POEMS/LYRICS BY JRS IV

 

 

Cicada   

One Moment Is All You Need 

Too Many Beautiful Women  

The Restaurant  

Don't Look For Him  

Too Late To Be A Lady (Song Lyrics)  

Not Having You (Song Lyrics)   

Not Good Enough (Song Lyrics)    

Love Is Everything (Song Lyrics)   

The Keeper Of The Flame (Song Lyrics)     

 

 

Cicada

 

 

 

Cicada,

old friend.

Is it that time?

The time of

leaving behind the shell

of who you were,

and emerging for a moment

to live so intensely

that you cannot last

beyond the ecstasy?

Is it that time of

giving birth

and dying?

The time of filling the world

with your voice,

your way of

disappearing into nothing?

The time of dissolving yourself

with your song,

becoming what you give

until you are

all gone?

Soon

the world

will be quiet again,

this mad quest for attention

will be over,

this desperate struggle

to leave a mark,

to make your presence

count.

Soon, the world will be quiet again.

But for now

the sound of your dying and living

is everywhere,

like a beautiful flower

of noise

blossoming on the terrible tree of silence.

 

Old friend,

I have died at the end

of many summers

listening to you;

your raucous, desperate sound

brings the pain of things lost to me,

an awful feeling of emptiness

and loneliness,

but also tears

of happiness for

knowing what life could be,

if only

for a moment

that cannot last.

 

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One Moment Is All You Need

 

 

 

The most beautiful

hate themselves the most.

The greatest doubt

themselves the most.

The most talented

struggle to arrive at

everyone else’s starting point.

For years

the wild horse believed he was a cripple,

until suddenly

one day,

almost by accident,

he began to run

faster than the lies

that held him back.

For years,

the moon thought she was dark,

until one night

she saw eyes of love

looking up at her,

and realized she was a light.

Don’t give up.

Don’t become

what they do not fear.

Don’t let yourself become

what they "need",

if they don’t know what it’s all about,

to begin with.

Somehow, it seems all the torture

is only like some great cosmic force at work,

busy constructing a wormhole

on the dark and rainy nights

of your life,

that will one day allow you to

bypass all the linear time lost

in struggling not

to be swallowed up

by your own force.

And somehow,

you will pass from one edge of the universe

to another

in just a single moment of awakening

that will make all

the getting there

worthwhile.

For you were never behind the others,

you were only making a path

through another dimension;

and every one of your defeats

was a source of power,

needed to open the door.

 

Always remember, whenever

you think of lost years,

how the flower

blossoms only for a

moment.

Most of its life is

spent underground,

waiting to be born.

And yet, that single moment

of blossoming is its

purpose.

 

You did not need to be a flower

all those years,

the one day that's coming

will be enough!

 

Forget all the time it has taken,

and keep moving towards that single day!

Most lives blossom only in

the world,

but to God,

they are buds

that never opened.

 

Blossom here

AND there!

 

Keep on moving

towards your day!

 

Nothing is lost.

It’s just the way of

getting there.

 

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Too Many Beautiful Women

 

 

 

What the hell’s wrong with you women?

Why do you all look so good?

Too many,

every size and shape

and color face,

you drive me mad

like a bee that cannot get

to every flower.

I want you all!

Is that Nature’s way of

making sure

whoever I get

will be just fine?

 

I guess only one beauty

on the planet

would never do.

But how problematic,

Nature’s kindness!

What a torment,

this generosity!

 

For me,

every one of you is like Lady Godiva

riding naked on her horse.

When I see you,

I feel like

running up into the tower of the church,

and ringing its bell

over and over again.

I feel like writing the world’s greatest poem,

or killing the world’s

most frightening dragon.

In some ways it’s good,

I’m like the arms of a windmill

turned and turned

by this

unending wind of beauty,

propelled by your energy

to do a thousand incredible things.

And yet, each one of my accomplishments

is dripping with the blood of

not having you.

Of course, I know you’re too

much for me.

I would drown if I ever tried to swim

in a sea of so much beauty,

the only safety

is here on the shore

looking out at the waves

that can never be possessed.

But still,

the desire to taste

every drop of water

in the ocean

remains.

And every day

my common sense and my kindness,

not wanting to hurt another,

are tested to the limit.

I feel a part of myself

escaping,

and must try to hold it back.

"No, don’t go to her," I plead with myself,

"go to this poem instead."

And I seize up her beauty,

like Helen of Troy,

and run off with it

into another act of creation,

a poem or a song or even a political concept,

using her, and the reward she could (but will never) be,

to change a little piece

of the world.

All the nakedness and kissing I lose in this way,

gives me the power

to transmute lead

into gold.

My longing and denial

is a form of alchemy,

though I would so much rather be swallowed up

by the intimacy of her body

and hear her whisper my name

in that secret voice

never shared with the world,

the voice Eve saves for Adam,

than be the owner of so much

of the gold of loneliness.

God help me,

why did you have to make them be so beautiful!?

Why did you have to make me

want them all?!

Do my poems,

wounded with impossibility,

really mean that much?

 

 

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The Restaurant

 

 

I said I’d take you to

that restaurant when I

finally succeeded.

Years passed.

Now you’re gone

and even the restaurant’s gone.

And I’m still struggling,

closer to nothing

except my death.

Whenever I pass by the

building in which the

restaurant used to be,

its empty windows, without the

menu,

bring a terrible pain

into my heart.

And I wonder:

can anything I plan to do,

anything I plan to be,

be worth this?

 

 

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Don’t Look For Him

 

 

Don’t look for him,

he’s gone now,

he went to the poem planet

to find a word

to take to the love planet

to meet his muse,

he won’t be back

until someone breaks his door down.

 

Strange,

how he never needs to wear

a spacesuit

except on his own planet.

 

 

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Too Late To Be A Lady (Song Lyrics)

 

 

(Spoken) Once upon a time

a knight came knocking upon a lady’s door.

But she told him

she wasn’t a lady any more.

 

(Spoken) Thanks, she said, for thinking of me

and coming, my dear knight.

But I can’t be with you right now,

let me tell you why:

 

In the castle tower I waited, bound in chains

for a knight to rescue me like in the olden days

But years of hope and years of dreams just passed away

And the knight I was waiting for never came

 

So I had to take matters into my own hands

I had to do it all myself, can’t you understand?

You have to survive, sometimes, any way you can

I used what I had, and became who I am

 

And it’s too late to be a lady

too late to be a lady

it’s too late

to be your girl

 

Too late to be a lady

too late to be a lady

I did what I had to

to make it in the world

 

It’s too late to be a lady

too late to be a lady

too late

to be your queen

 

It’s too late to be a lady

too late to be a lady

too late

for you and me

 

I used to dream of going to a wedding dressed in white

something like the author of a fairy tale writes

Then to go home to a palace with a loyal, loving knight

If you’d only come earlier, I coulda been your wife

 

But that fantasy of wedding bells, for a prince and a princess,

is gone now like a puff of smoke, just like that wedding dress

A wild cat and tramp, tattooed and pierced is who is left

the street girl who did it on her own when no one came for the princess

 

And it’s too late to be a lady

too late to be a lady

too late

to be your girl

 

Too late to be a lady

too late to be a lady

I did what I had to

to make it in the world

 

It’s too late to be a lady

too late to be a lady

too late

to be your queen

 

It’s too late to be a lady

too late to be a lady

too late

for you and me

 

And my only weapon was what they wanted

And my only chance was to be their dream

I left behind who I coulda been

To be the only thing that they could see

 

And it’s too late to be a lady

too late to be a lady

too late

to be your girl

 

Too late to be lady

too late to be a lady

I did what I had to

to make it in the world

 

It’s too late to be a lady

too late to be a lady

too late

to be your queen

 

It’s too late to be a lady

too late to be a lady

too late

for you and me

 

 

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Not Having You (Song Lyrics)

 

 

When a man stepped on the moon

He stole it from the poets

The mystery is killed

the moment that you know it

And though the loneliness hurts so bad,

the pain of this solitude

My greatness comes

from not having you

 

Like the darkness makes the torch

Like the ocean makes the ship

So the beauty of wanting something

comes from not having it

 

As Helen launched a thousand ships

just by being gone

So Maud Gonne’s "No"

was what gave William Yeats his songs

 

And though I miss you and feel

like my life has gone away

I never would have been anything

if you’d said "Yes", and stayed

 

No, having something so beautiful

instead of longing for or missing it

Suffocates the flame of greatness

that burns when you don’t have it

 

Yes, having something in your hands

and I know it makes no sense

Takes away all the power

that comes from its absence

 

And though I miss you and feel

like my life has gone away

I never would have been anything

if you’d said "Yes" and stayed

 

When a man stepped on the moon

he stole it from the poets

The mystery is killed

the moment that you know it

And though the loneliness hurts so bad

the pain of this solitude

My greatness comes

from not having you

 

 

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Not Good Enough (Song Lyrics)

 

 

Not good enough

Not good enough

Not good enough

For you!

 

Not good enough

Not good enough

Not good enough

For you!

 

Not good enough

Not good enough

Not good enough

For you!

 

Not good enough

Not good enough

Not good enough

For you!

 

I went

to the job interview

You said

What can you do?

I told you

Whatever you want me to

You said

Don’t call us

we’ll call you

So all week long

I waited for news

until

my rent came due

And that’s when

that’s when I knew

that I’m not

good enough for you!

 

Not good enough

Not good enough

Not good enough

For you!

 

Not good enough

Not good enough

Not good enough

For you!

 

Not good enough

Not good enough

Not good enough

For you!

 

Not good enough

Not good enough

Not good enough

For you!

 

Well, I went out

past the edge of the blues

Baby, that’s when

I thought I found you

You had a heart-shaped

tattoo

And beautiful eyes

that seemed to have room

That night we ran

away to the moon

But next day your

smile was in ruins

And that’s when

that’s when I knew

that I’m not

good enough for you!

 

Not good enough

Not good enough

Not good enough

For you!

 

Not good enough

Not good enough

Not good enough

For you!

 

Not good enough

Not good enough

Not good enough

For you!

 

Not good enough

Not good enough

Not good enough

For you!

 

So demanding, like the Normandy landing

everyone’s looking for an easy fit

and opens fire on anything

that’s different

 

So very picky, spider web sticky

everyone thinks they’re God On High

they make you into their image

or leave you to die

 

And I’m -

 

Not good enough

Not good enough

Not good enough

For you!

 

Not good enough

Not good enough

Not good enough

For you!

 

Not good enough

Not good enough

Not good enough

For you!

 

Not good enough

Not good enough

Not good enough

For you!

 

 

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Love Is Everything (Song Lyrics)

 

 

Love, love

is everything

What’s not love

is nothing

 

Love, love

is all there is

There’s only love,

that’s it

 

Love is why the soldier fights

Love is why the poet writes

Love is why the sun gives light

Love’s what the moon looks for all night

 

Hate is love that lost its way

Greed is love that went astray

Pain is love that got away

Death is love that came too late

 

Love, love

is everything

What’s not love

is nothing

 

Love, love

is all there is

There’s only love,

that’s it

 

Love is why some people pray

Love is why the faithful stay

Love’s why wild horses run away

Love’s why tomorrow wants to come today

 

War is only love denied

Or sometimes love put above life

Peace is made because love cries

When love comes to the dark with light

 

Love, love

is everything

What’s not love

is nothing

 

Love, love

is all there is

There’s only love,

that’s it

 

Love is why the dancer shakes

Love is why the watcher breaks

Love’s why one man robs and takes

Love’s why another gives everything away

 

Cruelty is love that bled

Silence is the hole love left

Or else love’s greatness, that can’t be expressed

And when love runs out, that’s called death

 

Love, love

is everything

What’s not love

is nothing

 

Love, love

is all there is

There’s only love,

that’s it

 

 

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The Keeper Of The Flame (Song Lyrics)

 

 

The keeper of the flame

will never have a name

it doesn’t matter

it’s enough he came this way

 

The keeper of the flame

has just one more thing to do

before he’s gone

to pass his light to you

 

He took

what no one else would take

the abandonment

and the hate

 

The pain

of being out of place

The coldness

of your face

 

The wounds

ideals make

The price

dreams make you pay

 

To be forgotten

and put away

To keep the fire

of yesterday

 

burning in the darkness

of today

giving hope to

what’s on the way

 

And though it cost him

every chance that came his way

he wouldn’t have had it

any other way

 

Because that’s how much

it meant to him

To be the keeper of the flame

 

The keeper of the flame

will never have a name

it doesn’t matter

it’s enough he came this way

 

The keeper of the flame

has just one more thing to do

before he’s gone

to pass his light to you

 

Maybe you even saw him one day

Standing tall like a flag of the olden days

Did your expectations get in the way?

What did you think he’d do or say?

Just being there, that was his way

Of fulfilling his duty, of keeping the flame

Did your expectations get in the way?

What did you think he’d do or say?

 

The keeper of the flame

will never have a name

it doesn’t matter

it’s enough he came this way

 

The keeper of the flame

has just one more thing to do

before he’s gone

to pass his light to you

 

 

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