First off figure it out without asking me, I’m rather fucked up myself you see

Secondly nothing is simple, never what it seems, through and through a world depraved

Last but far from least, the shadows never cease, only you can face them, your spirit will suffice

So down your road you go if we’re both still alive tomorrow I’ll share a little more advice

Until then keep your chin up, your knees unbent as you stand...

stand up stand tall stand alone...

(chorus)

Never lose that inquisitive nature, refuse to accept that anyone hates you

Keep that look of beautiful innocent wonder in your eyes – always ask why

I hope for your sake that you never discover the reply – but good luck anyhow

Someday perhaps a long time from now you might understand

Stand up stand tall stand alone...

No complexities no allegiances, no need for rhyme or reason or stipulation

The world is your oyster, its pearl shines bright so that you might explore its infinite stimulation

It becomes a tireless adventure, a will that will simply never surrender...

Never

ABSTRACT SELF PORTRAIT

Made a lot of bad choices; life has had a few more twists than turns

But dark is the day I turn to the others in this world

For crocodile sympathies or fairweather support – or even accusation

I’m not sure about anything anymore - save that I have no lord

Just a hollow core as black as the demure whisper of a whore behind the door

Hazardous to the spiritual hygiene in this realm kept so pristine

I’m a pox upon my progenitor, the earth; would be a better place if I was stillborn

But no, I had to come and explore this land of strife

Persistent inconsiderate insistence in living my life

Every relationship seethes with volatility – always the same, I’m too vain

And I find myself wishing nothing but pain...pain

Now and then like a scalding geyser it vents

At the expense of someone close to me, scarred

But for the most part it boils and flows inward

(refrain) No scapegoat except myself - fuck it I wouldn’t mind burning in hell

Indignance cedes to resignation...fuck it, fuck it, fuck it, oh well (end refrain)

Can’t displace the blame for this disgrace, it is my shame; nobody can take it from me

Any feeble plea of not guilty would be pathetic

There’s no childhood society or freak genetics

Behind it all, I’m responsible, my ideals all synthetic - I chide myself like a schizophrenic

(chorus) You don’t even resemble yourself

Too proud to resent yourself (end chorus)

Walk across blood-red carpet, barefoot, cut by my own broken word

Draining me of each and every ounce of cold blood

Until I’m nothing but the sheddings of the snake I’ve become

Gaze into the mirror – that vicious vindictive bastard

Hear the collective voice of my critics – unified

(chorus)

Life – it’s such a beautiful thing; bed of flowers gives hope to death-marked man

Trodden beneath me; to crush - far easier than appreciation

So long ago, intense phantasm of a man - stepped out in black robes, sickle in hand

Pointed a finger of ash-colored sinew, his black eyes met mine, he chose, one word, you

A harbinger of my apprenticeship; my pain, yours, the world’s, closest thing to kinship

Because I know them so well...trapped in a world of darkness six-walled cell

The light at the end of the tunnel a mind’s ruse

Left alone damned with my thoughts

When there’s nothing left to reflect on there’s nothing left to lose

(refrain)

The sickle now arcs forth

To fend it off, make a go at redemption

Or not to be – that is the burning question

Bloodless lips part to condemn, haunt

(chorus)

Was there ever a time you remembered yourself?

Set course due dead ahead

Go before the word’s been said

Single shotgun blast a grey and distant past

Digesting my dust to dust increased appetite powerlust

Flight, downfall, crawling pathetic on your knees

I got no pity wasted it all on myself

So your life is shitty at least you got your health

Don’t bitch at me just coz I know where I stand

Half-assed attempts to knock me down you’re like half a man

You whisper my name in death’s ear, dominated by fear

I won’t sit by idly as you try to put me six feet into the earth

I guarantee, lifetime warranty that I will be uncooperative and

Live my life by force

All I ask from your tightknit elitist sect, one humble request and nothing more

Is elbow room and a fistful of respect – if you can even spell the word

You quarter-wit fucking loser, why don’t you look it up in your fucking manual…

Or did you lose it? With the remote control...

And my mind...and your soul...and our cause...

They’re all on picnic in the twilight zone

Sitting alone embraced by the shadows

The world the broken bone surrounding you, the marrow

No hope no way to cope with your fear

You think I am the one who can destroy you, depose you

Make you abdicate your Napoleonic reign on life

Your own, and others, well you’re damn right

I am that chosen one, clear before me is my mission

To usher in the new, by laying waste to you

And all your stagnant traditions

No exception no excuse and no I won’t consider any fucking conditions

Live by force as I see fit, live by force it’s no secret that I’ve run your course

Like a rodent on a wheel, I’m the man now, to survive you better kneel

Don’t expect me to ask - how does it feel?

Coz I know damn well, home sweet habitat, bitter-sweet hell...

Smoking scars...smoldering...they never heal

Illegalize thought – lobotomize the great unwashed

Police and teachers, politicians and preachers and parents galore

Peel away the layers of individuality

And expose the naked core to reshape you in their spitting image

So long as I breathe no one is a god to me

I will perforate your limits and live my life by force

I won’t be subject to the tests in your quest to know and convolute more

Nor will I accept you brain-nazis as my lords

Red flag is tagged on the daily minutia of my real fucking world

If necessary I will live by force

A rebel without a cost I’m of the very worst kind

Coz I see right through your public relations vindications can’t silence me till I’m blind

Cult leader satanist tattoos along all veins in his wrist

I shake his hand with more respect in my grip than I’d ever give your bloody iron fist

All that I own is each breath that I take, not a gift nor a loan I earn or I hate

Burned at the stake coz I break your mold, different from you - the flames seeming cold

I will decimate your world and live by force

TARNISHED

Ever held fresh fallen ashes?

Show me the scars of the burns on your hand

Never take for granted

What you only half assed understand

Don’t count out the skeletal warriors

Smash them to atoms and still their will survives

Pride can take you far but there’s a flipside to the coin

It can bring you beyond the point of no return

Even a splintered log can burn, a tarnished sword can separate head from neck

Decapitate in less than a sec, don’t underestimate anyone yet

Or were you recently deified?

Old dog, new tricks

Modern geriatrics cannot explain

He ran a mile in just under six

Fight fire with fire to break a bone you need more than sticks and stones

Don’t count out the skeletal warriors

Smash them to atoms and still their will survives

Left behind is a phantom, dancing in your mind

A legacy of hell, and to think you laughed as they fell –

Now you hear their echoed mirth

Even a splintered log can burn, a tarnished sword can separate head from neck

Decapitate in less than a sec, don’t underestimate anyone yet

Or were you recently deified?

The original gangsters can still shake up the house

The mighty pachyderm is terrified of the mouse

True, life’s a battle, but brute strength won’t bring longevity

Disregarding tactical sense promises brevity

Remember that everyone possesses a shred

Of everything they’ve ever been, deep in the blood it’s bred

Never give less than 110%

You never know when there’s an ace in the hole up a rolled-up sleeve

Sometimes you wouldn’t believe what can be drawn from within

Soon enough you’ll learn even a splintered log can burn

A tarnished sword can separate head from neck

Decapitate in less than a sec, don’t underestimate anyone yet

Foolproof ain’t bulletproof so shove your foolish pride

Sword lies broken, never to rise again

Rusted to the hilt, blade warped and bent

This is my excalibur chosen to descend upon my foes and defend my friends

Tarnished, mighty

Metal is immortal

THE ISLAND OF BROKEN TOYS

Incandescence...

Abandoned contrition...

Treasured alliance...

Follow the stars to your point of origin

Severed – the rope you drag in tow behind you

Momentary delusion a lifetime ascertained, order issued in heat of rage

To behead the messenger, trapped yourself it’s all the same

Trail forgot, explicable as the prophecy of the rain

The Island of Broken Toys – how much fun can one have with a promise?

Backward glance I find myself too exhausted to understand

No comprehension of sacrifice or minimized contentment

Patience resurrected, tantamount to calm assurance

Meeting death in the eye, no fear of the harness

Inertia with unflagging purpose, canticle of an oppositional world at standstill –

A ruse, no place

The Island of Broken Toys – how much fun can one have with a promise?

Ask the old man bent over his slant-cast shadow

Half a chance to never be whole again

The odds and butt ends of unrequited love always wash up on the shore

On the Island of Broken Toys

SCARMEBURNME

Scar me, burn me, entreated sadist beg to hurt me

Scar me burn me I endure longer

What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger

At the end of the day, left with the pain and a promise of more to come

Tomorrow brings fresh arrows and slings and reduces the choices; where to run

All that you inflict I bear

Nice of you to show you care

As a martyr sure to hear

The voices of my friends out there

World is small room no escape

Jagged edges and blue flames

Scar me burn me every day

I never issued one complaint

Incensed by the seduction of oblivion

Scar me burn me go ahead

What doesn’t kill me makes me wish it had

Wish I were dead, don’t get me wrong I’m not trying to say

I don’t appreciate the wounds you work so hard to create

But sometimes I feel overdosed

Overwhelmed by an overflow of hate

No use dreaming of a better life

This is what I’ve known, grown to like

So I let myself be flayed

Scar burn do what you may

Incensed by the seduction of oblivion

A future without you means no tomorrow

Deprived of you a cold withdrawal

In the void of your essence, a black presence

Ensuring that I remain hollow by killing what might enter me

Baited yet again into deathtrap, I feel so degraded

Nothing new about that, all I wanted was to be sated

(Pre-chorus) Warmth...

I miss tequila days

Facefirst in sunbaked pavement

I recollect I was then content

(Chorus) Like a feather fall (x5)

I lay me down in my bed

And my dreams of you are wet (end chorus)

Give me a fucking knife

(Repeat pre-chorus, repeat chorus)

I plead and cajole

Make an ass of myself

In case you didn’t know

I don’t take rejection well

(repeat pre-chorus x2, repeat chorus)

Didn’t I order a knife?

Don’t expect a tip – save this

Enjoy every moment, never repent

Not enough time to stray from your line

Or you’ll run circles in your mind tryin to retrace your step

Like a curse, I still love you, hence I shall never rest

Not too late for you, I’m a prime example what not to do

Don’t listen to your heart because it doesn’t know best

Now that I’ve got that baggage off my chest

I can lay me down and tilt my head to the sunset in the west

(repeat chorus)

FISSURE

One time...long ago...I thought I had a handle on it

Never reckoned control would be so evasive

Always been a pacifist - or so I thought

Back of my mind there exists – a dark secluded spot

There I keep a list - of all those who’ve done me wrong

A hidden cortex fist - secret weapon makes meek strong

Mild manners camouflage

Picturesque carnage-filled montage

(chorus) Feeling empty

...And a fissure inside of me...

And who cares if they lie to me?

Just more fodder for the beast

Who dwells in the bottom - lives to feed (end chorus)

Nice guys finish last; learned this lesson in the past

I must have slept through class; its message always forgot fast

Good intentions leave me lain; on side of road in pain

I bear it all to them; and they look down their nose

A yet unbroken trend; breaking me hole in my soul

Emptiness all I see

...And a vision born unto me...

Of crimes to be done to me

Blackness within me is widened - I grit my teeth

False grin covers what seethes

Soul’s eroded crevice growing

I’ll have my way with them someday

Toss them in the pit, the floor they hit

Their final resting place, a steaming platter plate

(chorus x2)

So they don’t take me seriously

That’s not their fault not at all

But when someone says they care

They damn well better or beware

Emptiness all I see

...And a vision born unto me...

Of crimes to be done to me

Vengeant blood runs through me

My fuse lit by the count of one, two, three

(chorus)

Who is going to cross me now?

Fire in my eyes burns bright

Reborn and true self found, knowing how to be proud

My chasm cancer niche

Source of power glittering rich

...And a fissure inside of me...

...And a vision born unto me...

And meet the new mighty me

Positive or negative the change is clear for all to see

SUPERHUMAN RIGHTS

We are the ones you refuse to look in the eyes

We are the ones who will judge you in the end

I beseech each and every one of you

I besiege your palace and demand

Repent, pay respect - that’s the price of the toll

If you’re unable to comply - you’d best find another road

Parsimony will get you nowhere fast

Here comes your ugly avaricious past

To kick you in your gluttonous cushion-wont ass

How dare I be so brazen in addressing an elder?

Insolent youth worth half of you at best

It seems there’s been a miscalculation

I’m here to clear it up and get the chip on my shoulder off my fucking chest

See I’m better than you

And I want my due

I’d sue but the lawyers are dickless hypocrites too, just like you

Want to settle this here and now?

Swallow your pride, apologize and motherfucker, you bow

Cause I’m better than you

Ravaged

By noble savages

Empire in flames, peasants laugh at your shame

Now that you have seen our way

The regal lion within you now tame

Let it be a lesson to you –

The man can only be the man for so long before he’s too decrepit to stand

On his own two feet

Not who’s got the upper hand?

Don’t defeat taste bittersweet?

Bottom of the barrel we’ve dwelled

Now the barrel’s been upended

The heavens finally felled

All injustices now amended

Pecking order cast into chaos

Sanctimonious charlatan once claimed to save us

Who’s in need of salvation now?

Stand in awe of the viking crown

I’m better than you

It’s worse than true

It’s my dogma

You’re my obsequious bitch

DISSOLVE

Disengage from the gravitational

You can’t be restrained if you learn to embrace the pain, triple your gain

Reinvent judgment as a fable, a figment nonexistent

Nothing to resent if there’s no punishment

The time is nigh, and the tide is high

Opportunity is bleeding at the knuckles

Fly, you can, if only for a moment

Piss on all the earthbound m***********s

Drunken raving still but quaking

Internal voice escaping

Leave me be in my circular grove of trees

Drawing patterns in the dirt

Simulacrum of the universe

Savant and idiot alike, do what’s right untouched by the hype

And there’s no such thing as a wasted life

Quickly – someone shut me up

Before I reach an unwarped audience

Get a bullet in me or I’ll ruin everything

This is all making too much sense

Madness inspired by the moon

Eyes raised in reverent respect

DYSLEXIC MANTRA

Whole self, null and void

Nebulous, pure and simple alloy

Spirit, hatred, and sexual joy

Abused by false knowledge, confinement of logic

Undaunted, evolving...godlike...rapidly (x3)

SANS A DAMN CLUE

Kickstart the avalanche. Kill the purple dinosaur. Transcend. Be the only one. Revolve.

THE HOT AND COLD TREATMENT

You can never break me, I can fold – in any direction

And hold – my integrity – you’ll never see...the heart of me

PARASITE

Thorn in my side, rose in my eyes, my focus of mind

You’re my obsession, I’m your possession

It’s a healthy symbiotic relationship

I feed your ego, with my erection

You quench my thirsting for affection

You’re my possession, I’m your obsession

It’s mutually beneficial

Two lives

Bound by compromise

PASS ON BY

Pass on by

Pay me no mind

I’m just part of the landscape

(I’m just part of the scenery)

Second thoughts

Make it hard

To deny the heartache

(To bury the seed of me)

However distant

Destination in sight

Keep in line

Pass on by

STYGIAN MANIFESTO

What an extraordinarily good day

Now begin; Sever head…

Black tongues, no rosetta stone

The keeper of the annals – fears the future

Nothing to hold back

Early to bed of nails

Crack of black dawn, we rise

PILLARS OF ICE

I birth myself

I rear myself

I guide myself

I knight myself

I enthrone myself -

Regent of pandemonium

I exalt myself

I suck myself – off

I resent myself

I maraud myself

I supplant myself

I behead myself

I lament myself

I sow my ashes to nourish demons

You are the seed of me

Across the startide carried

Ideals pollute callow minds

In a far-off storybook land of lies

PILGRIMAGE

I’m going on a journey deep into myself

External

Bah bah black man have you any crack?

Yes sir I got three nickelbags full in fact

One for the single mother one for the pimp

And one for the one-time hip-hop legend has-been

Along the way I meet all kinds of folk

Some hide in themselves some can’t escape

Some call me their brother, some say I’m a waste of space

Some are eyeing my wallet hoping for a cheap lay

And some want to save their god’s lamb before the day of judgment

Repent – and we’ll leave you alone; I never would have known

There’d be such a wide array

A beautiful lady in a dunkin donuts hat

A big man with a knife curled up in a shopping cart

Young urbanite in a double-breasted tan suit

Sipping his third black coffee of the afternoon

And a tourist from Japan with a four-hundred dollar camera -

He smiles at everything

And right now right now right now I’m at a fork in the road

A fucking cliffhanger episode

In the situation comedy

Whose canned laughter makes a mockery

Of me...

*1. I wrote this song in the loony bin. I'd been listening to PanterA for hours while my roommate was straight-jacketed across the hall by four staff members. They eventually confiscated the song, written on a gum wrapper. Fortunately, I already had it memorized. And I still had a full pack of gum.

*2. An alternate (or perhaps original) version of Sated. I have no freaking clue which one predates the other. But I dig em both, and that's probably why they're both extant to this day.