SEEN WITH ME

Had no love on the side living alone

No one there what would happen if I died tonight

Did she find me or did I find her in this lonely world 

Living a dream ever time she looks at me, not even asleep

Was the bar lowered for me, all she wanted was the simple things

She wanted no money

She wanted no expensive things

She just wanted a ring and to be seen with me

Not good enough for what I thought was the one

Just a man under glass, incase of emergency break the glass

That one never got the chance, loving friendship never last

Now I have what was the one passed, much more special than that

Did our path ever cross, where we the two ships in the dark

She wanted love from my heart

She wanted to feel kiss on the neck

She also wanted forever to be seen with me

A voice speaking the word glorious

Gave up a dream and traveled thousand miles just to see

Feeling I was needed until there was no need

Thinking all I needed was a Caribbean dream 

Did I give up on love or did it give up on me

She wanted me in her dream

She wanted to be in mine

She wanted to be at my side just to be seen with me

©Copyright 2025 Thomas J. Dooley 

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

 

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

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

 

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

FREEDOM OF THE SOUL

We give up on life when we think we are right

Only looking for a fight as the mind lives in the uneducated night

Freedom of the soul is more than religion.

It is the understanding of peace and how to embrace it and take hold.

When there is love between all human beings is when we are free.

We give up on life when we seek attention.

Everything you say or do, is proof your blind to your own reflection.

Freedom of the soul is more than emotions.

Thinking there untamed binding them up in chemical controls

When living life is about searching and finding 

We give up on life when we have no goals.

Sacrifice for the greater good never gets old.

Freedom of the soul is more than an accomplishment.

Ignoring the complex parts of life as simple solutions are bought and sold

If you don't reach out to feel you just stumble in the dark

We give up on life when there is no love.

The hero sits alone, looking down from above.

Freedom of the soul is more than a physical act.

A single emotion considered an activity dose does not make us whole.

Turning to a blank page does mean nothing is there; it means there is purity. 

We give up on life when there is no movement.

When we forget our passions and just stop, there is no improvement.

Freedom of the soul is more than action.

Children are the commitment to unconditional love that never gets old.

The recipe is a lot of education, and discipline of the mind is life fulfillment.

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020  

DIWALI

Never seen the night so bright
Even inside when feeling soul the light
This is the time to change from wrong to right

Where is the party when it is Diwali
Music and dancing when it is Diwali
Celebrating a new day when it is Diwali

From the temple to home knowledge in the light is what we all know
I am soul, you are soul, intellectual cleaning will make us free
Remove all the webs and dust know that it is the love we can trust

So much food when it is Diwali

Light triumphs of the night when it is Diwali

Celebrating a new life when it is Diwali

Goddess Lakshmi comes and dances with me

She got all the wealth and prosperity it is much more than charity

Clearing the way for respect and dignity

Light the lamps when it is Diwali

Felling the peaceful mood when it is Diwali

Celebrating a new me when it is Diwali

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020

KARIN CRIES

Wasn't looking for her but she came out of nowhere and got in the way

I don't think that the Queen of England acts the same

No cure for what she has she is a victim of her own pain

Karin cries when she knows she not right

Living in her own mental lies

Karin cries at whatever she finds

Loosing out when it has nothing to do with constitutional rights 

Threaten to make a call not knowing she is the one soon to fall

Bitten by the white snake the venom in her blood she got no love

No one knows her pain, no one knows why she acts that way

Karin cries not knowing she has given up her pride

Easily selling off her freedom to someone wish her dead

Karin cries dry tears no container it fills

No cure for the ills of her head

One blame, one shame, has yet to know the pain

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020

ESSENCE OF TIME

What do you need from me

Lurking following, there is a sense of you, but I can't see

To understand you is always changing

With no destination my life I am rearranging

What I need from you

I need a schedule to keep pace, is all I can do

Can't quite what I have started

Late to the party isn't what I wanted

Who you think you are

Can't describe you near or far

Never in one place, you got no face

Without you, I might never get paid

Who am I without you

Can't keep an appointment without you

Always running late looking like a fool

Try to keep you on my wrist treat you like a tool

Nothing grows without you

Nothing moves without you

No schedules without you

This is the essence of you

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020

 

WHY NOW

Given up your truth for some attention

Took a bowl of soup instead of a blessing

Need to think things through before you move

Why now, living in an emotional state

Speeding a million miles an hour with no brakes

Everyone feels the pain of this hate

Given up your freedom for a red hat

There is no logic to this new math

Need a better change, let us all kneel and pray

Why now, twin cities splitting at its seems

As we see the burning of a thousand dreams

Purification in the lakes waters is what we need

Given up your soul for racist words

After four hundred years the echo still can be heard

Need a word to warm the cold blood of the heart

Why not peace right now.

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020  

PRETTY BLUE

Think that I might have forgotten you

It might be true never but I never asked anything of you

My dreams don't match the reality of you

Pretty blue where did you go too

No one like you in my mind

Was our friendship just an elegant lie

These feeling never change the many times the heart brakes

But I am the only one to blame when you walk away

What do you say when you think of me today

Pretty blue where did you go too

When you where the passenger of my mind

Never to experience these unconditional feelings

When you were alone I was only in your mind

I would call you every time just to make it alright

Now I have mastered the feelings I have of you

Pretty blue where did you go too

To hold you would be an intimate lie

When you smiled it would happen every time

Reality lies when I am next to you who is always a fool

Going out of my way for heartbreak and pain

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020

GOOD PEACE

Good peace its what we all dream

Never to be out of reach

Should never be too far to see

Why you need all the attention

When a family lives in desperation

Fame alone will never pay the bills

Good peace it should be the reality

Never to be a footnote in history

A man should never have to take a knee

Why we treated different ways

When I stood in line right behind you

I am no better I have nothing to prove

Good peace it should be more than a feeling

Never to be an idea of an educated mind

When we hear our leaders lie another child dies

Why you need to be rich

When the poor only dreams of it

Living a lie when you have to pay someone to be by your side

Good peace is more than thoughts and prayers

Should be service without a care

The proof shouldn't be recorded on your phone

Why not live in purity 

You'll have so much dignity

*Loving your self till everyone else does too

Good peace should be more than a thought

Good peace should come from the heart

Good peace should start from right where you are

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020

*From the song STYLE by Prince Rogers Nelson

from the album EMANCIPATION, NPG Music 

 

POETIC

Random thoughts from the heart

So much more than inspirational

Creative lines of words are where it starts

Poetic thoughts profound in rhythm and rhyme

Fractured word caught between inspiration and validation

Haiku is the poetic phlegm I spit at you

Wet and dry all at the same time 

No reasoning to the word that you choose

Poetic words with feeling and deep meaning

Incoherent babble just to make words rhyme to save time

Picturesque musings through the rainbow haze

Hear the songs of the early morning

Put the past behind you look to the sun of a new day

Poetic movement with intent and purpose

Hear the purple omens as Misty Copeland floats by

No one can write the same as the crow flys

On a pilgrimage to the destination, there are twist and turns

You have learned more than what anyone has heard in these words

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020

NO ONE'S BOSS

Do you give a thought to what you say
Always use words in a different way
Does God even understand you when you pray

Don't want to be no one's boss
Have no reason to control it all
Only those things close to my heart

No longer can I be happy today
Now it became an orientational social name
To be gay will never mean the same

Don't want to be no one's boss
Have no reason to have the control of you
You're not a minstrel you don't have to shine my shoes

Innocent words use as racial slurs
Generational slave mentality in just one word
You have to make mistakes before you learn

Don't want to be no one's boss
Have nothing to prove
Just call me brother or friend

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020

In a comment, I got on another poetry site to this poem where say "We all need to treat each other with respect, my friend."

Not fully understanding the context of the comment. I said, the word BOSS is so overused and miss understood its definition is a person in charge of a worker or organization. It comes from the Ditch language BAAS and in America, it was used to replace another word that word is MASTER because it was too reminiscent of the slavery past. I find it more of annoyance word when being called that so I see it as the person saying it is more disrespecting to themselves than the one that they are saying it to. When writing poetry I do some research when using metaphors on any topic. So what I am saying with the poem respect your self just as much as you respect your self. 

PROMISED LOVE

In the fog is a lonely place to be
When the sun comes out it will warm you and me
Above the trees out in the sky, there is more we need

Promised love
Come down from above
Promised love
Might feel like it comes and goes
It is unconditionally apart of the soul

Romance is just a selfish act of man
There is so much more than a touch of a hand
When things get hot can't cool things with a fan

Promised love
Everywhere for every one
Promised love
Let it shine from the eyes it will not lie
With purity no way it will ever hide

Like a song from the heart, it is strong
Moving us from this feeling of pride, it just feels so right
It is not a possession that the ego controls there is so much more

Promised love
Some times it is taken advantage of
Promised love
A word that sweetens the air
From the eye removing the sad salt from every tear

Feel the word roll off the tongue pass the lips
Let everyone hear it with the feeling of bliss
More than a hug more than a kiss say the word it's love

Promised love
A phrase from the knowledge page
Promised love
Words mused by the purple omens
Listen to this love note

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020

NO DISCRIMINATION

No discrimination from girl to boy
Lavender and peach nothing you ever need
Like I said it is you I want to hold
If you had everything would you still like me

Dorothy, she got the counsel and education is the foundation
This noise is louder than equality that is always free

No discrimination from woman to man
Cheating creation just because you think you can
Now you got more problems than anyone should have
Life isn't all that bad and not ever tear from your eye is sad

Michelle, she got the books anyone can read
Loving that family man better than one woman can

No discrimination from brown to beige
Got no education you let them know your name
Fact and fiction got no description now it is the deception
A question is an insult when you got no intelligent answer

Gail, she got the voice girl you got to make that noise
Known by that one letter optimism gets so much better

No discrimination from culture to tradition
Don't like what you are given when your think life isn't worth liven
Greed is the only thing the ego eats when the mind isn't free


©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020

INSPIRATION

Can't demand creativity to magically appear
It just doesn't rain the right conditions have to be in the air
Original thought comes 30 seconds later from the heart

Inspiration
So much complication a created sensation
Inspiration
So much noise when everyone wants to have a voice

Ask me what I think, you might not like what you hear
But you forgetting me is what I fear the feeling has been there for years
That is in the past, and I chose to burn that bridge and dry up those tears

Inspiration
So much complexity in understanding humanity
Inspiration
So much commotion can't believe everything I am told.

Out of the quarantined mind, I will survive
Finding so much more to life without much time
Looking forward to when *the rainbow children rise

Inspiration
So much involvement only one has the ingredients
Inspiration
So much agitation from one voice making so many contradiction

Can't answer a question got no answers your insults are just dumb
So many much smarter than you but you think you know what to do
They all pander to you know you the only fool in the room

Inspiration
So much thought goes into it got to write that down before I forget
Inspiration
So much content to lazy to collect and organize it

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020

*The Rainbow Children by Prince PRN

DINER

Three eggs medium, hashbrowns, and toast
Coffee, please as the noise of dishes crash into the bus tub
"Would that be all" she would say
"Nothing else thank you" I would say
Looking at the jukebox to see what Prince song to play
"Breakfast Can Wait" will go good with these eggs
In a flash, the cook brings me a plate
The tattooed waitress refills my coffee
Will her tip go to fill in the rest of the tattoo on her neck

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2019

GAZE

She got the walk you think you got the line
But you can't talk for you she is too fine

Gaze
You got no game
Gaze
You just so lame
With that gaze

Why you look at her that way
Like she is some kind of prey

Gaze
What you got to say
Gaze
When you see her every day
Look away with that gaze

You might be hooked on her looks
Got to get to know her so read her like a book

Gaze
This life is a maze
Gaze
If you want some
Personel fun is more than that gaze

Her feminity is a strength it will make you weak
Her voice so strong knowing right from wrong

Gaze
Can't hide from those dark eyes
Gaze
If you don't listen to the truth, it is just noise
This world is mine, and yours hold that gaze

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2019

FIRST OF JUNE

Legend a rumor puts shame to my name
As the Kingsmen sing it every day
They still get paid as it fades with age

First of June
I am still the same
But everything is new

Sharing my birthday with flag fondling tyrant
Don't want to be associated with that
My conception is a good reason for calibration

First of June
I just want to hear that new tune
Just want to feel that muse

Art is where it all starts
Something this cool has nothing to prove
Keep doing what you do

First of June
I got to find my own path
No need for directions from any man

Get up and dance like you got, soul
Just want to let you know you are a soul
Now let everyone know

First of June
With responsibility in life knowing what to do
Just want to be in that mediated mood