Sometimes The Darkness Is Your Friend

Sunset is an angel weeping
Holding out a bloody sword
No matter how I squint I cannot
Make out what it's pointing toward
Sometimes you feel like you live too long
Days drip slowly on the page
You catch yourself
Pacing the cage

I've proven who I am so many times
The magnetic strip's worn thin
And each time I was someone else
And every one was taken in
Powers chatter in high places
Stir up eddies in the dust of rage
Set me to pacing the cage

I never knew what you all wanted
So I gave you everything
All that I could pillage
All the spells that I could sing
It's as if the thing were written
In the constitution of the age
Sooner or later you'll wind up
Pacing the cage

Sometimes the best map will not guide you
You can't see what's round the bend
Sometimes the road leads through dark places
Sometimes the darkness is your friend
Today these eyes scan bleached-out land
For the coming of the outbound stage
Pacing the cage
Pacing the cage 

Bruce Cockburn - Pacing The Cage

If There's One Thing That I've Learned From All This Living...

I've learned that you cannot make someone love you.
All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in.

I've learned that no matter how much I care, some people are just assholes.

I've learned that it takes years to build up trust,
and it only takes suspicion, not proof, to destroy it.

I've learned that you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes.
After that, you'd better have a big willy or huge boobs.

I've learned that you shouldn't compare yourself to others -
 they are more screwed up than you think.

I've learned that you can keep vomiting long after you think you're finished.

I've learned that we are responsible for what we do, unless we are celebrities.

I've learned that regardless of  how hot and steamy a relationship is at first,
the passion fades, and there had better be a lot of money to take its place!

I've learned that the people you care most about in life are taken from you too soon,
and all the less important ones just never go away. 

Blues Don't Care

Blues don’t care if you’re young or old, a real big deal or some poor soul. 
Makes no different if you’re wrong or right, blues will track you down, it’s gonna pick a fight. 
Blues don’t care, blues don’t care. I know, cause I’ve had my share.

It’ll creep up on you when you least expect, make the hair stand up on the back of your neck, 
Try to run but there ain’t no escape, it’s a middle finger on the hand of fate,
Blues ain’t fair,  I know, cause I’ve had my share.

You can buy insurance, try to ease your mind, lock up your woman and hide your wine, 
Bury your money in the cold hard ground, but the blues are gonna get you some way, somehow. 
Blues don’t care, no blues don’t care. 

I know, yes y’all, cause I really had my share.

Blues Don't Care - Buddy Guy

It's Not The End Of The World

Into this pitch darkness we're hurled
Where there's not a glimmer of light
It's not the end of the world
It's just the middle of the night

And the blackest of flags is unfurled
In all this absence of light
It's not the end of the world good people
Merely the middle of the night

The middle of the night that's what this is
If death is the real test this is just a quiz
When grey creeps through your window it will be day light
The end of this darkness is almost in sight

Into a ball of fear you are curled
And you're holding on with all of your might
But it's not the end of the world little sister
It's just the middle of the night

In the maelstrom of your mind you are swirled
You're almost down the drain but not quite
It's not the end of the world my brother
Rather the middle of the night

The middle of the night when you fear everything
But the birds will awake soon you will hear them sing
You doubted you'd make it not sure you'd survive
Now you're dead tired you're still alive

Around fate's fickle finger we're twirled
Small wonder we're all so up tight
But it's not the end of the world good people
Merely the middle of the night
No it's not the end of the world as we know it
It's just the middle of the night

The Middle Of The Night - Loudon Wainwright III

I Don't Like Surprises

Boy, I'd hate living there...

God Speaks

I truly believe that God speaks to us in many ways...He often speaks to me through music and lyrics...at the appropriate moment, some song will sing some lyric that speaks to a worry or a joy that is on my heart...it happens quite often and it always makes me smile...that's how I know its a message from God, because it makes me smile and gives me hope.

Sometimes, though, when we least expect, some message will come out of the least likely of places.

A couple weeks ago I was working early in the morning at my second job, cleaning the bathrooms at our church in Felton, when I got a message from God that was just for me!

In the women's restroom there are those little boxes in the stalls with the wax paper bags inside for depositing used feminine hygene products. I peek inside those everyday, because you reeeaaaallly don't want to leave those unattended for too long!

On this particular morning I peered in and saw that there was indeed something in one of those bags...I could tell it was just some paper trash that someone had put in there. I knew Kids Club had met at church that day and I figured some child, not knowing what that box was for, had thrown some trash in there. When I took it out and looked, I found it contained a pew envelope, the kind for putting money in when making an offering.

On the back outside flap of the envelope, written in a child's writing, it said: "There is a special message for you from God inside..."

I flipped it open, and on the inside flap, in the same child's writing it said: "God Thinks You Are Nice"

I stared at it a little stunned for a moment, taking it all in...and then I smiled, chuckled and gave thanks!

I gave thanks not just because it's good to know that God, whom I think is nice, also thinks that I am nice...but because I knew that message was intended for me and me alone!

After all, brothers and sisters,  I am the only one who would ever be looking in that little receptacle!

Ralphie