Proverb

Don't fear the man who believes he does wrong; fear the man who believes it isn't his fault.

The fool will choose simple harm over introspective hurt.

If you find yourself in the company of liars and cowards, you must ask yourself at what point you began alienating those who speak truth.

Sin entered the world through one lie that most still believe: God is holding out on you.

If a smile is a weapon, then a poor man's smile is an atomic bomb.

A beautiful woman with shallow character is like a frosted cardboard box.

Any jerk can tell a compelling lie.  Telling a compelling truth takes talent.

To know the heart is to know God himself.

Money is a tool.  Once it becomes your lifestyle, you're the tool.

Substitute

Flowing words tug at the soul and bring to surface pain
The likes from which the average man would rather just abstain.
The blood that's flowing down my hands from tugging at my heart
Will either make a man of me or bring me to the start--
Before the world convinced me of the things it had to give--
The sustenance it flaunted as the reason that I live.
But sustenance will turn to dust, possessions burn to coal,
And man was never meant to use such things to make him whole.
The scope of all eternity's the thing for which we fight.
We hide ourselves from God for fear of being seen in light.
And so, deception we prefer to showing what we hide.
We substitute eternity, embracing foolish pride.

The Search

Begging, pleading, still repeating
Seeking peace; it never ends.
Hearts unknown that turn to stone
Make haste to pray or fall apart.
The search for tender heart is long,
And far too many do it wrong
With wine and women numbing fear.
They laugh and shout and fake their clout
To draw attention from mere men.
Their hearts still dry, they fill their eyes
With tears when no one's looking.
Behind facades, we all applaud
The people that we're choking.

Heart Math

I'll let you down easy, so don't raise your hopes.
Spend just one more day with your heart on the ropes.
No simple reason could make me deny
What hangs from my heart when you come to my mind.
I never expected to see you this way,
But unexpectation's the norm anyway.
Your coy, flirty smile and two-A.M. jokes
Are under my skin and clouding my hopes.
I don't care to know your logical path.
Sometimes it's just best when your heart does the math.

Float

Power--fleeting revelation man tries to obtain
By gripping onto his control, by clutching to the reins.
He scrapes and saves to pull himself into a higher place
Where men like him, they carp and brawl to keep up with the pace.
Beyond their view, the peaceful men float silently above.
The only thing they're clinging to's a peaceful life of love.

Paranoia

Human condition -- insecure
Drowns a man without a word.
He kicks his legs in helpless rage
To save himself from rising waves.
This cunning killer fills his head
With hateful words that no one said.

Summer Air

Not an inkling of demise
Is hidden 'hind these summer eyes
That laugh and play without a care
and lose themselves in summer air
'Cause summer sings a different song
Where cold and bitter don't belong.

Turn Away

Saying "no" never felt so right.
Cold, hard truth in blue moonlight.
Cut to the heart with a pinch of grace.
Wasted potential is so hard to face.

The Plowman and the Gardener

"Welcome to he stratosphere," I heard the plowman say.
"The thistle bushes moan and whine, but never get away.
The hardened soil arrogant of what my plow can bring
Is brought to retribution by the sharpness of its sting.
The ground cries out 'I've had enough! I'd rather turn to stone.'
But once again, the gardener has plans he leaves unknown.
The mixed up mess of rotting plants and stench of stale manure
May not seem much among the humbled land that must endure.
But when the harvest comes and brings the sweetness of it's fruit,
The ground cries out 'I told you so' and revels in its loot."

Idols

The heart cries out, "Alone! Alone!
Don't leave me here to rot.
Give me but a sampling of beauty or a plot.
This boredom overcomes me while you turn your eyes away.
Give me now an idol so I starve no more today.
You say there's something better if I peacefully can wait,
But know I've waited far too long to trust what you call fate.
The timeline stretches endlessly and tries to justify
Its mere existence, feeding me with yet another lie."
Alas the heart knows nothing of the universe, it seems.
Instead, it thinks that it is owed for all that it has seen.

Aware

The awareness of pursuing love.
It brings my soul to bare
The things of which I never speak,
Of which I'm not aware
Within the forefront of my mind,
Or in the shallow heart.
The brokenness on which the devil dare not make a mark.
For if the soul may come awake to suffering inside,
It will not suffer silently, but will be called to life.

Known

More than things or wealth or fame,
I want someone to know my name.
Not the one on my ID
(The one my father gave to me),
I mean the name that's on my heart,
The one from which I cannot part

Arrogance

I can't recall the day this city felt so insecure.
When meter maids and janitors paced up and down the floor.
The Motown jazz flowed heavenly inside the city square,
And unapologetic love and freedom rooted there.
But dead brown leaves and dried up roots leave little hope for change,
And fire burns through everything and scatters something strange.
The coffee toasts and selfish boasts have died inside these sins,
And overflowing garbage falls from dented refuse bins.
The crooked smiles and copied styles of a hundred selfish men
Can't raise the hope or lower a rope to the people trapped within.
The sickly sweetness of that smell draws far too many in.
They'll lick it up from off the floor and wash it down with gin.
The paper burns with fever as the truth gives way to lies.
The people celebrate their loss with hunger in their eyes.
Music plays and people dance a horrifying tune,
And love dies out in harmony to violence they croon.
"Where is love and where is hope?" they cry with violent tears,
As they strangle out the last of it and pull apart the gears.

That's a ratio I can live with.

A smile, embrace, a dance or two,
Memories with power to make me a fool.
Blue dress, white flower, dirty gym floor,
Playing dress-up and holding the door.
Awkward advances and strange conversation.
Ten nervous minutes per one of elation.

Blood and Tears

I once knew a lover, but now he's gone.
Bullet to the heart from a heart of stone.
It all spilled out in blood and tears.
Hurt turned to anger and anger to fears.
Fears became sorrow, and sorrow, despair.
It all became prison for a heart unaware.
But somewhere beneath it all was a rock,
A healer just waiting for broken heart's knock.
Bandages, medicine, a retempered sword.
To take back the love from the oncoming horde.