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 

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

 

  

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

THIS ROOM

All I need is another call from you

Doesn't matter how many minutes we use

Need to hear the sound of your voice to soothe

What more is there for me to do

This room alone again

The walls have become my best friends

Late into the night, we conversate 

Conversations alone with these walls

Echoing in the mind deep in the halls

I say the color of these walls are beige, they say their tan

Arguing with a wall does not make me a crazy man

This room deep in my mind

Trying to master my thoughts

So many secrets, if these walls could talk

If they told the truth I would say that's a lie

But where else is there for me to hide

As night comes outside I close my eyes

Outside these walls is where my dreams flys

©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  

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

QUALITY OF ME

In a place of no reputation, I look to my own destination
These dreams in this life are the cream, but there is much more to me

Quality of me
We all have dreams, we all have needs
But what is different about me goes so deep
Seeing the value in time looking forward to the next day's light

Work ethic is not about giving and taking
It is the value I get from a job well done
Even when I am the only one

Quality of me
Time should never wait on me
I should be in the moment and ready for anything
Every day should be about reality

Just because you give less
That is no reason for me not to be limitless
Service towards others shouldn't be faked

Quality of me
I might have feelings, but that doesn't make me weak
I am a soul with a higher purpose for humanity to be set free
Verifying every thought deep in my heart this is me

Only a fool thinks the world revolves around just one
Peace is not made from a gun it come from unconditional love
The soul never get tired even when it runs

Quality of me
I might have doubts, but that isn't what I am about
I have needs there much more than anything you can see

©Cpoyright Thomas Dooley 2019


NOTES:

DREAMING OF INSPIRATION

A hammock, a mattress, a pillow for my head
After a long day, I've earned this rest
Drifting away to a world without stress

Dreaming of inspirational food
For the body
Craving poetic nourishment

Counting the seconds go by
Past and present friends still lie
Deep in my mind

Dreaming of inspirational words
For the mind
Just to create one poetic rhyme

A coalition of thoughts in my mind
Thinking I lost everything in life
When I wake everything is fine

Dreaming of inspirational sound
For the soul
Only the purple omens know

What is the artistic process
But he hasn't told me yet
In the vault is where it rests

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2019

PURPLE SOUL

Little boy, I see the creativity in your eye
Sometimes you want to hide
One day you'll find it deep inside
Everyone will be inspired

Don't you know what you hold
It is worth so much more than gold
Step to the mike and show your a Purple Soul

Little man, you know what you have
When you touch those strings with your hand
The sounds you make will make the whole world dance
You got the plan you know your path

Don't know why you haven't grown old
If you held anything back it would just explode
Just to touch those strings you are a Purple Soul

How can I ever know what inspires you
How can I find that same kind of muse
The same one that danced for you
Don't want to be like you just want to be as cool as you

Don't know why you left your story untold
What you have never can be sold
Everything you are is Purple Soul

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2017

METAPHORIC CONVERSATION

It was a coincidence that we meet
But the way you left the room was such a mess
We thought about the same things
We were reaching for the same dreams

I couldn't understand your metaphoric conversation
Paranoid imagery you had about me
Saying things only you understood just making up words

Thought this was meant to be just you and me
Thought I was finally free, living a lonely dream
But you had an alternate plan to get all you can

I couldn't understand your metaphoric conversation
These stories you make about me
You rather lie, than talk like a child

With my friends, you get in my head
They say you have another face
But I can't look past the smile and the pretty lace

I couldn't understand your metaphoric conversation
What you talking about Willis I'd say
You can't take joke with seriousness in your voice

But I got no choice when your the one who makes all the noise
You rather be friends, you say this isn't a date
So why don't you pay for the food on your plate

This metaphoric conversation has to end
This isn't a new relationship trend
If you don't have the moves there is nothing to prove

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2016

PURPLE LOVE CHILD

The rumors going wild

Your mind fighting back all the lies

Not another child

They think they got it right

Living in the days of wild

So drop in the tape

Push the button that says play

Turn it up past 11

You know the kid is in heaven

Purple love child

Is in the heart of that funky style

Have some pride for your ears

Just listen to the dove's tears

Christopher gave the girl a turn

J-Hud took the song to church

Broke it now no one can sing it like her

That is how the funky life works

The love you feel

Makes the funk so real

You know the heart will heal

So pick your sound

He left enough to go around

Purple love child

Is in the beat full of life

Have some pride towards other people eyes

Smile when you hear that guitar riff

You know it was always a gift

We don't have to believe the lies

we are all

A Purple Love Child

©Copyright 2016 Thomas Dooley

WHAT MATTERS TO ME

What matters to me

To wake up to a new day
And wiping away the nights sand from my eyes
The splash of cool water on my face

What matters to me

To hear the morning peaceful flute echoing *Om Shanti
The stillness of a waking mind

What matters to me

The drive to work
The tailgater, I just stay peacefully on cruise control

What matters to me

The many sounds of PRINCE
Forever in my playlist

What matters to me

The unconditional smile on the morning face
It is going to be a wonderful day

What matters to me

That I make the value of my day
Enjoy my work without any one in my way

What matters to me

To return home safely at the end of the day
To write another poem

©Copyright 2016 Thomas Dooley



  

BLACK STYLE

Black style
Is not a wannabe grasping for attention
It's more than cornrows and black hair extensions

Black style
Is respect for 46 million people's lost history

Black style
Is just a white mans lie
Just so he can sell overpriced kicks

Black style
Is believing in your self
Understand what it means *"by any means necessary."

Black style
Is not an article on page 31 of Vogue magazine
Or a trendy fashion

Black style
Is taking care of family
Breaking all the stereotype lies

Black style
It is not the way you walk or talk
Or protecting your street CRED

Black style
Is more like Maya Angelou composing a poem

Black style
Is Ali in a fight we will never understand

Black style
Is Marven Gay sing words of soul field with peace
Wishing he was here today

Black style
Is Louse Gates saying call me Skip
Have to much respect
Dr. Gates is all I can say

Thinking you have Black Style
The first time you called a wigger and smacked upside the head
You'll claim that Blackness was never your style

©Copyright 2016 Thomas Dooley


*quote from Malcolm X

MS LEE

A runaway from the southeast

Fought through the storms of family

Chasing after love was all she could see

Growing up under government hand

Every time creating unconditional love

Think she found the right man

I was a friend and, in my mind, a lover

But a gallon of milk was all she needed from me

What I wanted to be could I never be

Don’t hide behind the drapes or under the sheets

Be the beautiful one you meant to be

Miss Lee, Miss Lee, Miss Lee

Still dealing with the past as she follows her own path

Sometimes clouds are in the way of a brighter day

Sometimes we have to climb over trash to get to a greener land

With unconditional love, she became a mother of

Always on the lookout for something she thought she wanted

That loving desire was only an emotional liar

In a jewelry box, she keeps her collection of pain

She put it on from time to time

But did not want to hear what she most feared

Don’t hide behind those piercings and tattoos

Be the beautiful one that is inside of you

Miss Lee, Miss Lee, Miss Lee

What was once was, was a lot of fun

But what we dreamed will never be

If you can’t see the friend inside of me

If you shook, that baby maker at me

I would be living a different reality

Hope you find the love I feel for you

Miss Lee

©Copyright Thomas Dooley 2016