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LIGHT FROM WITHIN
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If you smile when you are alone
Just thinking your thoughts
That is a milestone, a good sign
That you were happy with the contents of your mind
A great treasure stored in one of the most secure places
The vault of your thoughts, your hoard of knowledge
Where the most precious jewels of your reign
Are kept safe from prying eyes
Where you store your identity, good intentions and heartfelt hopes.
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NIHILIUM TRIBULATIO
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We may not always know what we want
But we all know what we don't want
We don't want trouble
Sometimes trouble is tricky to avoid
We can stay off the path marked "TROUBLE"
That comes with reaching maturity
But trouble also crouches on the sides of our path
Ready to leap out and startle us with the unexpected nature
Of the attack
Moving carefully and mindfully, scanning everything
For signs of trouble, we might stop it before it starts
Once we make avoiding trouble a priority
Many things just automatically fall into place
And work in our favor.
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NOBLE SAVAGE
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Human nature doesn't change
It doesn't matter what hat it puts on its head
What book it holds in its hand
Or even if it shares a last name with you
The same cast of characters
With the same deck of character defects and assets
Is dealt out in every time and place
Human nature existed in mythology, literature
And cave walls decorated by torchlight
The same rules still apply:
Silk purses can not be made from sows ears
Slow and steady wins the race
The sky is not falling
Don't sell your valuable cow for magic beans
Or your birthright for a pot of porridge
Our future might have flying cars on unknown planets
But human nature will be behind the wheel
Human nature can not change
But the culture can, and does, change drastically over time
Only consentual culture can clip the quills
Of prickly human nature
Add a dash of politeness, good will, and empathy
And the future will be so much pleasanter for us all.
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DRIFTER
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Do you want to buy a cloud to put on your head?
It works for your judgement too
When a problem crops up you don't have to fix it
Just wrap it in clouds and you're through
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You can build dream castles in your clouds
This plot of unreal estate you envision
But if the clouds clear, what then? Oh dear!
The castle has turned into a prison
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Clouds are so pretty
So calm and free, just leave them up in the sky
It is hard enough to navigate life
Without clouds covering our eyes
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A FINE LINE
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My whole life changed when I gave myself permission
To underline passages in my books
Before that day the sentences were like exotic animals
In a zoo, fascinating and untouchable
Or a garden tour, look but don't pick
Now I go into the inky jungle with my pencil
Spearing juicy phrases, trapping profound ideas
As I harvest the fruits of great minds
The ripe and sweet notions that I digest
Until they become part of my very being
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CHALK DUST TO CHALK DUST
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Sometimes I think so many complicated thoughts
Trying to solve the unsolvable, fix the unfixable
Escape the inescapable, rewrite the past
That the inside of my skull looks like one of those giant chalkboards
Covered with incredibly complex equations
But no solutions
Adding more to the equation will not fix it
More factors will not solve it
At that moment it is the greatest relief
To take my Magical Eraser, my breath
To wipe that slate clean
Presto chango the problems are gone
All that is left is that beautiful space
So fresh and clean and new called The Now
Being in this very moment where nothing is complicated
At all
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LESSON IN A CUP
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I can tell time by the warmth of my tea
I want to drink it when it's just right
If my attention wanders the tea grows cold
As day passes into night
If I'm in the moment my attention is present
I can drink the tea when it's just warm
It's the same with my life path, I must pay attention
To avoid things that might bring harm
Thoughts are like an ancient wood
Full of prickers and tangled vines
We must not get lost in our pathless minds
We must not miss all the signs
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DAWNING OR WARNING
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There is a big difference between the rosy fingers of dawn
Betokening the start of a lovely new day with a spectacular sunrise
And the red skies at morning which serves as a warning
To batten down the hatches and prepare for a gale
The only way to know the difference is to see how the day plays out
As the clouds move in and the breeze picks up the fragile bubble
Of my little iridescent life to swirl and dance with the Fates.
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BE-LEAVING
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I welcome Fall with open arms
Fall in New England has many charms
Before the Fall festivities begin
Remember the veil between the worlds is thin
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Keep an eye out for the Weird
The uncanny is nothng to be feared
A mystery we live with every day
At night the sprites might want to play
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Light a candle for the deceased
From worldly cares they are released
The Spirit of Love never fades
The Lost and Lonely we call Shades
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Enjoy your cider warm and spiced
A pumpkin pie so neatly sliced
We raise our cups to those beyond
(And kind of hope they don't respond)
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HAUNTED
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The ghosts come in
The ghosts go out
I don't know
What they're all about
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There are ghosts in the graveyard
Ghosts in my head
They drift through my home
As I ready for bed
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They make no threatening movements
They have nothing to say
I have protective spells
To keep them at bay
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THE LAWS
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Human nature is different from nature nature
In nature nature, only the strong and lucky survive
To force the species into improving
With no understanding or system in place
For long term care of the injured or those who are not robust
Human nature does have this understanding
The speed and strength of our human bodies
Are not the only part of us we place survival value on
Our minds are our greatest treasure
A less than athletic body with a powerful intellect
Still has great survival value for our species
This leaves a grey area in human nature that does not exist in nature nature
Any deviation from nature nature requires a tremendous effort
Which humans are willing to make, perhaps programmed by nature to make
We are only partially ruled by the law of the jungle
The laws from the civilized rise of humanity
Will be either our greatest strength or our greatest vulnerability
As time and tenacity do their thing over the eons.
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TAKING NOTES
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I watch myself grow older with
Horrified, affectionate fascination
Thus, while I am me, the same me
The same older me
I am now involuntarily conducting
A very long macabre science experiment
As I journey into the unknown
One day at a time
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SOJOURN ON
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If we are on a good Path
Strength and purpose is our stride
While the Beasts of Chaos and Entropy
Slaver and roar on either side
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The Path is not even and smooth
We don't know where it will lead
As long as we don't wander off
We will have the motivation we need
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MEMO
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To some it's a little blank notebook
But to me it's a field of dreams
I write down my thoughts and imaginings
Plan out my hopes and my schemes
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F AND M
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Focus and morale are both your pal
So invite them wherever you go
Focus on the next step while morale gives you the pep
To overcome challenges and grow
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PIT MANEUVER
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How do we get out of the black pit of despair?
A helicopter can not lower a rope and lift us out
We will not be able to magically levitate to the surface
Science will not invent an antigravity beam
So how, how do we escape in the dark
When we don't even have hope as a lamp?
We can break open the only tool left in an emergency
Blind faith.
It looks like a golden teaspoon
We pick it up and spoon by spoon we make a ramp
From the black loam of regret and resentment's volcanic ash
Up to the surface where the world of the living
Can include us in the dance of life once again
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CALAMITY CALIOPE
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When a chronic problem, a painful memory, or unhappy thoughts
Keep circling around in that carnal carnival we call our brains
We are stuck going round and round
We are stuck on a misery-go-round
Stuck even if the misery-go-round is racing day and night
Everything a blur
Because the ride isn't going anywhere, ever
The wild fierce horses of the misery-go-round
Plunge wildly ahead until we are dizzy and nauseous
We need a new steed, yes indeed
We need Shank's Mare, our reliable ability to walk away
Stop the music, the Serenade of Sorrows
Walk away because going in circles isn't progress
Leaving the gaudy carnival of clowns and troubled souls
We find a new path that will take us to where we want to go
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A MAN FOR ALL REASONS
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He was a lion lying low in winter
A sacrificial lamb in the spring
A blinding radiance in the summer
A wandering werewolf in the fall
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BRRRGRRRWLLLRR
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I know I am hungry
When my tummy sounds
Like a herd of hippopotomi
Being gently groomed by small friendly birds
Under the hot African sun
Until they seek the cool soothing mud
To roll and bask in, both deliciously hot and cool
Like a hot fudge sundae
Which reminds me
I'm hungry
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POUNCE
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When the predator in me kicks in
I watch for my chance to pounce
To go for the advantage and win
No mercy, no not an ounce
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When my inner predator rules
I wait for the place and time
I use all my skills and tools
To beat my opponent in Scrabble online
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THE ELECTION OF 1860
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The city slickers played stump the bumpkins
But the bumpkins were not stumped
Honest Abe was elected
The slickster? He was dumped.
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FALLING FOR IT
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Conspiracy theories are like the rabbit hole
In Alice in Wonderland
Once you enter you start to fall
Never knowing where you might land
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As you fall you see and hear incredible things
Some almost impossible to believe
But the deeper we fall the more confused we become
The baffled mind being easier to deceive
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Once we resurface we wrack our brains
For a tangible benefit you can name
But hard as you try, you have to admit
Everything's still just the same
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Whether you believe in conspiracies
With secret evil cabals
You must still live your mundane life
But perhaps with a higher cause
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JUMPY
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I'm prepared to become alarmed at moment's notice
By the slightest hint that there is something wrong
I guess this is what you might call jumpy
Jumping over potential disasters all day long
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DEMON STATION
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When you are chugging along on your train of thought
Don't get off at Demon Station
There are plenty of better places to stop
All across creation
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Demon Station is a terrible place
Filled with rage, regret and anger
Just let your loco-motion go on
To avoid heartbreak and danger
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You can wave to the Demons from the windows on the train
They will do their best to lure you
But stay onboard until True Self Terminal
Avoid the self-deception detour
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INSOLUBLE
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How do we find a solution
When there is no solution to be found
When a solution means we must all agree
On the methods to accomplish something
But we do not, can not, will not agree
No compromise will do
Then we have an insoluable problem
That we must learn to live with, work around
Carry on our day to day lives
Put a big fig leaf on the problem
Turn the apple so the worm hole can not be seen
Brush the dust of corrosion off our feet
Turn away, give up, until better minds prevail
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THE TRAVELERS
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The Universe in its immensity
A neutron star with its density
Our glorious Sun's intensity
That's what I like about Space
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Aliens might be out there
Life seems so precious and so rare
Are other civilizations just scarce?
That's what I wonder about space
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It is all a huge swirling mystery
Terraforming will make history
The stars so enticing and glittery
Will lure us out into space
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