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