In for a penny...

If you're in for a penny, you're in for a pound.
If you're in for the sights, then you're in for the sounds.
Now, permit me to wax just a bit more profound:
If you're in for the heights, then you're in for the ground.

Lusterless

Some have brilliance, virtues fine:

Luster, sparkle, shimmer, shine.

Radiant glitz and warmth divine.

None of the above are mine!

Virtues? Sorry, I have none.

I'm coarse and rough and somewhat dun.

Glinting not by moon or sun.

Good traits? I have only one.

 

Clever friends, we walked along.

Now I sing this solo song.

One by one they fizzled out.

Lustrous worth called into doubt!

Traded gold for empty lies.

Clever ain't the same as wise.

Don't ask if I will trade it too,

Because I ain't that stupid, dude! 

Virtues? I have none at all,

But I won't follow in their fall.

Good traits? I have only one:

Lusterless, but I'm not dumb.

Just like me

What if the angels closed the gates,
And said, "Your kind, we do not take."
And stranded me outside the door,
Refused to bless me anymore.

What if the sky just fell on in,
And rose a cataclysmic din.
And Mother Mary said to me,
"No succor will I give to thee."

What if I spied Buddha Nan Hai,
Who turned a deaf ear to my cries.
And though she has one thousand hands,
Said, "Not a one, will grace you, man."

What if Teacher stayed his tongue,
Said, "No more lessons, I am done!
Although I've much more gems to teach,
You're just too stupid to be reached!"

And Son of Man, the one called Christ,
If he said, "You, I do not like."
Then what hope could there ever be?

What if Heaven, were just like me?

Former Glory

I can't rest on former glory,
Time gone by and dusty, hoary.

The past, a corpse, decayed and hoary.
I can't rest on former glory.

For Goodness Sake

Do you good because you should?
The way you wish the world it would?
And so elect to be the change?
Do you good in goodness name?

Do you good because you ought?
Or 'cause you fear what would be wrought?
And only thing that quells desire,
Is your shyness of the fire?

Do you good for fear of lash?
Hoping that won't come to pass?
Do you good for greed of prize?
Confess if that's the reason why!

They say that mercy's heaven sent,
So ill your fill, and then repent.
'Cause if our wrongs aren't penalized,
Then karma's just a bogus lie!

If you said, "There is no law."
I'll wonder, "Why obey at all?"
'Cause if there was no scathing rod,
What would instill the fear of God?

If you said, "There's law for some."
Why not say, "In truth, there's none."
If favoritism gets you in,
Salvation's based on human whim.

'Cause if the law ain't absolute,
Then how can that be called the Truth?
If true it not be everywhere,
It might as well just not be there.

If good and bad end up the same,
Then aren't the good ones so inane?
Reflect, correct, review, abstain,
And quibble minor faults.  Insane!

A life thus spent, and what's the prize?
If equaled by those walking wide?
Ain't so-called wise, in truth, quite dumb?
If cause-effect ain't zero-sum? 

Why not do all you desire?

And live life with no heed of fire?

They say that mercy's heaven sent,

So ill your fill, and then repent.

But in that thinking lies the trap.
Perhaps from which no coming back.

A good is one without a two,

And good like that is hard to do!

'Cause truly good is 'cause you should
Not based on schemes that others would.
Not based on schemes that I devise.
Not based on others recognize.

So, do you good because of good?
Aligned with aught the spirit would?
Or do you good while inside's bad?
Lamenting fun you didn't have? 

And all this good is such a chore!

Scoffed and mocked as such a bore!

If none take record of our deeds,
Then what's the purpose fighting greed?

And if our deeds are duly writ,

But "sorry" can erase all this,

Then why don't those renowned as wise,

Teach nothing but apologize?

They say, "By 'sorry,' souls are freed,"

But this, I really don't believe.

And prob'ly best if I do not:

I'd cease from doing as I ought.

A more important question comes,
My evil will it rescue from.
'Cause where I stand, I can't remain:

How do you good in goodness name?

'Cause good is something far from me,

And good I don't know how to be.

Some may think my action kind,

But I'm the one who knows my mind.

Because my heart is evil bent,

My "goodness" is not innocent.

'Cause good is one without a two,

And good like that--so hard to do!

They say, "Just knock your head and bow."

And, "Focus somewhere on the brow."

And, "Know your faults, that's close to Dao."

But goodness, I still don't know how!

How do you good for sake of good?

Aligned with aught the spirit would?

I can do the outward act,

But truly good, I duly lack!

How do you good for sake of good?

And joyful doing as you should?

And turning no two jealous eyes

On those still vying for some prize. 

How do you good sake of good?

The way the Saints and Sages could?

Before the morn I fail to wake:

How do you good for goodness sake?

Twenty-four hours in a day,
Who made it twenty-three?
They call it "daylight savings time,"
But who will rescue me?

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should long lost friend be sent VM,
Because we haven't time?

Should texts that be, go unreceived,
And often wonder why?
Suppose the closest we will be
Was time gone by.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And break this heart of mine?
You left, it's true.  We said adieu.
But know, I wasn't fine.

My heart was ripped.  Babe, I was sick!
Our star, it ceased to shine.
Still miss the good times that we had
In auld lang syne.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never thought upon?
Should time we shared be thus dismissed,
Now that you are gone?

Or should recall, that through it all,
Because we ran into that wall.
The obstacles that were revealed
In time gone by.

Should auld acquaintance be recalled,
And sometimes brought to mind?
Should we remember, that December
Our roads still intertwined?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot?
I hope! I pray! Let it be not!
Lest we forget the growth revealed
By time gone by.
Lest we repeat the misteps made
In auld lang syne.

Yield my blade

Words are spoken, bond is made.
Here, I hereby yield my blade.

By the by, we cry to sky:
Wond'ring why we often die.
Lord on high, we grieve and sigh:
That early grave we often lie.

Resistance

Evil, we do not abide,

And chase wherever it resides.

To seize and pull it by the root,

But that does not produce the truth. 

While we can weed a garden bare,

But if we plant no plants in there. 

Conquered this, a square of dirt

While famine grips entire Earth.

A weeded garden, that is good.

But only half of what it should.

'Cause weeding in and of itself

Produces nothing for the health.

Perhaps abundant garden own.

But neighbor?  His is overgrown!

And in such folly does persist.

And folly, we just must resist!

Opposing high. Opposing low.
But one thing don't neglect to know.
A far too common, sad mistake:
Resistance does not goodness make.

Sun-tzu spoke of treasures three,

Destroyed when we have enemy.

'Cause when we take up arms to fight,

We first must block our inner light. 

Our neighbor's garden, overgrown.

We're weeding theirs, but not our own.
And thus destroy our treasures three:
Become just like our enemy.

Opposing evil where we find,
Believing that is near divine.
And in there lies the fallacy: 
'Cause goodness, that will never be.

What evil person have you known
To pack his bags and just go home
When told, "Well, you are out of line.
I know, because I'm near divine."

Or did he push back even stronger?
Curse you there for even longer?
Throwing gas onto a flame
And goodness--these are not the same.

And in this folly, some persist,
Shouting, "Fight!  We must resist!"
Though sympathetic to their aim.
But goodness, that is not the same.

So while opposing high and low

There's one thing for us all to know.
A far too common, sad mistake:
Resistance does its inverse make.

---------------------------------------

There is no greater misfortune than understimating your enemy.  Underestimating yoru enemy means thinking that he is evil.  Thus you destroy your three treasures and become an enemy yourself.  When two great forces oppose each other, the victory will go to the one who knows how to yield.

-Sun-tzu (The Art of War)

When I'm wiser, grayer, older.
Decades hefted over shoulder.
Youthful. Distant. Former. Bolder.
Won't you wake me when it's over?

Deadbeat

It's been oh so long, and I should not have left you
Alone and forlorn without dope beat to step to.
A deadbeat mad poet: delinquent, remiss.
I beg your kind mercy, forgive me for this!

Not-A-One's Son

I'm the son of Not-A-One,
The heir of Nothing-There
Ascended to my throne one day,
And Not-A-Soul did care.

'Cause I'm the son of Not-A-One,
The boy without a name.
Despite the fact I don't exist,
Yet all must play my game.

If I cut myself and bled
Onto the page and turned it red
Who would heed then what was said:
These vacant words that no one read.

Clown

They called him, "Fool: a stupid clown,"

And no one thought his words profound.

Until they dug him six feet down,

Then dubbed him, "Sage: a man renowned."

Some locales ye should not go:
A destination far too low.
And places that should not be tread,
So caution when we make the bed.

Self-incarceration

A prison there, without a lock.

Electric chair, without a shock.

A pris'ner, warden: one in same--

A self-incarceration vein.

Maligned

To be complicit in your crimes,
And dig my grave right next to thine.
Oh what a duo we would be:
Maligned for all eternity.

Ignorance

Don't come here pleading innocent;
I simply will not hear of it.
Ignored, perhaps, that may be so,
But you can't say you didn't know.

A piece of sky

Pile gold until the clouds,
Yet only end up upside down.
Land is purchased, one may buy,
Yet who may own a piece of sky?