Butterflies aren’t free
they come with a price
one that most people are unwilling to pay

Butterflies aren’t free
they cause pain and hurt
one that most people are afraid to feel

Butterflies are what I feel
every time I think of you
and that feeling is something that I want to feel

The price is high
the pain is real
but they are nothing to the emptiness
I felt before.

Somdays things are wrong
and somedays things are right
But what is wrong we’ll make right when
at night you come home to me.

The stress and the anxiety will float away
the sorrow will flee
and what is wrong we’ll make right when
at night I come home to you.

Like a small storm that slowly builds,
She came into my world.
Gently, she entered and calmly took her place
I hardly knew that she was there.

We talked of many things
of poets and kings, lords of their time
A glance, a look, a breath were all
I saw, felt or heard.

Our hands met and the softness
Of her touch was startling
I hadn’t expected her hands to be
So warm.

We held hands
Softly stroking each other’s
Until our time was up.

The wish was there
The desire was there
But each had promises to keep.

Our time was not our own

As we parted she looked into my soul
I was devastated

He smile compelled me
Her laugh elevated me
The song of her eyes
Made me fly

We kissed and time passed
the world revolved
And we were one
In timelessness and space

The span ended
and we
like eddies of leaves
parted

Alone
But not lonely

Apart,
But together

Waiting for the time we could
Come together and be silent

Again

A little voice came walking
into my mind today
A little voice came creeping
and told me along the way

That every day there is a time
when we must go
to a place we’ve never been
and aren’t happy to, so...

The little voice it scratched at me
and made me turn away
and then it hit me on the head
and looked at me, as if to say

The coward wins a lonely battle
the cheat a minor hand
They both go off to other wins
without the pipes or band

I looked around for the voice
and thought I saw it near
but when I looked for it again
someone handed me a beer

And told me that courage
was not a throw or toss
Just doing what you have to do
and not counting the personal loss

And bravery (that amazing thing)
is being to scared to duck
And hoping above hope
and trusting God and luck

then I heard on a distant shore
a gruff and snarly voice
that spoke of Duty, Honor, Country
and said I had a choice

To serve a man or serve a land
or serve the mighty buck.

I stopped there and listened to the clouds,
the sound of wings against the trees.
I listened to that little voice
and the answer stuck.

Keep the faith with what you know
and who you have become
Don’t let the bastards grind you down
don’t let them take your fun.
Keep the faith with those you love
and keep them always near
there will be pain and hurt and gladness
and maybe a laugh and tear.

The little voice always talks to me
even when I don’t hear
the little voice sounds remarkably
like you, my dear.

We are both hesitant, scared, anxious
Our lives have been cracked
splintered and broken.

I look at you and see
a woman who is beauty
a woman who’s heart has suffered for no reason
other than she, like myself,
loved unwisely
gave to the wrong person
and knows the error.

I see a young woman
running in fields and playing by a pond.
I see youth and grace and beauty.
I see hopes and dreams and prayers.

Your eyes are sometimes sad.
Your smile is sometimes hesitant.
I want love to bring joy to your smile
and happiness, unrestrained, to your eyes.

I want to take you to the moon
and show you stars that don’t equal
the light of your smile.

I know how hard it is for you to trust
My heart has been hurt too.
Still, I will tell you this
seven times a day if I have to.
Hoping that someday you will believe.

If I could give you
the sun and the stars,
they would never be equal
to what my heart feels.

So, I will put this into three little words

No make that six:

I want to hold you,

forever

As my days grow dim I remember the kids
Whom I spent a summer with so long ago.

It was a bad time and in a bad place
But we were young
And too ready for the fight.

I remember their faces, from so long ago
Bright and brave and strong
And I hear their voice in the breeze.

I hear them cry: “There’s a chopper coming in
Three litters, gunshots to the chest.”
The race for the soldiers who are dying as we run.

The mad dash to the ER and the prayer on everyone’s lips:
Please, dear God, let us save this ONE”

He is just a boy,
Barely out of school.
Let us save him, please dear Lord.

The long days and longer nights stretched out
And we lost track of what day it was.
Day One
Day Two
Day Three

In coming, take cover!

Mortars and Rockets were our constant companion.

We were told not to count the days, but the memories,
But the memories are too harsh.
Young lads torn apart.
Children and women ripped by bombs
That terrorists use to prove how courageous they are.

That summer was long ago.
The sun is dim now.
I hear my comrades calling me home
Home, Home, Home.

When I was one and twenty
Of girls I was afraid.
I stammered, stuttered, hemmed and hawed
A regular fool was I.

I had no experience growing up.
Forbidden in our house it was.
“There will be plenty of time for that“
Said Dad
“When you’re making a living of your own.”

So I was ignorant and stupid.
I tried, but didn’t learn that fast.
I fell into a trap.
And learned some lessons too well.

When I was nine and twenty
I tried it all again.
”This time,” thought I,
“I’ll think it out.
I’ll plan each careful step.”

So I planned my steps
I checked my options
I did the management thing.

I charted it out
and mapped the course
and didn’t learn a thing.

The lesson I should have learned,
When I was but a kid,
Is to trust my heart
And not my head.

Maybe now I have learned a lesson.
Maybe now I’ll do it right.
Maybe now I’ll trust my heart.

No maybe’s this time
No should of, could of, would of.
Now I’ll trust the only thing
That has never led me astray.

God gave me a heart to feel with
a brain to think with
and a soul to know with.

So I’ll let them do their job.

Cry My Eyes

"Cry my eyes!"
said the tick tock man.
I have no more time for sadness or sorrow.

"Weep my ears!"
said the tick tock man.
I'll hear no songs until the morrow.

"Dry your heart!"
Said the tick tock man.
Don't let her bleed you no more.

Our ages fleet through the day.
Our lives seep through the cracks.

"We shall rejoice!"
said the tick tock man.
Happiness is yet at hand.

"Cry my eyes!"
said the tick tock man.
As he led us to the promised land.



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I am not quite certain when I wrote this... sometime in 1998...