HOW MANY

The times are changing the times are getting crazy

The vision of many are getting hazy

Believing the random thought of one's imagination

How many lies do we believe before we see the truth?

While many yell and screen looking like a fool

Karen, this does not have to be you.

Fallowing another man's lie 

But you pray to God every night

How are those things alike

How many times have you played Rushen Roulette with your life

It is better to feel sick for a day

Then it is to lay a week at death's doorstep

The chicken nuggets you eat are programmed to track you

While on the cell phone, you watch housewives acting like fools

As you use pronouns to offend so why do you pretend

How many have to die because of the selfishness you hide

You have no community pride living a patriot lie

Threat to kill because of your ignorance as you act all innocent 

The right to choose offends you now you want to change the rules.

©Cpoyright Thomas J Dooley

 

CAN I CALL YOU HUMAN

Let me call you by your name

Why do pronouns have to get in the way

Can I call you a friend?

Without you being offended

Can I look at you as human?

Instead of looking at you all confused

Trying to see the real you

Let me call you by your name.

We all have a human experience in different ways.

An acronym shouldn't make the rules of my friendship with you

Claiming a few decades of discrimination does not compare centuries of racial pain 

Can I see you as human?

As you segregate yourself in social places and parades 

Selective of the attention you want isn't the way

Let me call you by your name.

We might not think in different ways

If you don't like what I have to say 

We can both go our separate ways

©Copyright Thomas J Dooley 2021

MY SPACE

Within and without in a place to understand what is it all about

Who am I when under all the lies from your lips and from mine

Secluded to the hill, I climb to the top to find what is inside

My space outside is the distance of life; infinite distance is inside.

This maze of the mind, this maze of life held in the hands of time

Never knowing what is beyond the turns, I will find

The guru says many words of truth and many words of lies.

What we think we are and what we think we have become, we hide

Throughout the world, we search for what has always been inside

My space outside is the distance of life; infinite distance is inside.

In my baggage, I collect many things that I have gathered over time. 

Collecting things will not make me free I have to understand the truth of me.

©Copyright Thomas J Dooley 2021

 

  

EVERY THING BUT THE DREAM

The end has come; all that is left is stone and bones

Escaping death and pain in a nation built on hate

Rebuilding a new life, not knowing it will be taken away one day.

Pack up your clothing, pack up your photos and memories

Everything you think you will need

Everything but the dreams

Ike and Tina had a better relationship than the Taliban and Afghanistan

No one returning to Nutbush in that land, even if they can

Now controlled by men without any education or any soul

Pack up your pain, pack up your tears, and your fears

Everything, even a lifetime of deceit 

Everything but the dreams

A house and land, the building of a family, is the plan

So much to do so much to see the desire to be free

No one telling you it is a temporary thing

Pack up your religion, pack up your faith as you endlessly pray

Everything that helps you forget your sins

The ever-changing history of the word of God remains a mystery. 

The illusion is the inclusion of everyone going to a place you've never been

Everyone fights to be the president, as Prince rather be the Pope.

Looking for that formula that brings you some hope 

Pack up your peace, pack up your love and your purity 

Everything that the soul will ever need

Everything, and don't forget the new dreams

©Copyright Thomas J Dooley 2021

LOOKING AT YOU

Looking at you, you looking at me

Loving the summer; so free

With our feet in the waters of the Mediterranean sea

Got it now; you have to look at life, putting all your problems behind

In this mental darkness, you are wrong; got to get up, get out to be strong

Thinking in the sunlight, everything will be all right

Looking at you, you looking at me

Let us play together in the Chanhassen parks

Later, we can purify ourselves in the inspiration of loving art.

Looking at the world in a different way

Look at life differently; you know how to spell cool

Taking a page from Prince's book, *style is loving yourself till everyone else does too

Looking at you, you looking at me.

A loving friend will help you so the pain can mend

You might have a heavy heart; that is where you start; it will never end

Got it now; you have to look up as the sun shines on you

Deaf to the words of babbling fools, there is so much more about you

Take that talent in you and show those who love you what you can do

©Copyright Thomas J Dooley 2021

*Style by Prince from the album Emancipation 1996

Pasley Park Studio

 

CRACKERS AND SOUP

Got all the reasons to lie got no reason, to tell the truth

All this talking without any proof this is what they do

Placing all the blame with no shame, this new hate is what they maid

Crackers are boring without the soup so dry with the same old lie

Trading your blessing for a bowl of lentil soup

Now you and your brother pray in different ways

The children in their bare feet playing on the Gaza streets 

Never to know freedom under the iron dome no one is home now alone

It is hard to be so different when those who hate you say you have no soul

Crackers are boring without the soup, so dry with the same old lie.

Get your last breath as politicians vote for your death

Don't want to believe the lier but still, you believe the lie

Gentrification is a hipster way to say community segregation 

If every life mattered, we would be one nation

But everyone wants to be a famous hatter

Crackers are boring without the soup, so dry with the same old lie.

The skies are blue for now; if a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound

If those woods have not burned down

Sensitivity of the past isn't what Notridomis could even predict.

Many conversations in this life we should be having

Equal rights, social justice and don't forget Daphni

 

Crackers are boring without the soup, so dry with the same old lie.

Crumble up these crackers and let them soak up the flavor of another culture

So delicious so fulfilling just like those bean pies

The content of your character is lost when looking for other peoples miss-steps

Life is so random and love is an emotion, not an act 

So be kind to others when thinking of that

Crackers are boring without the soup, so dry with the same old lie.

Negative attention only bring negative oppression 

Education is commonsense, and learning from the past is the only fix 

©Copyright Thomas J Dooley

  

LOVE MASK

The experiences we had together in our minds are forever

True relationships of the mind will never lie

We got something that others take a lifetime to find

A love mask doesn't have to cover your heart.

Knowing you and you know me is where it all starts

Intellectual thoughts I have of you that is my one and only move

Feeding the seed of love with a conversation, these words are the fruit

I don't need to be by your side when you are with me in my mind

Is there any more I need to do to prove my feeling for you

A love mask doesn't have to cover your heart.

Knowing you and you know me is where it all starts

Intellectual feelings so reveling what more is there to prove

The expectation you put on me isn't then the ones I see

Just want my mind and body to feel free

No need for labels; I just want to sit at the table and just be me.

A love mask doesn't have to cover your heart.

Knowing you and you know me is where it all starts

I choose my loneliness, but I am never lonely with you

©Copyright Thomas J. Dooley 2021

THE WELCOME

Leave your shoes at the door.

Not because these are clean floors

There is a reason that means so much more.

Welcome to my home, welcome to my life

Respect is given at the doorsteps; that is what you will find

The honor you receive from me is a privilege, not a right

Who knows where you walked or where you been

No matter the path you take, there is no end

You walk it alone even if you are with friends 

Welcome to my home, welcome to my life

Rest from your travels; you must be emotionally tired.

Memories of the past are lost in ignorance fire.

We look for truth out of lies; we look for facts out of feelings

In this recent reality, many of us wish we were dreaming

Injustice pressed to the back of the neck this is why we are kneeling 

Welcome to my home, welcome to my life

Tell me of your journey I will tell you of mine

To find where our paths have crossed in the night.

These emotions coming and going like the wind is always blowing

Wondering what one finds its way out with words and tears

This is why confidence is a struggle for me when I can not see

Welcome to my home, welcome to my life

Look for acceptance for who I am and for who I could be

Our struggles might be different, but I still empathize with you.  

©Copyright Thomas J. Dooley 2021

BE POETIC

Where you go when lost in your mind 

In those corners, what do you find

Into this depth of forgotten life

Be poetic your thoughts a portrait painted colors not found in this life

A feeling a moment put to words are chosen from the heart

Searching for a brand new start, why is life so hard

Listen to you, the soul speaking, read those words of feelings

Mentally mystical words that come together with influential 

Our emotions speak louder thought these words

Be poetic in the way you walk; let it be the way you are

Overemphasizing your words doesn't make it art

Say something that will inspire to tickle the mind.

Find those words to understand this world

Cheating the genetics with only boy or girl

Is it the attention you try to find guided by what is inside

©Copyright 2021 Thomas J. Dooley 

 

 

THE FORGOTTEN ONE

Turned away every day, even when I got a ticket to play

Running alone in a different circle from you, but I have nothing to prove

Wanting so much social attention, what does that do for you

The forgotten one left behind because it was fun

Lost in verbal abusiveness without one witness

Victim blaming is the way to cover up the shame

  

So many problems looking for a fix, I don't want to pay for any of those tricks.

Resourceful or resentful, what does my mood have to do with you

Pushed away like we are in a crowd, don't ask where I am now

The forgotten one tries to run, hoping to look for fresher air a brighter sun.

Confused, placed in the corner of excuses. 

The crushing silence as if what I did was beyond violent 

A sign at the clubhouse door saying I am not allowed

The sounds of silence you make are so loud

No communion, no direction where do I go now

©Copyright Thomas J. Dooley 2021

THESE ASHES

What we have lost we will again find new

Sorrow is the nourishment to make love bloom

In the fires, these souls will return soon

These ashes, a new India will rise.

Forget the words of criticism; and what are called lies

Look to the words of the Gita to find all the love, peace, and purity 

Understanding is lost in the minds of those who can't see the sunrise

As Maata Ji cries, her tears purify the waters of the Ganges

We enter another time of colonization of our souls' new freedom we hold

These ashes, a new India will rise.

Look to the flag safron of courage, the white of purity, the green of fertility.  

As the Dharma Chakra walks these auspicious lands

Love is in the purifying fires of the cremations.

The soul released in the smoke forming a new nation

The ashes are the mortar to form the base for the flag can fly high  

These ashes a new India will rise

A new life, a new determination for the mind

Peace, Love, and Purity again we will find.

©Copyright Thomas J. Dooley

Notes: 

 

MAATR DIVAS (मातृ दिवस)

Conditions come with unconditional love

Woven in the colors of maatr's sari

Draped around her, she is a queen

Maatr divas, there is nothing she would not give us

The life, the love unending, not knowing where it comes from

Respected and cursed in the same breath

But the love she gives is the way she forgives

Cooking with so much love, performing massala magic

Spicy to the tongue filling and satisfying 

She is the first to give and the last to receive

Maatr divas, there is so much she gives us.

Controlling and spoiling waking you every morning

There is so much to her day you're not knowing

Return the love with your eyes and with your words

She brings truth to the words of the Gita.

She brings breath to the flute knowledge is the tune.

Feel it deep inside of you

Maatr divas, there is so much to celebrate

The traditions the honor of love given

Taking in the moment in caring arms, hold it

A season that should be every day.

©Copyright Thomas J Dooley 2021

Notes: 

 

P.L.P. (PEACE, LOVE, PURITY)

Looking for something we don't have, every woman and man 

Looking something in the sands as it sifts through the hands

A knowledge to understand walk as humans in this land

P.L.P. what we dream what we strive to be

What I see in you I hope you see in me

A deep feeling we all need to feel free

Hope for justices a victim soul within our hearts we will hold

Giving up is not giving in when pictures can be seen within

Good trouble is the call today as we continue to pray

P.L.P. what comes from the heart to the eyes should never be a lie

Not an activity; it is feeling experiencing the giving without receiving

It is something deep that we are needing

An emotion used as a lie just for a momentary feeling 

A word used and abused for a momentary lie

Look deep inside connect with the eyes; this is true life.

P.L.P. what we look for is a clean slate removing that self-hate

Steady the mind invasion a white page floating in an ocean is your stage

A point of light in you shining bright; it is the life that is always new

The white sari transforming the sister into an instrument hear her sing.

The tune of the flute flowing through me, and you 

Feel the knowledge it has the directions to what to do

Peace is the dream we strive to be

Love is an emotion of giving without receiving

Purity is starting over; it is what is inside of you.

©Copyright Thomas J. Dooley 2021 

NOTES: 

DALITS

What is it in me that makes your perception of me

Why is including me just a means of excluding me

Is it I am not worthy of God's kiss because of this?

*Dalits is how I feel buried under these feeling

I dream of peace, love, and purity

But no one sees that in me

The list of my faults are long

I check the long list to try to change them all

But it is you that I wronged as my list goes on

Dalits is how I feel buried in the silence of unforgiven 

But asking forgiveness is just a sin

But this is how I know my place just to fit in

No matter where I place my shoes, no matter where I sit

I look inside for my own forgiveness, but how do I do this

When anyone sees my struggles, they are pushed back on me

Dalits is how I feel buried under the sweepings of leftover life.

Living in the night always wrong, never right

Proudly claiming the last place inline

No matter what I do, it is never good enough

When done with so much care and love

Alone I hear the father's wisdom as the forgotten son.

Dalits is how I feel buried under blocks of guilt.

Used to build a wall of silence shut off from the guidance

The respect I give the respect I receive is like tasteless *sabjiyaan 

©Copyright Thomas J. Dooley 2021

*Dalits the lost caste in Indian culture

*Hindi for vegetables 

NOTES:

 

 

 

EXILED TO SILENCE

These feelings I feel are like an attack

Excluded from living life wondering what I lack

What do I say when I am always told I am to blame

Exiled to silence in search of some kindness

As my mind is lost to the wilderness

Where is there any kind of friends

Hearing the call with no voices

On a path with no choices

To a destination that is of my own creation

Exiled to silence in search of some forgiveness

Feeling the blame for every mess

Where is the end to all this mental stress

Alone in this silence, why am I so different?

Living in mental shame hiding is no longer a game

It is a means to avoid negative criticism 

Exiled to silence in search of some peace

In the kings garden, I nap in the swing

To feel my mind relax so free

I dream of India's night sky with a moon so bright

Were Prakashmani reflection can be seen

That is where I wish I could be

©Copyright Thomas J Dooley 2021

NOTES: 

  

HOW DO YOU CRY

In the light of day, there should be no shadows, no douts

Is that what respect for life is all about

How do you cry when there is no time for life?

How do you cry when hate is all you can find?

How do you forgive every time?

With marching feet, the calls for justice and peace

These sounds still echo from the streets

Will the next tear to be shed will be for you or for me?

How do you cry when life is just a short time?

How do you cry when a lie is revealed as hate?

How do you forgive next time?

Serve and protect until the next death

Mistakes and excuses do not make you innocent

Justice and peace are political vinegar and oil

How do you cry when this happens every time?

How do you cry when the tears run dry?

How do you forgive this time?

Tears spilled on the streets of Minneapolis.

No one should die for a light to be put on racial justice

Living and dying has no longer has any purpose

How do you cry when you have no tears?

How do you cry when you walk with fear?

How do you cry right NOW?

©Copyright Thomas J. Dooley 2021

Notes: 

MAGIC SPELL

What are the words from blessed lips that are heard but always missed

A soothing phrase whispered in one's ear during one last breath

Stepping into the next beyond, not knowing the destination is the only fear

Magic spell more than calling out a name who can't hear your praise

More than a phrase said over and over again that only you can say

The preacher tells of a destination they never been

But still living with their own unconfessed sins

The path that they lead you is in the direction of deceit. 

Magic spell more than the son of man who never touched dry land

More than a political speech, people blinded by leaders own greed

Haven and hell the chose of the red or blue pill 

Heaven is a destination not spelled out in a will

Hell is a destination with a long list that we all hope to miss

Magic spell more than words that provoke mystical things

More than the psychic lines spelling out your destiny

The guru gives you a mantra, every day, it is all you can say

They want so much from you, never knowing the things you do

Just need what is inside to understand what you can't see with the third eye

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2012

I DON'T MATTER ANYMORE

Alone in this room with nothing to do

Thinking of the outside and the direction of my own life

Sitting at the window watching the world pass by

Thinking what are my dreams what are my goals

Questioning everything I know and am told

Finding a direction for me the soul

I don't matter anymore. 

Sitting here behind silent doors.

My values faded some time, never to exist.

My path is paved with cobblestones. 

Through the night and the day, I walk it alone

To a destination, I will never know

What am I doing here at this point in time?

Believing my own lies hearing them whispering in my mind

Am I held back by pride or the unspoken lies

I don't matter anymore.

Don't know when I am wrong.

Until it is wrong that I do

It is my choice to care when no one is there

But who is there for a moment singing my praise

Soon they just fade without a word to say

Searching for a place of comfort to rest the mind

Confidences is just a dried out seed never to grown in me

Just to dry up in the weeds

I don't matter anymore.

Waiting for a call that will never come

For some, there are conditions for love

Many take to the streets calling for justice and peace.

Individuals each one question am I truly free.

Marching in remembrance of the forgotten son

Insults are thrown sometimes, bruising the heart.

The ignorance hides the pain, just wanting to claim some fame

Even Karen hides thinking that she has a right to your life 

I don't matter anymore.

Behind this closed-door locked with the key of silence

A silence that is louder than any noise

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2021

THE EXOTIC BIRD

The light seems so different here, breaking through the square pains of the window

Its morning yellow rays lay heavy on the welcome table

Illuminate the streams of smoke from the cigarette in Baldwins fingers

The exotic bird is exiled far from home

To this oasis, other birds will come and go 

To find that missing part of his soul

Wine, bread, and cheese go untouched, forgotten in literature thoughts

Conversations of gossip and of politics winding down to a witty anecdote

The high lined brow the toothy grin not to smile back would be a sin

The exotic bird is exiled to another land.

To leave home to find his courage and stand like a man

One day an end will come to this exile soon will return home

Struggling with the times as they change but still stay the same

To find a corner of the world to claim sanity to be sain

Just wanting to feel peace in his life, no need for fame

The exotic bird is exiled to his mind.

The contemplation of life will be the inspiration to fly

On southern roads, hearing the echos of his brothers and sisters call

The broken threads of history woven into a scarf around the neck

Is it a comfort proclaiming I am a man, or will it lead to his death

Rewriting the language of equality that we still don't understand

The exotic bird is exiled with unclaimed guilt.

To journey on the southern roads to pay a personnel debt

The culture of the family never to forget that he has missed

©Copyright Thomas J. Dooley 2021

 

  

 

  

ANOTHER NORMAL

Normal is a mental fallacy of comfort; it is blindness to the confusion of every day.

We pull out a camera to prove the good we are, a good samaritan unaware of real pain.

Normal should be respect and kindness for others.

Diversity and inclusion in life to understand wrong from right

Normal is a concept that consistently changes for the social and political whores

Always wanting more grasping attention with every thoughtless post.

Normal should be knowledge and the understanding of what we can or can not see

Feelings overwhelming facts that feeling like a mental attack.

Normal is a comforting tradition lost is the original message consumed in greed.

Thinking what is true and free as many struggles to breath

Normal should be learning from the past to find the future. 

Explaining away the mistakes that are made, to feel comfortable in their hate

Normal is the comfort of living in a nation like it is home.

A feeling everyone should know.

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2021

 

 

WINGS OF COURAGE

Looking to the sky of a new day in all its light

Surviving the challenges of the night into a new dawn, we will find

Peace in society, love in community, freedom in the mind

Wing of courage, with John we will fly.

To challenge what is truly right, none violence is the true fight.

Travel up the mountain with peace on our are minds.

To see the valley on the other side to all the beauty some wish to hide.

Freedom, justice, and diversity that strive to have in life

Wings of courage, with Greta, as she sails over the oceans and seas.

To challenge those who can't see the environmental realities.

Overcoming negative thoughts always offended by humorous talk

Unable to see inside themselves, what matters to them is only their feelings.

Laughter is what we need, never taking ourselves too seriously.

Wings of courage, with Mr. Charels Edward Cheese challenging his own worth

Standing with a mic in his hand, educating with laughter.

Wings of courage we all must have every woman and man

Overall of society negatives that some don't see, but many feel

Let us get over this hill.

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2021  

NOTES:

 

 

RELIGION WILL NEVER

Thoughts that are not my own

An inheritance for the soul

This made me feel all alone.

What religion will never know

Is the truth of the soul

How to become whole

A belief that segregated me

Religion never set me free.

Living beneath everybody

What religion will never see

Kindness is not the intent but only condemn

A community ego fills the ATM.

A spiritual movement stalled by the ego

Where are Thurman, King, and Gandhi today

Hear the weeping sister at the wall as she would pray

What religion will never hear

The voice of inner pain and fear

Without true light, the path isn't clear.

Declaring a path with no direction

Never arriving at the destination.

Living in a cage in a free nation

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2021

NOTES:

THE HILL WE CLIMB (Inspired by the poem of Amanda Gorman)

Out from under the shadow of a never-ending ego 

The light of respect in the distance can be seen

The voice of optimism is no longer a dream

Hear the echoing sounds on the streets

Passionate words of justice and peace

The hill we climb over all obstacles and lies.

The journey is long, but on the other side, we will see the dawn.

A nation is broken into pieces with unresolved emotions.

We strive to fulfill the immigrant's dream.

To see their children grow up to be free and one day lead.

Through a child's voice, ancient ancestors sing.

Songs of amazing grace as every voice will ring.

The hill we climb to a destination of new life.

A celebration of all our difference, we will find

We grow out of remembrance when tragedy makes no sense. 

The pain we feel in this moment, the cure is in the journey up this hill.

As we strive for that glimmer of hope, we discover what we have always known.

With a passion for peace, this division we will defeat to one day see

America is a comforting home; it is my home; it is your home that everyone should know. 

The hill we climb to find the promised land on the other side.

What was once the words of a dream is now the reality.

In Malcolm, we found an example of passion through all means.

In Marten, we found the dream of peace.

In John, we found the good trouble that will lead.

In Harriet, we found an appreciation of what it is like to be free.

Together we have found the determination we need.

The hill we climb above a land one day will shine.

Bring light to all diverse faces as we become one nation.

The fire of passion today is quenched by the satisfying waters of tomorrow. 

With courage unafraid, we will defeat all this sorrow.

We must believe in this; we must believe us; we must find the trust.

Together we must have the courage to be it.

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2021

NOTES: 

 

MELANIN

Knowing who I am, comes from within

My difference shouldn't be the color of my skin

It should be the virtuous caricature of being your friend.

 

Melanin is diversity's best friend.

Beige to ebony-brown life still moves around.

As the ancestor drums get loud

Segregation is like the colors of the rainbow.

Each one to its own place in an order that is its own

Is this the way equality should be known

Melanin is diversity's best friend.

There is so much more than the light you absorb 

Hear the complex stores of long-ago

Can't read a book by looking at the cover

There is much more to my complexion yet to be discovered.

Chemically I am different from you as humans; we are sisters and brothers.

Melanin is diversity's best friend.

Look deep inside, see peace and love through the eyes

Find those parts that you hide

In our walk through life, we look left and right.

You see other people's paths as you lose direction and wonder why

So look forward; there is so much more you will find

Melanin is diversity's best friend.

Trying to change to become what you already are

 Be who you are meant to be; this can sometimes is hard.

We march with heavy feet on these streets and hear the call of this land

A color that matters becomes an echoing chant.

A call for justice for all, justice for every man

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2021

NOTES:

 

LOVE PHILOSOPHY

Don't judge me with your bitterness.

Don't care how you dress.

To me, it doesn't matter who you kiss.

Love is a philosophy, not an activity.

Don't force your adjectives on me.

My acceptance is on the content of your character.

Selfishness is the only way you know how to care.

The way you walk through life. 

It is like walking on the edge of a knife.

Cutting away what genetics gave you is your right

Love is a philosophy, not an activity.

Don't force your acronym on me.

I want to walk a movement that is for everybody.

Making reasons for exclusion is what you do

Woman or man is now just slang. 

Your left with two feet and two hands 

Now, what is your conventional life plan?

Love is a philosophy, not an activity.

Telling me what I see is normal human destiny.

There are more vivid colors to the rainbow you don't see

Lavender to purple is the one love-sign for me. 

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2021

 

POND

You muddy the waters with your uneducated mind.
Floating on top of the waters, you are just slime.
The water isn't deep when you got mud on your feet.
So much below got to know the diversity beneath

Pond
You want to be the big fish.

Soon to be fried on a dish.

You fell out of the eighth grade; all you learn was hate.
Your problems are the same as look for someone to blame
Don't even know who is making a fool of you.

So you blame the unfulfilled lies feeling you lose your mind.

Pond

Can't you see he maid you out to be a whore

Now look who is knocking at your door.

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2021.

COLLARD GREENS DREAMS

A generational recipe for telling our history 

Salt and seasonings bring flavor to the stories.

The vinegar brings a tartness to the bitterness of truth.

Collard greens dreams

Something so simple becomes a king's feast.

It is comfortable and warm, and its history makes you want more.

The passing of traditions and rituals of life 

From the grandmother's lips to the granddaughter's ears

Words filled with pride one day it will be her time.

Collard greens dreams

Something so simple it is fit for a queen.

Satisfying flavor cooked with love.

Planting the seeds in the gardens of ancestry

The tomatoes, peppers, beans, and the collard greens

Life reaching up from the soil, feeling the warmth of the sun  

Collard green dreams

Something so simple, one taste makes a poor man feel like a prince. 

Nourishing memories that hold the history of this recipe is a gift.

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2021

NOTES: 

THE CARNAGE OF TIME

Looking to the future, looking to the past

Putting out the flames of ignorance 

Is the tragedy that we have

The carnage of time

The loss of over four-hundred thousand lives

A community disenfranchised

Now the uneducated run and hide.

Looking to our neighbors, looking to our communities

Moving towards unity, are we truly free

With hope, we live with integrity.

The carnage of time

Walking through a field of destruction 

Littered with rubble left behind

As the uneducated look on with pride

Looking to our mentors, looking to our leaders

A future with positive change is nowhere.

Words spoke with strength dismissing all the fear

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2021 

O SOUL

How many lifetimes you passed me by

Never will you look me in the eye

This reincarnation changed my life

O soul, where did you go?

The rhythm as it comes to an end.

Never had the chance to be your friend.

Life is not forever could end at any time.

Another day another lie hiding behind your pride.

Scratch those strings make everyone's ears ring.

O soul, what did you know?

Coming down from a music high

No matter what you sing its all right

To cool no one to touch you.

But you still sing the blues.

Got to bear your own cross

O soul, what did you hold

The words in your mind

Said over a hundred lifetimes

Comparing your life to mine

Repeating your imagery is lacking creativity.

Nothing there to act like you is a lie.

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2021

MORNING CONVERSATIONS

I sit down in my own peace

Focused on a light that only I can see

Because it is what is inside of me

Morning conversations as the sunrise

With peace, love, and purity is what I find.

On my own path, walk past all life's lies.

I sit down in my own love.

Focused on its inclusion, looking past all illusions

A dream for everyone to be free

Morning conversations as the sunrise

With peace, love, and purity in my mind

From you, there is nothing I hide

I sit down in my own purity.

Focused on what makes me truly me

That is an eternal soul.

Morning conversations as the sunrise

With peace, love, and purity becomes only light.

On the alter tokens of moments and photos of loved ones who pass

I sit down in my own silence.

Focused on divine one from above

Forgetting titles and external fights

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2021

NEW CONNECTION

Illusions of the world are revealed.

Feeling are the facts that feed lies.

This pain will never heal.

New connections to who we are

Removing barriers that hold back the soul

A ritual, a cross, stain glass images

The ego hides all the lies.

As we try to move forward still, we are left behind.

There is a true direction to the power inside. 

New connections to who you are

Removing deceiving tradition that holds back the soul

The bread of the body, the juice of the blood

The blessings bestowed on me are the accomplishments I achieve

Life is not made up of mystical mysteries; it is what I find in me.

Only you control the relationship with the one.

New connection to who I am

Removing people and thing that I never need

A celebrity, a car, or a big house

Chanting your mantra selfishly will not make you free.

Counting the beads will not bring peace.

Remembrance of the one in purity and love is where it will come from

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2021 

PASS ON ME

Got to have a dream beyond what I can see

Wondering what is my destiny

Life is so upsidedown got to know now

Pass on me everything I need

Peace and freedom are confusing to the uneducated mind.

Just want to live the privileged lie.

Got have a vision beyond what others believe.

Building the foundation of what makes me

Life is the music listen and turn it up loud.

Pass on me the secrets of being free

Purity and love are much more than a social activity.

Trying to understand wrong from right.

The recorded appreciation for inspiring the ego

This is not what feeds the soul.

Go inside, find that meditated sound. 

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2021

CONSIDER THE SOUL

We wish to forget this unnecessary pain

A lifetime feels like less than a day

Looking forward to the future and all the unknown

With so much confusion, consider the soul.

A spark, a light that never grows old

The symbolic words that we hold

The large oak is rooted in the earth.

Is the symbol of optimism that we need to learn

Sacred words that go unheard

With so much, illusions consider the soul.

What is our direction when no one knows which way to go?

 Find the little point of light you will always find a home.

 ©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2021