HANDFUL OF RICE

Hunger of the mind hunger of the soul

A child's stomach empty as it sits in the cold

When will we learn there are things more valuable than gold

A handful of rice sticky and warm

Fills the belly and comforts the soul

A feeling some wish to know

Thankful for what is before you

Some might not see it; a prayer of thanks is what you do.

You see a feast of nourishing food.

A handful of rice sticky and warm

Fills the belly and comforts the soul

A feeling many wish to know

Pressure and time hardens a diamond

Pressure and time softens the rice

We ignore the doctor's advice, think everything is alright.

A handful of rice sticky and warm

Fill the belly and comforts the soul.

A feeling I wish to know

Contentment with the simple joys of life

Strength is facing the challenges of the night.

The next day's pains are healed by the light.

A handful of rice sticky and warm

Fill the belly and comforts the soul.

A feeling everyone should know.

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020

 

HONEY DRIPS

Need something sweet, something to eat

Dreaming of the taste is just a waste

Inaction is a craving that sometimes goes away

Honey drips from your lips.

Passion in the words you use nothing to prove

Nourishment isn't just in the food; it is what is inside of you.

Need something sweet, something like peace

Dreaming of togetherness and what we can achieve 

Fear is just a distraction from the truth

Honey drips from his lips.

With passion in his voice, there is no other choice

Words of compassion, words with feeling, understanding the meaning

Need something sweet, something to hear

Dreaming of Marvin's words *"For only love can conquer hate."

We must march the path that they paved.

Honey drips from her lips.

Her breath through the flute knowledge is the tune

Million tears left at the fence mixed with the mace of ignorance

Need something sweet like freedom

Four hundred years of forgetting is coming to an end

Our ancestors might not have been friends, but together we can win

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2020

*Marvin Gay, WHAT'S GOING ON

Written by Al Cleaveland, Marvin Gay, and Renaldo Benson

©TAMAL Records 1971

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.