River Deep

River runs
Rapids rage
Chaotic current
Waters plagued
with turmoil
Taking me down deep
Soul crying... soiled
Depths calling...my soul to keep

River runs
Through my brain
Stagnant pools
I must drown my disdain
Throw me the line
Save me
From my river of tormented time
Pull me out
Dry me off
Stand me tall along her banks
I will survive when once I sank

I run far
from the river.... Deep
Heal my soul's scars
Let me send the river to sleep
As the land I traverse
Each step releasing the curse
Each day feeling the sun
On my skin
Each moment I fully envibe
Walking strong, learning to be alive

One day the river I will bow to
For she has taught me how to
Honor the turbulence and the trials
Honor the joy sprung from beguile
Honor the current and her power
Honor the land, the mountains that tower
And the valleys sitting ever low
I am free of the river's flow
No longer drowning in despair
My life, reclaimed, in repair

Dust Yourself OFF!

Footprints in the dust

the place we have come from

trampled trust

and a cloudy outcome

Not the future I envisioned

But for that matter, also not the present

Seems I am running low on provisions

And you I am beginning to resent

How sad that our love flows away in fear

Just as it flowed to us

Abruptly and undetected in the rear view mirror

Now we are wanting an end that is fair and just

When we build our life on fear, guilt and shame

we are building on a river bed dusty and dry

And, when this love ends like the others, the same

We sit in the dust, crying dry tears asking "why?"

Love from a place of true and perfect flow

Let it wash over you, cleansing you in the mighty river

In mutual honor, each needs to be free to know

That they are safe as the taker and the giver

When it rolls to you in the river's rapid waters

Take the hand of love fearlessly

Or, you'll be sittin' in the dust... heart once again slaughtered

Wondering what the hell happened to me

And I, shall wonder when

you will finally release the tradition of drowning your desires

Allowing your self to live the current of your life, able to bend

and flow like the river that you so admire

Flow Me Back Home...for Beth

She was born near a river

The river lives in her, still

One day, return to it

She will

And she will sit along the banks of her past

While melding with it the future 

like rapids, raging on so fast

The water healing her heart like loving sutures

The land she left

Is the place her soul dreams of 

When Peoria is her address once more

We'll see again, prayers answered from above

The river calls her home

Home to Illinois

Where she can be closer to her roots

And the heart of our native boy